There are experiences in life that no one ever can prepare you for.

A Kundalini Awakening is one of those things for the person you were before the awakening is no longer there. The “before” version feels like a distant memory and I guess that’s the whole point in changing your life.

Real transformation requires you to become someone entirely new. I wonder if the butterfly grieves the caterpillar version, or if it’s just so thankful for the beauty that came out on the other side.

I’m sure the butterfly is just thankful, grateful, and enjoying the change.

A kundalini awakening is often described this way.

Not as a simple spiritual insight, but as a total transformation of the mind, body, emotions, identity, and perception of reality itself and yes, it’s somewhat terrifying

Once on the other side, you’re good to go and the fear of death no longer scares you. You can no longer be manipulated by broken systems for you’ve essentially already died and have gone to heaven. I know. Deep. But that’s where you’re going to have to go if you’re ever going to make it in this world.

Deep.

Deep murky waters where you’re going to come face to face with all of the shit you likely brushed under the rug, or all the shit that other people passed onto you by not healing their own trauma.

And yes…

It sucks, but it’s so worth it in the end because we’re talking about heaven on earth kind of stuff. We’re talking about real happiness, inner peace, and joy and not the fluffy fake stuff you see plastered all over social media.

So here we go.

When you’re going through an awakening, you’re not sure what in the actual fuck is going on.

You’ll go to your doctor. You’ll do all the testing. You’ll try everything in order to figure out what’s happening to you. Hell, you’ll even resort to crystals, sage, and anything really in order to help you find some relief or some answers.

People will likely think you’re going crazy. Including yourself.

In the end, the only thing you can actually do is sit with yourself and let it all unfold and pray like fuck you’re going to make it out the other side alive.

This is where you may even pull out your bible, start going to church, start donating, and doing all the holy stuff you think you should do. But soon, you’ll realize that doesn’t work either for you’re still left with yourself and your own mind and thoughts when no one else is around.

You’ll sit there while your entire world collapses and falls apart and there you will be in the middle of the storm staring every fear you have in the face. You’ll sit there in the rubble and will be left to pick up all the pieces left over. You’ll likely still put a smile on your face even though you’re going through hell and you look like death is knocking at your door.

But in the end what you’re left with is something you’d never sell your soul for. You’re left with the real riches of life.

For some, a Kundalini awakening arrives gently through meditation, yoga, prayer, or years of spiritual practice. For others, it crashes into life unexpectedly through trauma, heartbreak, illness, loss, psychedelics or emotional collapse and no one can ever prepare you for it.

You know how it goes. Your heart keeps breaking over and over again and it’s there that the light enters.

That’s true.

For me, I can still remember the night I was lying in bed with excruciating back pain in the middle of the night. I felt a warm surge of something (energy) go up my spine. It felt like some sort of liberation and some sort of relief.

Then I heard a little whisper direct me to “research Kundalini Awakening” and it began to open a whole new world for me literally while my whole other world crumbled to pieces.

That was over 6 years ago, so if you’re reading this, hang on tight. Life changing transformation could take a very long time.

But what begins as a search for healing, figuring out why this is happening or a deeper meaning can become a profound unraveling of everything you once believed to be solid.

But here’s the trap. So many people focus on the why it’s happening and begin diving deeper into learning about it, instead of doing the deeper inner work on themselves. Which is the whole entire point of this awakening process.

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

So to help you along your journey here are a few recommendations so it doesn’t take you 10 years and probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in random shit, doctors appointments, specialist appointments, products, programs and supplements you really don’t need…

1. Wake Up and Live - 101 Days of Deep Inner Work to Help You Transform Your Life

2. Personal Power - 101 Days of Relentless Action Forward

3. Rising Even Higher - 101 Days of Rising Happy, Healthy and Free to Serve a Greater Good

4. Life Worth Living - A 28-Day Guide to Inner Peace, Love, and Joy

5. Mindset Mastery

6. Private Mentorship

Many people who go through a kundalini awakening describe it as both the most beautiful and terrifying experience of their lives. I tend to agree with that. It will be exactly what you need.

