Dear All,
I was not a spiritual person to being with, leading a typical middle class life carried away by life distractions and stuck in my own struggles. Given this background, five years back I suddenly started to get hit with panic attacks. I tried different ways to heal the disease and get my life back to normal.
After fighting it for couple of years, things started to get interesting . Events started to change and made me realize that I had a sudden Kundalini spiritual opening that was causing the panic attacks.
This understanding and the continuous practise and efforts to integrate the energy has changed my life profoundly and made living experience a joy. I took notes about this process for more than two years and recently changing the notes to a manuscript for a book. I hope this book will help all those who are fighting the kundalini in different stages as well as those unaware of it and treating it as a disease.
Since English is not my first langauge and I have never written a book before, I would need some volunteers to review the manuscript in order to help it reach wider audience. Please let me know if you have time and patience to read my manuscript and advise me of the changes needed.
Your help appreciated.

Best Wishes,
vivbala
vivbala@hotmail.com

"Often one goes for one thing and finds another" -Neem Karoli Baba

Welcome, vivbala, and congratulations on writing your book. Your English in this post is just fine.

I do not have time to do detailed editing, but would be happy to look over your work. Please send to phil@shalomplace.com

I am curious as to how you came to associate your panic attacks with kundalini. Also, what is your manner of spiritual practice?

Thanks, Phil

Thanks Phil, I will send you the manuscript.

Vivbala
also congratulations from me for being able to write the book. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to look over your book as I am in the process of writing a kundalini book myself.

About the panic attacks: Phil, 99% of my kundalini clients have problems with anxiety and panic. It seems to be one of the most typical symptoms many people experience. Did you not have it?

I myself went through a prolonged phase of anxiety. During that phase I learnt to get rid of it for good and that is what I teach my clients.

I've had anxiety at times during the early days of K awakening, but the awakening was more related to a deepening in my prayer. No panic attacks. The anxiety seemed more existential than situational, but it eventually came to pass and rarely shows up now . . . thankfully!

I just read a book by a Buddhist monk and meditation teacher who overcame panic attacks with mindfulness meditation. I don't know if you'll be interested but in case you are it's:

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche - "The Joy Of Living: Unlocking The Secret And Science Of Happiness"

Thanks so much for sharing this, Shabd_Mystic, and welcome to the forum. I can see where mindfulness meditation would be an effective way to deal with panic attacks.

I once had a spiritual directee who suffered from them, but what was clear was that her greater misery came from the fear of having another one sometime. We talked about this and I encouraged her to try a different approach -- that the next time she felt a panic attack coming on, she was to sit down and invite it to do so . . . to actually welcome it and let herself go into it and suffer it consciously and with acceptance, as a gift of sorts. She thought this ridiculous, but it did help to lessen her fear, as she was curious as to what might happen. Within a couple of days, she felt one coming on and tried the experiment I recommended. She felt the gloom and anxiety and the sinking feeling of losing control, but sat down and welcomed it instead of trying to resist it. What happened next amazed her, and me as well (when she recounted it). The energy seemed to reverse course and instead of pulling her down began to swirl about within her, enveloping her with warmth and a sense of radiance. She was moved to pray during this time and entered into a deep mystical experience of God's loving acceptance of her. She never had another panic attack after that, and continued to experience this energy at work within her for months afterwards. Naturally, I thought it to be a type of kundalini awakening process, but we didn't talk about that much as she was more prone to consider it a healing energy of the Spirit. Fine with me.

That's how he cured it in himself Phil. You obviously know what you're talking about!

Well done, Phil, for facilitating this great cure.

In my experience, the key to overcoming anxiety is relaxation as anxiety itself is a form of tensions that manifests in our body and mind.

The first step is always deep self-acceptance and self-love. In the second step you need to slow down your breathing and relax the body part where the anxiety manifests.

I have worked with 100s of people who had panic attacks, phobias and various fears and it has always worked - in every single case. It's a pretty fool-proof approach.

