Kundalini, Chakra and Subtle-Body Meditation: Traditional Ideas and Evidence

What the traditions say

Chakras. The Sanskrit word chakra means "wheel". In meditation texts, from about the fifteenth century CE and with similar ideas in texts as early as the fourth century BCE, it refers to energy centers in a subtle body along the spine, linked in the texts to states of consciousness, colors, deities, shapes and sounds. [3] The number differs by tradition. Esoteric Buddhist traditions generally teach four chakras. [4] The seven-chakra model that is best known today is associated with Sir John Woodroffe's 1919 book The Serpent Power, a rough translation of a 1577 text about six chakras. [4] Modern Western occultism reads chakras as actual though esoteric energy centers, a view that began with the Theosophists in the 1880s. Rainbow colors and many other correspondences were added later. [4]

Kundalini. The word means "coiled", because in the texts this energy is said to rest dormant at the bottom of the spine. [3] Some teachers, such as Muktananda of Siddha Yoga, hold that kundalini can be awakened by a teacher's spiritual transmission (shaktipat) or by practices such as yoga or meditation. [5] These are traditional frameworks, explained in the tradition's own terms. They are not established anatomy or physiology, and this site does not present them as biology. Carl Jung is quoted as saying the concept of kundalini has only one use for us, to describe our own experiences with the unconscious. [5]

Traditional aims and health claims

In the traditions, chakra and kundalini practice has spiritual aims; one Vaishnava text, for example, describes kundalini shakti as a means of union with the god Vishnu. [5] Treating disease is not the stated purpose. Modern products and classes sometimes promise "balanced" or "cleared" chakras for health. We found no source showing that chakras can be measured as body structures or that "balancing" them treats any condition. For related claims see energy healing claims checked and sound healing and gong baths.

What research shows

1. Kundalini yoga (the exercise package) for generalized anxiety disorder

   Promising but limited

   Trial of 226 adults: response in 54.2% with kundalini yoga, 70.8% with CBT and 33.0% with stress education; yoga was not shown to be as effective as CBT [6]

2. Kundalini yoga across conditions

   Promising but limited

   Systematic review of 15 randomized trials (about 1,370 people) reports benefits for memory, anxiety, sleep and others and no serious adverse events; the authors call for larger trials with active comparators [7]

3. A chakra-informed kundalini yoga program

   Insufficient evidence

   Single-group pilot with 13 young people with diabetes: feasible, with lower distress after the program; no control group [8]

4. Measuring chakra "energy" with imaging

   Insufficient evidence (we found no source validating what the device measures)

   A crossover pilot of 15 volunteers reported higher readings on an electro-photonic imaging device after Nada Yoga than after rest [9]

5. Chakras or kundalini as a physical cause of illness or cure

   Proper evidence not found

   Searched PubMed for chakra and kundalini trials and reviews

The yoga trials test a package of breathwork, movement, meditation and chanting, not kundalini energy itself. [7] Results cannot show that chakras or kundalini exist or that they explain any benefit. In the anxiety trial, the control was stress education, and group delivery was used for all three arms. [6] Kundalini yoga also uses breathing techniques; this site does not give instructions for intensive breathwork, and see intensive breathwork for the cautions.

Adverse and unsettling experiences

• A case series and brief review describes kundalini-like experiences that can resemble mental illness, making it difficult for clinicians to tell them from serious mental illness, and notes that advanced practices need preparation and guidance. [2]
• In an interview study of people who had spiritual awakenings with energy sensations, 85 percent reported unusual flows of energy, and participants said health professionals often did not understand the experience. [10]
• A study of Western Buddhist meditators found meditation-related experiences ranging from very positive to very negative, from minimal and transient to severe and enduring distress. [1]
• In a study of 96 people in an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program, 83 percent reported at least one meditation-related side effect, and lasting bad effects occurred in 6 to 14 percent. [11]

These findings do not show that kundalini or chakra practice causes psychosis. They show that intense practice can be unsettling for some people, that research on it is limited, and that a person in distress needs clinical assessment, not reassurance that it is "just an awakening."

Who should be careful

People with a history of psychosis, mania, bipolar disorder, severe anxiety or trauma should speak to a clinician before intense or prolonged practice. See mindfulness for OCD, bipolar disorder and psychosis and meditation for PTSD and trauma. Do not stop medicine because of a spiritual experience.

Teachers

There is no single credential for kundalini or chakra teaching that we could verify from a regulator or professional body. Ask about a teacher's training, how they respond to students who become distressed, and whether they encourage seeing a clinician. NCCIH makes a similar recommendation. [12]

Related pages

Vedic and Hindu meditation traditions, Mantra and sacred sound, what is yoga, yoga nidra.