In spiritual traditions originating in India, kundalini is often described as dormant life-force energy coiled at the base of the spine. When awakened, this energy is believed to rise through the body, moving through the chakras, the seven primary energy centers (which I will go into later) creating physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual transformation.

Whether viewed spiritually, psychologically, symbolically, or energetically, the kundalini process tends to share common themes: collapse, purification, ego death, expanded awareness, emotional intensity, and eventually a deeper sense of unity and inner truth.

But one of the most important things to understand is this:

A kundalini awakening is not always blissful. It can feel like dying before being reborn. Okay, let me just be completely honest here. A kundalini awakening is the absolute worst fucking thing I’ve ever been through. Fuck, it’s brutal.

I think that’s the only way I can describe it.

I wouldn’t want to wish it upon even my worst enemy (if I had one), but I’d also want to wish it upon everyone because in the end it’s absolutely incredible, and it’s what we are truly all after in this lifetime.

The Beginning: The Collapse

Most people do not seek awakening because life is comfortable. Often, kundalini awakens during periods of intense suffering. A relationship ends. A career falls apart. A loved one dies. Depression deepens. Anxiety becomes unbearable. The identity someone built their entire life around suddenly stops working and this stage is sometimes referred to as “the collapse.”

The structures of the old self begin to crack.

The beliefs that once created stability no longer make sense. The ambitions that once mattered feel hollow. The friends you use to hang around. Duds and you just can’t fake it anymore. Emotional wounds that were buried for years begin rising to the surface. Long-suppressed grief, rage, shame, fear, and trauma emerge with surprising force.

Many people report symptoms such as:

• Emotional volatility and outbursts of anger

• Sudden crying spells

• Panic attacks

• Dissociation

• Existential dread

• Insomnia

• Heightened sensitivity

• Intense dreams

• Feeling detached from ordinary reality

• Waves of energy or heat in the body

• Pressure in the head or spine

• Spontaneous body movements during meditation

At first, it may feel like something has gone horribly wrong, and in a way, something is dying.

The false self. The mask. The conditioned identity built from fear, survival, social approval, insecurity, and accumulated emotional pain.

Kundalini awakening is often less about “gaining powers” and more about losing illusions.

The Dark Night of the Soul

One of the most misunderstood parts of spiritual awakening is the dark night of the soul.

This term describes a period of deep inner emptiness where old meaning systems collapse, but new understanding has not yet stabilized. Nothing feels familiar anymore and you feel like life is dull, lonely, meaningless, boring and to put it nicely. It fucking sucks.

Things that once brought joy no longer do. You hate the work you are doing. Relationships shift. Career ambitions dissolve. People often withdraw socially because they feel impossible to explain. Reality itself may feel dreamlike or strangely transparent.

The dark night can include:

• Profound loneliness

• Depression

• Emotional numbness

• Spiritual confusion

• Fear of losing one’s mind (because essentially you are)

• Identity disintegration

• Loss of motivation

• Fear of death

• Feeling abandoned by God or existence

This phase often happens because deeper awareness is emerging and the ego is fighting to stay alive. It clings to certainty, control, and separation. When kundalini energy intensifies, unresolved emotional trauma from the past rises into awareness so it can be processed and released and that’s a lot of fun, but this is why daily meditation is so important. You have to sit with yourself and shine light onto everything. I’d highly suggest a daily meditation practice every single day… sometimes even 3 times a day for the rest of your fucking life.

Yes. Every fucking day until the day you die. No ifs, ands or buts about it, but honestly meditation is so wonderful that you will absolutely want to meditate that much.

In the beginning though this can feel brutal, and this is the phase where it’s all tears, snot, piss and shit. Literally.

