What would you think if you suddenly felt so unwell that it seemed you might faint at any moment? Your heart is pounding; you feel tingling and numbness throughout your body; your breathing changes; you experience muscle spasms everywhere\u2014especially in your arms, legs, face, and mouth; your throat and chest tighten; you feel dizzy; your head aches; your stomach contracts; you experience intense itching or burning sensations; you feel as if your body is disappearing; your vision and hearing become unclear; waves of heat or cold wash over you; you sweat profusely\u2026<\/p>\n
You would probably think you were having a heart attack. That you were going to die. Many of the people I encounter through my professional work have gone through\u2014or are still going through\u2014exactly such experiences. And because these are bodily experiences of extreme intensity, their first reaction is to seek emergency medical care. There, doctors find that there is nothing physically wrong\u2014tests show that the heart and all other indicators are normal. Then, directly or indirectly, they are told that this is a panic attack and are advised to see a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n
As panic attacks, along with other closely related states of intense fear, are becoming increasingly common, it is important to know more about them. Information is the first and most essential means of dealing with them. Although panic attacks provoke some of the strongest fears a person can experience and appear to be states over which one has no control, in reality they are something that can be managed very successfully\u2014if one adopts the appropriate mental attitude toward them. It is not by chance that many therapeutic practitioners believe that cognitive psychotherapy\u2014focused on mental attitudes\u2014has the greatest effect in their treatment.<\/p>\n
There is already an abundance of information on panic attacks<\/a> available online, so I will only outline the essentials.<\/p>\n Panic attacks are a psychological condition involving the experience of extremely intense fear\u2014panic\u2014triggered by the bodily symptoms described above. These symptoms lead the person experiencing them to believe they are having a heart attack, are going to die, or are going insane. Typically, the bodily symptoms arise unexpectedly, intensify, reach a peak around the tenth minute, and then gradually subside.<\/p>\n When such an experience occurs for the first time and the person neither knows what is happening nor why, an additional fear naturally arises\u2014the fear of recurrence, or fear of the fear itself. We speak of panic disorder when panic attacks begin to recur without an apparent cause and the person becomes afraid of their repetition, avoiding the places where a previous attack occurred.<\/p>\n This links panic attacks to so-called agoraphobia, in which a person begins to feel safe only at home, avoiding places where a similar episode might occur\u2014especially where help may not be available or where they might be seen in a state of vulnerability and feel humiliated. Such avoided situations include driving, social gatherings, foods or drinks associated with previous negative experiences, restaurants, shops, and theatres.<\/p>\n Although specialists acknowledge that the exact causes of panic attacks are unclear, they commonly cite various sources of stress, hereditary factors, and physiological factors such as low blood sugar, stimulant use, hyperthyroidism, and others.<\/p>\n From my professional experience, however, I am inclined to believe that the primary cause of panic attacks is the awakening of kundalini energy\u2014more precisely, the initial stage of this awakening. If a stressful event is present, it functions merely as a triggering factor, not a causal one. I also believe that information is crucial for coping with panic attack symptoms. This article is written with that purpose: to share my professional experience and observations of people suffering from panic attacks and to add an additional dimension to their traditional interpretation\u2014the spiritual one.<\/p>\n I first began to notice the connection between panic attacks and kundalini awakening when I observed the striking similarity between their symptoms. To clarify what I mean, I present them below.<\/p>\n Symptoms of a panic attack<\/strong> Shortness of breath and hyperventilation<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Strong and rapid heartbeat<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Chest pain or discomfort<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Trembling or shaking<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Stabbing sensations<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Feelings of unreality and detachment from surroundings<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sweating<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Nausea or stomach distress<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Dizziness, lightheadedness, weakness<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Numbness or tingling sensations<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Hot or cold flashes<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Fear of dying, losing control, or going insane<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Symptoms of kundalini awakening in the human body:<\/strong><\/p>\n Muscle spasms, pain, convulsions<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Energetic tremors or sensations of electricity circulating through the body<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Itching, tingling, numbness, crawling sensations, pinching or burning<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Intense heat (extreme burning sensations) or