Hi Mary- I keep on getting itching in my head, neck, and face. Is this a kundalini thing?
– D

Mary-
I am in the latter phases of kundalini awakening and I notice that it seems to be quite stuck and focused on the mouth and nose. I experience a buzzing around the mouth. Sometimes I notice an itching in my tailbone and genitals and then a feeling of flow going up and stopping in the mouth. I also sometimes feel a fullness to my sinuses, and a choking sensation in my throat, a feeling of mucous or congestion. I have been working with kundalini (love the book, by the way) for ten years. Any thoughts?
– Michael

Hi Mary-
Are headaches part of kundalini awakening? Thanks for all your knowledge!
–Ani

I very much am an Occam’s Razor type of person, by which I mean that there are a million different reasons for headaches, sinus issues, and itching that are more likely than kundalini awakening.

There are physical issues, like allergies, as well as spiritual patterns. When I hear about headaches and sinus issues from an energetic-spiritual perspective, my thoughts most commonly go to a lack of grounding (not being present in the body, a very common energetic pattern) as well as Top Down Awakenings (I talk about all the different types of awakenings in my book, The Spiritual Awakening Guide).

Top Down awakenings are one of the most common types of awakenings. While the book goes into greater detail, basically the portals of the head (third eye and crown) are open but a bottleneck develops– the throat is closed off and there is a lot of energy stuck in the head with nowhere to go. There is little energy circulating or present in the rest of the body. This is because to have flow through the body there needs to be acceptance of and grounding in the physical form, a resolution or facing of trauma and an ability to experience and connect willingly with the flow of emotions and intuition.

So there are a lot of individuals suffering from Top Down awakenings because we place such importance and excitement on things like opening the third eye, or focusing on the pineal gland, or on meditative methods that end up disassociating individuals from their bodies, their lives, and their feelings. We prioritize doing over being, and catharsis over stillness. Headaches, sinus issues, and other “stuck in the head” issues (overthinking, mania, abstract thinking with no grounding in collective reality etc) can be a result of this energetic imbalance.

But on to answer your questions…

Headaches are pretty common with kundalini awakenings. I talk about the mechanics of kundalini in greater detail in my book, Working with Kundalini, but the best description of kundalini I have found is forced flow. This feeling of flow changes and shifts based on where you are in your process.

It may feel electrical, pulsating, blasts of heat, or like a large surge of energy. Later in the process, it will take on more of a flow quality, like a wave coursing through the system. At times a tsunami, at other times a gentle crest.

What kundalini does, when it is permanently awakened (rather than a temporary experience of it) is to flow until it finds blockage in the body. It then works on that blockage, releasing the physical, emotional, and energetic-spiritual reasons for that blockage being there.

So people generally feel kundalini working. This may mean in the head, or in the heart, or really anywhere. This often feels very heat-oriented. It is the nature of kundalini, and the body releases what is stuck within it through pulsation, heat releasing (in general through the nervous system but also through the specific area of the body where the “stuckness” is), and a general feeling of an energetic flow hitting against a rock.

So feelings of pressure, pain, and blockage will arise when the body consciousness (the body deva) registers an area that is going to be worked on “next” by kundalini, and while it is attempting to release it (wave hitting and breaking down said rock).

Itching is often a sense of activation of kundalini but with some sort of blockage there. For example, it is very common for people to have itching all over, but specifically in the sacrum and genitals (the first chakra or perineum pulsates and activates to propel kundalini out of its sacrum “cave” so it can move upwards). It is also common in the head, and really anywhere the body is experiencing release, activation, and blockage.

This can mean headaches, sinus issues and feelings of pressure in the head, as well as energetic issues specific in the head that are difficult to describe, the best words perhaps being dizziness, soreness, and feelings of pin-prick awareness in the head. There are many microchakras that open going up from the third eye to the crown and the area behind the crown (where the fontanelle closes in babies, or the bindu point).

Specific to Michael’s query, I will say that the goal of kundalini awakening is to awaken every cell within the body– the whole body. But specifically its trajectory to do so is through the midline. Even more specifically it is through the cerebrospinal system.

This system is a dual-propulsion system. Cerebrospinal fluid is created mid-brain through the ventricles (making this as simple as possible) and flows through the spinal cord to the sacrum. It is also propelled back upwards, absorbing back into the dural sinuses.

So why is this so important to people in later stages of kundalini awakening?

The first is that people often get stuck where Michael is. We have a midline (that splits us left and right) but the issue is that we have a mouth. The rest of the midline has a pretty easy trajectory to have energy flow through. The mouth has an opening, a place that needs to be bridged to achieve the final stage of kundalini awakening… which in energetic terms is the “pole” in the midbrain (behind the nose, basically) having a stream of refined consciousness (through the cerebrospinal fluid within the spine and skull) reach it on a continual basis.

Picture a golden light flowing through this entire flow of CSF, pulsating back and forth continually.

Our other “pole” has already been activated– this pole is where kundalini was dormant, the sacrum. So the permanent activation of both poles allows for a permanent state of realization.

Kundalini energy becomes refined and refined again until this inner flow can achieve this.

But people get stuck where Michael is (which is quite a high state of realization) because the mouth forms a bridge, and the tongue is intended to bridge the gap.

So people who are in this stage will have tongue thrusting, or the automatic creation of the tip of the tongue finding specific places in the roof of the mouth, to create the bridge from the throat through the mouth to the mid-brain and that pole.

In time, the tongue does not need to press, to find, or to release to do this. There can be an understanding on the part of the body that there is a bridge present there. A new one doesn’t need to be created each time.

In terms of the sinuses, people in this stage find that they will experience what feels like dripping of sinuses, or like large chunks of goo coming through their mouth.

A much more romantic way of looking at this is to consider it ambrosia, as in the nectar of the gods, of Greek myth. But really it is the activation and release of the internal sinus systems, of cerebrospinal flow, creating space for more refined flow through the cerebrospinal system. And it feels pretty gooey.

For anyone experiencing headaches, itching, or other kundalini related problems, I suggest my books, Working with Kundalini and The Body Deva.

Working with Kundalini is a result of fifteen years or so of obsessive research and work with my own process, as well as hearing from and working with many clients. It is unique in its focus on creating a map of the process as well as offering realistic support and tools to assist people going through the process (everything from lifestyle, herbs, bodywork, to self-inquiry to assist).

The Body Deva is a method of body-based self-inquiry that offers healing. While it can be used by anyone who wishes to become more embodied and self-realized, it specifically was created for individuals who have the consciousness to be able to look towards the body and hear what it has to say. Those going through kundalini awakenings can ask why their sinuses are stuck, why their head feels like it has a giant clamp on it, and so forth, and support their own process to resolve blockages. Those blockages are the reason for the itching, headaches, and pain.

For people in Michael’s situation, the Body Deva will also be helpful. But if you are at this point, working with the tongue as a bridge will be enormously helpful. Let your body show you how, allow your tongue to show you how, and gradually the sinuses will clear, there will be greater flow, as well as a connecting between those two poles of energy.

There is often a lot stuck in the throat and tongue for anyone who is spiritually awakening. Learning to open the avenue of expression (having voice to speak, to sing, to state what your heart desires…. there is an energetic channel that links the heart to the tongue that allows for us to express what we need to when it is clear and open) is so vital for anyone, no matter where they are on their path. Chanting, lions pose in yoga, singing, and allowing yourself to speak and to be heard can open this channel.

Mary Mueller Shutan is a spiritual teacher and author.

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