Kunlun, ancient daoist practice

[ButterflyWoman]

When you look at the quote I gave about what happens during the release - crying, hysteric laughter, trembling - these are the signs you get when you put your energetic system under shock by releasing too much emotional energy at once, uncontrolled and ungrounded. This can be harmful to the nervous system and traumatising, leading to burnout.

That's what happened to me following my spontaneous Kundalini awakening. I was EXTREMELY unstable for a period of years (yes, years), and then I was seriously burned out for several years beyond that. I still have some lingering energetic damage from the awakening, I believe. I'm working on healing it with gentle and persistent energy work, but I don't know how successful it will be.

I'm not saying that Kundalini is inherently bad, because I don't believe that, but yes, too much emotional/spiritual energy can do very, very bad things to you. It's not something to take lightly.

[Korpo]

Oh, it's rather quickly explained.

The Water Method focusses on the Dissolving Process to remove blockages to unearth the True Self. It simply gently removes every negative and blocked energy until all that is left is your enlightened core being.

The Inner Dissolving Process I wrote a bit in the Meditation section about is a typical Water Method technique - gentle, grounded, awareness-oriented. While Fire methods concentrate on where to lead the energy, the Water method concentrates on where it is not moving and trying to restore the flow. Fire methods store and circulate, water methods remove.

There is of course overlap. For example in Bruce Frantzis' teachings you move energy, too, but in coordination with movement. Upward currents are grounded again, for example. But the focus is different - the main method is the dissolving process - scanning the energy body from top to bottom and removing blockages, neutralising, storing and grounding their energy.

If I look the cathartic releases of Kunlun - heat, sweating, emotional outbursts - that is what you can get with ungrounded Fire methods: A lot of energy hits a blockage and makes it go in one big release, possibly many. Since every blockage release also can be accompanied by toxin release, this brute force approach can be interpreted like shock to your emotional and energetic system - the sweating is a typical detoxification reaction, the crying and hysterical laughter typical of cathartic methods.

In a water method these would have been neutralised and grounded properly, natural flow would have been restored, like applying a bit more water pressure soaks into a sand barrier and then starts to carry it away. In a fire method you simply run as much current as you can over the wire, burning through resistance. If you are not gifted genetically/energetically with a strong enough wire, damage can occur. Side effects are typical of such an approach.

Robert's NEW is BTW a very good compromise. Since it offers blockage cleaning methods it can be used to "clean the wire" before "running current".

Fire methods are typical for power seekers, while water methods appeal a bit more to insight seekers. Fire builds power, Water relaxes. Fire creates, Water uncovers. Many meditation methods, anything where you gently focus your attention on issues to resolve them, are really Water methods, they just don't spell it out as energy work or name it like that. Many of the explicit energy work schools are more towards the Fire side of the continuum.

At least at Level 1 I would categorise Kunlun as pure (if not extreme) Fire method. If you actually aim or welcome side effects, then it is not a Water method. These are typical signs of overworking yourself, true to the goal-oriented nature of Fire methods. Fire sets a goal and works relentlessly towards it, creating it. Water looks what is there already, and uncovers it.

Both methods have the potential for enlightenment. Fire offers more pitfalls. It offers power and distracts from true insight. Both in Water and Fire you have to overcome the desire for ego reinforcement, power and attachment. But I found that many Fire schools neglect this aspect. It is very important to be aware of the pitfalls and keep the intent of freeing yourself, It is very important to see the trapping of power and minimise the use of power, to uproot the ego instead of reinforcing it.

In the end in any school you have the potential to fall beside the wayside and into the power trip. When a Water scholar uncovers the psychic and causal/karmic bodies the forces of creation and enormous knowledge is within its reach. It is a time of trial, where all that stands between you and the power trap is your own intent.

I'm always wary of methods like Kunlun Level 1 because I got burned repeatedly by methods that unwisely work with energy like that. So now I stick with what I do, Dissolving and movement Qigong, and some other methods, like for example NEW Energy Raising/Full Body Circuit or a Shielding Bubble, but I never sit down anymore to do a full half-hour of more of MCO like the followers of Mantak Chia would.

Oliver

[Korpo]

That's what happened to me following my spontaneous Kundalini awakening. I was EXTREMELY unstable for a period of years (yes, years), and then I was seriously burned out for several years beyond that. I still have some lingering energetic damage from the awakening, I believe. I'm working on healing it with gentle and persistent energy work, but I don't know how successful it will be.

I'm not saying that Kundalini is inherently bad, because I don't believe that, but yes, too much emotional/spiritual energy can do very, very bad things to you. It's not something to take lightly.

Hello, OW.

I believe now that Kundalini awakenings are extreme events. Kundalini and the Kundalini circuit are part of the human energy body, they are always there. These spontaneous awakening events are often called "premature" - by Robert or by the Kundalini Reiki guy at http://www.xehupatl.com. I mean, a method like Kundalini Reiki only works because the powerful energy of Kundalini is always there to be tapped into,

If what I believe is true, then Kundalini is neither good or bad, it is just a fact of life. I cannot say what makes it spontaneously rise in some and not in others - if that is part of the life plan or even an energetic accident - I cannot tell.

