To: K-list
Recieved: 2002/10/10 15:56
Subject: Re: [K-list] triggers revisited poll results (finally!) LONG
From: Druout
On 2002/10/10 15:56, Druout posted thus to the K-list:
Results for the Trigger poll:
Twenty-five people responded to this poll. Thank you all! :))
To the question:
Q. 1. Did you have a spontaneous awakening, or was it "planned?"
19 replied spontaneous
4 said they were born with K, or it was a gradual awakening
2 said it was more or less planned
Comments such as:
"It wasn't planned, since I had no idea what I was heading for," "not
consciously," and "it was not planned in the usual sense...However, looking
back, it was implicitly planned into the practice of Yoga in general," were
pretty common.
What I find fascinating about this response is that although 19 people said
their
awakening was spontaneous, twelve of these had practiced meditation either
current to the awakening or sometime before it, two others experienced
inadvertent shaktipat, and another was triggered in part by Hatha Yoga. All
these are "Eastern" practices.
Of the remaining four, one was triggered by LSD, one simply was just sitting
and pondering, and two were triggered by falling in love.
Q. 2. What do you think triggered your awakening?
a. Was an "eastern" technique involved? ( i.e. meditation, Hatha Yoga,
chanting etc.) and if so which one?
Multiple "triggers" were given by many, but the primary triggers given were:
meditation: 9
Love: 4
born awake 3
Shakipat or Darshan: 3
Loss/Stress: 3
Drugs: 1
"life": 1
one person said he was simply sitting and thinking, meditating on
the death of Jesus
More than 1 trigger is often mentioned. All told:
14 people mentioned meditation
5 said they were born with K or it has been a process
5 mentioned Shaktipat or Darshan
5 mentioned a physical discipline (Hatha Yoga 3, T'ai chi 1 and Chi Kung 1)
5 said they chanted or used a mantra
5 mentioned love or strong emotion
4 mentioned loss or stress
3 mentioned depression
2 mentioned experimenting with drugs
Q. b. Was a strong emotion involved? Love? Fear? Pain? Despair? and if so was
prayer involved?
9 people mentioned love or desire as being involved in their awakening
6 people mentioned fear
5 others said they experienced both fear and love at different times
4 people mentioned stress/loss/anger
3 people mentioned despair or desperation
3 people mentioned pain
3 people experienced depression
3 people answered no to the question
1 experienced the feeling of being all powerful
1 universal peace
1 general emotion
Prayer was mentioned by 6
Q. c. Do you think heredity is implicated?
These results were pretty evenly divided:
Ten people said no or don't think so
Eight possibly, maybe, or not sure.
Seven people responded yes or probably
Q. d. Did you have an NDE (Near Death experience)?
16 said no (but 4 of these said K made them fear they were going to die.)
8 said yes.
1 said she experienced something of a spiritual death preceding K.
*********
I rather suspect we can expect to see increasingly more "spontaneous"
awakenings as more and more people make use of these practices for non
spiritual reasons--i.e. relaxation and "exercise," and as these practices
become more mainstream and part of our daily lives. :))
Excerpts:
Did you have a spontaneous awakening?
What do you think triggered your awakening?
Was a strong emotion involved?
*******
had no idea what kundalini was when I awakened. I have been
undergoing various k-trips and pranic healing since about 4 years.
What started me down this road this year was a meditation I was doing
in January. I was just relaxing and letting it flow when I had a
vision of a monolithic lingam coming up from the earth. Then a huge
female dragon appeared and coiled 3 and 1/2 times around it. Sound
familiar? Then she coiled upward to the top and started breathing
fire into the sky. I had this overwhelming feeling of power and
strength, which was quite exhilirating and frightening. I went with
it until I started to think I would be lost in it, and then I snapped
out of it. Later that week, my friend and I were listening to the
song 'Sister Awake' by the Tea Party. I said, 'Sure makes the
kundalini rise, doesn't it?' She asked 'What's kundalini?' I said,
gee i Dunno. So i went to a search engine, found elcollie.com and
domin8rex.com and the rest is history. Great synchronicity
********
Was without a doubt "spontaneous"...it was only months later that I was able
to finally able to gain some understanding on what happened (both thru this
list and other material that I was guided toward)
For me, it was falling head over heals in LOVE.....and beyond that - it was
not something that was appropriate at the time - given my life situation.. so
am thinking it was not only the huge emotional changes that I was going
through.. but that in addition to having to come to terms with -and- going
against what was accepted/expected within my societial/familiar circles.
