Hi all,
Two weekends ago, I went to an intensive with Adyashanti and thought I’d share here.
Adya radiates a very “clean” sort of energy; loving, calm, powerful and yet very sweet, almost translucent.
He did some talking but the lion’s share of the intensive was in a Q&A format. And every pre-conceived notion I might have had of him disappeared after the first question - about Kundalini (yeah)! This person asked about raging K symptoms and if that is part of the journey. He began his response with, “There is no denying that there is an energetic component to awakening.” He went on to offer advice on how to deal with it. Kundalini/energy seemed to be one of the two dominant themes for the weekend (the other being relationships). Someone asked about “negative energies” and Adya went on to say if one is drawn to shamanic rituals, etc, they could try it. He also talked about using acupuncture for overloads, grounding techniques, foods for grounding, etc.
The synergy between AYP and his teachings is so strong that at one point, I was momentarily convinced that Yogani and he were the same person. 
Of course, there was some of the regular “Adya-talk” too. But all in all, I was astounded and slightly saddened that he is often misunderstood here on these forums and elsewhere. In my opinion, his teachings do mold seamlessly with AYP practices…
Very grateful to have had this opportunity.
Hi Kami:
Thanks much for the feedback on your Adya weekend. Wonderfully affirming.
No, Adya and I are not the same person.
Though, like all of us, we share the same abiding inner silence, so there is kinship.
I have been one of those critical of his approach in the past, simply because of the non-relational self-inquiry aspect, which is not as problematic in his approach as in the some of the more hardcore non-duality teachings. The more I learn about Adya, the less hardcore non-duality he seems. Maybe I just did not fully perceive the practical side of his teachings when looking into them years ago. Or maybe he has been gradually moving more toward the center on practices and experiences. Either way, it is win-win for those who happen to be looking at both Adya and AYP. 
All the best!
The guru is in you.
Do you recall any of the advice?
I’ve always been curious about his thoughts on that. Unfortunately, the event seems not to have been taped…
Do you recall any of the advice?
I’ve always been curious about his thoughts on that. Unfortunately, the event seems not to have been taped…
Hi Jim, The event was taped and it is available on his website (audio) - Santa Fe. The primary advice was to not resist it. He suggested surrendering to the energy, and that resistance to it (stories about it and grasping) tend to increase the discomfort. he also suggested grounding practices - gardening, walking, etc. He said this energetic transformation can take years to complete (did for him), but it always settles down eventually. He also said he had personally tried acupuncture for some of the uncomfortable symptoms (think it was headaches). Forgot to mention earlier - his focus for this intensive was the "descent of spirit", or the evolution of nothingness to everythingness, going from crown to heart.
Ah, great, thanks! It had evaded my searching skills (mostly because I was looking for video). But I found it, here. $40 (ouch!) but it is 8 hours plus…
Sounds like a very cool focus and topic. Can you describe a little more about it? What drives the “shift”?
Also, did he say kundalini was part of the whole shift or only leading to “nothingness”?
Thanks, Jeff
Also, these are the chapter headings of the tape. Any idea where that stuff got discussed?
The Cause of Unworthiness
Our Imagined Inner Worlds
Projections of the Unknown
Transitioning to a New Dimension of Consciousness
Beyond the Paradigm of Trust and Distrust
Not Resisting Life’s Tragedy
The Paradox of Unity and Individuality
The Loving Truth in Relationships
Total Authenticity
The Extraordinary Quality of Silence
Connection to the Source of Vitality
Transcending and Descending
The Fundamental Delusion
Back into the Game of Life
Finding “Yes” for the Way It Is
Discovering Prajna
When Your Life Is Falling Apart
Sounds like a very cool focus and topic. Can you describe a little more about it? What drives the “shift”?
Also, did he say kundalini was part of the whole shift or only leading to “nothingness”?
Thanks, Jeff
From what I know of Adya's teachings, Kundalini "cultivation" is not part of the path. Hence, I have never heard him say Kundalini awakening leads to nothingness; his own energetic symptoms (from what I've heard from his talks) occurred after/in conjunction with awakening. This aspect of his approach is fundamentally different than AYP in that Kundalini is not given importance, happens totally "under the hood" but is not denied as a player in awakening. When it happens, surrendering to it, just like everything else, is advised. I've often wondered about this - what leads to what? There are many who have extensive symptomatology of highly active Kundalini. Yet that crucial shift away from identification as the separate self eludes them for decades and perhaps lifetimes. And then there are those that sail through, awaken spontaneously with not a word about energetic symptoms until after/along with the "shift" (often ecstatic bliss being the only one). Any thoughts on this? Think someone asked a similar question - what drives the shift? I think he said Grace. :slight_smile: It has been a few weeks so I can't quote verbatim.
