What Actually Is Kundalini: The Bio-Energetic Force | Dylan Smith #126

This is a dependable and palpable exploration of Kuṇḍalinī and Radical Kundalini Awakenings.

Unearth the captivating mysteries of Kundalini energy, a dormant force nestled at the root of the spinal column with the potential to awaken super-human capabilities and creative intelligence.

Decode the origins of Kuṇḍalinī, it’s symbolic coiled serpent and direct connection to the brain.

Dive into intense, never-before-shared personal experiences, challenges, and rewards of Kundalini awakenings, gaining insights into signs and symptoms.

Differentiate between madness, psychosis and radical spiritual advancement.

Understand the delicate balance required for a harmonious awakening.

Whether you're a seasoned practitioner yoga  or a curious listener, this episode promises a deep dive into the mysteries of Kuṇḍalinī, and one expression of captivating  experiences of spiritual awakening and self-discovery.

IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
🐍 What is Kundalini?
🐍 The Centre Location of Kundalini
🐍 Kundalini in Other Traditions
🐍 Kālī, Durgā And Their Relationship with Kundalini
🐍 Kundalini and the Brain
🐍 Kundalini Awakening Experiences
🐍 Kundalini and Potential Madness

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Kundalini, a dormant energetic force in the human organism with potential to blossom into creative intelligence and awaken super mental capabilities. Welcome to the Vital Veda Show. I am your host. I'm Dylan Smith. I'm an Ayurvedic practitioner and holistic health educator based in Australia who sees patients in my clinic online predominantly, as well as in person for all walks of life, because Ayurvedic medicine or Ayurveda translates to the science of life, so it is a science based on the laws of nature in order to live life with maximum health and maximum abundance, maximum pleasure, maximum purpose and maximum freedom. That is the science of Ayurveda for health, abundance, purpose, pleasure and freedom. How to live in human natural law, to live those qualities of life and therefore I'm treating anything in life in my clinic is literally the science of life. So, from all types of physical ailments to mental ailments, to also include in the human physiology is spiritual ailments, and one thing I've seen in a minority of my patients are radical energetic experiences manifesting in the physical body and certainly the emotional and mental body. So these are patients who are having an overwhelming spiritual experience that is causing symptoms and causing perhaps discomfort, but also causing extreme bliss, ecstasy, love, but also can cause extreme darkness, extreme fear, and these are very radical experiences which we're going to go into throughout this podcast show. I'm going to intertwine radical Kundalini experiences of me interviewee people, ordinary people from all walks of life. This can be people who haven't even meditated. This can be people who are meditating. This can be people who know nothing about spirituality but within them arises spontaneously these radical energetic manifestations of this energy called Kundalini, which I'm going to explain soon about. But I want to preface this podcast series and I'm intertwining into the vital data podcast with an introductory talk. What this podcast episode is about is about introducing the topic and the phenomena of Kundalini, this phenomena which is experienced in the human biology, and along with that I want to make it clear that this is such a dynamic topic and this is not the be and all podcast episode. I'm intending to make it a very broad, holistic, concise introduction and summary to the dynamic and ever-evolving expression and topic of Kundalini. I'm doing this podcast series intertwine into the vital data podcast alongside another topic I'm starting to do and that is I'm doing fertility stories and these are stories of preconception and fertility. So if you have an avid vital data podcast listener, you would know this and if you're not well. Welcome to the vital data podcast, where we go through topics, whether it's me talking solo or me interviewing either experts or interviewing even everyday people as well and experts who are both anyone. I interview particularly experts in the fields of health, consciousness and spirituality. As well as that, I have started the thing of intertwining different fertility stories from everyday people as well as interviewing. Now I'm going to start Kundalini radical Kundalini experiences. So we're going to go into what is Kundalini. In summary, it's a dormant energetic force within the human organism and it has the potential to manifest and blossom in different ways. It can blossom into creative intelligence and awaken super mental faculties of the brain. You can also manifest into dark expressions. So I'm going to go into that.