It's been my impression that K rises in response to breaking past the
(perceived) limits of our psyche. (kinda of in keeping with 'god (or
whatever term you prefer) comforts the disturbed and disturbs the
comfortable'.
**********
It wasn't planned, since I had no idea what I was heading for.
vipassana meditation.
I remember going through different fears and leaving them behind. Every fear
felt like a block I had to go through. I think I forced myself a way
through, that caused an awakening that i could not handle then, because the
fears where not worked through in a more natural way. Things went fast then,
maybe too fast. I confronted every fear I met in myself and went right
through inside myself, with my mind. But I could not sustain this situation,
so the fears returned after my awakening, only to lessen slowly slowly later
on in my life.
**********
Spontaneous, although shaktipat followed sometime after to help the
experience along.
2. What do you think triggered your awakening?
Life, likely :)
a. Was an "eastern" technique involved? ( i.e. meditation, Hatha Yoga,
chanting etc.) and if so which one?
Not consciously- but all three mentioned above were used often unwittingly
and without knowledge of why or how they worked. After awakening (and some
education), they were used consciously and with a more spiritual context.
********
I think my k was awake several years before I had shaktipat because
I remember feeling a rolling movement up and down my spine.
Shaktipat kick started the process into high gear. I had Shaktipat
the first week of Novemeber in 91....
I had an initiation into Maharishi's TM meditation when I
was 16 but I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I didn't
practice it regularly ever and when I did I just spaced out like I
was on drugs.
********
Can't answer...born with it. More a philosophical question, no?...
Been meditating since childhood, earliest memories I have of it started
around
age 8. ...
Had a series of *terrible* nightmares at that time of people coming to take
me
away because I had the gift. That's when I started to notice it. The fire
"looked at me"...and I saw it. From then on, I knew I was very different.
********
Spontaneous, though I had predicted a cosmic event on this date using
Western astrology.
The most beautiful girl I had ever seen put a copy of the Dalai Lama's 'Rite
of initiation into the Kalachakra Tantra' into my hands. When I started
flipping through, I realized we were spontaneously practicing tantric
yoga....
The awakening was instantaneous and I fell in love with the girl.
*********
Planned. I studied Kashmir Shaivism very aggressively for a couple years.
Before that I'd had a couple real traumatic experiences, along with a hairy
health issue that pushed me to the brink of death and existence.
2. What do you think triggered your awakening?
Meditation, working w/ shakti/energy flow. Concentrated on opening heart
chakra only, and allowing energy to do what it needed.
a. Was an "eastern" technique involved? ( i.e. meditation, Hatha Yoga,
chanting etc.) and if so which one?
Kashmir Shaivism - sitting in meditation, working directly w/ teacher.
b. Was a strong emotion involved? Love? Fear? Pain? Despair? and if so was
prayer involved?
Love, bliss, ecstasy, etc. I'd been getting a lot of the love stuff from
bhakti work, but this was a full (read nuclear) opening.
********
After doing meditation for about 10 years...I had not heard of Kundalini,
nor the process at all....
Meditation, then after the experince being in a conference with a Siddha
Yoga Swami, felt for the first time the energy raising quite weird and new,
I started meditating with the Siddha Yoga Mantra, OM Nama Shivaya...
For the first 5 or 6 years, joy, cosmic experience, love, connected to
nature.- Then the Dark Night of the Soul.
Pain, fear, despair, and the void. A long period on
the Roller Coaster.. Then the Witness state also for a long period of time.
Then I stopped meditation till now.
******
It was spontaneous, I had never heard of it before. I had no idea it
existed. I just though you mediated to relax....
