Whilst going through a separation with two young children, I was experiencing a great deal of stress and at the same time trying to keep up a brave front for my sons. It wasn’t easy. The process of separation, plus the fear and uncertainty were manifesting as high levels of stress and anxiety.
I was resistant to taking medication of any kind to help me deal with my symptoms, so on the recommendation of two dear friends I went to see a Reiki Master to learn about energy healing. I was so taken with the energetic experience that I decided to become a Reiki Master myself. This was a pivotal shift in my life that has took me on an amazing spiritual adventure, one that still continues to this day…
From my own personal experience, which started in my first class of Reiki in 2005, there was a radical shift in my personal reality as I knew it. I experienced mystical and spiritual experiences that I could not rationalize nor understand. At times they were blissful and awe inspiring yet, other times fearful and unsettling. Definitely my sanity would have been under scrutiny had I dared to tell my doctor what I was going through!
So, it is no surprise that it has been an area of great interest, learning and growth for my personal transformation. And now, grateful to be able to support and help others navigate their spiritual emergency!
I highly recommend and make reference to the book by Stanislav & Christian Grof, as it clearly defines some of the symptoms which I experienced in a more coherent way, I would say I had symptoms in varying degrees from numbers #1, #2, #3, #5, #6 & #7 below.
It is with much joy and appreciation to see such works by these foremost psychologists, psychiatrists and spiritual teachers as it not only validates my experiences but puts into perspective everything, I did not understand at that time. And, not to forget the teachers I met along the way who helped me to foster my gifts and help overcome my neurotical self – I realize it’s a lifetime process! Best of all lies the promise of people being treated in a more unique and supportive manner instead of being diagnosed as mental illness.
Spiritual Emergency – by Stanislav Grof, MD & Christiana Grof
When Personal Transformation Become a Crisis
- The Shamanic Crisis – Experiences of physical tortures, death, rebirth, connection with plants, animals and elemental forces of nature
- The awakening of Kundalini – clears old traumatic imprints and opens the centers of psychic energy called chakras. Experience kriyas – intense sensations of energy flowing up spine sometimes with intense shaking, spasms and twisting movements
- Episodes of unitive consciousness – A sense of becoming one with the whole, world, people, nature or entire universe
- Psychological renewal through return to the centre – experience of a colossal battlefield where there is a cosmic combat between the good and evil (light and darkness) where the individual is at the center of it all and thinks the world depends on them.
- The crisis of psychic opening – the experience of “paranormal” phenomena, mediumship, precognition, telepathy or clairvoyance creating overwhelming confusion – cannot separate self-experience from that of others
- Past-life experiences – non-ordinary states of consciousness where you experience strong emotions and physical sensations of being in other historical periods, and other countries – sense of reliving something previously experienced
- Communication with spirit guides and “channeling” – encounters of a transpersonal nature where a “being” shows up and assumes position of teacher, guide, protector, or a source of information you did not have previous knowledge about
- Near-death experiences can lead to spiritual emergencies, person tends to adopt a more spiritual outlook, values and goals based on the revelations they have experienced
- Experiences of close encounters with UFO’s – Experiences of having been abducted by ET’s and faced unimaginable tortures (similar to shamanic crises and ordeals of initiates in rites of passage) – Carl Jung suggests these as being archetypical visions originating in the collective unconscious of humanity
- Possession states – Experience of the body being invaded and controlled by an entity or energy with characteristics not one’s own. Can be a mild disorder to more serious psychopathology such as criminal behavior, suicidal depression, murderous impulses etc. Often depicted in Catholic church as demonic possession to be exorcised!
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