Speaker 1: 4:47

But first I want to go into the word Kundalini, and in Sanskrit Kundala means a coil, so Kundalini has been described as that which is coiled, but this is only part of the interpretation. The word Kundalini comes from the word Kundalini, which means a deeper place, a pit or a cavity, so a Kundalini. When we do fire ceremony in the Vedic science as known as Yajna, that is in a Kundal. That's the, that's the pit used to create the fire ceremony. So Kundal in human physiology refers to a concave cavity in the brain. This concave cavity or pit in the brain resembles a coiled or a sleeping serpent nestling there. So Kundalini is highly associated with snakes and snake energy. So we'll go into that a bit later.

Speaker 1: 5:47

But for now Kundalini refers to the power, or what we call in the Vedas the Shakti, when it is in its dormant potential state. So Kundalini is when it is in its dormant potential state. But when it is manifesting you can call it various things. You can call it Devi, durga, kali, saraswati, lakshmi, jesus, like. These are some of the names in the Vedic systems. It can be called any name according to the flavor of manifestation that this Kundalini energy is expressing before you. So Kundalini, the dormant potential state it expresses, it might want to call it Lakshmi or abundance. You might want to call it dark and destructive energy, like Kali. You might want to call it very high, creative, musical. That we're gonna go through different things. So with the awakening of Kundalini there is an explosion in the brain. The dormant or sleeping areas of the brain starts blossoming like flowers. So that is why Kundalini is equated with the awakening of the silent areas of the brain.

Speaker 1: 7:00

And I'm gonna quote a verse, a shloka, from the Hatha yogi Pradipika, and it is the Kundalini sleeps above the Kunda. She gives liberation to the yogi and bondage to the fall. He who knows Kundalini knows yoga. The Kundalini, it is said, is coiled like a serpent. He who can induce her to move is liberated. So that is from chapter 3 of the Hatha Yoga Pranipika, and note that it says she gives liberation to the yogi and bondage to the fool. So Kundalini has the potential to express itself as a liberating energetic force full of light and bliss. And some of the people I have interviewed have had the even long-term meditators, meditation teachers, yogi practitioners, with these radical Kundalini awakening experiences. They have had the biggest liberative feelings and absolute bliss and light. But also she can give bondage to the fool, and those same very people have also gone to extreme dark places.

Speaker 1: 8:16

So let's look at the physical location of Kundalini, if we can attempt to. It's situated at the root of the spinal column. In the masculine body it's the perineum, which is the area between the urinary and excretory organs. In the female body, it's located at the root of the uterus, in the cervix. This center in the yogic system is known as Mooladhara Chakra and it is actually a physical structure. It's a small gland which, when you take it out and you can even press it. So although Kundalini is linked to the spiritual sorry, to the physical body, it does not actually belong there, nor can it be discovered. There can't even be discovered in the mental body. So the abode of Kundalini is actually in what we call the casual body, which is the innermost body which rails the soul. It is the space of the atman, it is the space where concepts of time and objects and space is completely lost.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Kundalini, this energetic force, is not only to the Vedic tradition, it's in other traditions. In the Christian tradition they talk about the stairways to heaven. This is used in the Bible to refer to Kundalini's ascent through a channel in the spine called the Shashumna Nadi. And the ascent of Kundalini is essentially the descent of spiritual grace, and this is symbolized by the Christian cross. That's why, when Christians they make the sign of the cross on their body, they will touch the third eye, they will touch the heart, they will touch the throat chakras, and this cross is connecting that ascending consciousness and that heart energy of where grace is made to manifest in the world. This is all enlightened Kundalini as well, this is a fundamental biological energy.

Speaker 1: 10:19

So Kundalini, this energy, when it's awakened, as I said, some people cannot handle it and this you can call it Kali. When Kundalini is unable to be handled, where you can handle it and use it for beneficial purposes and channel that energy and you become powerful and powder with it, you can call that Durga. So Kali, when you're not able to handle it, kali is an expression of consciousness, symbolized by a woman with a garland of human skulls, of the demons she has slayed, and they are hanging on her as a garland, while she is dripping blood out her mouth with a machete in her hand, usually stepping on Lord Shiva, because that is symbolism of her conquering the self. But ultimately, kali is a evolutionary energy. It's an energy that supports life, but it is rough. Kali rises in anger and when she does, all the gods and the demons are stunned. Everybody keeps quiet. They don't know what she's going to do. Even they ask Lord Shiva, the great yo-yo, to pacify her, but Kali rules ferociously, throwing him down on his chest with her mouth wide open, standing on her, standing on Lord Shiva, thirsty for flesh and blood.

