Progressively it is coming to light that there is a
large neuro-detoxification component to the kundalini phenomena. After
reading Peter Levine, Robert Scaer, Alan Schore, Arthur Janov, Joseph
Chilton Pearce and Ellie Van Winkle it is apparent to me that kundalini
arises either spontaneously or through provocation in an effort to
bleed of tension held in the limbic brain from the fossilized
repression of emotion. Kundalini is a process by which the body is
attempting to "throw off" its former conditioning through
detoxification, death and regeneration.
He suggests emotional repression of the full expression of the
fight/flight response and the consequent lack of resolution back to a
neutral set point, results in the atrophy and toxicosis in
catecholamine-noradrenergic neurons. A toxin is anything that cannot be
utilized by the cell, and when elimination is impaired, toxins
accumulate to intolerable levels and trigger a detoxification process.
This cycle of toxification and detoxification shows up in the form of a
mild to extreme disturbance in the emotions and personality.
A kundalini awakening represents an intensive and extensive
detoxification process during the temporary lifting of the repressive
mechanisms of the "conscious" ego. Very many if not all factors lead me
to this conclusion. For example fasting or going on a raw diet awakens
kundalini because the body at last receives the energy and resources
needed to bring about a detoxification crisis. Whereas the normal
cooked diet requires so much energy and resources to process that it
becomes an ally in the spiritual repressive mechanisms of the ego, as
do all such addictions. Thus natural growth and transformation is
thwarted as the personality clings to its past imprints by various
means of self-suppression; including getting others to victimize you.
Toxic Mind Theory is an elaboration of the stressing and unstressing
process. A kundalini awakening is an amplified version of this normal
cyclic detoxification process that affects us all. "A
detoxification crisis is the sum of many crises in separate neurons,
and depressive and excitatory symptoms may occur simultaneously.
Whether symptoms will develop depends upon the extent of the toxicosis,
and persons who are experiencing symptoms are healthier than those who
are not because they are detoxifying their nervous systems." E. Van Winkle
The bipolar shift from over excitement to depression is characteristic
of nearly all mental disorders including addictions and Alzheimers. Van
Winkle associates the hyperactive stage with excess norepinephrine and
other metabolites flooding the synapses; first this causes excitation
in postsynaptic neurons and then noradrenergic receptors become bound
up with these other factors (dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin, GABA,
peptides, amino acids and various waste products) and depression ensues.
Our brain falls into patterns of cyclic neurotoxicity as a result of
emotional repression of the fight/flight mechanism during early trauma,
social stress, abandonment or deprivation of needs during in our
infancy. Thus the neurotoxicity that is addressed by kundalini
awakenings is the repressive mechanism built into our primary wiring
(0-5 years development). This initial patterning becomes the template
for ongoing emotional repression, and lack of neuron-recouperation,
which interferes with the smooth running of our catecholamine
"activating" neurons. (The Catecholamine metabolism proceeds from
tyrosine, to DOPA, to dopamine to norepinephrine and then to
epinephrine.)
Van Winkle says that other neurotransitters and metabolites build up in
the synapses and this impaired function further contributes to stress.
As you can imagine this leads to very inefficient brain function, and
often kundalini awakening is initiated during a particularly high
“stress/stress relief” cycle. Or rather, since the neuro-repression is
unraveling, life circumstances seem to come to a profound nexus and
crescendo of inner-outer events hyper-affects us to bring the nervous
system to an acute crisis. The repression is thus its own
antithesis, in bringing about its dissolution through the polar nature
of existence itself. When there is simply no energy left to keep the
repression system in place, nature steps in to reset the entire
organism through a kundalini awakening, thereby redeeming what might
have been a lost childhood, and permitting healing from the slings and
arrows of life.
How did this pattern of emotional repression originate? A mother’s
behavior must be attuned to the infant’s basic needs. Babies suppress
fight/flight responses when their needs are so unmet that they go into
a freeze response. The vegetative unmyelinated vagus controls basic
metabolism and responds to stress by "immobilisation behaviours."
Domesticated animals including humans are sub-natural when it comes to
releasing the tension of both fight/flight and freeze. Also children
are encouraged to "lie" by inhibiting the expression of fear, anger,
sadness, and so the neurotic, dissociated false self that doesn't know
what it feels is built. Kundalini awakenings constitute a mechanism for
the ultimate release of this primal repression, allowing our brains to
evolve and mature beyond the ongoing cycles of
repression/neurotoxicity/detoxification.
