Article

What Is Kundalini Activation?

Sessions, experiences and what to expect, from a Kundalini Activation facilitator in Carlsbad, California.

By Anya Dillon15 minute read

Begin
Anya Dillon raising her hand into a burst of sunlight between ancient Egyptian temple columns

Kundalini Activation is a process of awakening the life-force energy traditionally understood to rest at the base of the spine. You are born with this energy. For many people, it remains largely dormant. Activation creates the conditions for it to begin moving through the body, gradually and at a pace the system can integrate.

It is not something you need to force.

In the way I was taught, and in the way I facilitate this work, Kundalini Activation is a practice of surrender. You lie down, you receive, and you allow the experience to unfold.

There is nothing to perform and nowhere you need to get to.

In this article

Contents
  1. IWhat is Kundalini, actually?
  2. IIWhat causes Kundalini to awaken?
  3. IIIWhat happens as Kundalini begins to move?
  4. IVWhat happens in a Kundalini Activation session?
  5. VWhat do I experience while facilitating?
  6. VIWhy I hold Kundalini Activation as ceremony
  7. VIIWhat does Kundalini Activation feel like?
  8. VIIIKundalini Activation changed my life
  9. IXWhat do I believe Kundalini is ultimately for?
  10. XCan people have spiritual experiences during Kundalini Activation?
  11. XIWhat happens after a Kundalini Activation session?
  12. XIIIs Kundalini Activation safe?
  13. XIIICommon questions
  14. XIVKundalini Activation in Carlsbad and North County San Diego

What is Kundalini, actually?

In yogic and tantric traditions, Kundalini is described as a primal energy within us. It is often depicted symbolically as energy coiled at the base of the spine and associated with Shakti, the sacred feminine principle of creation, movement and transformation.

Traditionally, Kundalini awakening describes this energy rising through the energetic centers, or chakras, along the spine. At its fullest expression, it has been associated with expanded states of consciousness and profound spiritual awakening.

These teachings come from ancient spiritual traditions. They are not a promise of what you will experience in a session, and I think that distinction matters.

My relationship with Kundalini is less about trying to reach a particular state and more about becoming available to what is already within us.

What causes Kundalini to awaken?

There isn't only one path.

Traditional practices have worked intentionally with Kundalini through meditation, yoga, breath, mantra, tantra and other forms of spiritual discipline.

People also describe spontaneous experiences of awakening during significant moments in life, including intense physical or emotional experiences, childbirth, intimacy, periods of spiritual practice, or sometimes without an obvious cause at all.

Kundalini can also be approached through energetic transmission, which is closer to the work I facilitate. Rather than asking you to generate the experience yourself through effort, the session creates a field in which you can soften and become receptive to your own energy.

I don't believe a facilitator is giving you something you don't already have.

The energy is already yours.

What happens as Kundalini begins to move?

Within the energetic framework I was taught, Kundalini moves through the chakra system and meets the places within us that are ready to open, release or become more conscious.

The lower centers are associated with some of our most embodied human experiences: safety, sexuality, creativity, personal power, emotion and our relationship with being here in a physical body. As the energy begins to move, people may become more aware of tension, emotions, patterns or sensations that have been held beneath the surface.

This is one reason I don't believe intensity should be the goal.

A dramatic awakening may sound appealing when you first discover Kundalini, especially after seeing what is shared online. I am much more interested in what your system can actually integrate, and in allowing the relationship with this energy to unfold over time.

As the heart begins to open, the experience can become less about sensation and more about connection. Some people describe profound love, unity, or a feeling of remembering something about themselves that is difficult to explain intellectually. Not everyone experiences this, and it doesn't need to happen for a session to be meaningful.

Anya Dillon guiding a Kundalini Activation as a guest lying on her mat raises her hands

What happens in a Kundalini Activation session?

One of the first things I tell people is that there is nothing you have to do.

You lie down comfortably and close your eyes. Music supports the journey and helps create a receptive, meditative environment.

The transmission-based approach I facilitate was taught to me through my teacher, whose background included Kundalini Activation Process, or KAP. I was not personally trained or certified in KAP, and I don't represent my work as that modality.

