Hi, not to interrupt the main topic, but I thought I'd respond to LizKing's statement:

Psychedelics excel in creating specific and unique headspaces as Tomtegubble said, but I've not heard of anyone having a singular kundalini experience from them

Every time I've smoked Salvia, I've had kundalini type experiences - the first was the whole up the spine, down the front, sort of experience. Last time, the Salvia goddess tried to pull me into a black hole, but I chickened out... I haven't explicitly worked with it for years, real life got in the way, don't want to chase the dragon etc. But it is coming back now somewhat, so now I'm doing some proper research and this discussion is very useful

DF

Hi dfraser, now that is interesting and I am fascinated by your comment. I've heard of kundalini rising with orgasm, but they do both stem from the same method of sexual arousal. You are the first to introduce me to tripping kundalini. Thank you and I look forward to more of your experiences and methods.

I've been on a a bit of a hiatus, first with covid19 recovery (recovery has been very slow) then we moved house and are living with daughter and her children. I'm yet to settle into any sort of routine but when I do I'll be posting on my own experiments. I have to build up some excess chi first but that will take me some months. In the meantime I'd love to hear more of your experiences.

Hi LizKing,

Thanks for the pic, that has been saved... Kundalini is definitely related to chi/libido/etc which is why events this summer has been a little unexpected. I'm old enough now that such "things" are slowing down, but the whole process started back in May. I was at a friend's house, it was a bit of a party, nothing over the top, and the weed enhanced lemon cake I'd made was not very strong. Salvia and weed, at least for me, are very synergistic and so I've gotten twinges of K-like energy / feelings off of weed at times.

Anyway, some events went down, no need to go into that, and my crown chakra started opening up. A pressure or force right on the top of the head. Quite unexpected and I ended up slapping on a fez the host had to try and tamp it down; something I learned from my friend in San Francisco back in the day who was a member of a Umbanda collective. He actually had a total full blown K experience the first time he went to a meeting, went into trance, and they ended up dumping buckets of water on him to pull him back to reality So now he's an avatar of one of the orishas. And a friend of mine had her K experience off of ibogaine. I forgot about that - the last time I did ibo, I could have let K go full blast, but chose not to as I was alone, didn't want to lose touch with reality, etc. The next couple of weeks were quite nice, very energized, positive, etc. But looking back, I wasted some opportunities to really fix some things in my life

Anyway, at this house party, mine was not a strong experience (should have had more lemon cake!) but it seems to have been the first salvo in this process I'm going through to address/clean up long neglected psych issues (aka the midlife crisis). This is always been my take on kundalini - it is a harbinger of change or growth (if you choose to accept the mission). And so knowing what exactly is going on relative to each chakra and the relationships between them can give one insights into what psych issues you are wrestling with and how to address them. This summer has been a rollercoaster and I should write up a full account, but that is going to take a few months. And it's still not over...

My next post, I'll tell you what happened when I made salvinorin-A. Thinking ahead, this might turn into a whole series...

DF

Salvia (both divinorum and the local species I work with) for me is also the only entheogen, among the ones I've tried, that feels to directly awaken Kundalini energy. My first experience of Kundalini happened spontaneously the day after I had my first Salvia divinorum experience. And with the local salvia, with proper dose and synergy with rue and other plants, it happens during the plant experience. There is something absolutely special about the healing of Kundalini awakening...

You mean salvia officinalis, the spice herb sage? I've used it a lot in cooking, in teas, as a joint blend and as a smell, but haven't thought it as psychoactive substance.

I kinda doubt the reference was to officinalis - i use it in my changa blends and while i'm convinced that it modulates the effects, it's definitely not active in the same way divinorum is. At least not in doses of a few dozen milligrams dried herb.

However, there are a LOT of Salvia species. I know someone with a collection of about 20 species/cultivars (for the beautiful flowers), i might eventually smoke some of them to see if any are active.

I've heard recognita mentioned as active many times now. Splendens might be, too.

What most people think is kundalini is most likely the yang chi rising.
From what I've understand kundalini is a much much higher lever of practice.
And that goes for lots of what's supposedly kundalini ... I just don't buy it.

I've felt many times on harmalas that my chi/prana is more balanced, but that's far far from any kundalini.

Tomtegubbe, I was referring to Salvia absconditiflora, a species that has Salvinorin A and B.

There are hundreds of species of Salvia and many are psychoactive or even psychedelic, and non Salvinorin A, not yet studied terpenes are often the active constituents. Though in the species I was referring to, Salvinorin A is involved.

The local strain of Salvia verbenaca is very powerfully psychedelic in my experience, and it definitely is not the effect of Salvinorin A. Anyways, sages deserve their own thread.

Thank you for enlightening me on the subject! We don't have any salvia species growing here where I live (as far as I know), so this information was completely new to me, but definitely very interesting. From the legal point of view, I see the potential for experimenting with these plants as I imagine they could be much more accessible than some more well known psychoactive plants.

Hi dfraser, a whole series would be awesome. Your friend's experience was one of those horror stories, a bad trip indeed. I've heard similar stories of people who have had their kundalini awaken before they were ready. In these cases it was one of the worst experiences of their lives, one they never want to repeat. I'm glad your friend had people around to help him. And he became a leader of his spiritual group, good on him for managing his kundalini experience so well.

Your experiences no doubt reflect your awareness of your body and psyche and you had the nous to manage your awakening safely. Personally, mine generally come on when I am asleep, I'll wake up in a dream or on some plain of existence super charged with energy/chi. In these states I have full control, it's pretty darn nice too. I was lucky to have had years of tai chi and the taoist alchemy practices from my teacher to guide me.

I'm still very wary of opening up in daily life. There is nothing pleasant about walking around in public in a state of arousal as high as a kundalini awakening. I think it is best done in deep sleep or meditation, then your body wisdom will take care of anything negative. If it gets out of control you'll just fall asleep, nice and safe.

In the past I could turn it on at will but I've not been in good health these past few years. I'm slowly clawing my way back but it has been tough. I have experienced mild kundalini/chi arousal with mushrooms but have not had time or opportunity to explore this as much as I would like. Maybe next year as I recover I'll find the space to do that.