Kundalini

Kundalini in tantric and haṭhayoga texts

A 2011 lecture abstract by the scholar James Mallinson, published by the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, states that Śākta traditions had developed, by roughly the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, a yoga in which a practitioner visualised kuṇḍalinī rising from the base of the spine through a series of cakras. The same abstract describes the earliest haṭhayoga texts of that period as closely tied to ascetic practice, with physical techniques meant to strengthen the effects of celibacy, and says later texts combined the two systems, with the Haṭhapradīpikā (about 1450) becoming definitive. This is a summary of a lecture, not the full argument.

A 2022 research article gives an earlier date, stating that kundalini is a complex concept first appearing in scriptures of the sixth to eighth century CE, and that Tantric Yoga is where the concept originated. The two sources may be dating different things, a first appearance of the concept and a worked-out cakra-based yoga, but neither was checked here against primary texts, and the earlier date appears in the article's introduction without a source that could be opened. The 2022 authors also note that kundalini has never been directly measured.

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan is a twentieth-century system. According to a 1997 student course timeline, Yogi Bhajan moved to the United States in 1969 and began to teach kundalini yoga in Los Angeles through an ashram and the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO). Because that page is a university course project, the date should be confirmed with a stronger source.

The historian Philip Deslippe argued in 2012, according to a summary of the article that could not be checked against its full text, that this Kundalini Yoga was assembled by Yogi Bhajan from the hatha yoga teaching of Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari (1924 to 1994) and the Sikh sant Maharaj Virsa Singh (1934 to 2007). In 2024 Deslippe published a reappraisal whose abstract describes the 2012 article as a revised history of this yoga and narrates its reception. The sources reviewed therefore do not establish an unbroken line from the older tantric material to the modern system.

One word, three uses

A clinical letter glosses the Sanskrit term as 'coiled-up' and describes kundalini in yoga tradition as a dormant energy at the base of the spine, sometimes figured as a serpent or goddess. Three uses should be kept apart. In tantric and haṭhayoga texts it is a concept within a system of practice. Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan is a modern named system, and its teacher-training body, the Kundalini Research Institute (KRI), uses that full phrase, marked as a registered trademark, in the titles it awards. In clinical and research writing, kundalini is also used for reported experiences.

Kundalini-related experiences and clinical labels

A 2022 article explains that Sannella framed 'physio-kundalini' experiences in a psychiatric context in four categories: motor (for example trembling, spontaneous movements or unusual breathing), sensory (tingling, heat or cold, inner lights or sounds), interpretive (unusual emotion or dissociation) and non-physiological (out-of-body or paranormal experiences). A 76-item Kundalini Awakening Scale with five subscales, including negative and positive experiences, has since been developed. The authors use 'kundalini-related' because kundalini itself has not been measured.

Other clinical authors use their own labels. A 2020 case series calls such presentations 'Kundalini-like experience' and says they can mimic mental illness, and a 2022 case report from India uses 'kundalini psychosis syndrome' for one patient whom the treating team diagnosed with schizophrenia. The sources reviewed do not present these labels as formal diagnoses or establish a distinct condition.

Kundalini Yoga as a taught system

The KRI Level One programme, described on the site of the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association (IKYTA), is a 220-hour course (180 hours of classroom instruction and 40 of independent study). It covers kriyas, meditation, mantras, pranayama (breath regulation), asanas and mudras, history and philosophy, teaching methodology and yogic lifestyle principles, and includes repeated 40-day practice cycles and group practice sessions called sadhanas. The page does not define 'kriya', and it is a promotional description of a training, not an independent account of a class.

Formats used in research

A 2026 systematic review describes the Kundalini yoga protocols in trials as combinations of pranayama, asana or kriya, meditation and chanting, delivered in person, online or in hybrid form, lasting from six weeks to twelve months (most eight to twelve weeks), with practice from once weekly to daily. In the anxiety trial, Kundalini yoga was delivered to groups of four to six participants by two instructors in twelve 120-minute sessions, with 20 minutes of daily homework.

Reported experiences in a related tantric school

A 2022 exploratory survey of 80 volunteers at two retreats of Ananda Marga, a different Tantric Yoga school, asked about spontaneous sensory, motor and mood experiences during meditation. Positive mood shifts were reported most often, then motor and sensory experiences, and some participants described sensations rising along the back, sometimes called kundalini. The experiences were recalled retrospectively, so the authors note the risk of faulty memory and cultural expectation. The school's methods differ from Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, so the findings do not describe that system's classes.

Within the tradition

Tantric Yoga sources, as summarised in a 2022 article, describe kundalini rising along the spine as sometimes producing strong transformative personal experiences, and traditional accounts attribute adverse experiences in meditation to premature or improper arousal in people without adequate preparation. A 2022 clinical letter, citing Swami Sivananda, lists signs said to accompany awakening, including currents of energy rising, vibrations, bliss and visions. These are claims made within traditions and by their commentators, not tested outcomes. The sources reviewed do not document why people in general seek the practice.

