Hey friends, I’ve been practicing Kriya yoga for about 4 months now and recently my belly started “glowing” during meditations. It’s not an actual glow, just feels like someone put Tiger Balm all over my belly and lit it up. It feels like cool breezes. Still doesn’t go too much over the heart.
Is this kundalini?
Sounds like soma, which is part of the “nectar cycle.” It is stimulated by kundalini energy.
See this lesson: AYP Lesson 51 - Strange Gurglings in Pranayama
It does sound similar, especially the mint part. But I’m early in the process so that’s surprising.
It’s the first kundalini symptom I’ve noticed beyond “prana” in the eyes.
Curious to see how it unfolds
Hi Chen,
That is interesting. Perhaps you are a fortunate sensitive meditator. Perhaps you were a yogi in a past life!
Beyond differences of sensitivity, it also seems that things can happen in many different orders for different people and also that an intense experience can occur, continue for a little while (or not), and then disappear for some time, although the tendency is toward greater ability to perceive energy movements, etc. That is, the feeling might stay, but don’t be disappointed if it does not. So long as you are continuing regular practices, it does not indicate you have moved backwards or stopped making progress or anything.
I am curious whether you practice or practiced fasting recently because the first time I noticed minty sensations in the digestive tract it was during a short fast, presumably because it was causing some purification in that area. I’m also curious whether you have been practicing brahmacharya, and if so, for roughly how long because I am currently interested in the connection between it and the “nectar cycle.”
Thank you!
I did start to reduce food intake and to focus on lighter foods in recent weeks. Currently at 1-2 meals on most days. RE bramacharya, I had a long period of celibacy a year ago (6-12 months of nothing and 1-2 years of low activity before) but not in recent months.
It feels like there’s a direct correlation between how much spinal breathing I’m doing and how much kundalini rises. Spinal breathing would trigger intense traumatic experiences and repressed emotions.
Then they would be processed during very heavy sleep. I would wake up lethargic. But if I keep doing more SBP the energy would rise higher the next day. Strange cycle.
My intuition of what happened:
I can clearly tell when I’m clear: Eyes are charged, belly is totally relaxed and not tense, can feel heart expanding, charkas feel like little magnets upon doing SBPs.
Otherwise there’s heavy blockages that Navi x SBP or a massage helps clear.
Hope this sheds some light
Hi Chen, when you say 6-12 months of nothing and 1-2 years of low activity, do you just mean 6-12 months of no sexual intercourse and 1-2 years of little sexual intercourse, or 6-12 months of literally no orgasms, and 1-2 years of few orgasms? And, if you don’t mind my asking, are you a man or a woman (feel free not to answer if too personal)?
Regarding the light diet, yes, I would imagine that could help with purification in the belly area and allowing energy to rise higher because not occupied by digestion so much.
I’m a man. 6-12 months of zero orgasms. 1-2 years of a few.
Regarding the belly, I believe Navi kriya + simple diet + SBP did the trick
Wow, any special method you used to achieve such a long period of brahmacharya? I would say that you are quite advanced in the area of brahmacharya even if you only started doing AYP or other kriyas relatively recently, so that, along with your light diet, could also explain your experiencing things that take at least a few years for most people.
When I have something really important to do (that I really want to do in my heart) I direct all energy there and forget about stuff. The work becomes my meditation. When I have less work celibacy is super difficult. I had no success trying to run away from sexual desires, only in redirecting them into something that filled me up with more energy
I don’t think celibacy is necessary, just that your lifestyle is energizing. Energizing work, lifestyle, relationships and so on. If you keep unblocking the pipes and feeding your soul sexual desires either diminish or you end up with an energizing partner anyway which I think can also work.
Just my experiments so far.
Yeah, I mentioned in another thread that keeping busy is the best method I’ve found so far, though even then I don’t think I’ve gone beyond 3 or 4 weeks. I just start to feel irritable. Maybe if I had even more to do that energy could be channeled, but I have a tendency to become a little manic or overwrought as it is, so I think that’s why I’ve tended to find it uncomfortable. Then again, maybe the really long periods are not necessary so long as other spiritual practices are ongoing.
In my experience sexual desires are either 1. natural 2. habitual 3. conditioned
Habitual can be overcome by directing the energy through discipline into gym / work / art and so on
Conditioned = in my case sexual experiences were a way of reducing stress or gaining subconscious approval. When I was getting approval from my work (by feeling like I’m accomplishing something great and learning) and burning these conditions, those needs started to fall off.
Natural = you can just enjoy with a partner.
In my experience feeling shame/guilt after the act is way worse than just doing it. If you direct your energies into a greater pursuit and burn conditions in your subconscious mind you’ll be left pretty much with natural desires and you can just knock yourself out.
This is my current perspective based on past experiences. Always learning.
Thank you! Do people who have a more advanced kundalini awakening feel this sensation all the time throughout their body? Or is it temporary
Hi Chen,
It is a temporary experience related to purification. It does not last forever.
Hi Tristan,
I am curious: as I understood it, the production of soma (minty feeling) in the digestive tract is part of the “nectar cycle,” which also produces amrita. I have felt “minty” feelings now and again but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced amrita. I thought that once the “nectar cycle” gets going, it continued… forever? Or does it not? Or does the amrita continue but the “minty” sensation either disappears or fades into the background so as to not be very noticeable? Or it is all just symptoms of purification that eventually go away? Thanks!
Hi Casey,
There are different aspects to the nectar cycle and they are not necessarily all experienced at once. At any given moment we might be aware of the whole cycle, or just one aspect of it, or of none at all.
Amrita is a higher stage aspect of the cycle and is produced from soma as it rises up to the head.
The whole nectar cycle is more noticeable during the middle stages of the spiritual journey. It largely fades into the background later on.