Kundalini syndrome.... Continue

Gopi Krishna described the symptoms of what he thought was kundalini awakening based on his own experiences. From his early years of turmoil, he described a stream of light and a roaring sound in his head, a rocking sensation, a sense of slipping out of his body,[140] followed by a sense of detachment and disinterest, weakness in his arms and legs, fatigue and uneasiness.[141] After many years of effort to understand and master the mysterious kundalini, Krishna was at last able to report a happier condition. It was a condition which, in his view, included a form of heightened awareness, and a refinement his faculties.[142] Gopi Krishna was influential as the first widely published author on the subject of kundalini. He attracted Yvonne Kason, a transpersonal psychologist who helped to further popularize his story and integrated his lessons into her practice. Together with a few collaborators, she established the Kundalini Research Network.[143] According to Stuart Sovatsky: "the use in the West of Gopi Krishna's problematic kundalini experiences as a standard gives the awakening a reputation as more dangerous than it is." [144] [edit]DSM-IV: Related categories While kundalini problems are not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, through the efforts of David Lukoff, Francis G. Lu and Robert P. Turner, a new diagnostic category called "Religious or Spiritual Problem"[77] was included in the fourth edition, DSM-IV published in 1994. This category was proposed to offset the tendency of mental health professionals to ignore or pathologize religious and spiritual issues brought into treatment.[145] While acknowledging the consensus within transpersonal psychology that kundalini awakening is a form of spiritual emergence, or emergency, and should not be diagnosed or treated as a mental disorder, some psychologists note it could precipitate forms of mental disorders or exacerbate preexisting conditions.[146] DSM-IV does include in its "Glossary of culture-bound syndromes" the diagnostic category "Qi-gong Psychotic Reaction", described as "an acute, time-limited episode characterized by disassociative, paranoid or other psychotic or non-psychotic symptoms[...] Especially vulnerable are individuals who become overly involved in the practice."[147] As such, some practitioners believe it to be a case of kundalini energy in disarray. Over-zealous practitioners of Kundalini, Qigong or Buddhist meditation, without proper guidance or restraint, were observed to lose touch with reality.[148] Sovatsky has commented upon the apparent similarities between kundalini syndrome, or "pranotthana manifestation" as he prefers to call it, and Qi-gong Psychotic Reaction. He acknowledges the qi-gong psychotic reaction as an experience of nonordinary consciousness not unlike what Americans involved in qi-gong, meditation or yoga have experienced. He cautions those who would pathologize this kind of emergency: "That some problems arise as a result of the most auspicious of spiritual experiences, long documented in diverse religions, must, in such cases, also be considered."[149] [edit]References