Many spiritual traditions emphasize that awakening is not merely ascending into light. It is also descending into shadow. Everything hidden comes forward. The wounds. The addictions. The fears. The lies. The hidden insecurities. The royal fucks ups you made. The reasoning behind why something happened to you. The unconscious patterns inherited from family, culture, and trauma. A true awakening does not bypass pain, it illuminates it, and oh what fun that is.

The Seven Chakras

In yogic traditions, kundalini energy is believed to rise through the seven chakras, each representing different aspects of human consciousness and development.

1. Root Chakra: Survival and Safety

Located at the base of the spine, the root chakra relates to grounding, security, survival, and physical existence.

When imbalance surfaces here, people may experience:

• Fear

• Anxiety

• Financial instability

• Feeling unsafe in the world

• Physical exhaustion

   

Healing involves learning to feel grounded, connected to the body, and safe in existence itself. I go into more detail here in this blog post.

2. Sacral Chakra: Emotion and Creativity

Located in the lower abdomen, this chakra governs emotions, sexuality, pleasure, creativity, and relationships.

Awakening here can trigger:

• Emotional floods

• Sexual energy surges

• Old relationship wounds

• Shame around intimacy

• Creative breakthroughs

This stage often involves learning emotional authenticity and you can find more details here in this blog post.

3. Solar Plexus Chakra: Identity and Power

Located in the upper abdomen, this chakra relates to personal power, confidence, ambition, and ego structure.

When kundalini moves here, people may confront:

• Control issues

• Ego inflation or collapse

• Anger

• Power struggles

• Deep insecurity

The lesson becomes transforming domination into aligned inner strength. Check out this blog post about the solar plexus.

4. Heart Chakra: Love and Compassion

The heart chakra is often considered a major turning point in awakening.

Here, people may experience:

• Intense grief release

• Compassion expansion

• Emotional vulnerability

• Deep connection with others

• Unconditional love

The heart awakening can feel overwhelming because emotional walls built over decades begin dissolving. Oh yeah. Those stone cold walls of Jericho are coming right down.

All the fear, conditioning, trauma, hate, or ego collapse during spiritual awakening.

Many people cry for reasons they cannot fully explain. In fact, many people cry every day for years and years and years. Eventually those tears turn to tears of joy. You can read more about the Heart Chakra here.

5. Throat Chakra: Truth and Expression

This chakra governs communication and authenticity.

Common experiences include:

• Difficulty speaking old lies

• Sudden urge for honesty

• Creative expression

• Voice changes during emotional release

• Fear of being misunderstood

People often realize how much of their life was spent suppressing truth, quieting their own inner voice and stuffing their emotions and feeling down when they should have spoken up. Read more about the Throat Chakra here.

6. Third Eye Chakra: Intuition and Perception

Located between the eyebrows, the third eye relates to intuition, insight, perception, and awareness.

Experiences sometimes reported include:

• Heightened intuition

• Vivid dreams

• Synchronicities

• Increased sensitivity

• Altered perception of reality

• Deep existential insight

Some individuals interpret these experiences spiritually, while others view them psychologically or symbolically. Grounding is extremely important during this stage and you can read more here.

7. Crown Chakra: Unity and Transcendence

The crown chakra represents spiritual connection, transcendence, and unity consciousness.

People sometimes describe:

• States of bliss

• Dissolution of separation

• Deep peace

• Feeling connected to all life

• Experiences interpreted as divine union

This is often what people mean when they speak of “expanded God consciousness.”

Not necessarily adopting a religion, but experiencing a profound sense that consciousness itself is interconnected. Many report realizing that beneath all identities, fears, and divisions, there is a shared essence linking all beings. You can read about the Crown Chakra here.

How Scary a Kundalini Awakening Can Be

One reason kundalini awakenings are difficult to discuss openly is because the experience can resemble psychological crisis or a complete mental breakdown. Like I’m going fucking crazy here, should I be checked in?

I mean… When you’re going through something like that you really don’t want to tell anyone about the state of your mental health, but you most definitely should. Whether that be your doctor, or your spouse, or if no one is around God. Heck, that’s where you’ll find God anyways. At. The. Very. Bottom.

