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The Serpent and the Spine › Lesson 3 of 3

PART 3 The "How-To" Method of The Kundalini Awakening

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How it Happened

There was a pull at the base of my spine like somebody had put a magnet there, and then another magnet at the crown of my head, and the two of them found each other. Everything between them went electric. Behind my closed eyes the dark filled with lattices, a honeycomb grid that folded and reorganized itself from the space behind my head. Then tunnels made of geometry, and after that colors I have no names for, because I have never seen them with my eyes open. My body felt like it was being drawn upward and out through the top of my skull, and at the same time, a part of me was already outside, above, looking back at my body as if my body was simply a piece of clothing.
And then Love happened! Not affection, not sentiment. Something enormous and impersonal and completely specific to me at the same time, the kind that makes the word love sound like a rounding error. You can't even call it love. It's more like such a connection that every connection is gone and you are just one with everything!
I found myself in a place... a void filled with nothing but absolute and unending love. Time was different there. I could see some patterns in the distance but the visuals were a side point. It was the feeling that was sooo overwhelming. It was like I had been there for a long long time - for forever. I was the only being in the universe and all of this I created just for myself. Everything living consciousness in the universe was me... experiencing life from a different lens.
I didn't remember myself as a living being on Earth. The Earth or life in it never came into my consciousness. No family or friends. Nothing... but I wasn't alone. I was THE thing that filled every space with life.
After being there for a second or a year???...  I had the thought, "Wait...How did I get here?" and that created a sudden fear in me that flooded my consciousness with questions like...
  • Who am I?
  • What am I?
  • Am I alive or dead?
That snapped me out of this place and I eventually 'came back', ripped off my eye mask and then realized where I was at the retreat.
It happened on a Wednesday, in Denver 2023, using nothing but the sound of a live meditation, my breathable air and music at the meditation retreat.
It was, by far, the most profound thing that has ever happened to me. It shaped my life tot he point where I am no longer the person that lived before that moment. The fear moment was short but it is something to know about so that if you experience it, you will, at the very least, know that it may happen.
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Question
What should you check before starting this practice?
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Answer
Read the medical Disclaimer in the first part of this series. Don't attempt this practice if any item applies to you: Schizophrenia, Epilepsy or any seizure history, if you are pregnant, if you have high blood pressure, if you have glaucoma, if you have had a recent surgery, if you have asthma, if you have PTSD, if you are depressed, if you are under 18, if you are on stimulants, or if you have not talked to your doctor about this first.

The Visuals and Feel

Before I give you the instructions, take three minutes and read about what you are going to feel, so that when it arrives you recognize it instead of panicking. It will be something new so just surrender instead of fighting it.
The tingling, buzzing, and hands curling inward come from respiratory alkalosis. You have blown off carbon dioxide, blood pH has risen, and calcium binds more tightly to proteins in the blood, which leaves less free calcium available and makes your nerves fire more easily. The technical name for the hand curling is tetany. In a healthy person it is harmless and it resolves on its own within a minute or two of normal breathing.
The magnetic pull, the sense of being drawn or lifted, comes from that same nerve excitability plus changes in the vestibular system. That is the part of your inner ear reporting which way is up. When you scramble its inputs, your brain does its best to interpret the incoming signal. It feels like motion, pulling, floating, or rising.
I showed you the picture of the blackness that I saw in my initial kundalini session, above. Here are other images you may come across. The geometry has a name in the research. Heinrich Kluver catalogued what he called form constants in the 1920s:
  • Lattices
  • Honeycombs
  • Cobwebs
  • Tunnels
  • Funnels
  • Spirals
  • Squiggles. 
I will add one more to the list... Fast moving cartoon characters. I often see these when I am entering the state.
Those same shapes appear in psychedelic states, under oxygen deprivation, in migraine auras, in near-death reports, and in rock art from cultures separated by continents and millennia. They are widely understood to come from the architecture of the visual cortex itself, which is organized in repeating columns. Push the system hard enough and it renders its own wiring.
The default mode network is the last piece. Robin Carhart-Harris has shown that psilocybin's main brain-level effect is a breakdown of coordinated activity in that network, the self-referential system that narrates your life and maintains the sense of being a separate person. Deep meditation quiets the same system. So does intense breathwork. When that network loosens, the boundary between self and everything else gets thin, and the reports that come back are unity, timelessness, and love. It's the same destination but using different roads.
The closest video to show what some of the kundalini experiences look like, visually are in the the first 5 minutes of this Youtube video.