In a session, I begin by connecting with what I experience as Supreme Creator and universal energy. From there, I work with energetic transmission through the crown and down through the energetic system. I may spend time around the crown and third eye before moving along the body and spine, intuitively sensing places of resistance, openness or areas asking for attention.

At the same time, I am listening.

I experience this energy within each person as having its own intelligence. I sometimes describe it as communicating with their Shakti. Rather than commanding it to awaken or trying to force it upward, I create an intention of safety and invitation.

You are safe to awaken at the pace that is right for you.

I am not manufacturing someone's Kundalini experience, and I am not deciding what their body needs to do. I am connecting, transmitting, listening and holding a field in which their own energy is invited to respond.

What do I experience while facilitating?

Something happens for me during these sessions too.

To facilitate, I enter my own state of surrender. I soften, open my channel and become receptive to what I experience as divine light.

Different frequencies can come through vividly. Sometimes I experience what feels angelic, or perceive the presence of ascended masters. At other times I may experience colors or particular frequencies, such as the violet flame, dragon energy, or what I understand as someone's ancestral or cosmic lineage. Light language may begin moving through my voice, and occasionally I receive an impression that feels connected to the person I'm working with.

These are my spiritual perceptions. I don't require the person receiving to interpret them exactly as I do.

My role is to remain open, discerning and grounded enough to serve the experience rather than control it. I often think of myself as a tool through which the divine can work.

Anya Dillon with arms open in an ancient Egyptian temple

Why I hold Kundalini Activation as ceremony

For me, Kundalini Activation is not simply an energetic technique.

It is ceremony.

We are working with something I consider sacred, and I want the way I hold the space to reflect that. Depending on the ceremony, I may open with cacao, Blue Lotus or another plant ally when appropriate, creating a moment for us to arrive, connect through the heart and become present with one another. I establish energetic boundaries around the space before we begin, and cleanse and close the field afterward.

Safety matters deeply to me, both in the practical way I screen and prepare participants and in the energetic way I hold the container.

My ceremonies also carry different frequencies depending on what I am called to create. I hold Kundalini Activation experiences around the Full Moon and New Moon. At other times, I facilitate ceremonies inspired by Egyptian mysteries and the energetic codes I experience through my connection with Egypt. As a Rose Priestess, the Rose lineage is woven deeply into the way I hold space, and there are ceremonies where I consciously work with the Rose frequency as part of the activation.

Light language, sound, Rose teachings, Egyptian energies, plant allies and other frequencies may enter the ceremony intuitively. I don't follow an identical script every time.

I listen to the field.

You can explore my upcoming Kundalini Activation ceremonies if you feel called to experience one.

I may be holding the ceremony, but I am not separate from it. We enter it together.

What does Kundalini Activation feel like?

This is where I think social media has created some confusion.

Search for Kundalini Activation online and you may see people moving dramatically, shaking, arching, crying, laughing or moving into spontaneous postures. Then someone comes to their first session expecting that. And when their body doesn't move, they wonder if anything happened.

Kundalini Activation does not have to look like anything.

People may experience warmth, tingling, waves of sensation, spontaneous movement, emotion, imagery, colors, deep stillness or altered meditative states. Others may simply feel very relaxed. Some people experience very little during their first session.

I've learned not to use intensity as a measurement of depth. A person can lie completely still while having a profound internal experience. And sometimes the session itself is subtle, while something becomes clearer afterward.

I don't want people chasing movement or trying to recreate what they have seen someone else's body do.

Your experience belongs to you. The invitation is to notice rather than perform.

Anya Dillon resting against an ancient tree with her eyes closed

Kundalini Activation changed my life

I can explain the traditions and the energetic framework, but the reason I do this work is much more personal.

When I received my first session, I had spent many years as an occupational therapy practitioner, working primarily with students with special needs. I wasn't looking for a new career. But something about that first experience opened a door in me, and I immediately wanted more.

I received my first three sessions within about a week, and continued regularly after that, sometimes weekly. Within two months, that path brought me to Mount Shasta for a Kundalini retreat.

That experience changed something in me that is still difficult to put into ordinary language.

