Some people believe that starting from the Root can cause problems if there is a blockage in one of the lower chakras, and that Kundalini may create difficulties when rising through an obstructed center. Because of this, some practitioners prefer to begin cleansing from the Crown downward.
Others, however, say that starting from the Crown to the Root is incorrect, and even refer to the descending energy as the “serpent from above,” sometimes calling it the kundabuffer or a negative force.
I’m curious to know your experiences or knowledge about this.
Thank you.
In AYP we do not do screw around with the crown. The crown is in my experience a very unstable chakra and too much stimulation up there can cause a lot of energetic problems, especially in sensitive people.
At the moment for me the crown is so sensitive that if I put my attention on it I can almost immediately feel the spinal nerve tense up and start to pull on the root chakra. At a certain point when the groundwork has been done lower down we can start to test the crown in this way, but it is done very sparingly and is not recommended at all in the earlier stages.
Starting at the root can cause energetic symptoms but these are not nearly as problematic as when the crown is activated too early. In fact I wouldn’t call these instances a problem, they are just shocking at first and things start to make sense as we discover more and more through daily practice. Deep meditation is the best foundation for going through this process, along with self pacing and grounding walks in nature.
A lot of people come to this site because they have started having kundalini related issues from doing crown practices, or from doing psychoactive drugs. In AYP we recommend prioritising the cultivation of inner silence in deep meditation before doing energy stimulating practices.(and not screwing around with drugs!)
If you go to the main site you can find hundreds of free lessons which describe our take on all this.
As Tom pointed out already, in AYP crown is left alone until sufficient purification has been reached between root and brow.
Here the focus is not on a particular center or stream of prana but on purifying the sushumna nadi between root and brow including ascending and descending pranic flows.
So it’s much more of a global approach. Opening the central channel of the system and bringing up- and downward flows together.
That way the process unfolds naturally and the system takes care of the details.
Regarding approaches…
As long as any approach leads to good results for an individual - it works for them and that’s great.
The challenge is to find an approach that suits your nervous system.
So AYP’s approach aims to consider every situation, making it suitable for a wide range of practitioners while remaining effective, simple, and straightforward to regulate.
Tom, thank you for sharing your experience. I completely understand the caution around the crown it sounds extremely sensitive, and early stimulation can create strong energetic effects. Your points about inner silence, grounding, and pacing are very helpful for anyone approaching Kundalini safely.
As for my own situation, I’d like to clarify why I asked this question. Since childhood I’ve had spontaneous metaphysical experiences, and it runs in my family. Recently I joined a group through someone I trusted. The instructor claimed extensive training around the world and offered everything for free, which seemed surprising but harmless at first.
Their method, however, started with activating the crown. I was skeptical, but I also experienced unconscious out-of-body episodes since childhood, and the instructor told me I had natural ability. Eventually I trusted them and worked on the crown for three days. Since then, I’ve had persistent headaches and a strong pressure on top of my head.
Later they moved me into another group where they were teaching forms of sorcery, and I realized they were literally worshipping Lucifer as a god and doing everything in a reversed way. That’s when everything became even more confusing for me.
Right now my crown still feels overheated, and I’m highly sensitive to energies. I’ve been on this path for years and have passed through many challenges, but this is the first time I genuinely don’t know what to do.
My question is: If I start practicing from the root again after these past few days, could it cause any issues, or would it help stabilize things?
Thanks again for your guidance.
Michael, thank you for the clear explanation. Your description of the AYP approach focusing on purifying the sushumna between the root and brow instead of working on individual chakras makes a lot of sense. The idea of letting the system balance the upward and downward flows naturally feels much safer and more integrated.
I’ve already explained my personal situation in detail to Tom, and if you have time, I’d really appreciate hearing your perspective as well. Your insight on how different nervous systems respond to different methods was especially helpful, and I’m curious how you think this applies to someone who has experienced overstimulation of the crown.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your understanding.
When I feel like I have too much energy in the crown and I need to ground, I cut back on my practices until things stabilise (what we call self-pacing in AYP) , and make sure I get plenty of walks in nature, maybe swim too. Also I go to the chippy and get a massive plate of fish and chips a big meal can certainly ground you quite well!
From what I’ve heard from other people’s experience, messing with the crown too soon always ends in overload.
Sounds like you have active kundalini going on, in my experience it’s best to ground it and get it stable before you start to work with it. To do this, first ground like I have suggested, then maybe have a look at the lessons on the website and work through them 1by1.
Like Micheal said, you have to find the right practice for your nervous system. I don’t want to be pushy by suggesting the AYP approach but it sounds like you may have a better time with the AYP approach. Like you I had a lot of weird stuff going on , then found AYP and the lessons, they helped me sort everything out, in my experience it works.
I’m sure with prudent self pacing you will be able to settle the energies and have a wonderful life whilst making progress spiritually.
Sorry to hear about your issues . First and foremost I would advise to stop practicing at the crown if you have not yet done so anyways.
A major aspect of everyones journey is to develop the ability to regulate the effect of the practice on the nervous system, in order to provide just the right amount of stimulation so that the purification can be kept up on a high rate but whitout exceeding the capacity.
The benchmark to evaluate this appropriate level is simply how we feel in ordinary every day life - our down to earth wellbeing between the practice sessions. No particular experience or interpretation of any symptom - just daily functioning.
So overstimulation of any part of the nervous system is therefore treated the same way - if you feel the effect of the practice impairs your wellbeing → reduce the cause.
The choice and structure of practices is another topic but also equally indifferent to the individualities of the nervous system of the practitioner. The reason for this is that the “matrix of obstructions” as we call it, is not transparent anyways. So we choose practices that work globally - not focusing on particular spots, not trying to “balance out imbalances”, not trying to sculpt the system from mental blueprints derived from experiences…
Tom, thank you again for the clarification.
What you said about grounding before working with the energy makes complete sense.
I definitely overstimulated the crown too early, so I’m slowing everything down for now, focusing on grounding, and letting things stabilise first.
As you suggested, I’ll also start going through the AYP lessons step by step.
By the way, the AYP lessons you mentioned are they the ones in the top menu of the forum?
If these are on the main site, I might be looking in the wrong place.
I’d really appreciate it if you could share the link so I can follow the lessons properly.
Michael, thank you for taking the time to explain this.
I’ve already stopped all crown practices, and your clarification about regulating the nervous system really helps put things into perspective.
What you said about using everyday wellbeing as the benchmark makes a lot of sense.
Right now the overstimulation is definitely affecting my day to day functioning, so I’m reducing everything that might be contributing to it.
I also appreciate the point about not trying to “fix specific chakras” or follow mental blueprints.
A global, system wide approach sounds much safer and more sustainable especially considering what happened.
Thanks again for sharing your insight it’s grounding and reassuring.
a big meal can certainly ground you quite well!
. First and foremost I would advise to stop practicing at the crown if you have not yet done so anyways.