It was Transendental Meditation that did it, no doubt about that. They don't
tell you about it in the pre talks!
No prayer involved. GREAT fear was involved though. I ended up in a
Psychratric Ward for a month. Great pain from sounds was involved too. I was
put on anti-psychotic drugs and valium. Also I can not pray now as it raises
K too much if I do.
*********
Spontaneous -- was sitting around feeling very gloomy about my seeming
inability to love men well, healthily and happily. Boom! The energy shot
through my body and I started a 2 week period of "seeing" everything. It
felt as though information were being downloaded into me. Any question I
posed was answered instantaneously -- about myself and the cosmos.
Triggers -- a series of tremendous losses: L.A. earthquake (my belongings
and some damage to the house, my peace of mind), my husband left, mother and
best friend both died of lung cancer, etc. Had many transcendent experiences
throughout life but it took a lot to finally crack the nut.
Had studied t'ai chi but was not practicing at the time.
No emotion for the first days of all the energy and downloading (except for
helpless laughter as I saw the truth). Then much, much bliss.
***********
it has been a lifetime process of nearly 33 yrs. As a very young child, I
was already being prepared, some work was being done and I was strongly
guided ; at age 4 the process got it's first little push with the help
of an invisible friend: A powerful, warm and loving huge hand touched
the top of my head and for a couple of weeks or so I was in a sort of
extremely happy/blissfull state
*******
I literally had a yelling match with God! I stomped around my house
screaming I was sick and tired of this earth experience, I didn't want to
come back here again, no one loved me and I wanted the answers NOW!!! Kinda a
la Bette Midler, y'know? And then...the answers started to appear. The
electricity started, the OBE's, the clairvoyance and asking questions and
almost simultaneously being led to answers...like to this list! ;-)
*********
As far back as I can remember, I have had a strong interest in
seeing if there's something beyond the material world. This
interest turned into an obsession around puberty, and I got into
self-hypnosis, ghosts, tarot card reading, holding my breath (never
did pass-out), drugs, etc. The actually awakening, however, was
spontaneous, and was a lot more than I had bargained for.
...
LSD triggered it. Eastern techniques (Kriya yoga especially) helped
channel it properly, but that was well after the fact.
***********
didnt even know what Kundalini was at the time.
I was pregnant and I had never really meditated or anything in my life and
one day after talking to my father in law about out of body experiences I
knew I wanted to try one and I bought the book Astral Dynamics and after
trying his N.E.W. system to energize and clear chakras I had the first
experience and it scared the hell out of me it was so frightning.
*********
It was spontaneous, although I had symptoms of awakening for several
months before the energy surge. I did not know they were related at
the time(extreme vertigo, a feeling of being above my body, and
cardiac symptoms).
I was mediatating and reciting the Lords' Prayer trying to reach my
father in the afterlife.
b. Was a strong emotion involved? Love? Fear? Pain? Despair? and if
it was , was prayer involved?
Pure love and the Lords' Prayer.
*********
I was a money manager on Wall. St. (well the Pacific Coast version) ...
...
I met at Harbin a diciple of Muktananda whom and invited him to take a
walk...
we climbed Mount Harbin. He looked at me (at my request) in the eyes and a
third eye popped out of his head. This happened twice. I was stunned and
shocked beyond words. This happened about a year and a third before my
awakening. I had no reference for this experience. But he gave me the name
of the Muktananda Ashram in Oakland and I got on their mailing list which
followed me for 15 years, until I was ready to confront my lineage. (I am
thankful for
this, since I never would have remembered the name a the time.)
...
One day, on my 15th k birthday I decided to meet these
folks whim I suspected were my lineage. Actually Muktananda called me in,
he has ways of communicating. I
was feeling a need to have a past, some grounding. I had been born again
and had no connection to anything earlier than my 15 years and I needed
something.
So I went. Upon getting their special mantra, his face appeared to me loud
and bright in my third eye. I have never seen anything so clearly in my
life, like a hologram. He was looking at me with this haunting, steady,
look. Then I knew for sure where my k came from. After that I had a blue
pearl sun that exploded into bliss in front of my eyes- a mini-version of
the first time. That was his way of saying hello and welcome back.
