Symptoms of the Kundalini as compiled by the late El Collie with commentary by Glenn Morris. 

Glenn says: “El Collie was a good internet friend and had an unfortunate spontaneous rise of the kundalini that dehydrated and destroyed her immune system. She eventually succumbed to the continuous pain and committed suicide. Those of us who appreciated her poetry and humor miss her. She was a kundalini researcher and a force for good in the world. I’ve taken her list of symptoms and kriya and added some commentary to it.” 

The following are common manifestations of the rising Kundalini:

Early Symptoms and Problems - and Solutions:

Muscle twitches, cramps or spasms. Indicates energy movement and nerve regeneration. Very scary when you don’t know what is happening. 

  • Energy rushes or immense electricity circulating the body. That’s the kundalini. Main danger is dehydration of nerves and organs. Drink lots of water. Keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth.  
  • Itching, vibrating, prickling, tingling, stinging or crawling sensations. In Chi Kung this is considered very auspicious. The Chinese are strange. 
  • Feeling intense heat or cold , bursting into sweat as body cleanses and detoxes.
  • Involuntary bodily movements (occur more often during meditation, rest or sleep): jerking, tremors, shaking; feeling an inner force pushing one into postures or moving one's body in unusual ways.  (May be misdiagnosed as epilepsy, restless legs syndrome (RLS), or PLMD.) These are called spontaneous kriya in the yoga literature and will happen to anyone who meditates or does chi kung properly.  
  • Alterations in eating and sleeping patterns. As the body detoxes, and the id emerges, it will seek food that is good for it.  Wanna sleep? Break the orbit.
  • Episodes of extreme hyperactivity or, conversely, overwhelming fatigue (some CFS victims are experiencing Kundalini awakening)  Hyperactivity is usually a good thing if you are happy and busy. If you miss your sleep and real nourishment your body will poop out first, then burn out. Particularly if you dehydrate.
  • Intensified or diminished sexual desires  (See Kundalini and Sex warning) Higher levels of performance and return to youthfulness as endocrine system rejuvenates.
  • Headaches, pressures within the skull. If you do not rotate and move energy properly it stagnates and blocks growing warm and painful. We teach you how to do this in the seminars plus avoid most of the above and below in this section.
  • Racing heartbeat, pains in the chest. Tachycardia/anxiety. Secret smile cures.  
  • Digestive system problems . Part of the detox and rewire. Some people have to live on yogurt, rice, and water for short periods.
  • Numbness or pain in the limbs (particularly the left foot and leg). Doing the proper yoga exercises and stretches eliminates this. 
  • Pains and blockages anywhere; often in the back and neck (Many cases of PMS are Kundalini-related.) Massage therapy and chiropractic adjustment.

Psychological and Physiological Symptoms that May Also Develop:

  • Emotional outbursts; rapid mood shifts; seemingly unprovoked or excessive episodes of grief, fear, rage, depression  
  • Spontaneous vocalizations (including laughing and weeping) -- are as unintentional and uncontrollable as hiccoughs  
  • Hearing an inner sound or sounds, classically described as a flute, drum, waterfall, birds singing, bees buzzing but which may also sound like roaring, whooshing, or thunderous noises or like ringing in the ears.  
  • Mental confusion; difficulty concentrating  
  • Altered states of consciousness: heightened awareness; spontaneous trance states; mystical experiences (if the individual's prior belief system is too threatened by these, they can lead to bouts of psychosis or self-grandiosity All of the above are various symptoms of increased sensitivity and emergence of our id and spiritual nature. One has to work through them to get what comes next.

Why People Seek the Kundalini Experience:

  • Heat, strange activity, and/or blissful sensations in the head, particularly in the crown area.  As the brain rewires one often suffers full body orgasms, so distracting. One can hardly interact with others or buy groceries as it just goes on and on and on. Snorting, drooling, growling, leaking, and laughing way too much.
  • Ecstasy, bliss and intervals of tremendous joy, love, peace and compassion. That ecstasy thing tends to overload the peace and compassion in the beginning. If you are lucky it just merges with joy and life goes on without the “save the world bodhisattva” syndrome.
  • Psychic experiences: extrasensory perception; out-of-body experiences; past life memories; astral travel; direct awareness of auras and chakra; contact with spirit guides through inner voices, dreams or visions; healing powers . This is just natural phenomena, or siddhi to yoga, that can also be distracting when you are working on getting it all, all the time. Mere party tricks. You don’t even have to go through the kundalini or meditate for some of these. Some are more genetic like we all know how odd those red headed Irish can get with a wee dram of anodyne in them.
  • Increased creativity: new interests in self-expression and spiritual communication through music, art, poetry, etc.  This is nice because your old community may toss you out if you feel you have to rock the boat or poke fun.
  • Intensified understanding and sensitivity: insight into one's own essence; deeper understanding of spiritual truths; exquisite awareness of one's environment (including "vibes" from others).  Helps to get some therapy or read into transpersonal and humanistic psychology.
  • Enlightenment experiences: direct Knowing of a more expansive reality; transcendent awareness. If you are smart you’ll just keep this to yourself. Most people don’t care to get to know their new neighborhood prophet. They have enough trouble trying to live up to the ones who have been dead for a couple of thousand years.
Glenn says:

“The early stages of kundalini awakening can be very scary and dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. It is my belief, supported by a lot of research that this is a natural biological process that can be achieved by anyone who wants to do the work. The Kundalini Awakening and Meditation Mastery Seminars were developed specifically to teach people how to take control of their own process and have the kundalini experience safely without exploitation by various mystery and religious schools, gurus, and half-baked, New Age frauds.

I have known people who spent over twenty thousand dollars and years at the feet of various well-known spiritual teachers to no avail. We were able to get their inner lights and snakes moving up the ladder in two days. If you are really interested in doing this for real, then crank up your sense of urgency because we are getting busy and you know what happens when a little organization begins to grow. Access to the power diminishes. Or as the sufi joke goes, “You get the soup of the soup of the soup.”