What follows is a quote from Jordan Aumann's book, Spiritual Theology. Many years ago, this quote gave me some insight into what I eventually came to recognize as the kundalini process, which had been awakened in me as a consequence of contemplative prayer.

quote:

10. Mystical experience frequently causes reactions in the body. Sometimes the intense spiritual delight experienced by the soul causes startling phenomena in the sensitive order. St. John of the Cross teaches, however, that this occurs only in beginners in the mystical life and that they should ignore these reactions and continue the practice of prayer. When contemplation is very intense, the organism may be changed visibly. The eyes become clouded and dull; respiration is weak and intermittent, with an occasional deep breathing as if trying to absorb the necessary quantity of air; the limbs are partly paralyzed; the heat of the body decreases, especially in the extremities. All these phenomena have been manifested time and again in mystical souls, and St. Teresa speaks of them in her works. (18)

The reason for the phenomena that accompany the mystical experience is that the human
organism can react in only a certain number of ways, and when the spirit is absorbed in an
intense activity, the body is necessarily affected. On the other hand, if we give ourselves completely and energetically to corporal things, the faculties of the soul are weakened for spiritual things. For that reason St. Paul warns that the carnal person cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14).
- see http://ia600301.us.archive.org...itualTheologyall.pdf

Fr. William Johnston, S.J., in correspondence and personal conversations, validated this understanding from his own experience as well. In terms of traditional scholastic theology, it was considered an "overflow of the senses" -- that energy intensified in the spiritual part of our human nature overflows into the psyche and body (known as the sensitive aspect).

What was missing from this traditional understanding was the recognition that with repeated experiences of contemplation, the dynamic became ingrained, so that the psyche and body became acclimated to the intensified spiritual activity in the soul. And that's how I understand the kundalini process, at least in terms of my own experience. Once this dynamic of body-psyche-spirit is changed, then the needs/requirements of the body and psyche are also different than before -- hence, the need to adjust lifestyle (diet, exercise, sleep, sex, reading habits, quiet times, TV, etc.) accordingly (an ongoing struggle for me).

Of course, it's possible to intensify the energies of the spiritual and psychological levels, producing overflows into the body, without contemplation. I think such cases are usually more problemmatic than those that are concommitant with contemplation, which is of the Holy Spirit.

This is another "take" on that long, meandering thread on Kundalini and the Holy Spirit, and nothing that I haven't already shared. Only Fr. Aumann's quote I think helps to clarify things somewhat.

quote:

Of course, it's possible to intensify the energies of the spiritual and psychological levels, producing overflows into the body, without contemplation. I think such cases are usually more problemmatic than those that are concommitant with contemplation, which is of the Holy Spirit.

Well, I can absolutely testify to that!

What has been my own concern is how contemplation works on a system already energised, to bring the k process to some sort of resolution while healing the damage done to an unprepared, unsanctified body/psyche. I can perhaps share more of that as this thread develops, but what I'm noticing is that periods of infused contemplation (or at least levels of contemplation I've experienced thus far) continue to stimulate the energy to work through blockages, while opening one to unusual, but not necessarily damaging occult activity, and genuine connection to spiritual realms, which then feeds back into prayer or one's receptivity to Presence, as it were, in a increasingly integrated, holistic loop.

Very interesting, Stephen. It sounds like a healing is taking place, and that's to be hoped for.

Maybe so, Bliss. That way of describing K is surely found in the literature, but so are more gentle manifestations.

I've come to think that lots of different kinds of energy experiences are labeled kundalini. What I mean is a process that transforms all the levels of our being to embody and integrate higher consciousness, which is centered at least in the 3rd eye. This is a definite experience, though for many there are no trains roaring up the spine.

I do agree that Aumann's description doesn't go so far as to completely account for Kundalini. It was a seminal insight for me, however.