That's amazing, Phil. Thanks for sharing that. It immediately made me think of the "Welcoming Prayer."

quote:

The history of the Welcoming Prayer is a little surprising. It’s not an ancient practice, though it’s an ancient idea. Mary Mrozowski of Brooklyn, New York — one of the first leaders of centering prayer — developed the method. She was inspired by Abandonment to Divine Providence, an early 18th century spiritual work by Jesuit priest and spiritual director, Father Jean Pierre de Caussade. Father Thomas Keating and others saw the value of her little method and over the years it has been supported, fine-tuned and expanded within the community of people who practice centering prayer and beyond.

From http://www.patheos.com/blogs/p...the-welcoming-prayer

That's great, Phil. Very lovely.

Similar things have happened to me during periods of attack - being totally present to the suffering somehow opens a door to grace, as if bringing pain to the full light of consciousness is healing. I'm sure this must be close to Christ's victory on the cross, acting in the good of its power.

Yes, to Welcoming Prayer, Derek. I might have had that in mind at the time, but was also tuned in to what Frankl calls "paradoxical intentionality" -- that in "not-wanting" something, we are actually constantly relating to it and reacting to it. As so often is the case, it is the fear of something happening that is more destructive than the actual possibility of it doing so. So the challenge is to be rid of the fear, and have some kind of practical plan for dealing with the possible calamity.

- - -

Here's another one: a woman who was crying and saying she was going to kill herself was sent to my office at the retreat center, mostly so I could find a place to refer her. She had just learned that her husband had been cheating on her for years and that he now wanted a divorce. They had small children, and her family was hundreds of miles away. Things looked very gloomy for her.

I knew I had to get her to a counselor, but also wanted to help her calm down. An idea came to invite her to look at the oriental rug in my office, which had many subtle colors and patterns. I told her this was a very special rug, and asked if she would just take a few minutes to notice how many colors and shapes she could identify. She looked at me as if I was nuts, but agreed to give it a try. After a couple of minutes, she had begun to calm down. When I called "time" after 5 minutes, she had stopped crying and was much more focused. I asked her about the colors and designs, and she pointed out a number of them. I then asked how she felt, and she said anxious, but mostly OK, then began apologizing for her "big scene." She wanted to know what it was about that rug that had helped her calm down, and, of course, there was absolutely nothing special about the rug to account for it. She had just stopped indulging her fears for a few minutes and had placed her attention elsewhere -- on the rug patterns and colors, which were of no spiritual significance, imo. I told her she could do this any time -- just go outside and look around and see things, even for a few minutes. We made arrangements for her to see a counselor, and I never saw her again.

The lesson here is that attention is something of a "spiritual muscle" that can be exercised. What we give our attention to, we give our energy to as well, so we'd best learn to exercise our attention is a way that is life-giving rather than energy-draining.

I've used this principle many times in my own life, and in raising kids. For example, I'd ask the child to sit outside and identify 20 different sounds -- preferably birds. This would help them calm down when they were upset, and after awhile they'd just go and do it without my telling them to.

Phil
I used your technique today with an emotionally out-of-control client. It worked very well!

In my own technique I give clients a symbol (that comes from God) to focus on. Our mind needs 'something' to focus on in order to turn away from our negative thoughts and feelings. However, if someone is completely out of control it can be too much to visualise a symbol. So, that's where your technique can come in handy. Thanks a lot!

Glad to hear that was helpful, Tara. Sometimes it does help to have something outside oneself to focus on.

In my prayer, I sometimes find it helpful to focus on a candle, or icon, as a symbol of God's presence. That can be especially helpful when the inner life is stirred up. Generally, just prayerfully following my breath is enough.

quote:

Tara - find more help for kundalini problems here: http://www.taraspringett.com/k...i/kundalini-syndrome

I just wanted to let you know that I've tried your link several times for a week now and all I get is -

******
The connection has timed out

The server at www.taraspringett.com is taking too long to respond.
******

I don't have any kundalini problems (quite the opposite in fact) but I like to check out such sites so I figured I'd let you know.