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Spring: Nature’s Awakening

I love that Mother Nature reminds us of the cyclical nature of all things. In the cycle, Nature invites us to awaken to deeper truths and clearer insights. Nature itself can teach us to see the signs of our own Spiritual Awakening.

Awakening: Enlightenment, Transformation, & Becoming

The notion of the spiritual awakening has been around for centuries and can be observed in a variety of cultures and religions around the world. Call it “nirvana”; call it “enlightenment”; call it “bliss”. A Spiritual Awakening has less to do with religion or even having the answer and more to do with feeling fully alive and inspired. Our own awakening begins the moment we can step back and “awaken” to our life with a new sense of being in this world.

Despite being as old as Nature herself, spiritual awakenings can be mildly unnerving at first, as they often cause us to grapple with questions like, “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” But there can also be a certain element of wonder and excitement when we find ourselves suddenly feeling very much alive.

Carl Jung, the psychiatrist popularized the idea of the spiritual awakening and described the process as coming back to the original Self. However, the experience of rising to a higher state of consciousness is much older than Carl Jung’s and even Psychology itself. Awakening has been an intrinsic part of what it means to be human.

A spiritual awakening is a powerful experience in enhanced self-awareness. Spiritual seekers and Neurologist alike describe the process as a reunification, your entire being—mind, body, and spirit—goes through a massive energetic shift, causing you to move through life in a very different way. According to tradition, an awakening can instigate long-term changes, including:

• Feelings of blissfulness
• Enhanced psychic abilities
• More compassion and empathy
• Increased creativity
• Increased spiritual connection
• Feeling aligned and in the flow

Kundalini Awakening (aka Kundalini Rising)

In Hinduism, one of the cultural influences on what we call Yoga, Kundalini is a form of divine feminine energy (or Shakti) believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the muladhara. Yogis believe Kundalini to be a force or power associated with the divine feminine or the formless aspect of the Goddess. Energy in the body, when cultivated and awakened through Tantric practice, leads to spiritual liberation. Tantra Yoga, credited as the foundation of Asana as part of the yoga practice, uses postures or shapes in movement and stillness to engage and employ the body. Today we call this Somatics (Soma means body). The term, Tantra, along with practices associated with it, was adopted into Hatha yoga in the 9th century. It has since been adopted into other forms of Hinduism as well as modern spirituality and New Age thought.

Whether spirtual seekers or Yogis, aspiring practitioners undergo a period of careful purification and strengthening of the body and nervous system before embarking on the spiritual awakening process. According to Hindu tradition, this preparation is required in order to integrate this spiritual energy. This is one of the reasons we recommend working with an experience teacher or guide.

Kuṇḍalinī awakenings can occur by a variety of methods. Many systems of yoga focus on awakening Kuṇḍalinī through: (1) meditation; (2) pranayama breathing; (3) asana postures and (4) chanting of mantras. Yoga and Tantra propose that a guru (teacher) can awaken Kuṇḍalinī, but body and spirit of the practitioner must be prepared through yogic austerities, such as pranayama, or breath control, physical exercises, visualization, and chanting. In other words, the Guru or Teacher may serve as a guide or even an initiator of the process, but like all yoga, the Awakening is the work of the practitioner. Furthermore, yoga wisdom advises the student to follow the path in an open-hearted manner.

A Practice: Opening to Rising

In Sanskrit, kundal means “coiled snake.” As such, Kundalini refers to the energy, in Tantric yoga tradition, present within each of us since birth and coiled (like a snake) at the base of the spine. Yogis consider Kundalini energy to be the ultimate life force and the source of our creative power, spiritual gifts, and shakti, or divine feminine energy. I like to explain: Shakti is the energy that helps us get $#!+ done! 🙂

Dormant kundalini energy is unleashed in an awakening. It flows upward through the seven chakras (energy centers) to the crown of the head, balancing the energetic body and accessing expanded consciousness. The experience of Kuṇḍalinī awakening can happen when one is either prepared or unprepared. When Kundalini awakens spontaneously or without guidance it can lead to “Kundalini Syndrome” which sometimes presents as psychosis.