Speaker 1: 11:56

So this energy can arise from this Kundalini energy. It's intense, but then there's the emergence of Durga energy, the higher and more refined expression of pure consciousness, who brings harmony when she manifests. Durga is a beautiful goddess seated on a tiger. She wears a mala of human heads to symbolize her wisdom and power. And these are 52 heads representing the 52 letters of the Sun script alphabet, which are the outer manifestations of Shabda Rama, which is the creating and manifesting expression. Energy of sound. Durga is the removal of all evil consequences in life and the giver of power and peace that is released from the Kundalini. Kali is the first manifestation of the unconscious Kundalini. It can be a terrible power, but it does completely subdue the soul. This is represented by Kali standing on Lord Shiva.

Speaker 1: 13:07

So Kundalini is not a myth or an illusion. It's not a hypothesis or a hypnotic suggestion. It is a biological substance that exists within the framework of the body and its awakening generates electrical impulses through the whole body. And these impulses can even be detected by modern scientific instruments and machines, and there are machines that are doing that. Yogis slash. Modern researchers and doctors who interested in this topic have expressed that. We'll talk about that in the resources. So we can conceive Kundalini in any manner we like Prana, which is the life force in the body, has no form or dimension. It's infinite. So I've expressed Kundalini manifesting as this Kali, the more red, ferocious version, or this Durga, the more graceful, elegant, feminine, powerful manifestation from this energy. These are just a couple ways to manifest and a couple ways to express it, archetypes to share with you.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Kundalini is highly associated with the brain. As I said, it's the pit of the brain, and think about silent areas of the brain ready to be aroused. We have to charge these areas of the brain, the front brain especially, with sufficient Prana, with sufficient vital energy and consciousness. And when the cerebrospinal fluid moves through the vertebral column it alters the phase of consciousness. Chitta, or consciousness, can be awakened and can be stimulated by Prana, through life force, through certain yogic and eryvedic activities and interventions and practices. So this awakening is what's going to influence the information and relate with the information supplied by the sensory organs and ultimately create experiences of expansion, happiness, bliss, love, compassion, strength, all the beautiful things we want to evolve and expand our awareness in.

Speaker 1: 15:27

There was a renowned scientist, the late Itzhak Bentov, who put the theory that Kundalini is an effect caused by the rotation of nerve impulses around the cortex of the brain during meditation. He considered that this is caused by rhythmical pressure waves which result from the interaction of the heartbeat, breathing and the fluid inside the skull, thereby causing the brain to oscillate up and down, which stimulates specific nerve currents in the brain. So here's one scientific analysis of what's going on Now. Kundalini awakening is really why I started this series is because of particularly radical Kundalini awakens, to give a perspective of the Kali, or the dark or the rougher side of this.

Speaker 1: 16:19

I have seen patients who have had these intense, overwhelming, radical Kundalini awakenings and if most people looking at that would think this person is having a psychotic episode and is going mad or crazy, and literally that's what happens with a lot of people and people think they're crazy and they and people themselves think they're crazy. Of course that can be the case, but there is a lot of the time when these radical Kundalini awakenings are happening and that's not the case. It's actually a more subtle spiritual influence, this Kundalini influence, rather than a chemistry imbalance of the brain which may be there. But it is something which can be resolved and I have seen it being resolved and you will hear from people who have resolved it or evolved from it without going to a psychiatric ward or taking psychotic medications. So the intention of this podcast is to if you listening are experiencing any of these overwhelming radical whether it's Kundalini awakening, whether it's a spiritual awakening, whatever you want to call it spiritual experiences and or anyone you know is to first of all make it a bit more normal. It's not normal, it is a minority of people. But the more I do this research, the much. It's much more normal than I thought or more common than I thought, and I am learning and I'm in my early days of researching people's experiences that it's a lot more common than we think, because people don't talk about it so much, because people think they're crazy. Whether they think they're crazy themselves or they're scared, someone is going to think they're crazy. So this is important topic for me, for my patients, for anyone listening who is and I'm going to. It's really important to listen to the whole thing because it's really important to use and implement the right interventions to support you in these experiences if it's rough, and have the right people around you. It's super important.