cold<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Uncontrollable bodily movements: tics, tremors, shaking, felt as an inner force inducing unusual postures or movements<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Headaches, pressure inside the skull<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Irregular heartbeat, chest pain<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Digestive problems<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Numbness or pain in the joints (especially the left leg and foot)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Pain and blockages in various areas, often in the back and neck<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Mental confusion, difficulty concentrating<\/p>\n<\/li>\n others\u2026<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n (Source, abridged: Kundalini Signs and Symptoms<\/em>, by El Collie<\/strong>)<\/p>\n In his book Meditation for the Inner Guide<\/em>, Edwin Steinbrecher<\/strong> describes his experience of kundalini awakening, which may occur during the practice of the \u201cInner Guide Meditation\u201d he developed:<\/p>\n \u201cThe most common physical experience of kundalini is a trembling, pulsation, or sensation of heat, cold, or electrical current at the base of the spine or in the feet, head, or hands. Sometimes, with sudden awakening, the toenail of the left big toe turns black and falls off. Sensations of hot flashes or extreme cold may occur. Spontaneous bodily movements such as convulsions or uncontrollable shaking may arise. Night sweats are common. A physical ailment may suddenly intensify, or specific subjective states may be experienced, such as weightlessness or the sensation of limb movement when it is actually still. Dreams may suddenly increase, or lights may be seen or sounds heard without physical cause. Pain or numbness may be felt in the back, head, or limbs.\u201d He then adds:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen these symptoms appear, the individual usually has no idea what is happening and becomes frightened, seeking medical help. Because most doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists are ignorant of kundalini and its symptoms, the condition is diagnosed as an \u2018anxiety attack,\u2019 \u2018psychotic episode,\u2019 or something similar, or the person is told that \u2018everything is fine.\u2019 If the symptoms are treated with medication, they are simply \u2018frozen\u2019 until the treatment is discontinued.\u201d The physical symptoms listed above represent only part of the full spectrum of kundalini awakening symptoms\u2014specifically those overlapping with panic attacks. Kundalini awakening is a highly complex phenomenon, and I am inclined to believe that panic attacks represent only its initial phase. After they pass, other types of kundalini experiences follow (which I will address in a subsequent article).<\/p>\n At the beginning, however, are these intensely frightening bodily experiences, where the primary psychological issue is fear of death, loss of control, or insanity.<\/p>\n Yet these very elements\u2014encountering death and realizing that our zone of control over life is far smaller than we believed\u2014lie at the heart of every spiritual awakening. Our small earthly personality\u2014the ego with which we habitually identify and which convinces us that life is under our control\u2014suddenly confronts experiences that cannot be controlled and are too irrational to explain. In such moments, one may fear madness, and death seems terrifyingly close.<\/p>\n I believe that the psychological core of panic attacks is a classic example of how spiritual transformation begins. The word that describes this beginning is simple: encounter with death<\/strong>. For spirituality is precisely this\u2014the death of everything transient with which we have identified, and the emergence of the question of whether there is something that does not die, and if so, what it is.<\/p>\n I found it particularly interesting that research into the so-called Kundalini Syndrome<\/em> in psychology draws not only on transpersonal psychology but also on near-death experience research. The so-called Kundalini Scale<\/strong>, developed by Ring & Rosing<\/strong><\/a>, consists of nine items describing the psychophysical changes of kundalini activation during near-death states:<\/p>\n Sensations of energy in the hands<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Feelings of deep ecstasy<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sharp, migraine-type headaches<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Awareness of energy release or currents moving through the body<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Tingling, itching, or numb sensations on or beneath the skin<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Awareness of inner light or colors<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Hot hands<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sensations of extreme heat or cold moving through the body<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The body shakes, vibrates, or trembles<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nThe Relationship Between Panic Attacks and Awakened Kundalini<\/h2>\n
(If at least four of these are present, a panic attack may be diagnosed):<\/p>\n\n
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(Edwin Steinbrecher, Meditation for the Inner Guide, pp. 119\u2013120)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
(p. 120)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nPanic Attacks and the Encounter with Death<\/h2>\n
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\nAwakened Kundalini as an Awakened Impulse Toward Individuation<\/h2>\n