The ultimate terror for a newborn organism is to be undergoing
postbirth separation anxiety without the genuine emotional support of a
mother figure. The trauma would still occur if the mother is there but
is emotionally absent, distracted, depressed, rejecting or unloving. I
suspect that the panic button comes on full bore and simultaneously to
protect the baby from its own panic, the numbing or freeze button would
also come on. Thus it may not appear from the outside that the baby is
in deep distress. From this initial setting of terror, the consequences
of this brutal entrance into the world cascade throughout the life of
the individual such as: learning disorders, lack of coordination,
shyness, lack of direction, chronic loneliness, bodymind schism and the
inability to know what one truly feels, lack of a sense of center and
focus, inability to feel included, relationship difficulties, diet and
digestive disturbance, addictions, self-destructive entropic lifestyle
etc… Ultimately leading to physical, emotional and mental diseases of
various sorts.
Without a kundalini awakening that primary conditioning that we took on
in our infancy still has a huge sway over our bodymind and lives. That
is why kundalini can be so scary at times, because it is addressing our
most fundamental and primitive structures…way below the domain of
rational operation. While the nerves in the emotional limbic areas of
the brain are being kindled by kundalini our emotions are unleashed,
hence the crying, anger, fear, ecstasy, love, attraction, deja vu
etc...that happen in the early stages of the peak. (See Action Matters)
Permanent changes in consciousness occur via kundalini's impact on the
nerves by the extra pruning of axions and changes in myelination
patterns, and changes in the spectrum of neurotransmitters and firing
patterns. But what I don't understand is how the kindling of the brain
leads to detoxification of the synapses. For sure kundalini must cause
a loss of excitatory glutamate receptors which might contribute to the
experience of equanimity and peace, but also to apathy and depression.
And once the catecholamine neurons are no longer on permanent alert and
forcing the production of the neuroinhibitors: glycine, GABA, optiates
and serotonin in an effort to subdue hyper-arousal, the entire brain
should come out of its self-suppression and become more available to
present moment consciousness.
I suspect that it is the massive ongoing deluge of opiates and the
other “relaxation” and pleasure chemicals of kundalini that allow the
body to come out of its perpetual hyper-arousal. In this way the
nervous system doesn’t need such extensive detoxification as it did
during its radical-repressed condition…this leaves more energy and
resources for higher states of consciousness and being. As the nervous
system becomes more “efficient” and needs less resources to deal with
damage control, we essentially incarnate to a greater degree and
spiritually evolve. We show up!
As the Spirit finally starts penetrating the “shield of closure” there
is a sense of extra "Presence" that accompanies anyone going through an
awakening. A Presence which thereafter is forever with us to a greater
extent than prior to awakening—because we have become freed from the
repressive mechanisms of our primary matrix. Some people interpret this
new larger “Presence” as an alien entity, God or spirit of some form,
and thus continue the infant denial of their own existence as spirit.
The end result of a kundalini awakening is the significant reduction in
body tension and body pain in general, coupled with the calming of
emotions and reduction in reactivity. Having more Presence
(contemporary available consciousness) we also have a greater sense of
self-boundary so conditions of borderline personality, codependency and
neurosis in general are reduced or eliminated. With the repression
lifted we are both better able to defend ourselves, more trusting and
less defensive, because we have the full power of the "unsuppressed"
Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis at our disposal.
All our defense mechanisms and aspects of embodiment should therefore
be more responsive to ongoing development, and the individual is able
to mature at a far greater speed…having as it were the “primal veil of
sleep” lifted from ones being. From this Toxic Mind Theory we can see
why humans are so good at denial of reality, and what we are
sacrificing by keeping this closure from reality intact. Through our
repression of truth, we avoid our own incarnation and so are condemned
to spiritual loneliness and separation from the cosmic whole.