Speaker 1: 18:35

So when the awakening of Kundalini takes place, one thing which happens is societal conditioning dissolves, so they can be like worried about what society is going to think, but ultimately it definitely dissolves and this discipline and control that inhibits those structured into whatever activities based on status quo is lifted and one can completely express themselves freely. So that is why, in the case of if you see someone and you think they're mad or crazy, or maybe autistic or unusual, they just express themselves freely. Well, they've transcended and evolved past societal status quo conditioning. Now it's interesting not interesting, but it's interesting and obvious that a lot of yogis and and Vedic seers they crave Kundalini awakenings. But the reality is few people have the mental and spiritual and emotional physical nervous system discipline and preparation required to avoid damage to the brain and to the tissues.

Speaker 1: 19:44

When one is in possession of a weak mind and cannot sustain even a little bit of cheerfulness or excitement, or even they cannot bear the death of a spouse or separation from a loved one, how are they going to sustain the tremendous force of a radically awakened Kundalini? This is similar with plant medicine, whether it's ayahuasca, dmt, magic mushrooms, all the new craze. So this is probably and we discuss with our guests who we interview one of the similarities in some ways, in at least the physical experience, is to these ayahuasca. Whether it's ayahuasca or anything like this. It's a similar thing of how can you sustain that radical force of energy with an ungrounded body and nervous system. So a lot of yogis as well, and people in the Vedic community, they're craving these radical experiences. But anyway, let's explore them and see if that's the right thing to do. So I'm going to talk about some symptoms of Kundalini awakening experiences, and these are, first of all, greater happiness, less anger, less anxiety, more blissful interactions, an open heart, greater love, less worry. These are when the Kundalini awakens and ultimately it's this energy, this dormant energy becoming lively, this creative potential becoming lively. And that's one thing.

Speaker 1: 21:30

But this series is focused on radical Kundalini awakening experiences and this can be things like feeling an electric shock from the bottom of the spinal cord, as if someone was connected to an electrical power point. This can feel like a burning sensation in the perineum or energy passing up and down. Some people hear instruments or celestial music or birds, bells, drums, birds singing these things can happen. Some people can have sensations of sitting in the rain or dark clouds, sounds of thunder, the body feeling very light like, so light that the spinal cord can feel like fluorescent light. It's common to feel illumination within, as if hundreds of little lights were burning.

Speaker 1: 22:26

It can feel also that all the anger, passions and anything suppressed, desires and lust, like all this comes out like with rage and intensity, and you can feel so much fear that you cannot even sleep for a minute and there can be nothing in your mind but sex. There can be nothing in your mind but food. There can be not feeling at all, wanting to eat for days. That is a common one, and there can be psychic powers or clairvoyancy and, of course, insomnia is definitely a common one. But if that happens, I recommend accept your sleeplessness and enjoy it. You can meditate, do japa, which is a certain repetitive chanting which has proved to be very helpful for people having these experiences, and we've done a whole podcast episode on japa, which is a type of repetitive mantra, chanting with Swami Purnat Chaitanya wonderful, wonderful podcast episode on japa.

Speaker 1: 23:34

So these are some experiences or some symptoms. Headaches is definitely one. This can happen for a lot of reasons, but I think obviously awakening those silent areas of the brain, they say. Some scientists say one tenth of the brain is active and nine tenths are not, and that's in the most people in the world, most humans. But with Kundalini awakening, you're awakening other parts of your brain, the 90% which is inactive. And when these silent areas of the brain begin to wake up, the first symptom is usually headache. Some people equate this like with labor pain, as if you're giving birth to spiritual consciousness or like a labor pain in the head. And this does not mean, of course, that all headaches are related to Kundalini and not everyone will have headaches.

Speaker 1: 24:25

And it is not recommended in general in Ayurveda to use certain pharmaceutical medications like sedatives or pain relieving pills or aspirins. We have pain relief and reduction herbal formulas but we don't want to block those receptors, to numb the body to them. We can reduce the pain and inflammation and pressure in a way where the body still can do what it's got to do, because a headache usually is manifesting for a good reason. Unfortunately the body needs to process something and it's uncomfortable, I know. But through certain dilation of the blood vessels, through certain herbs and the stimulation of herbs and different things, we can help relieve that. So there's other things like we can go radical. But the point is these are just some and it is not a prescriptive symptom list. I want to make that very clear.