Many things point to this - the "rise of the Serpent Power happens on its own when the elements are in balance" (Bardon), and the strongly spiritualising component of an awakening. The true trick seems to be either to stabilise the awakening or like Robert would say to generally try to "raise your base level of consciousness". The myriads of spiritual practices enable that, but I think no one should aim for a Kundalini awakening. I even think, that if everything is falling in place and it spontaneously rises within the right parameters, when you cleaned your body and mind, nothing traumatic happens at all. I think some of Aunt Clair's writings suggest that.

In the end, for now, that is hypothesis. I cannot say why it rises in some, and why it is so traumatic in some. I'm just wary of such effects and I don't believe they are necessary to reach enlightenment or deeper insight. But sometimes they are great facilitators in people's development. You don't speed up your work, though. Cleaning up the aftermath of an awakening is surely not easier than developing yourself without one. But maybe, just maybe we need the confirmation of our powerful and spiritual nature sometimes before we do the work. I cannot say. It remains a mystery.

Oliver

[ButterflyWoman]

I believe now that Kundalini awakenings are extreme events.

Yes, I completely agree. Transforming events.

I cannot say what makes it spontaneously rise in some and not in others - if that is part of the life plan or even an energetic accident - I cannot tell.

I can't speak for others. In my case, I'm absolutely sure it was part of my life plan. It was in response to a sincere prayer and intention to... well... transform. I didn't realise at the time that this was what I was actually seeking, but it was.

Be careful what you wish for....

I cannot say [...] why it is so traumatic in some.

Sometimes birth is difficult.

You don't speed up your work, though. Cleaning up the aftermath of an awakening is surely not easier than developing yourself without one.

I agree with that. In my case, I suspect it was the only way to proceed. Completely shattered ego... very painful, like being a snail without your shell. BUT... I think that the damage was so great that the near total destruction was necessary.

It remains a mystery.

It does, indeed. One day, when I'm no longer surrounded by decaying matter (i.e., no longer incarnate), I'll understand. Until then... All I can do is clean up the aftermath and go forward as best I can and hope that the energetic/spiritual limp I have now won't be permanent. But, all in all, if the physical/energetic difficulties are the price I have to pay for being conscious, I guess I can live with it (I don't guess I have a choice ).

[Korpo]

Many things to ponder.

I recently read in "How to be an adult" that while it requires normal effort to create a major and healthy ego, it often seem to be traumatic events that lead us beyond the ego. Something that makes us realise the innate ego pain.

Like Bruce Frantzis - his spine got broken multiple times in a car accident. Reduced from a fighting master to one step of the wheelchair in one moment, he worked through this by meditating. He recovered and changed.

A traumatic youth, the death of withdrawal of a parent while young, an accident - all these things remove and destabilise our coordinates. We become spiritual seekers when something is removed, when we feel that special void that leads beyond. At least IMO.

I personally feel like off the beaten trail since age 8 when my father died, a bit removed from so many around me. Life changes during my youth make me feel the pain of ego in many ways, but I also have been told that this is the life where I can go beyond all that.

Would anyone chose to go beyond the known if we had everything we need? I have my doubts. Speaking for me, transformation is not easy, I don't think I would chose it voluntarily while in this earthly shell, but now I am willing to follow it to its end. Because I feel this unsettling urge whenever I settle, this unquenchable desire to go on, an unsatisfied hunger I cannot fully describe to live, experience and know beyond what most people might be content with.

Be well,
Oliver

[CFTraveler]

Oh, it's rather quickly explained.

Now I get why the smiley face.

[Jonathan2525]

Hello orange,

If I remember correctly the infamous sorcerer Aliester Crowley had a book that taught breath retention techniques. I had it as an ebook but I seem to have misplaced it. If you are interested in this you might want to look it up. Crowley is generally well informed about such matters.

Korpo Wrote:
Would anyone chose to go beyond the known if we had everything we need? I have my doubts. Speaking for me, transformation is not easy, I don't think I would chose it voluntarily while in this earthly shell, but now I am willing to follow it to its end. Because I feel this unsettling urge whenever I settle, this unquenchable desire to go on, an unsatisfied hunger I cannot fully describe to live, experience and know beyond what most people might be content with.

Aaah the divine Nietzsche, he had such an ability to compress meaning.

"Woe implores go, but all joy wants eternity"

from Thus Spoke Zarathustra

[Aunt Clair]

Father Kundalini is cold magnetic waterfall energy which descends down the back of the spine , it will occur naturally at a stage of energy body development after the nadis have come to merge . The nadis descend from the crown to the sun . The nadis also ascend from the throne to the sun . If he is selling a system that is naturally occurring that would be sad . If oto he is sharing what he learned about it that is good work .

[Tom]

If he is selling a system that is naturally occurring that would be sad.

It sounds to me like the author is saying that it won't even happen at all without buying the book and that if you do buy the book it will only happen if you work really hard and luck is with you.

[Korpo]

I thought you had to be attuned by someone to even get there in this system?

Oliver