Although in my personal adventures, not too many doctors, naturopath, pharmacists, psychologists, or therapists are going to be able to help you. Or at least I couldn’t find one. That’s because they probably don’t teach this kind of spiritual stuff in High School, University, Church or College. Nope.

This is because it’s a journey that one must take alone.

A person may feel:

• Hyper-sensitive to energy and emotion

• Overwhelmed

• Unable to function normally

• Afraid they are losing their mind (which is really fucking terrifying)

But let me be very clear. Sometimes the experience does require mental health support and this is extremely important to acknowledge. You however will need to figure out what’s right and best for you and you will know what is right and best for you if you take some time to truly sit with yourself to find out.

Obviously, in my opinion the goal would be to not be numbing out or taking pills or drugs every day and getting to the actually root cause of the problem. Hence the Root Chakra which all revolves around inner safety, security, and support.

Some doctors are quick to prescribe drugs, when drugs aren’t the solution to the bigger underlying problem. Again. This is just my opinion here. Do what works right and best for you for you are ultimately in charge of your own life, your own health and your own decisions.

Moving along.

Not every intense spiritual experience is automatically healthy or enlightened. It’s not all light and love. Sleep deprivation, trauma activation, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, psychosis, and nervous system dysregulation can overlap with spiritual experiences in complex ways.

A very grounded approach matters.

Healthy spiritual integration includes:

• Rest

• Nutrition

• Therapy if needed

• Physical grounding

• Exercise

• Boundaries

• Nervous system regulation

• Staying away from toxic environments or people

• Avoiding spiritual grandiosity

Spiritual grandiosity is a psychological and spiritual distortion where a person begins believing they are spiritually superior, uniquely chosen, divinely special, or beyond ordinary human limitations because of spiritual experiences, insights, awakenings, or practices.

It can happen during:

• Spiritual awakenings

• Kundalini experiences

• Psychedelic experiences

• Intense meditation

• Religious conversion

• Mystical states

• Periods of ego instability

A person may genuinely have profound spiritual experiences, but the ego then appropriates those experiences to create a new identity centered around superiority, certainty, or specialness.

Common Signs of Spiritual Grandiosity

Someone experiencing spiritual grandiosity might believe:

• They are enlightened while others are “asleep”

• They are a prophet, messiah, or chosen figure

• They possess absolute truth

• They are spiritually more evolved than everyone else

• They no longer need grounding, therapy, or accountability

• Ordinary rules no longer apply to them

• Their intuition is infallible

• Criticism only comes from “low vibration people”

It can also appear more subtly through:

• Constant spiritual superiority

• Excessive preaching

• Obsession with being seen as awakened

• Looking down on “unconscious” people

   

Why It Happens

Spiritual awakening can temporarily dissolve ordinary ego boundaries and that can be beautiful and liberating. But during destabilizing phases, especially in intense Kundalini awakenings or mystical states the mind tries to reorganize itself around the experience.

Instead of fully surrendering the ego, the ego can reinvent itself as:

“The spiritually awakened one.”

This is sometimes called:

• “The spiritual ego”

• “Messiah complex”

• “Inflation”

• “Ego inflation”

Important Distinction

Having mystical experiences does not automatically mean someone is grandiose.

People can genuinely experience:

• Unity consciousness

• Profound love

• Nonduality

• Expanded awareness

• Spiritual insight and psychic abilities

The issue is not the experience itself. The issue is identification and loss of humility.

Healthy spiritual growth always produces:

• More compassion

• More humility

• More groundedness

• More emotional honesty

• Greater humanity

• More connection

• More love

   

Not superiority.

How Spiritual Grandiosity Can Become Dangerous

Unchecked spiritual grandiosity can lead to:

• Isolation

• Delusion

• Manipulation

• Cult behavior

• Financial exploitation

• Emotional abuse

• Mental health deterioration

• Reckless decisions

This is why grounding is so important during awakening processes. The nervous system, psychology, trauma history, and spiritual experience all interact together.

