Is there a guide, a set of exercises to perform to awaken the kundalini? I looked around and didn't find any description of a method, only descriptions of experiances where the awakening "just happened".

It'd be helpful to explain why is it dangerous.

Can confirm. In my case, it was "ignorant of the process".



I had to cancel my plans for the evening and I had to stay at home for roughly 36 hours waiting for the involuntary spinal movements to subside.

I enoyed Tara Springett's book Enlightenment Through the Path of Kundalini. I can't testify to the methods in it though, since it's not something I practice. Her claim is that she is teaching the safe method to awaken kundalini. The rest of my review is on Amazon Canada's site:

http://www.amazon.ca/Enlightenment-Through-Path-Kundalini-Overcoming-ebook/dp/B00LXD6WXC

Gopi Krishna's "Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy In Man" details an account of kundalini awakening through yogic concentration techniques, and the ensuing process of purificaton that occurs (which I consider to be one and the same with the nanas).  My theory is that the a&p is one an the same with kundalini awakening.

Anyhoo, what Gopi does to awaken his kundalini is sit in full lotus for hours at a time, placing his attention at the crown of his head.  This seems to make sense, in terms of drawing the energy up, which sort of the opposite of diaphragmatic breathing or other Buddhist breath practices.

Wow. This describes my accidental kundalini awakening perfectly. It coincided with the first time I reached 2nd Jhana / A&P and I was doing basically what you described (only it took less than an hour).

Haha thats awesome.

I think there's a way in which many Buddhist practices, as well as some AYP ones, focus on grounding over the encouragement of energetic progression or the surrender to it, which is also really important in making progress.  Like, if you spent five years doing diaphragmatic breathing with a silent count on the exhale (as per Rinzai Zen), its no wonder you wouldn't cross the a&p!

Edit: I realized the struck-through line was obnoxious.

In my case, it wasn't dangerous so much as incredibly inconvenient. It was accompanied by a lot of sensory dissonance: audial, visual and somatic. I came up with a convenient excuse in case anyone happened to catch me spontaneously twitching at my desk while at work, but it never happened, so phew.

How I got there was about a year of samatha practice, just focusing on the sensation of the in and out breath, either at the anapana spot or in the rise-fall of the abdomen. After about a year, I came across an article by Leigh Brasington wherein he encourages switching from the breath to the sensation of pleasure in the body and using that as the object. I tried this and within two sits had my first exposure to what Brasington mentioned Pa Auk Sayadaw referring to as gross piti.

It was essentially a kundalini event, as the following year and a half has been a lot about learning how to identify the energetics within the body. At this point, the root chakra is open and with a little bit of work, I can "move the energy" to various other centers in the body. I usually don't go past the heart, as I then tend to use it as an opportunity to go into metta practice at that point.

One yogi's perspective and practice. YMMV, of course

Aaaaand I was using that same article as inspiration  

I always find it fascinating when the same technique leads to the same unexpected result!

Edit: the article

http://www.leighb.com/jhana3.htm

AYP = Advanced Yoga Practices? Any resource you would suggest for getting started?

During my sits I'm observing twitching of my fingers and hands. I never had these movements before. Is this a sign my energy body is activating?

Kundalini yoga is said to be designed for the fast track of awakening kundalini, you can google it to find out more.  The thing is, kundalini is said to awaken naturally when you are ready.  If you are not ready, the side effects can be intense, debilitating, and last for years.  Gopi Krishna's book details some of the dangers.  He was sick and unable to work for months at a time, his wife had to care for him like an invalid, even though he had a lot of meditation experience beforehand.  You may think you are a strong person but kundalini can hand you your butt in a sling and have you crying uncle very quickly and once you open that door, you can't close it again.  That's why kundalini yoga is very controversial in the yoga circles.  Some say that awakening the kundalini is worth it no matter how much force and how much suffering is needed, but others say it's very dangerous for those not ready and some end up in the psych word with mental and physical instability due to unprepared awakenings.  My best advice would be to stay with more neutral practices such that you prepare yourself and have a more gentle awakening.  Trying to force the door open before you are ready can have devastating consequences. It's like trying to run too much electricity along wires that are too small, stuff gets fried.  You have been warned!  ;-P  
-Eva  

http://www.aypsite.org/ tons of good info.. popular as a resource here on the dho

I really like this site for info too: http://www.swamij.com/

http://www.3ho.org/ try to find a 3ho-kundalini yoga center in your area...  I've never taken these classes I just now they have a lot of centers world wide

Or just search 'kundalini yoga in my area' lol

Thanks for the links! I had found the AYP site, but there is so much information with a very unclear structure. I guess it is an excellent resource once you know a bit more about how it all works. I did not know swamij, I really like its FAQ-like thing. Good point to start from.

I was kind of hoping for an MCTB of Advanced Yoga. MCPAY (Mastering the Core Practices of Advanced Yoga)? Someone should write that, there are not enough Dan Ingrams around.  

