Updates and questions about Kundalini vs. Qi
It has been a while since I’ve posted here. This group and several of its guides have given me tremendous help over the past three or four years. I’ve sometimes hesitated to post because I see the same people responding thoughtfully and at length, and I don’t want to take that generosity for granted.
A little over a year ago, I was performing intense ritual work (which I have taken a pause from a few months ago). During the ritual, what I experienced as kundalini rose very dramatically through my central channel. It traveled up my spine, became constricted around my heart and throat, and eventually, through letting go, reached my crown.
The constriction produced severe pain through my shoulders, inside the rotator-cuff area and down my arms. It lasted several minutes before the energy sensation faded and ordinary life resumed. A less dramatic version happened during ritual the following day, but it has not happened again.
Since my original awakening, I have also experienced episodes of severe dry heaving that feel connected to energy moving through restrictions in my system. One teacher/guide here (Marc) advised me to let go of whatever I was holding and allow myself to vomit if necessary. I have kept that advice in mind.
For a couple of years, the dry heaving seemed centered in my solar plexus. The past six months or so, I’ve been taking private lessons with my Tai Chi mentor and working on that area of my spine, its supporting structure and other internal restrictions.
A few months ago, I went on an ocean fishing trip with my father. It was our first experience together that truly felt like father-son bonding. I became extremely seasick and vomited several times, with the experience seeming to originate directly from my solar plexus. I understand that seasickness and vomiting are completely ordinary, but something about that event also seemed to release or unlock the restriction. Since then, I have stopped dry heaving from my solar-plexus area.
Where I seem to be working now is my heart and throat. The energy dry-heaving happens less frequently (perhaps every couple of weeks) but sometimes the energy in my system becomes extremely intense and eventually produces dry heaving from that area. I have a sense that it may be connected to my mother and possibly to stored grief. I’m scheduled to begin working with someone on that next month.
In response to my previous post here, I was encouraged me to release questionable ideas and beliefs. I have taken that seriously. My life has become much more ordinary. I honestly feel less “special,” more human and more focused on what genuinely matters: healing, being present for my family and building my business.
My main question now concerns the relationship between kundalini and qi.
I have practiced internal-arts Tai Chi and qigong for several years to continue developing, ground myself in my body and open deeper areas so energy can move more freely. This has helped tremendously.
A great deal of what I communicate about my internal state seems to translate to my Tai Chi mentor. At other times, however, I’m uncertain whether he understands the particular kind of energy experience I’ve gone through. He clearly has an advanced degree of control over his qi. I can observe it through his movements and feel the effect of how he structures his body. He can also intentionally produce visible goosebumps and make his body hair rise.
For some time, I assumed kundalini and qi were the same underlying energy expressed through different cultural systems. Lately, I have been questioning that more seriously.
Are kundalini and qi fundamentally different forces or processes? Do the Indian and Chinese systems cross over at a deeper level, or do they merely produce some similar sensations? Can someone possess highly developed control of qi without necessarily understanding kundalini and can Tai Chi still help integrate kundalini even when the teacher does not work within that framework?
My process remains painful at times, but it is becoming progressively easier, more grounded and more integrated. I would be grateful for any insight from people familiar with both systems.