If you’d like to experiment with your awareness of Kundali, Shakti and Energy, join me for Just Breathe or Just Pause or take a moment to Visualize and Breathe.

1. Find a comfortable, sustainable upright seat.
2. On the INHALE, imagine a ball of light energy traveling up your center body, as a hollow tube from earth to crown. We call this the Shushumna Channel.
3. On the EXHALE, visualize the energy ball traveling back to your root or into the earth beneath you.
4. Repeat for 10+ breaths, slow and steady.
5. What do you notice? Don’t worry if you don’t notice anything yet, the more you pay attention, the more intimate your attention receptors become.

Inspired Shift!

For me Spiritual Awakening, or embracing our own transformation in the process of becoming is a process of gaining clarity, and it’s the central lesson in Inspired Shift!

Inspired Shift is a strategy based on the dharmic concept of Inspired Living rooted in the philosophy of Transparent Alignment. Inspired Shift is a pragmatic plan of action of learnable skills that equip us to redefine our relationship with change and realign the experience of our day-to-day life.

I teach Inspired Shift! because it’s something we can control. If you didn’t already know this about me, I like to be in control. 🙂 We control shift by learning specific skills that help us attentively respond rather than subconsciously react to change. Specifically, we practice the FOUR skills of shift, (1) compassion, (2) curiosity, (3) creativity, and (4) courage, to build (5) confidence, (6) competence, to cultivate (7) connection as we move toward CLARITY. Strengthening these skills helps manage change with grace and ease. These are the skills I teach in Inspired Shift!

We can get good at doing change. We can get good at being patient in the waiting for change. We can get good at choosing where to focus our efforts and energy. With skillful, diligent practice, we learn to ride the waves of inevitable change just as surfers learn to ride their boards in unpredictable, uncontrollable ocean waters. With practice and patience, we learn ways to stay on, recognize when to get off, and where the best waves are breaking. Learn to shift in ease, with confidence and competence to do change differently. We begin by paying attention.

Signs of Enlightenment, Transformation & Becoming

I am not done learning and growing (at least I hope not)! Yet, I have experienced and witnessed numerous awakenings. From my research and experience, I compiled EIGHT categories (and 20 applications) of shift inherent in the process of Awakening. Take a look and see if you are experiencing any of these shift.

1. Shift in sense of self: “Atman is Brahman” (Loss of sense of personal agency) (from me to we to us to all).
   1. You’ve reevaluated your beliefs.
   2. Your relationships begin to shift.
   3. You feel alone, disconnected, or detached.
2. Change in emotions (from fear to love).
   1. Increased empathy.
   2. You display more compassion.
3. Shift in cognition (quieter, intuitive, creative).
   1. Your dreams are more vivid.
   2. You have a newfound curiosity.
4. Shift in perception (you can see entanglements, inter-connections).
   1. Your senses are heightened; you may have more bodily sensations.
   2. You may have physical symptoms.
5. Shift in memory (free from karmic imprisonment)
   1. Your outlook on the world feels different.
   2. There’s a sudden change in your habits and routine.
   3. Loss of fear of death
6. Expanded insight (inner vision, intuition, vision, creativity)
   1. You experience more synchronicities and déjà vu.
   2. You feel spirituality becoming an important part of your life.
   3. You can sense inauthenticity and manipulation.
   4. You realize everyone is on their own path.
7. Experience flow state.
   1. You’re more intuitive.
   2. Your teachers find you.
8. Experience ecstasy/transcendence.
   1. You feel more connected to the natural world.
   2. You want to be of service.

If you are ready to open to your compassionate Clarity, join me for Inspired Shift! Choose either a personal guided journey or join the group Circle.