My light language came through incredibly strongly. On the mountain, I could feel vibration everywhere, in the rocks, the plants, the land, the sky. My sense of separation seemed to soften, and I experienced a profound connection with the world around me. There were also experiences I understand through my own spiritual and multidimensional framework, including what I perceived as craft in the sky. I don't need anyone else to share my interpretation of those experiences. What mattered was what they awakened in me.

I remember being at that retreat and quietly thinking, I wish I could do this.

I didn't know then how quickly my life would answer.

Within months, I became a facilitator, and since then I have facilitated Kundalini Activation sessions and led retreats in Mount Shasta and Tulum.

The work that once felt like a private longing became my life.

What do I believe Kundalini is ultimately for?

For me, Kundalini is much bigger than an energetic experience during a session. It began showing me where my life was no longer in truth.

We can become incredibly accustomed to living inside patterns that no longer belong to us. We stay in careers, relationships, friendships, identities and ways of thinking because they are familiar. Sometimes we don't even realize how much of ourselves we have shaped around protection, expectation, old wounds or who we thought we were supposed to be.

My experience of Kundalini is that, over time, it begins illuminating those places. I sometimes describe it as burning away what isn't true. Not because every difficult thing suddenly disappears, but because it can become harder to remain unconscious of what feels deeply out of alignment.

For me, this is a return toward harmony. A return to the heart. A remembrance of our connection with ourselves, with one another, with the Earth, with the divine and with life itself.

As that relationship deepens, I believe we become more capable of making sovereign choices. We begin recognizing what feels aligned and what doesn't. And when something is no longer aligned, we may find the clarity and courage to choose differently.

That is what happened in my own life. Kundalini didn't hand me a new identity or tell me to leave my career. But as I became more alive within myself, I could no longer ignore what I felt called toward.

This is where Kundalini becomes less about activation and more about embodiment.

It is not only about what happens when you close your eyes. It is about how you live when you open them again.

Can people have spiritual experiences during Kundalini Activation?

Some people describe experiences they understand as extending beyond the physical body or their ordinary sense of identity.

People may experience vivid imagery or what feels like memory. Some describe encounters with their younger selves or inner child. Others report what they interpret as past-life experiences, contact with ancestors or loved ones who have passed, or connection with beings they understand as cosmic. I have witnessed people begin expressing light language, or discover spiritual and creative expressions that feel completely new to them.

These experiences are deeply personal.

I don't tell someone that a vision was objectively a past life, or that a message unquestionably came from a particular being. I also don't believe I need to dismiss someone's experience simply because it cannot be proven. I invite people to discern what it means for themselves.

For me, the mystery is part of the sacredness. We don't have to define all of it. Sometimes we can simply listen.

Anya Dillon playing a bamboo chime above guests resting on their mats

What happens after a Kundalini Activation session?

The session does not necessarily end when the music stops.

People sometimes notice emotions, insights, dreams, physical sensations or changes in awareness afterward. Others simply feel peaceful, tired, clear or more present. Sometimes there is no dramatic afterward at all.

I encourage people to give themselves space for integration rather than immediately trying to interpret everything. Hydrate. Rest if your body asks for rest. Spend time outside. Journal if something wants to be written. Notice what comes up without needing to turn every sensation into a spiritual message.

For me, integration is where this work becomes embodied. The ceremony may open a door. What you do with what you meet there is part of your own path.

Is Kundalini Activation safe?

Kundalini Activation is a complementary spiritual and energetic practice. It is not medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment, and it is not appropriate for everyone.

My approach is intentionally gradual and includes preparation, consent and integration. I also screen for contraindications before participation.

Certain neurological and psychiatric conditions are contraindications for the sessions I facilitate. If you have a history of seizures or epilepsy, mania, delusions, psychosis, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, Kundalini Activation as I currently facilitate it is not appropriate for you.

If you are pregnant or have a history of trauma, anxiety or another mental health condition, please speak with an appropriate licensed healthcare professional and contact me before participating.

If you have questions about whether Kundalini Activation is appropriate for you, please book a discovery call before booking a session, or reach me through the ceremonies page.

