Hi guys, thanks for having me and I hope to gain some insight into my dilemmas with your help. I am somewhat 'scared' to be on here, as I've previously viewed Kundalini etc as 'dodgy' to say the least. I'll try to be brief and outline why I'm confused and thus need guidance:

I have 'believed' on and off most of my life in the God of the bible, but struggle each day with doubts. I've gone to various churches over the years, trying to 'find' God (Jesus) and not really 'feeling' or knowing that I have. I've had two major 'experiences' at different churches, which I can't help but think are very similar to Kundalini arousal. I'll summarise the second one that happened two years ago: I went to a 'house church' and was prayed for by about five or six people who were in a circle around me. Some of them laid hands on me. I felt a power above me bearing down on me, whilst they were praying. It was seperate from me and felt like waves of power bearing down, so that I had to lower my body to kneel or I would have fallen. I was crying but didn't feel upset about anything, maybe just a poignancy of what was happening. The sides of my abdomen were contracting and relaxing, which was rather odd and I was trembling. The power continued to bear down on me gently but powerfully so that I ended up on my knees but lowered forwards so that my hands and arms were in front of me on the floor. After a while i felt the power ease off and then it wasn't there. I didn't feel different in anyway, other than excited that I'd experienced a 'supernatural' power and assumed the power was coming from God and was the Holy spirit. I didn't get any sense of peace, or love or anything like that. I've always been wary of stuff that goes on in some churches due to having been taught that evil spirits have invaded churches. I've prayed constantly over the years to experience the peace of God and the assurance of His love etc, which the bible says comes through the Holy Spirit, but I've never really 'felt' this assurance powerfully and hence still have hundreds of doubts about everthing, even if Jesus is real at all. The two times I have had a tangible 'power' experience, I have not felt or understood things differently, or it seems I've not been helped in any way. My first experience made me feel very scared rather than peace and reassurance. Where do I go from here?.....

Greetings, CoxRox. Good for you to take the risk to share something of your story and faith struggles.

It's difficult to say from what you share whether it was k or the Spirit or both. People gathered round praying and laying on of hands generate powerful energies, and if done in faith, the Spirit does enter in and bring about an exquisite order to the process and the person prayed for. Even then, there can be physical sensations, so, as I say, it's difficult to pin things down.

Re. faith, I'd keep it simple. When we invite God into our lives, God takes us up on it. That's what faith lays claim to, regardless of how we feel. Faith is not a feeling, but an entrusting openness to God's presence and guidance. It is sustained by spiritual practice, especially prayer, community involvement, the Sacraments and service. In time, we do come to see how our lives are different because of faith, largely through the gifts and fruits of the Spirit.

It sounds like you'd benefit from meeting with a spiritual director. Are there any in your area you could meet with?

Thanks for your reply Phil. I haven't attended church meetings since December and just meet with a few Christian friends quite regularly. One of them is a sort of 'spiritual director' I suppose. She prays for and with me, and tries to keep me on the straight and narrow. I admit I put too much emphasis on feelings and because I don't 'feel' God's presence or love, I struggle to hold on to the little faith I have. I've assumed that the assurance and peace the Bible speaks of, is more than just a feeling.

I do believe I have received gifts of the Spirit e.g patience and kindness towards people who I've struggled to love.

I've been reading some of the other posts and they've proven helpful already. Thanks again.

Hi and welcome CoxRox. Glad to have you jump in and join us.

It is very confusing at times to know if some energy, electricity, shudder, tingling, etc is the Holy Spirit or kundalini or the Holy Spirit moving which may ignite kundalini.

As Phil pointed out, the Holy Spirit is so much more than the sensation of power or energy, and if you're growing in the capacity to give and receive love, desiring holiness, drawn to God's Word, growing in faith and trust, etc. that's the HS transforming you. And it sounds like you can see that readily in the virtues of patiences and kindness.

I'd recommend Phil's teachings on the Holy Spirit. See

https://shalomplace.org/eve/forums/a/frm/f/18110765


You will feel very good (fed) about these readings!

Peace to you!
Shasha

Hi Shasha, and thank you for your encouragement. I'll check out Phil's teachings on the Holy Spirit.

My main concern is Kundalini full stop. I'm reading the older posts on here to learn of others concerns etc and I'll come back once I've got a clearer picture. Thanks again guys.

CR,

What you have described as your experience seems to me to be a phenomenon often termed as “being slain in the Spirit”. As such, I would not necessarily associate kundalini with what has happened to you. Being ‘slain’, when I have seen it occur, has been a consequence of the laying on of hands, either by a single individual or group of individuals praying for the person or the person’s intention (as sometimes one gets prayed over ‘in proxy’ for another not present). Being slain seems to be a consequence of what the Spirit wants to, and does do, on a given occasion -- as well perhaps, as being a consequence of the receptivity of the person being prayed over.