The energy was so intense though that I could not stay around there without
getting more k activity than I wanted. I have had to love him from afar. In
time I am connecting more with him. We'll see what happens next.
...
It lasted for many months. Six weeks from the beginning to the crown, where
I had the NDE, into the light, born again. But how frightening,
terrible....painful, too. I knew I was going to die. I did, I saw my whole
life pass before my eyes, and it was a horrifying vision.
Then I went into the light. The light was pure unconditional love. When I
came back I was a different person. A walk-in. I've checked this out too
over time before coming to this firm conclusion.
*********
I was born with awakened Kundalini. It is really not that uncommon.
According to the traditional teachings if a woman who has awakened K becomes
pregnant and has a child, the child is born with K awake. It may not be very
active for a long time (the young body can't sustain too much of a shock)
but it is awake. So a young woman is not just working for her spiritual
growth but for that of her unborn children.
There were signs, siddhes, as early as 4 or 5 yrs of age that I can recall
(precognition during dreams mostly, there was other stuff but some of that
was just as likely knowledge I brought along from most recent past life).
********
Strong emotion was the very heart of the experience. I had known the story
of Jesus since childhood, but I had never paused to consider the implications
fully. I became aware of this beautiful Divine Love Jesus had expressed with
his death. Then I became painfully aware that my own expressions of Love
were pathetic by comparison. This triggered a great fear in me--that I was
not worthy of the kingdom of heaven. I cried horribly.
Then I began to pray with all the sincerity a human being is capable of.
**********
Meditation and praying for understanding
Much fear right before it happened, not much emotion during and Love
later.
**********
This is a difficult question to answer in a strictly "either/or"
sense. It was not planned in the usual sense in terms of method, goal, and
timescale. However, looking back, it was implicitly planned into the
practice of Yoga in general. So the method could be said to be Yoga, but I
always assumed that the goal was beyond my reach in the timescale of this
lifetime (having heard about Masters who practiced Yoga for many decades to
get certain results). Hence it was not spontaneous in the sense of not
knowing the background and philosophy, but the symptoms were definitely
surprising when they actually occurred. When one hears about these
symptoms in theory the reaction is usually "Yeah, so what?", but when they
are manifest directly into one's life then one is filled with awe.
a. Was an "eastern" technique involved? ...
Yes. Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Nada Yoga,
Bhakti Yoga, and Karma Yoga.
By nature I am not very emotional. One of the resulting symptoms
(but not a trigger or cause) was a deep sense of Universal Peace. Mantra
was involved, but not the personal form of prayer (ie I did not ask for
anything to happen in this respect).
*********
I had meditated for 12 years within different
frameworks. I had called it yoga, just calming my mind or having a moment
with God... different names but basicly just sitting and relaxing and
clearing mymind.
I had given up this almost daily habit some years before my "awakening" took
place. At the time I had done Chi Kung exercises for about a year to keep my
body working well....There had been a short and sexually very arousing
relationship some months before. In fact the first sign of the awakening was
waking up to a whole body/heavenly orgasm at night. ...the thought of using
sexual energy for spiritual progess started to make some sense. I started to
do some simple exercises (not with sexual energy) and run into spontaneous
chi.
It is so difficult to tell when I had my awakening. I had a profound heaven
experience while meditating in 1978. At that time I had fallen in love with
my yoga teacher...And during the years there were many moments of enjoying
"the presence of God" but the felt energy was very weak compared to the
spontanous daily process that started later.
#############
Q Do you think heredity is implicated?
My mother is a charismatic Pentecostal who regularly goes into
trances, tongues, shamanic dancing, paralysis, and sometimes exhibits
the power to heal. Like one morning I awoke in pain from my arthritis
and thought 'Mom is praying for me. I'll feel better soon.' And I
felt better immediately. And it turns out she was downstairs praying
for me. It's too bad we can't have a discussion about our beliefs,
b/c she thinks mine are evil and I think hers are limiting.
