I was reading an article from 1997 on Kundalini awakening and some of the issues associated with it. There isn’t a wealth of information on the negative aspects of meditation. I suppose I am interested due to the fact I spent a while meditating over the years. I was introduced to meditation when I was ten years old at Karate and kept doing it most of my life. I also lived in an ashram in my twenties for a year. If there are any negatives to meditation it was the uncontrollable intensity that would rise up on occasion. A burst of energy that went straight to the brain. It could also be blissful and relaxing. The most blissful would have been early morning meditations where the brain was less active. Of course I developed schizophrenia eventually which is difficult to pinpoint on meditation but it happens. It was a hereditary disposition as there was a family history. Though I now believe people should be careful about meditation and if there is intensity they shouldn’t push through the intensity. Instead they should stop and do something grounding like cleaning or going for a walk. I have had the energy fry my brain which is the feeling similar to negative Kundalini awakening. Though I would say the brain is literally fried by a chemical process started by schizophrenia. If you don’t get treatment quickly you are in trouble and the damage is permanent.

The best piece of advice is to stay in a head space that is calm and grounded. If I were to surmise on my own experience I think it was exacerbated by too much energy and arousal. This combination leads to an intensity of mind that will never calm down. I was living a family life but I was drinking alcohol, trying to expand the family, never relaxed or centred, working full time, ambitious. This was all quite normal for my age I was but I never really relaxed or switched off. I was also meditating and practicing Tai Chi. Tai Chi and all of the combinations and lifestyle was just too intense. At the time of developing schizophrenia I was overwhelmed and eventually I couldn’t meditate at all until I changed medications after four years. This is why I feel that negative Kundalini awakening could have been part of the issue. The fact that I couldn’t meditate. Those pathways were obviously damaged. At least temporarily. Also when I did eventually meditate again it was always intense. It was never as blissful. Especially sitting meditation. If I lay down and meditated it was still relaxing. I don’t feel negatively toward meditation practices but feel that it shouldn’t be something you simply push through when there is intensity or you are over stimulated. It simply defeats the purpose. Also the negatives are rarely talked about. It could in fact be that my own experiences exacerbated the underlying condition. It had always been there. I wasn’t careful or thoughtful about what I was doing. The difference between Tai Chi and meditation is that Tai Chi isn’t about enlightenment or intensity. Enlightenment is only momentary. So these days I don’t meditate at all. I simply choose low intensity exercise. You have to try these things and see where they lead you.