Many people (most) get prayed over and not slain, and some who get slain do not subsequently get slain on other occasions when they are prayed over.

I have myself been prayed over many times and have never been ‘slain’ even though others left and right of me have been. I have prayed over people myself many times. Over the 30 plus years I have seen folk being slain, and considering those that I personally know who have been slain on occasion, I do not know of any who have exhibited the kundalini energizing that folk speak about when discussing kundalini and excited energy centers (chakras) within the human body.

Typically (in Christian circles) invoking the HS in prayer and the laying on of hands is not the pursuit of kundalini, i.e. the intentionality pursued in such prayer relates to petitioning and receiving God’s grace in the form of answered prayer relative to healing or some intercessory petition for something for oneself or another.

Certainly if one wants to equate energy transfer as kundalini to some degree there may be some justification in arguing so, but there is no need to get involved with kundalini discussions in that context, I don’t think.

And certainly, some folks pursue kundalini energizing for its own sake via kundalini yoga techniques for example, and Christianity has no context in their pursuit of same. Their focus is maximizing their own fullness of potential based upon their own activities towards that pursuit. Such psycho-physiological athleticism is not sinful in itself (imo) but can be quite dangerous both psychologically, spiritually and physically. The pursuit and attainment of full kundalini energization is not the pursuit and attainment of holiness.

Sometimes, as you will read here at SP, in the serious practice of prayer an energizing can and does commence and such energizing takes place in the same chakra centers that the human body possesses and so here at SP, folk speak of this as a kundalini energizing. So as we are pursuing God with our spirit and his HS indwelling us, it is foreseeable that being body-soul-spiritual beings, the overflow in one area affects the other realities of our human nature. St. John of the Cross uses the concept of caverns that interconnect.

As for ‘home church’, that might be a tricky thing. I have no qualms in being prayed over by people who I know are Christians and have the same beliefs as I do. I would never allow myself to be prayed over by strangers who I don’t know to be sincere Christians.

And, in truth, personally, I do not trust Christians who are non-church going independents; and so, I would not be comfortable being prayed over in any ole ‘home church’. There’s a difference in praying with others who you know and trust and in having unknown others lay hands on oneself – to me anyway.

Having never been ‘slain’ I can’t speak to your sensations. But I recall that some folk not knowing what this phenomenon is all about can be fearful. People in biblical accounts are fearful in the presence of angels even though evil is not going on. Fear can stem from something being so unfamiliar. Supernatural phenomena by definition are not natural and what God does in those moments of His touch cannot be readily understood by our minds. Things supernatural are beyond our natural understanding. Perhaps one can conceptualize it as God having downloaded some software program into you, the exact details of its lines of code and operating system language unknown to you, but which will somehow bless you via its incorporation into your being and someday in the future when applicable a dialog box will pop up and enable you to work through some issues that you face or desire to understand. And all the details of the code really need not be understood to attain the benefit of the download. Or perhaps the download undid some virus operative in your memory – a virus attributable to some trauma or experience you have buried in your unconscious.

I don't think you have to be concerned at all about 'kundalini full stop'. Not based on what you describe.

My dibs. Phil and others here have experience of full kundalini and activated chakras and substantial intensity than do I.

Pop-pop

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pop-pop,

HI Pop-Pop, your reply is much appreciated. I'd like to clarify firstly regarding the 'house church' I went to: I had checked them out prior to going and had had several phone calls with them prior, and they are 'orthodox' in their Christian beliefs and actually attend other 'organised' churches, but came together on a Saturday to learn Torah and Hebrew roots. I would not have permitted them to pray and therefore lay hands on me, if I'd felt they were not 'kosher' in their love and committment to Christ.

I think you're right, in that what I experienced was akin to being 'slain in the Spirit'. Having witnessed this happening to many others in various 'churches' over the last 15 years, and many manifestations that seem to accompany this 'Holy Spirit' activity, it would seem that there are many similarities between Kundalini and being slain or touched by the Spirit: speaking in tongues, shaking, crying, kria movements. There's a video on Youtube called 'The false revival (comparision)' which compares the manifestations very clearly. There's a guy at the church I used to go to (New Frontier's affiliated) that when praying used to move like he was experiencing 'krias'. Is it just a coincidence that the Holy Spirit causes him to move in the same way someone practicing an Eastern religion that is into Kundalini etc, moves when he is praying/meditationg? I don't think so?

