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Kundalini unravels itself in a deeper form of meditation that few people ever encounter. It's the true form of 'enlightenment' that people speak of when seeking a full personal transformation. Often, meditation peak experiences and even consciousness 'highs' on certain substances give a glimpse into the nature of Kundalini Rising. But, unlike these temporal states, Kundalini differs, with it's permanence.

Carl Jung shared this mindset of 'holistic change' writing that the Kundalini experience awakens a "new world" outside of what we consider 'normal' consciousness. Jung had a significant role in unveiling the Kundalini experience to the West from much of the misunderstood Eastern writings on the Kundalini experiences from Spiritual Gurus who have known about Kundalini for centuries… long before the washed-down New-age notions of Kundalini crept into modern meditation practices.

photo credit: vaXzine

Understanding Kundalini on a Practical Level

For the most part the literal meaning of Kundalini is 'coiled'. In simple terms, it is trapped consciousness. Most spiritual practices are aware of the 7 Chakra model of consciousness. These energetic structures are said to maintain and regulate the health of both mental, emotional, and corporal bodies. These 7 centers also suggest reasons for certain individuals having higher intuitive abilities, with others have a closer innate connection to God, with others being more in balance with their emotions.

The Kundalini Meditation opens and balances all 7 of these chakras. This is an experience that can be felt with great affect. It is a cleansing and awakening process. It's something I've experienced on a direct level since I began more serious meditations in 2006. I have often written of the experience as a deep and fulfilling sense of peace. I've also alluded to being able to experience sharper emotions and more intuitive thinking as a result of connecting with these 7 chakras in meditation.

Most people who meditate miss the true meaning of meditation. Rather than using it for a tool to transform themselves from the inside out, their aim is for instant results, instant change, and enlargement of ego-driven possessions. Kundalini meditations are opposite to this, requiring a deep desire to let go of the 'corporal self' and embrace the Infinite within.

The law of attraction and manifestation methods originated long before movies like "The Secret" were ever released. The law of attraction depends a whole lot on our inner frame of focus. Once we grasp the power of mental focus we'll have no trouble seeing how the process of manifestation works.

To consider the law of attraction it's a good idea to first consider that we, as conscious individuals, don't just observe the world. Our perspective is not observational — it's magnetic. This means that in essence we are 'pulling in' the world that we want to create based on our personal beliefs and feelings.

Perception is often misunderstood as something that sits back and looks at the world from a distance. From personal experience I don't think this is accurate at all and almost the opposite is true. Perception is a creative and active force in our lives. Your personal perception on the world doesn't just attract certain experiences — it creates them.

The sense of self we create is to a great extent based on the magnification that we've applied to a part of the greater world or universal consciousness.

Perception is magnetic

If a small but appealing idea fades into perception then it begins to become magnified and grow until it manifests into our lives as a tangible outcome. In that sense the law of attraction can be simplified a great deal to: placing greater focus on the desired inner state and withdrawing focus from less desirable states.

In an almost ironic sense for the law of attraction to be effective one would have to know how to withdraw their focus almost as well as placing their focus. Manifestation techniques will often not work because the individual using them cannot let go of  core beliefs or outcomes due to such an intense focus on their existing worldview.

The true power of 'The Secret' as such would be found in being able to free ourselves from perceptions that act un-changable because the more we are able to shift our focus from one range of experience to another the more "leg room" we have available to attract and build desired realities faster.

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Over the next few weeks I'd like to cover some behaviour modification topics like how to quit smoking. Overcoming addictions like this is difficult and to do so is a commendable demonstration of willpower. In this article I'll talk about using positive and negative reinforcement for behaviour modification to quit smoking.

Most of us aren't aware that we can change our behaviour through simple behaviour modification plans. I wasn't aware of this up until a few months ago but I have found this to be an effective method of personal transformation and learning the value of exercising willpower.

It is after all quite difficult to just get up and claim: "I'm not going to do this from now on" and then expect results. You might as well claim the opposite! Our minds just don't function like that. Or at least not if we haven't trained them to.

Using Negative Reinforcement

People become addicted to something because it makes them feel good. It acts as a positive reinforcement – and this is what makes it so difficult to break the habit. So what we're going to do instead is to entrain a negative reinforcement each time after smoking.

Part One

Each time after smoking choose an undesirable consequence and put it into action. For example… after each cigarette place a $5 dollar bill inside a locked cabinet or coin storage case. Here our negative reinforcement is: losing five dollars for each cigarette smoked.

You will be able to open this cabinet after reducing the number of cigarettes smoked. It should have accumulated quite a lot of cash at that point! This is a positive outcome of achieving a difficult goal… Now smoking isn't all that "good" from the perspective of the subconscious mind. There is a sudden punishment there now.

Note that if $5 doesn't hold much value then this won't work. Pick something of value and hide or restrict it after each cigarette smoked and soon cigarettes will be associated with something bad.

Even as I put this image in front of readers it can trigger a craving for cigarettes. But train the mind with negative re-enforcers for a few weeks on a consistent basis and when looking at this image once again the immediate mental response will be disgust and aversion – not craving!

Positive Reinforcement

Part Two

Each time after smoking a cigarette write down the total number smoked in a notepad. Each evening look at the number of cigarettes smoked. If the number is less than the previous evening then do something rewarding such as watching extra TV or making some personal time to relax. This rewarding action is a positive re-enforcement.

You might also like to create a bigger reward towards the end of the week if the number of cigarettes smoked is reduced to half of what it was the previous week.

Part Three – Create a behaviour modification plan

Create a personal plan that lists the details below. I recommend keeping a notepad or even a digital journal to record and update this information.

1. Goal - quit smoking or reduce smoking?
2. Negative reinforcement - what will happen for each cigarette smoked?
3. Sub-goals - stepping stones on the path towards achieving the final goal. For example "smoke less than X cigarettes per week" is a sub-goal.
4. Positive rewards and reinforcements - which rewards will I use for each of the sub-goals reached?

Create a record to write all of this information and count each cigarette smoked. Make sure to enforce each of the negative and positive reinforcements. This takes some willpower at first. You can also ask for the support of friends or relatives in monitoring the progress towards each of the sub-goals and the final achievement of giving up smoking for good.

This is an effective method of overcoming addiction. It aims to reduce the positive reinforcement received from the addiction while increasing positive reinforcement for exercising willpower and avoiding the addiction.

Most of us have a difficult time breaking existing habits when we take the brute force approach: "I'm going to change this aspect of how I live within the next week… month… or several months"

Most of the time it just doesn't work.

However we are capable of creating and achieving productive goals — like we are also capable of breaking negative habits. The problem occurs when we go about it expecting instant results and punishing ourselves when we don't get them.
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One aspects of self-exploration has prompted me to ask – "how often do people perceive meaning where there is none?" and "when there is meaning in our lives how often do we miss it?" I'd like to share some of the realizations that I've made over the last few months about hidden meanings and jumping to false conclusions and the thin but important line between the two.

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There is one constant piece of the puzzle that each of us is rushing and chasing to catch – The Center. The Point of Balance Inside. No one knows what the core essence of a human being is, or at least not how to define it. Perhaps concepts like Feng shui and The Gestalt Effect of perceiving meaning among the disorder of life point towards the true nature of being.

The essence remains when we take the persona and surface 'self' out of the picture. Our thoughts, emotions and actions seem to come together to make the whole individual. But the true essence of the individual is not the sum of those factors at all — it's what holds them together.

Take a Spiritual Photo of Yourself

Imagine a Mental Self-image of Yourself. How do You Perceive Yourself? 

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