What Helps Prevent It

Healthy spirituality includes:

• Humility

• Self-reflection

• Grounding

• Emotional work

• Accountability

• Connection with others

• Critical thinking

• Compassion

• Openness to being wrong

A deeply awakened person often becomes more ordinary. More present. More human. More loving. Not obsessed with appearing spiritually advanced.

One of the paradoxes of genuine awakening is that the deeper it goes, the less interest there usually is in claiming spiritual superiority at all. You essentially become a nobody.

One of the biggest dangers during awakening is believing oneself to be “chosen,” superior, or beyond ordinary human needs.

In some of my earlier writings I do say the word “chosen”, but often times that could sound really fucking creepy. I’m not talking about the creepy chosen ones you can find in religious cults or horror movies. We are all children of God and unique expressions and no one is more special than anyone else.

However, I do think people are specifically “chosen” or become more “qualified” for a role and that not everyone is meant to awaken or do certain thing while here on earth. Some people may never awaken or even knows what that even means, and that’s okay.

Not everyone can be an NBA player and not everyone is meant to go through a kundalini awakening and experience love, inner peace, and a drama free life.

What Happens to the Body and Health?

Kundalini awakening is frequently described as affecting not just the mind, but the body itself.

People report experiences such as:

• Surges of heat or electricity

• Tingling sensations

• Tremors or shaking

• Fatigue

• Digestive Issues

• Appetite shifts

• Head pressure

• Sensitivity to noise and light

• Heart palpitations and more anxiety attacks

• Sleep disruption

• Weight loss or weight gain

• Spontaneous movements during meditation

• Emotional release through crying or shaking, and sure.. This might actually look like one of those exorcism movies where a person is shaking on the ground. Just so you know and you’re prepared for it. This might actually be considered “normal” when the energy is rising up and out of your body. Move your body anyway you want to. This energy needs to find an outlet, and this is why exercise and fitness is so powerful too. This energy has to get moving!

From a psychological and physiological perspective, intense stress, trauma release, meditation, emotional processing, and nervous system activation can all produce powerful bodily sensations.

The nervous system is deeply involved in spiritual transformation. When old emotional junk rises to the surface, the body often participates in the release process.

However, it is essential not to assume every symptom is “spiritual.”

Medical evaluation should never be avoided for serious physical or psychological symptoms but if all checks out normal and fine, you’re likely going through something a lot deeper.

Grounded spiritual traditions consistently emphasize balance:

• Stay hydrated

• Sleep properly

• Eat nourishing food. You might even find yourself going vegan for a while.

• Spend time in nature

• Exercise gently. Yin Yoga is wonderful and my top recommendation.

• Maintain real-world stability

• Stay away from drugs and alcohol

• Seek professional support when needed

• Meditate and take care of yourself

Awakening is not meant to destroy the body although it can feel like you’re falling apart. The goal is integration, not collapse.

Ego Death and Identity Dissolution

Perhaps the most destabilizing part of kundalini awakening is ego death.

The ego is not evil. It is the structure through which we navigate ordinary reality. But awakening can expose how much identity is constructed from conditioning and fear.

Questions begin emerging:

• Who am I without my roles?

• Who am I without my trauma or past story?

• What remains if the identity collapses?

• What is consciousness itself?

• Who am I when I’m not working?

This can feel liberating and terrifying simultaneously.

People often realize:

• They were living performatively

• Their relationships lacked authenticity

• Their ambitions were externally conditioned

• Their self-worth depended on validation

• Their success was built on childhood wounds and trauma

• Their personality was partially defensive adaptation

• They were emotionally neglected and starved from love as a child

As these realizations deepen and life may temporarily feel meaningless. You might also carry a lot of shame, guilt and regret afterwards.

But eventually, a different kind of meaning begins emerging, one rooted less in external achievement and more in presence, truth, compassion, and direct experience.