I am not concerned with activating kundalini rather only in trying to understand whether it is a reality that is of God and has any place in Christianity. Why is there no plain mention of this coiled energy in our spines or of the chakras etc , in the Bible? I know serpents are mentioned, but surely the 'energy' in the spine isn't actually a serpent anyway, so the few references to 'serpents' in the Bible, don't convince me that we have coiled energy in our spines. Sorry if my ignorance of these matters is offending anyone here. I don't intend any offense, only the truth of the matter. Is there some material that 'proves' how kundalini really does exist, and how it affects the body, and how it can be reconciled with Christ?

CR,

Your best bet is to aquire and read Phil's book on Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality. I know of no other resource that discusses Kundalini from a Christian perspective. You've come to the right place.

As for things not being mentioned in the Bible -- there are many: inedia, ecstasy, the arrow of love, protestantism, air-conditioning and ice cream sundaes to name a few.

Pop-pop

quote:

Originally posted by CoxRox:
...what I experienced was akin to being 'slain in the Spirit'. Having witnessed this happening to many others in various 'churches' over the last 15 years, and many manifestations that seem to accompany this 'Holy Spirit' activity, it would seem that there are many similarities between Kundalini and being slain or touched by the Spirit: speaking in tongues, shaking, crying, kria movements. ...

Hi CR,

A few years ago, we had a discussion on this topic "Slain in the Spirit" where we discussed possible kundalini involvement:

https://shalomplace.org/eve/for...10625/m/61310306/p/1

Pop-pop- I'll get the book and I'll let you guys know what I think. Yes, there are many things not mentioned in the Bible, but surely something as vital and important as Kundalini and it's possible and eventual ramifications, would surely be at least hinted at? Why did God keep it a secret all this time, or at least that's how it seems. Jesus didn't mention it, or at least He made no mention of power being activated via the spine and through the bobdy. Anyway, I'll hold my horses for now, or try to, and I'll read the book.

Shasha, I'll check out the link you've provided. thank you...

Shasha, some of your experience of being 'slain in the spirit is very similar to mine. I would just clarify that my 'slaying' was a bit different to all others I witnessed. I've gone up the front before and seen the preacher put his hands on people and they fall back. I've never fallen back. I've gone up and felt them slightly pushing me, but I've known it was them and so haven't fallen back, ever. The two occasions I felt the power in the room, I could feel it bearing down on me, and I gradually lowered myself down as the power intensified and it became uncomfortable to remain standing. My mind was in no way affected. (The first time I experienced this power, no one laid hands on me). I wasn't zonked out in any way. I had a 'power' experience, rather than a 'person' experience, or at least, that is how it felt at the time. I'd like to know in my heart and spirit, what or possibly who?? this power is?

This heaviness you describe has been shared by many across so many different pentecostal or charismatic circles. Some have referred to it as "kavod," the Glory of God like a thick, heavy cloud that comes into a room. People share what you describe being pushed down or lowered down. It's a glimpse of God's power, I do believe. But what does it mean? For you, is it possible that through this power display the Father wants to draw you in more deeply to know Him, to be transformed by Him. All of our mystical experiences and wonders seem to have this affect of getting our attention, prompting us to move in His direction, hungering for a deeper truth of Who He is....

quote:

. . . but surely something as vital and important as Kundalini and it's possible and eventual ramifications, would surely be at least hinted at? Why did God keep it a secret all this time, or at least that's how it seems. Jesus didn't mention it, or at least He made no mention of power being activated via the spine and through the bobdy.

CR, He didn't tell us about infused contemplation, dark nights of the soul, the collective unconscious, archetypes, principles of discernment, the proper training of seminarians, and a whole bunch of other stuff. That's why He left us the Holy Spirit (which He did teach about) and the Church, which is his Mystical Body in space and time.

My answer to your question is that K is inessential to salvation or union with God. It is, rather, how the body and its energies are integrated in higher, "evolutionary" states of consciousness. We do see evidence of K in our Christian mystics and contemplatives, who undoubtedly knew these higher states. But higher states of consciousness do not equate to holiness nor even to union with God, at least not in Christianity. So there are some profound discernment issues on the floor in all of this.

You all check out Romans 8, 11 and consider the role of K.

quote:

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

I think this is a good way of understanding how K works under the guidance of the Spirit.

Hi Phil, a belated thank you for your last reply. I no longer believe in Christianity (any religions) and so I've not been looking into this matter for a few years now. I still wonder about my experiences though. I never did order your book Phil. Will order now, and let you know what I think.

I wondered what had happened to you, CR.

Why do you no longer believe in any religion? Have you become a secular materialist? Might make for an interesting discussion in the Christian Morality and Theology forum, if you'd like to start a discussion there.