Deviations from spiritual practice

Performing incorrectly internal energy work can result in what is known as "Kundalini and Qigong Deviation Syndrome." Besides energy work will bring up the symptoms of any preexisting psychological conditions; therefore it is essential to perform a screening test on any aspiring students for mental disorders. When I attended a retreat last year at a Theravada Buddhist centre in northern Thailand, I was required to fill out a health questionnaire which is reasonable since many aspiring practitioners who attend these kind of retreats arrive concealing serious emotional problems, which makes them unable to understand the technique or to apply it properly to achieve the desired results, and as a result they experience mental deviations.

We can approach this problem by examining Qi disturbances in its normal flow caused by the toxicity of the internal organs resulting from modern lifestyle habits. This problem is compounded by the fact that excessive mental activity will lead the flow of the vital energy to the head instead of being kept in the energetic centre of the abdomen (lower tantien in Taoist terminology); this will produce what is called "Kundalini syndrome" which can be identified with the development of mental disorders (yang-fire rising to the head).

Common symptoms are the following:

1. Anxiety
2. Nervousness
3. Depression
4. Seriously ill patients cannot control their own behavior.
5. Some patients are found to have hallucination or delusion, and some even have the impulse of committing suicide.

At the very first sign of Kundalini or Qigong disease, the practitioner should stop doing Qigong for a period of time and then their practice should be immediately monitored, assessed, and modified by a competent teacher. If symptoms persist, both acupuncture and herbal medicine can be used to treat these conditions.

Aside from these initial measures, there are also certain rules that must be followed in our daily routine:

1. Take it easy with your practice and enjoy all aspects of life, not only this one. Balance is the key to success.

2. Do no meditate for many hours a day if you are a lay practitioner living a normal life in society. There is no need to go overboard if you belong to this category.

3. Gow slow and never rush through it. Spiritual development requires years of steady practice without becoming obsessed about it. Following a normal and peaceful life is a must since purification of mind and body and suppression of erratic emotions are intrinsic factors of spiritual development.

4. Do not indulge in arousing of any particular chakra.

5. Do not engage in any obsessive dieting methods and supression of sleep.

6. Specific breathing exercises like pranayama, anuloma viloma, etc. should not be undertaken without expert guidance.

7. Make sure you combine static meditation methods with regular physical activity to avoid internal energy (Qi) stagnation or its pooling in the head.

I have come across authors who make the following claims:

"The arising of various mental disturbances or deviations are not a sign of madness, but rather a normal reaction during the qigong healing stage when potential diseases appear and old diseases re-emerge. A subsequent condition of intense pressure is experienced when the real Qi in our body tries to push through the three major gateways on the meridian. This accounts for the various somatic stresses one may feel: swelling at the cerebellum, loud echoes in the ear, swelling and pain in the neck, shoulders, and arms. At the onset of these feelings, one should increase one’s internal energy practice: use your eyes to see through the "Baihui"(1) point to help the Qi pass through these major gateways. In light of these recent instances of misunderstanding, one without the benefit of a knowledgeable and experienced teacher may be inclined to reach the false conclusion that any disturbance is a prelude to madness or deviation. The unfortunate end result then would be that the person who most requires qigong practice would discontinue it, and for no better reason than fear and worry."

Well I found this statement quite drastic for the reasons I just mentioned before. Personally, I would rather play safe and have a teacher who can closely gauge and fine-tune my practice when those difficulties arise than having to experience them alone and in an unsupervised environment.


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