Hmmm… These are separate tracks? If so, they were clearly labeled after the fact.
If you’re talking about energy symptoms - it was interspersed throughout the two days. If you’re referring to the descent of spirit, I’d say - Paradox, transcending and descending, back into the game of life, finding yes, and prajna…
Hi guys,
Adyashanti talks about his kundalini awakening in this interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUTF8n_WJko
He even uses the word “kundalini” with a bit of embarrassment. 
. He also talks about the shift to unity that took place later on.
Hi Jeff
You might find these two lessons interesting. This one describes the journey from the witness to unity in terms of the expansion of awareness from thought to the witness (nothingness) and finally to unity (everythingness), with little mention of the energetic aspect of the transformation:
http://www.aypsite.org/336.html
And this one describes the same process in terms of kundalini… the rise to the crown chakra and the descent of kundalini from there into the heart:
http://www.aypsite.org/274.html
As unity is really an evolved state of ecstasy, kundalini is an essential part of the journey.
Christi
Hi Christi,
At no time when I was in person with Adya did he seem embarrassed to use the word “Kundalini” (or any other word, for that matter). One can draw several conclusions about such things however, based on their own colorings, like/dislike for a teacher (or anyone/anything else). To me, what you describe is not apparent in this video, as an example.
Also, I was specifically only answering the question on what Adya’s take was on evolution from nothingness to everythingness.
All the best!
Kami
Hi Kami,
To me there is nothing wrong with someone being embarrassed- it’s just a sign of being human. It is good to see Adya talking about his kundalini awakening because it got a little glossed over in some of his books, maybe because of the publishers wanting to put a certain angle on his teachings, or maybe because Adya didn’t see it as being important at the time?. Maybe he is recognising the importance of it more now in hindsight? I have been a big fan of Adya for several years now but this video was the first time I have heard him mention his kundalini awakening.
The shift to unity is the same thing as the shift from nothingness to everythingness - if in fact it is even a word? sounds like an Adya word to me.
All the best.
In fact it is an Adya word - goes superbly well with the topic of this thread.
Your definition of unity being an evolution of ecstasy is not the same as Adya’s (at least from my understanding of his teachings). I “get” his definition simply because it fits my own experience and evolution. I had not the slightest interest in him as a teacher until I heard a short talk and felt it was addressed specifically to me. It may not fit with yours or anyone else’s since each of our journeys is unique.
To be clear, his teachings do not emphasize energy. His new book that is a distillation of his teachings - The Way of Liberation (which, in my opinion, is a gem) has absolutely nothing about cultivating energy, bliss or ecstasy.
Best wishes back atcha!
PS: I suppose everyone describes awakening/unity in terms of their predominant experience. For you, that might be ecstasy. To me, it is pure and silent awareness. Either way, the problem arises only when we say, “it is this and only this”. As Shankara famously said, “Neti Neti” - not this, not this. What it really is is for each of us to discover within our own depths. No rule book for this, fortunately.
Hi Kami,
Yes, that is the interesting thing about Adyashanti, he meditates for years, goes through an intensive kundalini awakening, comes out the other end enlightened and then talks, for the most part, as if it didn’t happen and has no relevance. Then occasionally someone asks him about it and he says “Oh yes, that…”.
I wasn’t giving a definition of unity, but rather a pointer to it, to show how kundalini is involved in the journey. So it isn’t like I think one thing and Adya thinks another. I have not read Adya’s latest book that you mention, but I am familiar with his teachings.
Adya is completely right in saying that unity has nothing to do with energy or with bliss or with ecstasy. But it is also just as true to say that unity is the merging of ecstasy and bliss and the end of the process of kundalini. It is one of those divine paradoxes.
If you come at it from one angle, when you stop identifying with the movement of thought, you begin to realize that you are the witness of every thought that arises and ceases in the mind. You are also the witness of every emotion, every sensation, in fact, of everything that moves. You are the expansive silent awareness that exists behind everything and does not move. The experience of this is very beautiful and very peaceful but it is still only half the journey. The second half of the journey, the decent into unity, is a kind of non-doing. There is nothing you can do to make it happen. It is a kind of surrender, or a giving-up where you simply stop making the effort to hold onto the illusion of separation. The separate self- even as the witness- falls away, and there is no gap between what is seen and what is seeing. You could say that you realize yourself to be everything, but it is just as true to say you are nothing. The experience of this is love and ecstasy. It is love because everything is completely intimately connected to the point where there is nothing that is separate in any way, and it is ecstasy because everything is vibrating with the fullness of that love (or spirit as Adya would say).