Van Winkle says that the suppression of anger is more damaging than the
trauma itself. For suppressing anger causes toxicosis in the brain
which shows up as mood disorders, addictions, PTSD, all manner of
depressions, codependency (loss of inner resources) and a host of other
mental/emotional disorders. Since the inhibitory mechanisms of the
brain are dysinhibited during a kundalini awakening, due to the
increase in excitatory chemistry, this is the perfect time for
undergoing assisted or self-administered primal therapy. The primal
therapy of releasing repressed anger and grief is a simple and
effective means of rectifying the toxicosis that is at the heart of
most neurological disorders. Once the detoxification process has
cleared neural pathways, recovery is virtually complete, restoring
memory, intelligence and creativity and overcoming dysphoric symptoms.
The native euphoria of the living organism is returned and unity with
cosmos reestablished.
"When emotions are being released, the neurons are detoxifying and
consciously redirecting the emotions toward past abusers allows neurons
that may have been clogged up since childhood to clear." E. Van Winkle
Because of the state of helplessness and submission of the child, we
learn early on to use yin/passive/self-destructive means to try and
relieve our sense of anger and injustice. Those people that have
developed toxicosis from emotional repression are prone to addictions
to food, drugs and stimulating circumstances, because these extra
stimulants bring on a detoxification crisis. Symptoms of a
detoxification crisis include crying, grief, headaches, sweating,
fever, anger, depression and panic attacks.
"Proper nutrition is essential to prevent deficiencies and toxicosis.
Exogenous toxins are particularly likely to accumulate in the
hypothalamus and in some cases maybe the primary cause of symptoms.
Dietary changes are known to alleviate symptoms of nervous and mental
disease and it is well known that when the nutrition of prisoners is
improved the likelihood of violence is diminished. This is because
avoiding stimulant foods decreases the severity of detoxification
crises. Nutrients in excess of bodily needs and nutrients that have
been altered chemically by processing and cooking contribute to
toxicosis. Diets high in raw foods are better able to provide nutrients
the neurons can utilize and will facilitate the release of toxins, both
endogenous and exogenous. Persons who are willing to detoxify their
nervous systems of exogenous toxins from food and other environmental
sources, and who are willing to do the work of releasing repressed
emotions, are the most likely to recover fully." E. Van Winkle
Cellular forgiveness or emotional resolution is achieved upon the
completion of detoxification. Eventually the capacity for a healthy
fight-flight reaction is restored along with the capacity for healthy
anger, sadness and love. The detoxification of the toxemia caused by
emotional repression is main component of kundalini awakenings. In fact
engaging in emotional expression and breathing in Primal Therapies may
indeed trigger a kundalini awakening as part of the detoxification
process.
The kundalini phenomena is so exaggerated and complex that parts of the
experience obscure other parts. At the start of writing my book I was
sure that kundalini was not involved in detoxification because the
vividness of the psychic, creative, ecstatic and relational aspects of
the experience obscured the neurological metamorphosis itself. Only
after I had pieced together the framework of possible chemistry of
metamorphosis did the large picture of neurological detoxification come
into focus. Then I saw the many causes, signs and symptoms fall
perfectly into place within a detoxification theory with its roots in
infant development.
That our primary wiring continues to inpact us throughout our life is
beautifully expressed in the following example of a woman I interviewed.
"When I left home at 17 till the time my father died when I was 31,
I went through cycles of anxiety that would build up till I went home
to my parents, after which I would get sick. Like an addict I was using
the negative chemistry of my parents relationship to force a
detoxification crisis to relieve me of my anxiety; because the
hypertonality my initial wiring was created within the context of that
same toxic relationship of my parents. So I went through many cycles of
hyperarousal/detoxification over this period. A kundalini awakening
being a huge version of this same cyclic detoxification process.
After my kundalini awakening, although I am far from thriving in
emotional regulation, I don't go through this anxiety
cycling/neuro-detox process anymore, which means my brain has
fundamentally restructured itself. The awakening was sufficiently
catastrophic that the base hypertonality to my brain was changed so the
synapses don't get so cluttered with metabolic debris...this means that
my neurology is cleansing itself as fast as it is messing house,
because my hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis is not set on permanent
emergency mode anymore. All other factors being the same, if I had been
given adequate loving skin to skin and eye to eye contact in infancy to
build up a lush connection between my right orbital complex and my
limbic brain, then my emotional regulation would have been stronger and
I would not build up the enormous psychic tension that propels
kundalini to awaken.”
The “double-bind sensation," of being screwed no matter what you
do in life, is generated by disharmonious or frustrated and
insufficient loving bond with the mother. It is this neurological
default wiring that constitutes the blockage and resistence behind
which psychic pressures build to great heights and a kundalini
awakening occurs to allow the organism a more normalized, less energy
exhausting existence. But of course not all kundalini awakenings are
cuased by childhood trauma.