The Practice: How To Do It

Posture #1, Lying Down (start here)

This is the beginner's position, and it stays useful forever. Use it for your first few sessions at a minimum, because if you faint or go into the gamma wave void lying down, you wont fall over and hit your head..
  1. Your Surface. Use a yoga mat, carpet, or a firm rug on the floor. Not a soft bed, which swallows your spine and makes you sleepy.
  2. Your Legs. Lay flat with a pillow under the knees or butt for comfort. Your knees can be slightly bent with your feet about hip width apart. Either one takes the arch out of your lower back. A flat lower back is what lets the pelvic floor engage cleanly.
  3. Your Arms. Keep your arms at your side, a few inches from the body, palms up. Don't fold them over your chest. You want the front of the body open.
  4. Your Head. Use a thin pillow or nothing at all. Chin slightly up, not tucked to your chest. You can also place a rolled up towel under your neck so that your head tilts backward naturally.
  5. You Shoulders. Roll them down and back once, then let them go heavy into the floor. They should stay there naturally but don't force them. If they creep toward your ears during the breathing, that is your signal to relax more again.
  6. Your Jaw and tongue. Keep them loose. Teeth apart. Loosen everything and don't worry if your mouth opens. A clenched jaw travels straight down into a clenched throat, and a clenched throat is the main thing that makes this go wrong. Keep it all loose and free.

Posture #2, Sitting Up

This one is for experienced meditators. Please make sure you have something to grab onto if needed. If you don't know why yet, then sitting up for this type of meditation is not for you. This posture can create a more vivid experience for most people once you have some sessions behind you. It does carry a real fall risk, so use it only after you know how your body reacts.
  1. Your Seat. Use a firm chair with a high back, preferably with arm rests, or the floor with a cushion under your hips high enough that your knees sit below your hip bones. If you are in a chair, feet flat on the ground, no crossed legs.
  2. Your Spine. Sit up straight and elongate your spine. Imagine the crown of your head is being drawn gently up toward the ceiling, and let your spine stack underneath it. You are not braced military-straight and you are not slumped. Sit comfortably but not slouching.
  3. Your Shoulders. They should be down and back, with your chest open. This allows your breath to move the energy freely.
  4. Your Hands. Both of your hands should be resting on your lap. If you feel more comfortable, you may rest one on your lower belly, just below the navel, and one on your thigh. The hand on the belly gives you feedback on whether you are actually breathing with intention or just puffing your chest.
  5. Your Head, during the breathing phase. Neutral, facing forward. Not back yet.
  6. Your Head, during the hold. This is where it tilts. Let it go back gently, twenty to thirty degrees, chin rising, throat long and soft. Think about the position when someone is trying to give CPR. You need to open that airway. 
  7. Your Safety. Look around you. There should be nothing hard behind or beside you. Floor sitting or sitting on the side of your bed is safer than sitting in a chair. For instance, if you are laying on the side of your bed and feel the pull where you are about to be blasted out of your body, all you have to do is lay back on your bed and surrender. 

