What is Kundalini
Kundalini is a Sanskrit word that literally means "snake." Kundalini is also called "serpent power" because this sleeping spiritual force in every human being lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is found in every culture on the planet from ancient times to now. Once awakened, it rises through a series of centers, also called chakras, and finds expression in the form of spiritual knowledge and mystical visions. In Tantric tradition, the human body contains seven centers of subtle energy channels called chakras, .The kundalini rises through these centers from the base of the spinal column all the way to the top of the head, where the thousand-petaled-lotus chakra is located. When kundalini reaches the seventh chakra with its entire power, this spiritual energy develops in to enlightenment.
Kundalini is a type of energy that sits dormant in the first chakra, at the base of the spine. Long ago, some yogis discovered that the kundalini can be used to move very quickly into higher states of consciousness. By meditating on the chakras, the kundalini is activated and begins to rise. The kundalini is coiled up like a coiled female serpent, and when released there is sometimes an explosion of power. Properly directed, the kundalini will travel up a tube in the energy body that lies close to the spine called the Sushumna On it's way up, the kundalini both cleans and strengthens the energy body and chakras. You may feel a warm sensation moving up your back, tingling, and crawling sensations, especially in the arms and legs. Kundalini is the energy, the life force. is found in every culture around the world. It has different names, chi, manitou and manetuwak, tigle, inua and sila, prana, sometimes it is called shakti. The more Kundalini you have, the more alive and awake you are. Through a multitude of practices of meditation and mindfulness, you learn to increase your energy, your awareness, your silent mind. You learn to open the doorway into the silent mind yourself. So, when we talk about personal power, vibratory rates, levels of awareness, we are talking about the Kundalini that runs through you. So much of the technical aspects of tantric teaching relates to how to increase and store energy for your own awakening. As your energy increases you will awaken to the beauty of life, and light. At the subtle level, Kundalini is the fuel which keeps our subtle bodies running. Just as we need food and water to survive on the gross physical level, so we also need Kundalini to survive at the subtle level. So everyone who is alive has a certain amount of Kundalini flowing through their subtle bodies. However, at this time, most people are operating at a starvation level with regard to Kundalini energy. They have just barely enough flowing to keep alive, nothing more. In the process of living some of it will be brought up to higher-level chakras to fuel our lives. When we meditate, we are trying to do this on a conscious level so that instead of getting just a minimal level of Kundalini, we feel its power flowing through us. How does it feel when the Kundalini is flowing?
It's a tough thing to describe, but you just feel better about life. You have more energy; you are happier, you get sick less often, and you just tend to see the bright and beautiful side of everything. It isn't some warm fuzzy feeling, but rather you just feel life at a more intense level instead of being largely numb to it. Describing what Kundalini is like is to define what the wind is. It is a movement. It is the movement of Divine Consciousness. This wind is in all of creation. It has been described as the divine consciousness that animates all things.
