30 Oct The Science Behind Kundalini Awakenings and Their Impact on Your Brain
Kundalini awakenings are a powerful, profound experience for those who regularly engage with spirituality, meditation, and deep spiritual work. You’ll hear about intense metaphysical experiences as your seven chakras balance with intention as part of their expanded awareness and oneness with the universe. Those within spiritual circles hold Kundalini as one of the most profound of the yogic traditions, but is there any scientific grounding to the experience? Here’s what the science has to say:
What’s Kundalini?
In yogic practices, Kundalini is the dormant spiritual energy located at the base of your spine. The Kundalini awakening process activates this energy, causing it to travel upwards through your central energy channel and, in doing so, activating all seven of your chakras, until it reaches the crown of your head. Activating those seven chakras is said to lead to an expanded sense of awareness, or an “awakening”.
Those on this spiritual journey typically rely on a guide or guru, though the journey itself can be considerable. Kundalini awakenings are usually achievable at the end of your spiritual enlightenment journey. If you were on a spiritual enlightenment Nick Eagle journey, for example, you would first work to achieve inner peace and a strong mind-body connection by following established enlightenment protocols, which encourage you to approach life more mindfully and intentionally. Only after achieving that inner peace can you begin your journey towards a Kundalini Awakening.
What’s the Science Behind a Kundalini Awakening?
· Explore (NY) 2015 Study
While it’s hard to quantify the spiritual enlightenment experienced by those going through a Kundalini Awakening, there are ways to capture the physical changes your body goes through. This is precisely what was done in Modestino’s 2015 study, where researchers monitored a participant as they experienced a Kundalini Awakening. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map brain changes as they occurred. During the awakening, the left prefrontal cortex was activated, providing support for the reported altered state of consciousness.
Most notably, the areas of the brain that were activated are regularly associated with joy and happiness. The results found were similar to those recorded in other meditation studies.
· Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 1997 Study
An earlier study in 1997 analyzed the brain patterns of twelve senior Kundalini meditators both during meditation and outside of it. They concluded that during the meditation sessions, the participants’ brains showed increased joy and love. There was also evidence of changes in the brain’s perception, meaning, and time sense. Overall, the researchers concluded that the brain was “structurally different from the ordinary state” while in meditation.
· Neuroimage 2025 Study
Most recently, a Neuroimage paper found that meditation produced distinctive, whole-brain activity patterns that can be specifically attributed to those undergoing the stages of insight (SoL) and, most notably, that brain scans differed markedly between the non-meditative control group. The researchers found that SoL deactivated regions typically used for self-related processing while activating areas associated with awareness and perception.
Conclusions
While studies are small and more research will always be needed to understand the precise experience a person has during meditation or Kundalini awakenings, what is certain is that the brain does enter an altered state. The experience is physical, and it can be quantified, meaning those interested in the promises of Kundalini but unsure of its science can rest easy knowing there is strong evidence of entering an altered state of being.
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Last Updated on October 30, 2025 by Contributing Writer