The Breath

This is the same for both positions.
  1. Mouth open. For this practice, breathe in and out through the mouth. Nasal breathing has advantages elsewhere, but here you need volume and you need it fast.
  2. Inhale big. Fill your lungs from the bottom up. Belly first, then ribs expanding out sideways, then chest. Big and full and committed, about ninety five percent of capacity. Don't cram in the last five percent, because that last bit is all strain and no benefit.
  3. Exhale by letting go. Don't push or force the air out. Release the inhale and let it fall out of you. The exhale should take less time than the inhale.
  4. The Rhythm. Approximately one second in and one second out or one complete cycle every two seconds. However, follow the music and let the rhythm carry the tempo of your breath. 
  5. The Count. Twenty to thirty round trips. Keep the count for the first few times, then stop counting and go by feel as you gain experience.
  6. What you are looking for. Lightheadedness. Tingling in the hands, feet, or around the mouth. Warmth or a cool wave. Buzzing. Ringing in the ears. Hands starting to curl. Sometimes a wave of emotion out of nowhere. That is the state. Stay relaxed inside it instead of gripping it. You are going to 'Feel It!' and when you do, surrender and move on to the next step.
This is the part that most people get wrong. If you feel like your head is gonna pop off, your face gets red, or you feel like you are straining, then you are doing it wrong and it will stop the entire experience.
  1. Final inhale. One more big inhale, to about eighty or ninety percent. Full, not crammed.
  2. Tilt your head back, during the hold. Remember your posture. This is the time to tilt your head back.  
  3. Hold your throat open. Seal the air in with your lips and a relaxed throat. Don't clamp your throat shut and press against it. If your ears roar, your face goes red, your temples pound, or your head feels like it is about to pop off, you are bearing down against a closed throat with too much force so stop, breathe normally, and start the next round at half the effort. That sensation is the practice telling you the mechanics are wrong.
  4. Place your attention at the tailbone. Put your awareness at the very base of your spine. Try feeling into that spot the way you would feel into a sore tooth with your tongue.
  5. Squeeze the right two things. Lift the pelvic floor by drawing the lower belly in and up, gently, beneath the navel. Try to press your belly button to your spine. At the same time, squeeze the Kegel muscles that you use for sex and urination. It will feel like you are trying to stop your urine flow or ejaculating. This squeezes the spinal fluid and pushes it up. That is the whole squeeze.
  6. Don't squeeze anything else. Not your glutes or your thighs. Nothing in your jaw, fists, shoulders, face, or neck. Everything above your collarbones and below your knees stays soft. Entire body clenching is the single most common error, and it converts a subtle practice into a blood pressure spike.
  7. Your Effort level. Thirty to fifty percent. That's all. You are not trying to squeeze at maximum level. This is a lift and a draw, not a grip. 
  8. Duration. Ten to twenty seconds at first. Later thirty or forty if it stays comfortable. Length is not the point and there is no prize. A relaxed fifteen beats a strained forty every time.
  9. The Pump. When the feeling comes to you, try pumping the muscles like you are trying to pump the spinal fluid into the base of your brain.
  10. Head back, eyes up. As you hold, let the head tilt gently back and let your eyes roll up and slightly inward behind closed lids... toward yoru third eye or forehead. Do it soft, not strained. if your eyes flutter a bit, that's ok.  
  11. Let the light move. There is a point of energy down there at the base of your spine. Allow it to rise up your tailbone, sacrum, lower back, mid back, between the shoulder blades, base of the skull, crown. One continuous slow movement up through the center of your body. Don't try to 'Make it happen.' Invite it, keep your intention of it happening, and simply follow it when it does happen.
  12. Release. Release and relax your muscles and breath at the same time. 
  13. Do nothing. Take a few deep breaths to re-introduce oxygen to your body, and relax. Usually three to five slow, normal breaths with no agenda at all is the gap where the experience actually shows up. Don't ruin it by launching straight into the next round of breaths. 
  14. Repeat with intention. Repeat for five to eight rounds once you know your body. With each round, restate your intention silently and then drop it. 
Note: When you are first starting this practice, you might not feel anything at all. It's like exercise. At first, you see no results but after weeks and months, you will start seeing your body change. Look at a paper towel roll. When you pull off the first few squares, you see no change in the size of the roll but soon, you start noticing a difference.
When you notice subtle differences or maybe you even notice your body trying to tell you something, go with it. Trust your own body over any online tutorial.
Give yourself time and don't give up. It took me (Ryan) 4 years to master this, but I didn't have a coach like you have. Once3 I had a coach, i got it in 3 days. So time doesn't really matter and I can't tell you how long it will take you. We are all different.

Fear Versus Health Warning

Learn these before you begin. This is the most important page in the course.

Keep going when you feel any of these.