Speaker 1: 25:22

This is such a dynamic topic. This can express itself in an absolute multitude of ways. This is from what I'm listing here is from the people I've interviewed, from my personal experience, from also my research through certain experts in the topic of Kundalini. But the point is these are some things that can happen. It's all different.

Speaker 1: 25:49

And then the question is what actually is being awakened? Is it Kundalini? Is it a chakra being cleaned or turned or opened? Is it the Shashumna channel in the body, which is a very fine channel within the spinal cord, so subtle, about one hundredth of a hair, that is the size, about one hundredth of a hair, all the way up the spinal cord, shashumna, and that can also bring some mind exploding experiences when that is awakened and that can be really confusing and things like fever and depression and loneliness, but feeling a lot of air, but unusual odours and sounds. But this is the thing we don't have to get in this episode. I'm not going to get into the technical of what is Shashumna awakening, what is a chakra awakening, what is a Kundalini awakening, but it's all related because Kundalini is moving this dormant energy which moves up this Shashumna, which is this subtle channel in the spinal cord, and through each chakra which is in the spinal cord and these chakras are concentrated areas of nerves. They are plexuses of the nerves and relate so many things. That's for another topic, another day.

Speaker 1: 27:08

So one thing as well I want to mention with the Kundalini and the madness which is the point of this podcast is to not label people with that madness and to not accept that and not treat that as if they are mad or psychotic, is to be careful about suppressing the mind. If you're suppressing the mind and trying to concentrate it, all these things, that's really the way to the mental hospital. You should work with a practitioner and maybe it's a yoga teacher who has experience of this, or a meditation teacher and a team. It's always important to have a team of people, so a health practitioner, everybody a health practitioner who has experience with stabilizing the nervous system and stabilizing the body during this, and different people to not suppress it, because that will create issues. And it's funny because when you think about suppressing it or saying, okay, get out of this, go back to my old self or go back to the old John, it's like hold on. Are there two personalities in there? Are there two minds in this person or is it one? Is there one bad mind trying to wander off and go crazy and experience ecstasy, or is there a good mind trying to bring back the bad mind? This is a funny thing, though. There's one mind and we should not create this split by antagonizing the mind. If you do this, then you start enlivening this dictator-controller energy and the other one becomes a victim, and that's like schizophrenia, mental hospital, as I said, so really important to work with a team. So this is the introduction to Konlini. It's a huge topic. I'm gonna share a couple of experiences to get the ball rolling on this, from people who have written in and one person one of my students actually who shared something, and what she said is this I had it when I was around 22.

Speaker 1: 29:22

I think I was doing a lot of Jiva Mukti yoga, sometimes even twice a day. I was just on this high with it. At the time I didn't even have a car, so I'd catch a 40-minute train ride at 4 am to go to an early class and then the afternoons after work, even 1.5 hours each, I would be doing intense yoga, chanting for three hours a day. It was madness, but I love that style of yoga so much and it was like I was in a trance and I had this pull that I had to do it. I think about three months in I was so different, very full of love, giving money to homeless, stopping and chatting with so many people on the streets. It was so genuine too. Usually I'd be busy walking.

Speaker 1: 30:00

I had such a strange thing happen. I got scouted into a movie, which turned out to be too shy, and an old lady gave me her lucky charm on the street. Out of nowhere I got asked out by a multi-billionaire who I turned down because he was like 60, but kept sending me flowers to my work. And I met him all the time. And the point wasn't the millionaire but it's the fact that my energy just felt so different and open that I was almost magnetizing things around me. It wasn't like that before. It was so strange.

Speaker 1: 30:30

I remember in one yoga class, after months of practice for a loss, for a better word it felt like I had a reverse orgasm during Shavasana, when we lie down at the end. It started in the base of my spine and exploded in my head. I had never had that, ever again. I could have sworn. I was shaking, I saw a vision of a snake and everything was orange and red around it. And then I looked around flustered if anyone saw WTF just happened by. Everyone had their eyes closed.

