Preparation
“Following the way of Yoga a man must reach the state of Samadhi, that is, of ecstasy
or enlightenment, in which alone truth can be understood.” 249, P.D. Ouspensky, A
New Model of the Universe, Dover, 1997
Perhaps the main caution that I have discovered through my own experience
and in my research, is that if you set your chemistry toward a “hot-burn” without
also providing the resources for structural strength, detoxification and oxidation-
inflammation protection, then depending on your constitution, a kundalini
awakening “could” age the body faster, might lead to cancer and in extreme cases
may result in organ failure. This is why I stress the need for preparation, meta-
adaptation and most importantly to avoid the lust of “chasing the dragon” through
excessively stimulating substances, practices and experiences. There is a need for
each of us to modulate and moderate our flame according to our changing ability
for meta-adaptation within body, mind, soul and community.
Our modern cultural conditions such as sedentary lifestyle, removal from nature
and cooked-clogging diets are not conducive to kundalini flow or awakening. This
means when we do pop it tends to be explosive rather than an ongoing thread of
alchemy throughout our lifetime. Still I don’t think it should be the aim of spiritual
practices like yoga and meditation to have a nice smooth calm awakening. Safe
growth is translation not transformation. It is the machination of the ego to want
to control the process of evolution, either through balance or through exaggeration
of the extremes. Spiritual practices however can tend to tame the ego’s resistance
to the process so that less friction and damage to the organism occurs, thereby
making the metamorphic process more thorough and enduring.
Funny thing was in 2000 on arriving in Boulder, I was heading for the major
blast and I was spontaneously doing a kundalini practice and I didn’t know it at
the time. Some of the things I was doing daily were meditation on iron rocks at
sunset, alternatively jumping in a cold stream then putting hot rocks on my body,
juicing, running in the hills, and hanging. If I didn’t do these things chances are
I would not have popped so richly. We have to prepare ourselves to meet the
Beloved. This is the essential work of elevating the vehicle to receive the Self.
It is the unusual nature and intensity of metamorphosis which forces respect,
awareness, awe and faith. Fear and panic is unavoidable with the hyperactivation
of the sympathetic nervous system and the unknown quality of what is happening
and where it’s going. But in the end passing through this fear leaves one with
such an altered physiology and deeper perspective that allows one distance from
the collective fear. Only then do we have any power to dispel consensus fear and
increase love in the world, for we become karma eating machines, offering cellular
forgiveness. This is the gift of bio-maturity that constitutes the “Christ.”
Whether rocky or calm one always has the awakening specifically designed for
one’s own needs. Each individual is different. Some nuts are harder to crack than
others and so take more force or unusual mechanisms to open. Kundalini herself
will guide the way if we listen intently to be informed from within and hold lightly
to our “shoulds” and known concepts. During Gobi Krishna’s major cycle he was