Disclaimer: Please re-read the medical disclaimer before moving on. Only move on if you are in a healthy state of mind and body. CYOM can't be held responsible for and adverse side effects.
  • Fear, dread, a sense of dying, or the thought that you have to stop. Almost always, this is your nervous system flagging something unfamiliar. Name it silently, stay with the breath, and continue with relaxed intention.
  • Crying, shaking, laughing, involuntary movement, or noises. Normal and common, and it means stored material is discharging. Let it happen. Don't suppress it. Let it out. This is often referred to as stuck energy.
  • Tingling, buzzing, hands curling, cold, or waves of heat. Respiratory alkalosis and tetany are harmless in a healthy person. Continue. It resolves on its own.

Fix your technique when you feel this one.

  • If your head feels like it will pop off, pounding temples, roaring ears, red face, this is a mechanical error. This tells you that you are bearing down too hard against a closed throat. Stop the round, breathe normally, and restart at half the squeeze with an open throat.

Get help immediately for any of these. None of them belong to this practice.

  • Chest pain, or pain down an arm or into the jaw. Stop. Sit up. Call emergency services.
  • Numbness or weakness on one side, face drooping, slurred speech, sudden vision loss, or a bad headache. Stop. Call emergency services.
  • Confusion that does not clear within a couple of minutes of normal breathing. Stop and seek care.

Aftercare

After your session, lie still for at least ten minutes with your music playing. You can lay there for as long as you want. Then grab some water, then something to eat, then write in your journal while the experience is still fresh. Write what you felt physically, what came up emotionally, any images or geometry, and anything that surprised you. Don't interpret it yet. Just record it.
You should not drive for thirty minutes afterward as you will probably have a buzz until your body processes normalize. Also, you might want to avoid big decisions or difficult conversations that day. A warm shower and a walk outside both help your landing. Expect emotional aftershocks or bouts of emotional releases for a day or two and expect your sleep to be a little strange that first night. All of that is ordinary.
What is Kundalini Crisis?
If something does not settle, take it seriously. Watch for insomnia that lasts, agitation that will not come down, or a persistent sense that you or the world is not real. Any of those, or trouble functioning for more than a few days, means stop the practice and talk to a doctor or therapist. This has a name. Grof called it spiritual emergency, and the older literature calls it a kundalini crisis. It is not a level you unlocked and it is not something to push through. Stop, get support, and come back later or not at all. Gopi Krishna spent months in that state and he is the reason we know to warn you.

Why People Still Walk Through This Door

You just read a page of warnings so it's fair to ask why anyone would sit down and do this on purpose. People have asked that about this practice for thousands of years, and the answer has barely changed.
The people who perform this practice are looking for whatever waits on the other side of themselves. They are looking for the unknown. They want to change and do a total 180 from who they are now and actually be born again into a different person.
The you that sits down on the mat is the you built from habits, old stories, fears you memorized as a child, and a voice that has narrated your life since childhood. In a full kundalini awakening, that version of you stops immediately.
A version of you will die that day... What dissolves is the construction itself, the default mode network letting go of the story of who you are. Jesus told Nicodemus a person must be born again, and Buddhists call it the end of the separate self. What gets up off the floor afterward is someone brand new, who also somehow remembers what was underneath all along.
Your body gets a brand new cleansing as well! The practice above will flood your bloodstream with adrenaline alongside a rise in interleukin-10, the body's anti-inflammatory signal, and also sustain a drop in the inflammatory marker TNF-alpha.
Intense states like this also release endorphins and endocannabinoids, your own built-in pain relief, which is why people so often stand up with their aches completely gone!
Waves of love and connection bring dopamine and oxytocin, and the vagal reset afterward pulls you out of survival mode and into rest and repair mode. The evidence suggests that you are handing your body the chemistry it needs to heal itself.
The warnings exist so you walk in with your eyes open, not so you stay out.
Every person who ever came back from this started exactly where you are, nervous and unsure, sitting on a floor somewhere. If nothing on that list applies to you, the only question left is whether you are ready to meet a brand new person underneath the you that is simply following the programming.

Go Deeper

If you are curious but don't yet know if this practice is for you, start researching.
This course is educational. It is not medical advice, psychiatric advice, or a treatment for any condition.

We don't promise to heal you. You heal You.

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