Expanded Consciousness and Mystical States

After the turbulence settles, many people describe entering periods of profound clarity and inner wisdom.

Common themes include:

• Feeling deeply connected to life

• Increased compassion

• Reduced fear of death

• Heightened presence

• Inner stillness

• Synchronicities

• Awe toward existence

• Feeling guided by intuition

• A sense of unity with nature or humanity

Some interpret this as union with God. Others interpret it psychologically as expanded awareness beyond rigid ego identity.

Many describe realizing that consciousness is far larger than ordinary thinking.

Simple experiences become sacred:

• Sunlight through trees

• Silence

• Breathing

• Music

• Human connection

• Nature

• Presence itself

What once seemed ordinary, boring, or basic now feels alive.

The Aftermath: Rebuilding a Life

One of the least discussed parts of kundalini awakening is what happens after the peak experiences.

Eventually, dishes still need washing, laundry still needs to get done, the kids still need their snacks ever 10 minutes. Bills still exist, you still need to go to work and relationships still require communication.

The challenge becomes integration.

How do you live in ordinary reality after experiencing profound inner transformation? What comes next when you’re not sure what you want to do with your life and can’t go back?

This is where true spiritual maturity begins.

The aftermath often involves:

• Rebuilding identity

• Simplifying life

• Changing careers or relationships

• Prioritizing authenticity

• Developing emotional boundaries

• Healing trauma

• Learning grounded spirituality

• Balancing transcendence with practicality

A mature awakening is not about escaping humanity, leaving all of your responsibilities or going to hide in the forrest with no one around to bother you. It is about embodying awareness within humanity and doing what works for your new energy levels. Not floating above life, but becoming more deeply present inside it.

The Point of It All

So what is the point of a kundalini awakening?

Different traditions answer differently but many describe it as a process of remembering.

Remembering what exists beneath conditioning, fear, ego, and separation. Remembering connection.

Remembering wholeness. Remembering that identity is far more fluid and mysterious than we assume.

Remember who you truly are at your core.

Awakening strips away illusion, but it also opens the possibility of living more truthfully.

Not perfectly. Not endlessly blissful, happy and joyful 24/7. But consciously.

The deepest spiritual realizations are often surprisingly simple:

• Love matters

• Presence matters

• Compassion matters

• Truth matters

• Healing matters

• Awareness matters

• You matter

   

After all the visions, symbolism, energy movements, and mystical states, many people emerge with a quieter understanding: Life itself is sacred and beautiful. It’s also your very own to cherish, protect, honour and make it whatever you want it to be.

A kundalini awakening is not a trend, aesthetic, or spiritual achievement badge.

For many, it is an overwhelming transformational process that dismantles old identities and reshapes perception from the inside out and you come out entirely different in the end, and that can be very painful for many.

It can include beauty, terror, grief, insight, confusion, collapse, healing, and rebirth, sometimes all at once.

For those going through it, the most important things are grounding, discernment, and support, and being really kind, patient and loving to yourself while you’re going through it.

Oh.. And meditation. Keep on meditating and taking care of yourself.

Not every strange experience in life is enlightenment.

Not every collapse is a spiritual awakening.

But for some people, periods of profound inner unraveling eventually lead to greater authenticity, compassion, and depth of consciousness and perhaps that is the real point of awakening.

Not becoming someone superhuman, but becoming someone real.

Someone deeply human with their heart wide open ready to love again.

Someone with a clear mind and a future full of endless possibilities with brand new adventures that are waiting to be claimed.

Wishing you all the best on your beautiful journey through life, may it be filled with so much beauty that your heart bursts with love and gratigue and your eyes fill with tears of joy.

You’re here.

You’re alive.

And that’s a beautiful thing.

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Hey, I’m Lindsay Rose Martin

I am a spiritual medium and writer who helps people transform their lives.

Through my work, I help individuals awaken their highest potential, connect with their loved ones on the other side and create lives of vibrant health, happiness, inner peace and personal freedom.

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