Common questions

How many Kundalini Activation sessions does it take?

There isn't a number I can honestly give you.

I don't see Kundalini Activation as something you complete in a single session, nor do I believe you need to chase activation after activation. One session may feel deeply significant. Another person's first experience may be incredibly subtle.

Over time, as you become more familiar with surrender and your own energetic language, the relationship can deepen. This is the part of Kundalini that interests me most: not collecting extraordinary experiences, but developing a relationship with your own energy.

A facilitator can hold the field, offer transmission and support the process. But nobody should try to override your body, your boundaries or your readiness.

Your path is still yours.

How is Kundalini Activation different from Shaktipat?

Shaktipat traditionally refers to the transmission of spiritual energy from teacher or guru to student. Different lineages understand and practice this transmission differently, and I don't think it is useful to reduce all of those traditions to one experience.

My approach to Kundalini Activation is intentionally gradual. I am not trying to force a full awakening or create the most dramatic experience possible. I would rather honor what your system is ready to meet and allow your relationship with the energy to develop from there.

For me, gentleness is not less powerful. It is part of the wisdom of the work.

Do I need experience with meditation, yoga or energy work?

No.

You don't need to understand chakras. You don't need to meditate regularly. You don't need to know how to move energy. There is nothing you need to perform correctly.

In some ways, not knowing what is supposed to happen can make it easier to experience what is actually happening.

Do I have to believe in Kundalini?

You don't need to adopt my spiritual beliefs in order to participate. You can arrive curious. You can arrive skeptical.

What matters more is whether you feel comfortable enough to soften your grip on the experience and become receptive to it.

I would rather you have your own experience than borrow my interpretation of it.

Is Kundalini Activation religious?

No.

Kundalini has roots in ancient yogic and tantric spiritual traditions, and I believe those origins deserve to be acknowledged rather than erased. The sessions I facilitate through Radiant Flo do not require adherence to a religion or belief system.

What if I don’t feel anything?

That can happen.

It doesn't mean you failed, and I don't believe it is my role to convince you that something profound secretly happened if that wasn't your experience.

Notice what you actually felt. Sometimes an experience becomes more perceptible over time. Sometimes people notice something afterward. Sometimes a session is simply quiet.

There is wisdom in allowing that to be enough.

Can Kundalini Activation be done online?

I facilitate both in-person and online Kundalini Activation experiences.

Within the energetic framework in which I practice, transmission is not understood to depend on physical proximity. The structure of an online session is therefore similar, although your environment and preparation become especially important, because you are responsible for creating a private, comfortable space where you won't be interrupted.

You don't need to decide what you believe about distance energy beforehand. You can experience it and decide for yourself.

Kundalini Activation in Carlsbad and North County San Diego

I facilitate Kundalini Activation through Radiant Flo in Carlsbad, serving North County San Diego and the greater San Diego area, as well as online. This includes individual experiences and group ceremonies.

I also hold multi-day retreats where Kundalini Activation becomes part of a much larger ceremonial journey. Retreat work is especially meaningful to me because there is time to go beyond a single activation. We can work with the energy, integrate, return to ceremony, connect with the land and allow the experience to unfold over several days.

Some of the most important moments of my own journey happened in retreat, particularly in Mount Shasta. Creating these spaces for others has become a deeply personal part of my work.

Whether someone meets this energy in Carlsbad, online, under a Full Moon, within a Rose or Egyptian ceremony, or during a retreat, the foundation remains the same.

Surrender.

Discernment.

And respect for the intelligence of your own energy.

I don't want you to accept every extraordinary claim you hear about Kundalini, including mine. Listen to your body. Ask questions. Learn about the person holding the space.

Allow your own experience to remain your greatest teacher.

Anya reaching up into the branches of an ancient tree

If you’re curious about Kundalini Activation

Come curious. The rest can unfold from there.

You don’t have to decide anything yet. Kundalini: A Gentle Introduction explores this energy more deeply, what an activation can feel like, how to prepare, and a surrender practice you can begin on your own. If you already feel called, explore upcoming ceremonies and retreats.

Explore the free Kundalini guide Explore Kundalini Activation ceremonies