Kundalini Awakened

[truthforhappiness]

Hello Brothers and Sisters, I have been practicing Vipassana meditation for 8 months after reading the Mindfulness in Plain English, I have been through a lot of physical sensation phenomena, such as feeling of tingling in my brain. One of the most significant is the Kundalini, if I let go of my consciousness towards the body, this body will dance like celestial being in heaven, my hands will move like lotus flower involuntarily, my thumb will touch the middle finger, just like Buddha or Guan Yin (Goddess of mercy) did. Now I have experienced a very still thoughts,the most significant one is usually when I had experienced the road traffic jam, I will get very frustrated but now my mind is so still and peace with it. If the Kundalini is awakened, at what stage if there is, am I ? Should I always keep following this involuntary movement ? A friend of mine told me, "you shall, because that is your True Self". What is your opinion ?

Thanks.

[Matthew]

Willliam,

When undertaking Shamatha Vipassana meditation the first stages are developing calm and concentration and equanimity. This is very much the Shamatha part of the equation, develops the bases for mindfulness and the opportunity for Vipassana or insight to become more and more the practice.

By sitting repeatedly and returning the wandering mind to the object of meditation each time it stray we learn to discipline our minds. We do not suppress thoughts nor do we engage with them. We let them arise and fall naturally like the flowers of spring time - they come and go.

If one uses any kind of force to suppress thoughts this becomes a form of self-hypnosis and one is no longer meditating. If one allows the mind to jump around following thoughts this is not meditation either.

When one works with a natural born calm and concentration developed in this way, neither rejecting or following thoughts, one is also developing equanimity:

If a negative thought arises one takes note of it's presence and does not follow nor reject it, awareness remaining anchored in the breath.

If a positive thought arises one takes note of it's presence and does not follow it nor reject it, awareness remaining anchored in the breath.

Shamatha meditation leads to development of concentration and deep states of calm and indeed these will become states of mind that will flow over into your daily life.

Your quite frenetic activity posting on web forums all over the internet and the frenetic activity you describe above both seem to reflect a mind that has not reached this level of calm stability. My recommendation would be that you re-read the chapters of Mindfulness in Plain English from chapter 2 "What meditation isn't" to Chapter 12 "Dealing with Distractions II" and undertake some more calming/Shamatha meditation in order to develop greater mindfulness.

The type of Kundalini experience you are describing indicates an unbalanced practice that is unleashing energies your mind is neither calm nor stable nor concentrated enough to deal with appropriately. Going back to the basics of sitting practice and developing this unforced and uncomplicated calm state of meditation or mindfulness will aid you greatly on your path to self-understanding and wisdom.

In the Dhamma,

Mattthew