Uses that have been studied

A 2026 review of randomised trials lists the targets of Kundalini yoga research as generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cognitive decline in older adults, sleep, post-traumatic stress, depression and chronic pain, and a separate preliminary trial addressed post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. A condition being studied is not the same as a benefit being shown, and the findings are set out condition by condition below.

Generalised anxiety disorder

A 2021 trial randomised 226 adults with generalised anxiety disorder to Kundalini yoga (93), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT, 90) or stress education (43) for 12 weeks, with masked raters. A rating of much or very much improved was given to 54.2% of the yoga group and 33.0% of the stress education group (odds ratio 2.46, 95% confidence interval 1.12 to 5.42), against 70.8% on CBT. Yoga was not shown to be as effective as CBT (noninferiority P = 0.42), and the authors concluded that CBT should remain first-line. Only 68.6% completed the post-treatment assessment.

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms

A randomised trial compared Kundalini yoga meditation with Relaxation Response meditation in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder, with 24 allocated to each group. In the first phase, to 4.5 months, intention-to-treat analysis favoured Kundalini yoga on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, and among completers scores improved by 40.4% (16 people) against 17.9% (11 people). Many dropped out, raters were blind only in phase one, and the comparator was another meditation, not exposure and response prevention or medication. The authors describe it as promising as an add-on.

A 2025 systematic review of yoga for obsessive-compulsive disorder identified seven studies, including kundalini and rajyoga, and reported lower symptom severity, but noted varied designs, small samples and differing protocols and called for well-designed randomised trials.

Cognition and other outcomes

A 2024 systematic review of five randomised trials (215 people aged 55 or over with mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive decline) compared Kundalini yoga with memory enhancement training or psychoeducation for 12 to 24 weeks and reported better memory and executive function, with mood and hippocampal changes. A 2026 review of 15 trials (about 1,370 people), 13 rated low risk of bias, reports improved cognition, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, depression and sleep and modest changes in fatigue and blood pressure. The reviews may include overlapping small trials, which was not checked.

A preliminary trial with a null primary result

In a randomised study of 29 people with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (target 40), eight weeks of small-group Kundalini yoga was compared with a waitlist. There was no significant difference on the primary outcomes of pain, pain interference, fatigue and global health, but the yoga group improved more on multisystem symptom burden and cognition. The authors call the study preliminary and support a larger trial.

Limits of the trial literature

The trials above range from small pilots to a 226-person trial, use waitlist, stress education, relaxation meditation or memory training as comparators, and in several cases rely on self-reported outcomes. The reviews' own authors call for larger standardised trials with active comparators, biomarkers and longer follow-up. Findings for one condition cannot be carried over to another. The PubMed searches run for this draft returned no Cochrane review or clinical guideline specific to Kundalini yoga. The trials test a yoga programme, and none of the sources reviewed tests whether a kundalini energy exists or rises.

Limits of the historical and clinical sources

The history above rests on a lecture abstract, the introduction of a research article, a summary of one scholarly article and a student-compiled timeline, not on primary texts, and the dates differ between sources. The clinical material is mainly case reports and one exploratory survey, which cannot give how often distressing experiences occur or show that practice caused them.

Adverse-event reporting in trials

The 2026 review of 15 randomised trials states that no serious adverse events were reported. Absence of reports is not evidence of absence, and the abstract does not say how systematically each trial recorded adverse events, so this is not a measured rate of harm. The trials ran within research programmes with instructors and assessment, which may differ from unsupervised or advanced practice.

Case reports of distressing and psychotic-like experiences

A 2022 report from a psychiatric institute in India describes a 19-year-old who practised yoga and meditation alone, unguided, for three months, reported energy rising from the base of the spine, and later presented with mutism, sustained abnormal postures and hallucinations. The treating team diagnosed catatonic schizophrenia and she improved on risperidone and lorazepam. The authors infer that unsupervised practice raises the risk of psychosis, but a single case cannot show cause.

A 2020 case series and brief review says that kundalini-related experiences can mimic mental illness and be hard to tell apart, and that side effects deserve attention when advanced practices are done without preparation or expert guidance. The Ananda Marga survey authors suggest, as a possibility, that existing psychiatric vulnerability may show more readily when training and support are absent. None of these sources estimates how often such experiences occur.

Training and regulation

KRI, a private organisation, runs a three-level certification pathway reported by IKYTA: Level One (220 hours), Level Two (300 hours in five modules) and Level Three (a 1,000-day process). The pages mention ethical guidelines within the curriculum but do not say whether a set number of hours is required to teach. No statutory regulation of Kundalini Yoga teaching or national training standard was identified in the sources reviewed, and this was not checked jurisdiction by jurisdiction.

When to seek care

Kundalini yoga and the experiences associated with it are not a replacement for assessment or treatment. Severe or lasting distress, loss of contact with reality, stopping eating or drinking, or thoughts of self-harm after practice are reasons to seek prompt professional or emergency help, and a person under psychiatric care has reason to involve the treating clinician.