Coming at the same thing from the other angle, as we cultivate bliss we come more and more into the witness and as we purify the body we come more and more into a state of ecstasy. As ecstasy and bliss merge in silence, the boundaries of the illusion of separateness fall away and we come into unity and the experience of divine love. Same thing, same process, just a different way of talking about it. Only from the pure advaitic perspective, it is necessary to let go of everything in order to make the transition from the witness to unity, which means also letting go of bliss, ecstasy and the value of any energetic experience. That doesn’t mean those things are not experienced by the advaitic sage, of course they are, it just means they are given no importance so as to be able to give complete importance to the practice of letting go and simply being as the primary tool of awakening.
The point that both traditions agree on (the yogic and the pure advaitic) is that the transition into unity involves a shift into the heart so that the person functions fully from there. This is another divine paradox, because it feels as if there is no centre and at the same time it feels as if everything is centred in the heart and radiating with love from there.
All the best,
Christi
Hi Christi,
Actually, I have not heard Adya say one way or another about unity not being ecstasy, etc. Also, I’m not aware of him pretending it never happened. No authentic teacher sits around talking about their awakening unless asked. As I said in my very first post, his teachings complement AYP practices in my opinion. But this is how I feel about other teachers I’m strongly drawn to, and they range from pure Advaitic to mystical. Maybe I am drawn to those because they gel with my practices (which happen to be eclectic as well).
This thread was about my experience at the weekend intensive with him. We all resonate with certain people, certain teachers. You don’t seem to resonate with him, which is perfectly ok. Actually he talks a lot about “transmission”, a Zen tradition thing. It is not transmission of energy or shaktipat, but a subtle nonverbal understanding beyond minds and words. I experience that with his teachings - it is the same when I interact with Yogani about something. It is not the words, the explanation or logic behind it. It is a heart-centered thing. It either does or does not happen with specific teachers.
Thank you for sharing.
Namaste.
Hi Christi,
Thank you for the lesson recommendations. I find it very challenging to try to compare words like “unity” and “everythingness”. When the descriptions come from different perspectives/traditions, how does one know that they are describing the same thing? Or, maybe the “depth” of the same thing?
Best wishes, Jeff
Hi All,
Kami, thank you for sharing your experience at the Adya retreat.
Christi, like you, I’ve also been a fan of Adyashanti for several years. If kundalini has been “glossed over” in Adya’s books, it may have more to do with the tradition and practices that he is familiar with and his focus and talents as a teacher.
As I’m sure you are aware, Adya’s primary teacher was Arvis Justi, who was a student of Taizan Maezumi Roshi of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. The retreats that he attended as a student were also of the Zen tradition. Based on this, a couple questions might be pertinent: Was Adya familiar with kundalini during his time as a student? I would guess he likely was. Did he have formal training in practices aimed at awakening kundalini? I doubt that he did.
Still, I haven’t seen instances where he avoids the subject of kundalini. I attended a satsang of his a couple years ago in Austin, TX, where it was brought up. While I don’t recall what exactly was said, I remember he talked about it in similar terms of what Kami shared above: “There is no denying that there is an energetic component to awakening.” His comments seemed to be spot on in the context of what was being discussed.
A hypothetical question, Christi: if you were in Adyashanti’s position, and likely had little or no training in kundalini theory and practices, would you write or instruct extensively on the subject?
Hi Kami,
I didn’t mean that Adya would say that unity (oneness, or everythingness in his language) is not a state of ecstasy, but rather that he would say that ecstasy is not a pre-requisite to the attainment of unity. In fact I believe he would say that nothing is a pre-requisite to the attainment of unity other than sincerity.
Again, I think you slightly misunderstood what I was saying there. It is not that he has ever pretended something did not happen which in fact did happen, it is just that he downplays the fact of his kundalini awakening, at least in his books, to the extent that the reader could almost imagine that it never happened at all. There is one line in one of his books which goes something like: “…and then I had some kundalini symptoms”. I can’t quote the exact words as I gave the book away to a friend.
Actually I think Adya is a great teacher. We both studied in the same tradition- Buddhism, and our paths have been very similar. He studied zen, whereas I studied Theravada Buddhism, but in practice there is almost no difference.
It is great to hear about your retreat intensive with him. Thanks for sharing it with us all.
Christi
Hi Jeff,
I guess, go beyond the mind, come to a place of unity, and see for yourself. All there will be, will be everything(ness). Nothing will be missing.