isolated environment, the limbic system neurons will atrophy and the septal
nuclei, amygdala and hippocampus may develop seizure-like activity, referred
to as kindling. Trauma affects our capacity for cortical control over the limbic
system to regulate bodily homeostasis. This includes unusual patterns of cortisol,
norepinephrine, and dopamine metabolite excretion; the role of serotonergic and
opioid systems (arousal and numbing); receptor modification by processes such
as kindling; and involvement of central pathways involved in the integration of
perception, memory and arousal.
Kindling can start only in the limbic brain where it progresses from the
amygdala, then to the amygdala on the other side of the brain, to the hippocampus,
to the occipital cortex, and finally to the frontal cortex. In fetal brain development
the limbic or emotional brain predates the development of the cortex or “seat
of intelligence”. The brain’s limbic system modulates emotions and memory
organization systems, balance, gastrointestinal motility, the autonomic nervous
system, and the auditory and visual integration of stimuli.
While kindling was originally thought to be a model of epilepsy, John Gaito
of York University has reported that a different mechanism is apparently involved
since the amino acid, taurine, which suppresses epileptic seizures in laboratory
animals, does not prevent phenomena caused by kindling. Also, kindling apparently
causes permanent changes in the neural circuitry.
Kundalini has elements similar to the kindling phenomena, and yet runs
through a very complicated sequence of “events.” The article: “Kindling, once
epilepsy model, may relate to kundalini,” Brain/ Mind Bulletin, Vol. 2, No.7,
February 21, 1977; pp. 1-2.) reports on the convulsion-like phenomenon called
kundalini. At the Max Planck Institute in Germany, subjects reported “electrical
sensations, tingling, inner lights, even convulsions usually followed over a period
of time by a moderation of ‘symptoms’ and apparent alterations in the central
nervous system.” This article says that the kundalini phenomena typically occurs
after a period of meditation in a setting that is non-threatening. This report suggests
that while meditating, the individual tries to arrest all thought or cortical activity,
thus allowing the evolutionary more primitive areas of the brain to assert itself.
The Kindling Model is one of the current interpretations of PTSD. The scientists
concluded that those who experienced the kundalini phenomenon were actually
re-experiencing primal pain laid down before the brain has completely developed
(See Toxic Mind Theory).
Periods of cycling may begin with an environmental stressor, but if the
cycles continue or occur unchecked, the brain becomes kindled or sensitized.
With repetitive use pathways inside the central nervous system are reinforced so
to speak—and future more frequent episodes of depression, hypomania, or mania
will occur by themselves independent of an outside stimulus. Thus, to put it
simply, brain cells that have once been involved in an seizure episode are more
likely to do so again, and more cells will become sensitized over time. Goddard
demonstrated that it was possible to induce kindling chemically as well through
repeated small exposures to inhaled toxins; or single overwhelming exposures of