At the hierarchical apex of the limbic system is the orbitofrontal
system, which is structurally more expanded in the right hemisphere
than in the left. It processes sensory information concerning the
external environment and integrates it with subcortically processed
feltsense of the internal visceral environment. The orbitofrontal area
thus act as an inner reflecting and organizing mechanism to refine
emotions in keeping with current sensory input, and allows for adaptive
change of inner-state in response to changes in the external
environment that are perceived as meaningful. When acting efficiently,
this prefrontolimbic regulatory system can regulate lower level
subcortical structures that are involved in the earlier processing
stages of socioemotional information. Alan Schore says that this
adaptive self-regulatory process acts as a "higher preconscious system"
that organizes "lower level unconscious states" of bodymind. With weak
orbiofrontal development however this leads to recursive rumination
usually of a negative nature (ie:worry), magnified protest/despair
reactions and the chronic hypertonal HPA axis will lead to
hypercortisol, depression and more rapid aging.
Researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
have discovered a high tech way to quell panic in rats. They found that
when they stimulated neurons near the middle of the prefrontal cortex
(infralimbic area), this sends a fear extinguishing signal to the
amygdala (fear memory) which reduces "freezing" in rats. It appears
that the infralimbic area in the prefrontal lobe is the "safety memory"
zone. Through connections between the prefrontal cortex and the
amygdala, the increased activity of infralimbic neurons in the
prefrontal cortex strengthens memory of safety by inhibiting the
amygdala's memory of fear. The researchers speculate that stimulating
parts of the prefrontal cortex in anxiety disorder patients, using an
experimental technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, might
help them control fear. Meditation probably does something similar,
slowly rewiring the nervous system away from the habit of fear and
stress.
If someone is still caught up in a severely toxic social environment
chances are that only a maladjusted form of detoxification cycle will
occur, represented by addictions and periodic emotional displays or
depression. The higher order of detoxification that occurs in kundalini
will only happen where there is some relative safety, because only then
can the "opening" chemistry of the kundalini occur. If one is in
continual "defense" chemistry then there is simply not enough energy
and resources available to spark off an awakening. I imagine that a
kundalini awakening within a socially toxic (ignorant) environment
would most likely lead to madness, unless the individual is naturally a
spiritual genius, and has absolute trust in themselves and can
objectively see and understand the psychological nature of their
community.
It appears that kundalini is a devise that nature uses to
eliminate old, inefficient, incapacitating neural hardware, and that
humans have perhaps been experiencing such awakenings ever since our
prefrontal lobes and the repressive-superego developed. I wonder just
where in the evolution of life did kundalini awakenings start? If we
knew this we would know more about kundalini’s cosmic function. We can
assume that a kundalini awakening is both nature’s compensatory healing
crisis for life-negating damage, as well as an inevitable evolutionary
progression that occurs after a certain amount of development has
occurred. An awakening is the attempt to eradicate harmful repressive
brain wiring and force rapid integration to bring the organism up to
its innate evolutionary potential and in tune with its contemporary
environment.
Culturally we handicap ourselves with our life destroying habits and
dissociative child rearing practices—the wild, original us is far
nobler, deeper and more profound than we are socialized to be. In
essence we have no idea who we really are. It is perversity of the
polar play of the Tao that traumatic damage and repression serves to
propel us into one of life’s most amazing journeys...simply because
consciousness WILL OUT.
Humans even if they are not getting their real needs met still usually
survive through to adulthood, and so kundalini is one way of
rehabilitating the nervous system. All other animals than humans tend
to throw off fight-flight-freeze tension—domestic animals do so less
than wild animals however because they have been conditioned into
similar repression as humans. Humans however have an increased capacity
for repression through having a more advanced prefrontal cortex
(superego). And perhaps because of this superior adaptive mechanism to
trauma, our nervous systems also have a mechanism called "kundalini
awakening" that can dissolve the former trauma induced wiring, and can
reinstate a more open, less defensive chemistry once the danger is well
and truly over and there is enough energy and resources for the healing
crisis. Nature does this in the name of "energy conservation," because
it is simply not energy efficient to run an organism on old faulty
wiring that is "crying wolf" all the time.