******
Maybe. I think you can have a senstive nervous system that can make you more
prone to activating it. This you can inherit.
*******
I have whacked-out relatives, but don't think this is hereditary.
*******
Yes. I think I was born with it. I had vivid dreams and epileptic-
like seizures when I was around four. Analysis of my EEG (brain
wave) traces all come back labeled abnormal.
******
Possibly. Even more then heredity, I am grateful for the parenting. They are
truley blessed people my parents.
*******
;-) Definitely not. Altho' I must say, since my maternal grandmother passed
on I've seen her twice in extremely significant dreams. I really never knew
her, but always knew I loved her. It did seem she was like me in more ways
than a few. My mother never got along with her mother or her daughter.
Hmmmmm.
******
Only as far as there is slight tendancy toward eccentricity on my fathers
side. My paternal grandmother was extremely religious and was almost totally
responsible for my biblical knowlege. She was also VERY eccentric, but only
to the casual observer.
*******
Heredity could be a factor. My parents not inclined spiritually (except
through art), but my grandmother was.
*******
Not in my case. My father did remark to me once that I seem to live
a lifetime every three years or so. I am definately the alien child
in my family.
********
There seems to be a predisposition in my case. Dunno if it's cause
we're of spiritual family to start off with though. My mother has always
been very intuitive and open minded with a tendency to paranormal
experiences and my mother's father had a tendency to paranormal
experiences as well (once in synchronicity with me).
*******
Yes. I did not know my father was involved and interested in quantum
physics until after his death. He never spoke to me about his ability
to see auras and other abilities he experienced.
##############
Q. Did you have an NDE (Near Death experience)?
When I was born I almost died or did, who knows?
but I remember watching from up above all the labor and the voices and the
people involved
*******
About 7-8 years previously. It was a baaaad thing, which haunted me for
years.
********
I seem to have a couple of them every ten years since I was little.
My most recent one was in 2001, January.
******
I died twice and rose again twice, afterwards.
*******
Re: NDE - this wasn't quite the case for me - but I did undergo a rather
severe depression for around 4-6 months prior to the K release... it was in a
sense something of a spiritual death...and subsequent rebirth...
*******
I had a very severe car accident which resulted in a closed head
injury. I would not call it a NDE, but I was unconscious in my car
for 10 minutes before they got me out. This occurrred about 5 years
before my awakening.
********
No - I did have a very intense healing experience with Sai Baba bi-locating
from his ashram in Puttaparthi, Andra Pradesh to my hotel room in Kovalam,
Kerala a week after my visit to Him
*********
Had a car accident when I was a teen. No injury or leaving the body, but I
thought I was about to die and a great peace descended.
*******
Thanks to all!:))
END**********
poll:
A list member wrote: I have become curious
> what % of members had a spontaneous awakening.
And another replied:
I had a spontaneous awakening, but the trigger I think was falling madly
deeply truly in love at age 16. I was in bliss total utter bliss for 6
months as I felt total love and this huge expansion of consciousness - my
world literally exploded. It was the most exciting, ecstatic time of my
life. Then the bastard dumped me (his phone number was 666 I joke not...)
and I plunged into the first of depressions...
Also I had done a small amount of Transcendental Meditation at age 15 (at
the suggestion of my mother - I never took to it and didn't do it for long
but it may have been some kind of pre-trigger factor)
Dear List,
I'd like to revisit this subject for a new poll. :))
Question:
1. Did you have a spontaneous awakening, or was it "planned?"
2. What do you think triggered your awakening?
a. Was an "eastern" technique involved? ( i.e. meditation, Hatha Yoga,
chanting etc.) and if so which one?
b. Was a strong emotion involved? Love? Fear? Pain? Despair? and if so was
prayer involved?
c. Do you think heredity is implicated?
d. Did you have an NDE (Near Death experience)?
I'm guessing that it is perhaps a combination of factors that triggers K and
it would be interesting to see which ones predominate!
Thanks everybody! -------y.lEAA/MVfIAA/AtTslB/TM
http://www.kundalini-gateway.org
http://www.domin8rex.com/serpent/spirit/kindex.htm
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