The Kundalini Process: A Christian Understanding
by Philip St. Romain
Paperback and digital editions; free sample

Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality
- by Philip St. Romain
Paperback and digital editions

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Hi Mary Sue
I am on holiday in France, so will keep this short: if there is too much energy in any part of the body you must NOT focus on that body part but on another body part. Often it works to focus on the navel, which will draw the energy down or do indeed physical work as this will draw energy into other body parts.

Will be back in 10 days to answer more questions.


Tara - find more help for kundalini problems on my website taraspringett.com/kundalini/kundalini-syndrome
 
Posts: 262 | Location: UK | Registered: 03 April 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by KundaliniTherapist:
So, you can look at inner experiences or explore them but you should never ever let them be boss. Because if you do you will be in trouble and taken over by forces that you cannot control anymore if you have given them free reign."


Tara could you please go into this a little more. What are these forces. I've started
saying no to abilities I don't want regularly.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Sue,
 
Posts: 400 | Registered: 01 April 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Mary Sue
people can have a multitude of experienses e.g.

energy coming in
visions
poltergeist phenomena
divine visitations etc. etc.

The point I am making is not to give these experiences power. See them for what they are - 'inner experiences'. Do not make them real, even if they feel real. Always stay connected with the fact, that the only 'real fact' is that you are experiencing something.

Then take from your experiences what you can use and dismiss the rest with a shoulder shrug.

That is what I call 'being the boss'.

YOU decide - NOT the experience.


Tara - find more help for kundalini problems on my website taraspringett.com/kundalini/kundalini-syndrome
 
Posts: 262 | Location: UK | Registered: 03 April 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Tara thank you for the clarification.
 
Posts: 400 | Registered: 01 April 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Phil:
quote:
. . . What I have learned in the last few years through working in the Zen and Advaita Vedanta traditions is that kundalini can be considered not so much a goal, but simply a by-product of spiritual process."


As my kids used to say when they were teenagers: "D'oh!" Wink

I've met Bonnie and Yvonne Kason and Joan Harrigan and the other "kundalini queens," as they were considered at the time (mid-90s). These were very nice women with deep knowledge of k, but I differed with them in considering it concommitant to deepening union with God rather than the means by which such union happened. Big difference! I'm glad to hear that Bonnie has come around.


Here is 30 minutes of Bonnie Greenwell asking Adyashanti question about this subject in 2002:

https://soundcloud.com/lindacc...iews-adyashanti-2002
 
Posts: 1013 | Location: Canada | Registered: 03 April 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Great interview and exchange! Thanks for posting, and connecting it with this part of what was a long, rambling discussion.

I mostly agree with Adyashanti's point that Zen seems more focused on a spiritual state of consciousness -- enlightenment, or whatever we want to call it. They don't make a big fuss about Kundalini, but I think they also miss out on the healing and integrative aspects of K as well. Sometimes it seems to me that Zen is excessively focused on the spiritual to the neglect of the body.

I think Jim Arraj (a Catholic and a zen practitioner) said it best about the relationship between enlightenment and kundalini.
- see https://shalomplace.org/eve/for.../25010765/m/87210765
quote:
Kundalini is meant to lead to enlightenment but it does so in a highly distinctive way, for it is a thorough-going activation not only of the mind but the body as well. From the thomistic perspective we have just reviewed is it possible to make sense of this energy? Does such a process of development contradict what St. Thomas had to say about the union of soul and body? Not at all. Rather, they can mutually illuminate each other. Kundalini is that fundamental energy or instinct of the soul that is inscribed in its very being which urges it to become fully alive and activated so that it can be and see its own existence and that of all things, and experience in them the radiant mystery of existence that we call God. But if the human soul contains within it all the riches of elemental, vegetative and animal levels of existence, then this fundamental soul energy is animating all the levels of the human organism from within. But this presence of the soul is in some sense dormant, lying like a seed in these depths. In order to realize itself it must realize each and every level of its being. In short, the human soul is the inmost animator by which these levels exist and by which they become activated. In a certain way each of us contains the whole evolution of the material part of the universe, and our physical, psychological and spiritual growth is the activation of that heritage. Kundalini is not some strange freakish force coming from without, but it is a striking visible manifestation of an energy that is ceaselessly at work in all of us, both unconsciously and in our conscious strivings. Kundalini is the bursting forth of that soul energy that urges us to fulfill our destiny, but now becomes visible to us either because of our particular temperament or certain psychological gifts or traumas, or in response to some supernatural gift of God's grace. The whole purpose of this energy is to make each level of our being, starting from the most elementary, fully alive and fully nourishing of the next highest level so that at the end of the process the deepest intuitive powers of the soul are awakened and we can see who we really are and that we are.Kundalini can appear as an impersonal energy because it is not something under the control of the ego. It is very personal in the sense that it is an energy of the soul, but this energy must activate those levels of our being which are far from our conscious control. The human soul is present to the entire body, for it gives it existence. But its lower operations operate through various parts. The Hindu chakras and their associated nerve plexuses are fitting symbols of different levels that exist within the human soul. The traditional picture of kundalini lying dormant in the lowest chakra at the base of the spine is a fitting symbol of the human soul as a being in potency that needs to awake, and this is an awakening that proceeds from the bottom upwards, for the activation of the lower levels is necessary for the activation of the higher. And the activation of each level is the intensification of the powers belonging to each level and their orientation and transformation so they can best serve the human soul, which soul is deeper in them than they are in themselves, for it is what gives them existence. Further, in a highly analogous way, just as the soul is at the heart of these lower levels, God is at the heart of the soul giving it existence. Therefore, the more the soul experiences its own existence the more it is united to God even if in the actual experience the word God may not be used, for the experience happens non-conceptually. God is present in and through the existence of the soul which God constantly sustains.
 
