Free Radicals and Kundalini
Longevity = maximum ATP (energy) with a minimum of free radical production.
How well we weather a kundalini awakening is partly determined by our
antioxidant reserves, our blood-sugar/glycation history and our mineral and
enzyme reserves. If our protein structures are strong and we have strong antioxidant
defenses, then extra energy can pass through our system without excess glycation or
oxidation damage. Getting those powerful antioxidant reserves from food sources
is harder these days considering that there is a 50% reducing in the antioxidant
content of food grown in the industrial agricultural method. Superfoods, wild
foods and herbs and nutraceuticals can be taken as a general course to guard against
neurodegeneration, collagen breakdown and aging.
Free radicals are reactive oxygen molecules that have lost an electron in interactions
with other molecules. As a result, these molecules are extremely unstable and they
race around stealing electrons from other molecules creating more free radicals
in the process, damaging cell components. Free radicals are produced by normal
cellular processes, and the majority are produced during the production of ATP
in the mitochondria and in digestion. Other normal cellular enzymatic processes
create free radicals include phagocytosis, inflammation, prostaglandin synthesis, in
the cytochrome P450 system and in reactions involving iron and other transition
metals. Free radicals are also created from exercise, sunlight, cigarette smoke,
alcohol, transfats, pesticides, air pollution, stress and electromagnetic radiation.
The body produces several free radical quenching enzymes as its first line
of defense: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase.
Additionally the body uses exogenous antioxidant vitamins, minerals and substances
found in food to counteract free radicals. Half the protein produced in the body
every day is enzymes and our endogenous antioxidant Superoxide dismutase is
the fifth most abundant protein in the body, because there is no “life” without
protection from oxidation. Intestinal bacteria produce SOD and other vitamins
like biotin and B12. Chlorine in drinking water, coffee, birth control pills, other
steroids, antibiotics and even the acid produced from negative thinking will reduce
intestinal bacteria and promote candida yeast growth.
The hormonal swings that are inevitable with kundalini awakenings may
promote intestinal conditions that could interfere with the body’s free radical
defense system. There is an increase of free radical production in the body during
metamorphosis because of increased hormone and neurotransmitter use and
breakdown, increased metabolism and nerve energy flow, increased oxygen and
glucose consumption, increased immune function, the increase breakdown and
growth of cells, increase in stress hormone production and the impairment of
normal digestion due to sympathetic-nervous-system hyperactivation. All these
factors raise the free radical load on the bodymind during active kundalini. Free
radicals overtax the immune system and keep it so busy processing the breakdown
of the body’s own cells that it cannot fight off viruses, microbes, and infections
that attack it from without.