RAM
Hail the keys!
Nearly every day for the past three years, I have practiced a type of Kunadlini yogic meditation before bed. My idea has been to refocus my chakras at the end of each day and hopefully encourage some kind of vaguely-defined cosmic energy snake to move up my spine, thus making me into a more enlightened/spiritual/connected being.
I have used various psychedelics with the intention of stimulating the Kundalini snake and have "felt" it on various occasions. Sometimes when I meditate on cannabis, my entire body will oscillate out of control as if energy is flying throughout my spine. My meditation style and knowledge about Kundalini energy are informed by taking Kundalini yoga classes for a few months some years ago and reading the book Kundalini Awakening by John Selby. But now I am beginning to have some doubts about all of this.
After stumbling upon various, absurd YouTube videos of people promoting the use of crystals for healing and rejuvenation and hearing them talk about chakras, I began wondering: are vague claims about yoga and chakra "energies" just the left's form of science denialism? When hippies on YouTube say you can heal a disease by holding a piece of quartz up to your temple, is that equivalent to ultra-conservatives saying climate change is a Chinese hoax?
I tried searching for scientific studies suggesting the existence of chakras but I could not find anything meaningful. I found various studies regarding general health benefits of meditation but nothing on imagining the power of the sun in your belly to stimulate snake-like sensations in your spine.
Am I missing something here? Are yogis and crystal-lovers claiming their practices are rooted in objective fact (it always sure seems like it), or is it really all just about inducing subjective experiences to test the limits of human perception? Could mainstream science be ignoring the true potential of these practices? Or is it all just phony mysticism and outdated religious traditions?
I have used various psychedelics with the intention of stimulating the Kundalini snake and have "felt" it on various occasions. Sometimes when I meditate on cannabis, my entire body will oscillate out of control as if energy is flying throughout my spine. My meditation style and knowledge about Kundalini energy are informed by taking Kundalini yoga classes for a few months some years ago and reading the book Kundalini Awakening by John Selby. But now I am beginning to have some doubts about all of this.
After stumbling upon various, absurd YouTube videos of people promoting the use of crystals for healing and rejuvenation and hearing them talk about chakras, I began wondering: are vague claims about yoga and chakra "energies" just the left's form of science denialism? When hippies on YouTube say you can heal a disease by holding a piece of quartz up to your temple, is that equivalent to ultra-conservatives saying climate change is a Chinese hoax?
I tried searching for scientific studies suggesting the existence of chakras but I could not find anything meaningful. I found various studies regarding general health benefits of meditation but nothing on imagining the power of the sun in your belly to stimulate snake-like sensations in your spine.
Am I missing something here? Are yogis and crystal-lovers claiming their practices are rooted in objective fact (it always sure seems like it), or is it really all just about inducing subjective experiences to test the limits of human perception? Could mainstream science be ignoring the true potential of these practices? Or is it all just phony mysticism and outdated religious traditions?