Posts: 3948 | Location: Wichita, KS | Registered: 27 December 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Phil, what does that guy mean when he says he realizes that "I" is always "beyond" the humanity and mind? Beyond the character in the dream? Thatthe humanity and mind is like a suit he wears and takes off? That sounds like Hindu Atman or something. I thought Buddhists believe we just disappear and cease to be and that is enlightenment. Is he referring to identification with the human spirit, as you seem to suggest? Man, this stuff is so confusing for someone who has not experienced any of this. Like a man born blind trying to understand colour from the descriptions of those who can see, so I understand it's hard to explain. But what are they talking about? Do they or do they not believe in:

a) An individual spirit/person
b) Existence beyond the body? That is in eternal existence or in extinguishment? After listen to that guy, I'm confused about what the claim is.
 
Posts: 81 | Location: Cape Town, South Africa | Registered: 22 October 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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St. Rubia, are you referring to something Adyashanti said in the interview with Bonnie? If so, do you have the exact quote?

Not, it wouldn't make sense to say that "I" is beyond "the humanity and mind," except if he is implying that the "I" of awareness transcends the contents of consciousness. That's obvious enough.
 
Posts: 3948 | Location: Wichita, KS | Registered: 27 December 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Phil:
It's my sense that shaktipat and other types of "energy touch" (including reiki) draw from the unconscious of the one administering the touch, and affect the unconscious of the one who receives it. I know of at least five people who've been deeply wounded from this sort of thing.


Audrey Wetherell Johnson, founder of the Bible Study Fellowship, describes an encounter with a "tingling power" in her autobiography, Created for Commitment (Tyndale House, 1982) on pages 59-60.

A Christian evangelist and author she calls "Mr. W." asked her to pray with him. While she had her eyes closed, he snuck up on her and placed his hands on her head.

She then felt a "tingling power" start from her head and work its way down through her body.

Though she felt an urge to surrender to this power, she prayed: "Lord, if this is of You, I yield. If not, I claim the precious blood of Christ to cover me. Help me!"

At this prayer, the "tingling power" vanished. Mr. W. must have felt something, too, since he looked shocked and withdrew.
 
Posts: 1013 | Location: Canada | Registered: 03 April 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Very good example, Derek, of this kind of phenomenon, and how to deal with it. Thanks for sharing.
 
Posts: 3948 | Location: Wichita, KS | Registered: 27 December 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Another possible Christian shaktipat, this time with a happy ending. Tony Moo, before he became known as Mooji, was visited by his Christian friend, Michael.

quote:

Mooji: Michael placed his hands on my head and began his prayer. As it ended, I found myself asking: "Please help me. Please guide me, too.” Something like this came out, and that was it. We hugged each other, and he left. I felt very happy, very, very happy [laughing], but also suddenly tired. Shortly after this, I went to bed and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. I often recall this moment because it was a real turning point for my life. From that moment a new chapter began unfolding.

Iain: So what changed in your life after that?

Mooji: I woke up next morning and it was like a dimmer switch of sensitivity was turned up to "high" setting. I was lying in bed, quietly noticing the sunlight pouring through a split in the curtains. It was as if I was seeing the sun for the first time. My heart was full of joy. There was a sweetness about everything that morning.

