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Mavis, 30: Nearly four years ago I had what I later realized was a Kundalini experience. It spontaneously happened during a Chi Gong class, with someone who was teaching us beginners very advanced stuff. I felt as if something was crushing down on my back, along my whole spine, and as if it was shaking me. My body was really hot one minute, then really cold. For three days I couldn’t sleep, and after that I felt wonderful; I felt freed up, as if there were no boundaries between me and other people. I could look at people on the street and felt I could see into them, and I knew where their pain was. But it was very disorientating and everything felt blurred. My body and my mind were suddenly having to deal with a new reality, and these feelings kept coming back. I felt the Kundalini had opened me up, and there was no way of getting myself back together. The bodily sensations never stopped, but I can cope with them now, because Tantra has given me a framework for understanding them. Now I can see it’s just energy moving in me.

It is considered dangerous to awaken the Kundalini energy without preparing and purifying the body. Tantra is a path of fire, and the power of the Kundalini energy when it awakens can burn us. Traditionally purification is achieved through a vegetarian diet, yoga postures and breathwork. These practices are then developed through the recitation of sacred sounds (mantras) and meditative visualization.

Kundalini snake energy emanating from the yoni.

Energy moving along the sushumna, the central energy channel of the body, is thought to pass through different energy centres or chakras (literally ‘wheels’ of energy), each of which have different associated qualities. The energy of the root chakra, at the base of the spine is described as solar energy and associated with the colour red, while the energy of that at the brow is lunar, and associated with the colour white. In fact, the energy of different chakras alternates between solar and lunar. Part of the art of drawing energy up through the central channel is to unite solar and lunar energetic qualities.

The energy body has been documented over thousands of years. In Tantric philosophy the seven layers of cosmic energy are reflected in the seven energy centres in the body – the chakras:

1 Nestled at the base of the spine is a golden egg. Inside this egg is the first chakra, the muladhara. The muladhara (root support) is particularly important because the creative force of the cosmos, the Kundalini, lies sleeping here. Visualized as a serpent, she sleeps with her body coiled into three and a half coils. In this chakra, you are working on the awakening of awareness, by awakening the sleeping kundalini energy.

2 The second chakra, found in the belly below the navel, is called svadisthana, (abode of the self), and is associated with creativity and the fertility of the great mother goddesses. It is associated with desire and sexual desire, as well as the tattva, or principle, of taste – both physical and preferential. As this chakra awakens, you are working on discrimination.

3 The third chakra is called manipura, (to shine like a jewel). It is associated with the element fire and is located in the solar plexus. It is associated with the faculty of digestion, and in a broader sense, assimilation. In this chakra you are working on assimilation.

4 The fourth chakra, called anahata (without sound) is known as the heart chakra, because the heart rather than the head is considered the bridge between the body and consciousness. Energizing this centre leads to the harmonization of the other centres in the body. For this reason it is particularly important to awaken the heart. When the heart centre is awake it gives off a subtle vibration – the sound om, which is the sound of the creative energy of the void. In this chakra you are working on the ability to surrender.

5 In the throat region is the sixth chakra, called vissudha (purified), which is connected with the feminine power of creation. Known as the throat centre, it is connected with sound (mantras) and hearing, speech and silence, inhaling and exhaling, and the divine metabolism of Shiva and Shakti. This is the chakra in which you work on balance.

6 The brow centre is called ajna (command from above), and is represented by two lotus petals connected to a lunar disc, which is positioned to receive the nectar that drips down from the thousand-petal lotus at the crown of the head. It is thought to be the bridge between our higher mind and lower mind. It is the meeting place of the three main energetic channels, and is connected to the life-force. Situated in what we call the third eye, at the root of the nose, it has the function of psychic vision, or clairvoyance.

7 The crown centre is the seventh chakra, called the sahasrara, (thousand-spoked), and is located over the fontanel. It is usually depicted as a thousand-petal lotus, representing the full flowering of the subtle body into enlightenment. Tantric practitioners see this as the seat of the divine couple Shakti and Shiva, whose unification brings about a state of bliss and enlightenment.

Tantra conceptualizes personal Shakti power, or Kundalini, as lying latent at the base of the spine until activated by Tantric practices, when she arises up into the crown chakra and unites with Shiva.

The energy body has been documented over thousands of years. The body’s energy system is considered a microcosm of the macrocosm, which is the universe. In Tantric philosophy the seven layers of cosmic energy are reflected in the seven energy centres in the body – the chakras.

The symbol for the first chakra is a square (standing for the element earth) enclosed by four fiery red petals, inside which is a downward pointing triangle (symbolizing the vulva or yoni, the primordial fount of creation). Inside the yoni is a yoni-lingam (vulva and penis), around which the Kundalini snake is coiled, and which is covered by the crescent moon, (symbol of the divine source of all energy).

Yogis hold that the flow of energy upwards is blocked in a person in whom the Kundalini energy is still sleeping. The aim of Tantric yoga practices is to awaken this Kundalini-Shakti energy and to move it through the energetic blocks within the chakra system.

John Hawken, Tantra teacher: Tantra is about empowering yourself by rejecting external systems of ideas which tell you how you should be opening the heart. The key to real wisdom lies in your heart already. You are always in contact and in harmony with the whole – Tantra is about waking up to that knowledge. It doesn’t happen through the mind, but by building up your energy and opening the chakras.