KUNDALINI AND THE COMPLETE MATURATION OF THE ENSOULED BODY

ABSTRACT: In utero and infantile developmental manifestations of kundalini, the ‘‘ultimate maturational force’’ according to yogic traditions, are traced to numerous advanced yogic processes, including urdhva-retas (lifelong neuroendocrine maturation), khecari mudra (puberty-like maturation of the tongue, hypothalamus and pineal) and sahaja asanas (spontaneously arising yoga asanas) and their cross-cultural cognates that, altogether, form the somatic basis for all manner of spiritual aspirations and complete maturation of the ensouled body. At the collective level and according to the centermost Vedic maxim, Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (The world is one family), a vast majority of successful fifty-year marriages interspersed with sannyasins (fulltime yogis) indicates a spiritually matured society. Thus, along with developing spiritual emergence counseling techniques for individuals in spiritual crises, transpersonal clinicians might draw from ashrama and tantric mappings of lifelong developmental stages to support marriages, families and communities and thus, over future centuries, reverse current familial/global brokenness and foster the emergence of mature, enlightened, whole cultures.