Speaker 1: 31:00

I was reading a lot of books and listening to Ram Dass, trying to work out what yoga was doing to me, because I'd talked to my friends and they said they were bored. I was running off, hardly sleeping at all. For a month I was eating super clean, but not a lot. I had the most energy I have ever had. I even had experiences where I would pick up on other people. My brother was going through a hard time at the time and I was dead asleep one night and I work up to a dream of him violently shaking me to wake up. I got up and realized I was asleep. The next morning I called my mom and she said my brother was in hospital after an accident and it happened around the same time. I had that same dream. The energy and experience was amazing. I talked to my psychologist about it a few years later. She's Indian and her father studied with Ram Dass, so she knows about these things.

Speaker 1: 31:52

The biggest reason why I think it all came crashing down is because, like most reasons, we lose those love bubbles. I went back to work was stressing that I didn't have a normal degree. So I went to university and fell back into the rat race, stopped doing yoga, work assignments etc. But then this uni path made me realize I don't want to do this anymore. I had never been that naturally hind, connected to spiritual source ever since. I wish I could tell my younger self to keep following my own energy, not the world. But it's not that easy at 22 to know that. It was very cool, it felt like a dream. I definitely don't think I'm anything special, but I was very, very devoted at the time and trying to follow the philosophy of yoga and definitely it was very real. I still see images from time to time, but I see it went around some people. It's definitely not forced or anything. So, my friends, that was from a one of my students, a woman, about her Kundalini experience. She did not want to come onto the show to talk about it, but she wrote that they would recount for me in just a quick text message. I believe it was quite spontaneous. So that is one one experience.

Speaker 1: 33:02

I'm going to share one second experience before we end for this, and this is from Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who is a spiritual leader, a yoga teacher who has written a wonderful book called Kundalini Tantra, if you wanted to learn more. And he says Earth was slipping from under me and the sky was expanding and receding. A moment later, I experienced a terrible force springing from the base of my body like an atomic explosion. I felt that I was vibrating very fast. The light currents were terrific. I experienced the supreme bliss, like the climax of a man's orgasm, and it continued for a long time. My whole body was contracting until the feeling of pleasure became quite unbearable and I completely lost awareness of my body. After returning to consciousness, I was lacking energy. For many days I could not eat, sleep or move, even to go to the toilet. I saw everything, but nothing registered. The bliss was a living thing within me and I knew that if I moved, this wonderful feeling would cease. I would lose the intensity of it all. This was the waking of my Kundalini. After a week or so I returned to normal.

Speaker 1: 34:16

So I believe you can see the similarities between Swami Satya Satasvati's experience and my student, the 22 year old woman, and you will see more experiences into Tawayana Dhrat, the Vital Veda podcast which we'll share we have. The first one we will share is with my friend, marcus Hamel, who is a Vedic meditation teacher and yoga teacher, who is with him. It came while he was doing the least amount of spiritual practice he ever does. It came while he was on a holiday, on a surfing trip, and it started on a narrow plate. So these Kundalini experiences don't always happen from practice of yoga and I've seen it happen with people who don't even practice yoga or meditation or know much about this stuff. It spontaneously arises. So Marcus's story is certainly one to look out for. His is about a one month of intensity. It was a one month full-time radical Kundalini awakening trip and it is an amazing story, an amazing podcast, the first time that Marcus has opened publicly about it and opened up and shared. It is a profound, profound story. With the intention to be a short recap, it ended up being an hour but it was phenomenal. So definitely check out that radical Kundalini awakening with Marcus Hamel coming up.

Speaker 1: 35:48

If you are experiencing Kundalini awakening in a radical way in any way, whether it's beautiful or overwhelming or rough or smooth reach out. I would love to hear from you. You can email info at vitalvadacomau. I'm looking for people to interview, for people just to connect with and expand this research project with the intention of creating a more inviting community and place of reference for people who are undergoing these radical experiences and finding it tough.

Speaker 1: 36:20

If you want to connect with me for a personal health consultation whether it's for health, for whether you are experiencing intense energetic spiritual energies or it's physical, whatever it is over the trains, the science of life you can visit vitalvadacomau forward slash bookings. I work predominantly online, but also in person in some areas like Northern New South Wales, australia and Sydney and Melbourne. Okay, I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, please share this. I'm sure it will benefit people and start let's start talking about this as a collective more and making it a bit more normal and inviting for these people who are going through these tough times or intense times. Stay tuned for more podcast episodes. Much love.