Iain: So you were more aware of...?

Mooji: It felt like a tingly awareness was bubbling through my entire body and mind.


Read more at http://conscious.tv/text/14.htm

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Posts: 1013 | Location: Canada | Registered: 03 April 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I think this happens a lot, especially in pentecostal circles. The practice of laying on of hands goes back to the early Church, and for the longest time, bishops gave a light slap on the cheek to people being Confirmed.

Shaktipat seems to be a way of intentionally transmitting an energy of consciousness to another, but the question is, "whose energy"? This is a danger even in Christianity, although consecrating the practice of laying on of hands to Christ invokes the Holy Spirit, as do the traditional uses of this practice in Sacramental celebrations.

The practice of reiki might even be a mild form of shaktipat. It seems that in any case, some measure of openness is required of the receiver. We can't go around zapping people with our energy against their will.
 
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I listened to the whole interview. Interesting, that Mooji went through the Christian tradition and the experience of "presence" and "sitting on the lap of God" towards the "vast expanse" of no-self experienced in India... He doesn't say much about that and there is a lot of various paths leading towards the same, but he says that he didn't completely lost the sense of this Presence and some relationship with personal God, even though he certainly passed into no-self kind of enlightenment state.
 
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quote:
Originally posted by Mt:
Interesting, that Mooji went through the Christian tradition and the experience of "presence"


Yes. His experience of the Presence of God reminded me of the doctrine of the Indwelling Trinity, "We will come to him and make our dwelling in him" (John 14:23). Also reminded me of many passages from St. John of the Cross, e.g., "Divine calm and peace will be infused into his soul, together with a wondrous and sublime knowledge of God, enfolded in Divine love" (AMC 2.15.5).

I didn't know that Mooji was essentially an evangelical Christian until he was in his thirties, raised in a culture where no one ever needed to ask, "Do you believe in God?"

And it was very sweet and innocent of him when he visited Watkins bookstore in London and selected a volume (which turned out to be by Ramana Maharshi) on the grounds that it was the smallest book they had!
 
Posts: 1013 | Location: Canada | Registered: 03 April 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hi All,

Thank you all for your great sharing as it is very, very helpful. I'm fairly new to this forum, but wanted to share a bit of my kundalini experience. This thread is rather long, and I skipped from page 4 to 16, so please forgive me if I'm disrupting the discussion flow.

I'm 56 years old now, and started Centering Prayer at 29. I had no religious upbringing or orientation. For 6 years I practiced Centering Prayer, then felt a strong impulse to do more intensive practice for about 6 months prior to the "K" awakening. As stated in the beginning of this thread, I had a strong desire to break out of my ego so that I could experience love, and was seeking guidance in this process from God.

My main symptoms were tingling throughout my body which was like feeling my blood coursing through my veins. There were surges of power-like feelings up my spine, and lots of extremity shaking with episodes of diarrhea. Not many visions - thankfully - just a lot of fear and anxiety from not understanding what was happening.

A few other things happened that I don't believe have been mentioned so far, but were quite disturbing.

First, I began to vomit any time I thought of love. At 5'7" I went from 125 pounds down to 95 pounds pretty quickly.

Second, I experienced extreme disorientation. At one point I had a brief experience of touching a tabletop with my hand but was not able to distinquish any separation between the two. Lots of touching things around me after that in order to re-establish some external orientation. Recently I read that CG Jung had to do the same thing in his encounter with the unconscious.

I was blessed to find a psychiatrist that had lived for two years in an ashram under a true spiritual master prior to going to medical school. She understood what was happening and encouraged me to relax into the process.

The kundalini for me lasted about one year, until my psychiatrist asked me the magic question: "If you could stop what was happening to you, would you?" I immediately answered "NO!" At that point the energy almost immediately stopped.

Three months after the kundalini subsided, I had a brief resurgence when reading some spiritual material. At that point I had learned to very gently breath into the energy and let it vibrate: breathing in I deeply felt the energy; breathing out I completely relaxed. Energy gone in just a few minutes.

No meditation in the intervening years because I was so afraid of triggering another episode. Just recently started back to Lectio Divina, which is going well. Only occasional pleasant vibrations during short periods of quiet prayer. Definitely feel the energy could recur if I went too deeply in any type of meditation.

I hope this helps you document the various experiences.
 
Posts: 13 | Location: Washington | Registered: 27 May 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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