Once the adult brain is "fully myelinated" it takes a "radical
chemistry overhaul" and to restructure the brain so completely. To
prepare for this cataclysm we are talking decades of preparatory time
after the initial stunted neurological development, until the ego
structure and body is strong enough to withstand such a catastrophic
adjustment process. A weak ego structure vehemently resists its
dissolution. And like I say, an individual that is still in a
perpetually "dangerous" environment in which they feel unsafe, will
simply not have built adequate resources for the Big K. For example a
human that was abused as a child and spends their life as a slave,
would not have built the kind of complex wiring and neurochemistry it
takes to pop.
To be fully understood consciousness needs to be looked at
transtemporally. It is our capacity for Higher Consciousness that
allows us to descend into the neuronal matrix of our birth experience
and infancy, once our Everyday Consciousness is blown away by
kundalini, drugs or whatever. Thus to go up is to go down, and to go
down allows more space and ability to go up. If the mind is not up to
the task of going into infant-birth hell, then we simply don’t go
there. It takes a strong mind and enormous energy to go spelunking in
the primary matrix, because of the fierce repressive mechanisms of the
bodymind that are determined to cut off all trauma and store it safely
in the unconscious bowels of our being.
You see it takes a certain amount of conscious development and energy
for a system to change into radical dissolution mode in order to
reprogram at a higher order. If there is no powerful growth there is no
great disparity between the old growth and the new, and so the organism
just ticks along in its normal unintegrated fashion. If however there
is a great disparity and tension between where the new growth is
attempting to go and the faculty of the old system, then nature will
force a catastrophic breakdown in order to restructure the original
wiring in the morphogenic field of the higher conscious attainment.
It is the differential tension between the old and new growth that
initiates the dissolution of the old brain and resurrection of the new.
So rapid growth of cognition and brain development could also initiate
kundalini, such as when students go to university and away from home
for the first time. But the untraumatized nervous system is more apt to
slowly release its stored charge more fluently, and so may require more
extreme circumstances in order to pop. It is the lack of fluid
integration of body, emotion, mind and soul that builds the karmic
circumstances through which the central nervous system is brought to
fever pitch. Lets just say that a kundalini awakening is the settling
of the psychosomatic accounts. Thus a disharmonious primary wiring
brings about its own reformation within the context of "adult spiritual
achievement" and lived self-inquiry.
That awakening is somewhat aligned with "adult spiritual achievement"
is of no big mystery. You see, if someone is still in denial and
repression and is using all manner of addictions and defense mechanisms
in order to keep their traumatic core under wraps, well there again,
they simply do not have the charge, flow, conductivity, strength and
resources needed for the genie to voluntarily come out of the bottle.
And it is to this purpose of "liberating the Fire within," that
spiritual practices such as fasting, toning, meditating, yoga, dancing,
music, vision quests, chanting, mudras, and the Inner Arts of awakening
are undertaken.
The family system is the basis of a spiritual culture. Ideally families
are supposed to be units for the generation and amplification of love
and consciousness. When this system becomes disfunctional and abuse
occurs, its not so much the trauma from the abuse itself that
injures—it's because the conditions of love and consciousness are
perturbed and the real damage done to children is through the
"insufficient" affect regulation, developmental cues and modelling of
higher human Being. In this way dysfunction is passed on generation to
generation with various symptoms of distress, disease and maladaption.
We can see that the Neurendocrine and Mitchondrial Theories of Aging
combined with the Toxic Mind Theory, present a great basic model for
psychological and spiritual health. On the physical level, the speed
and efficiency of neurological cleansing and reset, is determined by
such factors as cellular hydration, availability of minerals and
enzymes, antioxidant capacity, oxygen and nutritional density as well
as the obvious neurochemical, adrenal and hormonal status. Then there
is the strength, integrity and resilence of the nerves themselves and
the body’s ability to cleanse itself through the lymph, kidneys, liver
and digestive system. All this and more contributes to our
stress/unstress capacity and how fast we can rest and recover, and be
ready to take on the next moment of life with no resistance.
http://primal-page.com/toxictest.htm —John A. Speyrer hosts the "Primal Psychotherapy Page http://primal-page.com/toxicmnd.htm www.gocure.com/
©2006
Biology of Kundalini by Jana Dixon