Going back to studying. Thanks again

It sounds like you're very interested.  Read Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.  There is also this epic thread about the 'yoga' of Vajrayana Buddhism: http://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/3604496

AYP really wants you to start at the begining and go through it sequentially in the order presented under the "Main Lessons" link.

I myself accidentally awakened kundalini during a 10 day Goenka retreat, though it wasn't for a couple of years that I figured out was going on (initially I thought it was the dark night, perhaps it was a combination of the 2?).

It is interesting to note that the Goenka school downright refutes the existence of kundalini, which is pretty stupid as their advice to anyone having difficulties on a retreat (which may or may not be kundalini related) is just to stick with anapanasati, which, if someone is going through an intense kundalini awakening can lead to a psychotic eposode (and does happen, on occassion).

On a Mahasi retreat with Bhante Bhodidhamma, he acknowledged the existence of kundalini, that he has had some personal experience of it, but that it should subside with time. So it seems Theravada Buddhism does acknowledge its existence, but have no understanding of it, how to utilise it, and simply treat it as a sort of "side effect".

On the flip side, some schools of hinduism and Tibbhetan Buddhism say that it's essential for, and indeed, is the vehicle for, complete enlightenment.

So I've either not grasped something here, am mis-informed, or there's a complete disparity between traditions.

My current stance, based on my situation and experience is that the latter is likely the case.

I've come across this book:

Kundalini Tantra

The first portion of which gives background information, then moves on to prescribe a course for systematically awakening the chakras etc. which I really like, though the author advises several years of hatha yoga experience and the guidance of a realised teacher, of which I have neither.

I have been doing the excercises for about 6 weeks and can only say that the efficacy has been incredibe. It seems that I can achieve more with about 15-20 minutes per day than I was able to do with an hour or more of simple breathe meditation.

I have also recently read the bliss of inner fire by Lama Thubten Yeshe which is excellent and somewhat revered from what I can tell. It does contain instructions, though they are peppered throughout the commentary and concerned specifically with the the practice of tummo. My plan is to try tummo meditation after I have completed all of the chakra awakening exercises detailed in Kundalini Tantra.

Tara Springett's Englightenment through the path of Kundalini is another excellent book, claiming (as mentioned above) that she has devised a safe method for awakening Kundalini. It is very practical in that it offers guidance on chakra awakening, dealing with specific Kundalini side-effects and is written in a simple westerner's format. Despite being somewhat new-agey, I think it's the real-deal, and her teachings are apparently backed up by Tibetan Buddhist teachings.

I wouldn't recommend reading Gopi Krishna's stuff, or any kundalini horror stories for that matter, because there is no benefit to be found in them (and what I was able to trawl through of Krishna's has to be some of the most contrived reading I've ever endured!); if you do successfully or "accidentally" awaken your kundalini, the chances are you may find yourself in a fearful state for a while (in my case a few weeks here and there, nothing too bad fortunateley), and these things would only serve as fuel for that.

PI, your links all point back to this thread rather than to the books.

Thanks Derek, links fixed and double-checked!

Thanks.

I agree with you that it's puzzling that (1) some well-respected traditions ignore k or dismiss it as irrelevant, while (2) others insist that it is not only relevant but in fact absolutely necessary.

I've come across a third view. This is that k symptoms happen only if there are "blockages" that need to be dissolved.

Thus Lee Sannela writes:

"When the kundalini encounters these blocks, it works away at them until they are dissolved."

To which George Feurstein replies:

"Sannella's statement holds true only in cases where the kundalinо has been prematurely or wrongly aroused, that is, in the absence of adequate preparation."

Source: http://www.yoga-age.com/articles/kundalini.html

So view (3) is that meditators in Theravada and Zen traditions, for example, do in fact have kundalini awakenings, but they are asymptomatic. The meditator might not even know it has happened.

I hear meditation people describe kundalini symptoms often, heat, tingling, feeling of electricity in body, seeing lights, vibrations, kriya, out of body experience (or feeling of expansion), bliss, the powers, etc.  So that would not be 'asymptomatic' at all.  They are just not calling it kundalini side effects but instead are calling it unknown strange side effects of meditation.  Some meditation schools may not believe in kundalini, but I bet they don't have any other explanations of those weird side effects either. Then again, using the label 'kundalini' is not much of an explanation either.  Personally I suspect kundalini is something that does always happen with enlightenment, but either way, we don't know much about the actual processes.
-Eva

When Derek Cameron first mentioned this book in another thread I checked out the sample from Amazon.  I was inspired by what I read, but at the same time a bit put off by the idea that some of the material was channeled. So, I held off purchasing the book.

When PI again mentioned the book, I purchased it (the kindle version is pretty inexpensive).  She does present a consistent but different model of spiritual development.  Many elements are in line with my intuition and history.  I experienced a probable Kundalini type experience over 30 years ago that was very powerful and destabilizing. So I have a continuous interest in this type of thing.