I am the Frog.

 Have you ever heard the story about the boiling frog?

Short version: There is this frog, and he is put into some deliciously warm water. It feels cozy, and he begins to relax. Little does he know he is in the cooking pot and the temperature is being raised slowly over time. The frog barely notices as it gets hotter and hotter. This frog doesn't even struggle as he is being cooked alive. The change is so gradual he is not alarmed. He sits happily stewing in his juices completely unaware the danger.
Here I am- frog soup.

 Let's rewind a sec. Way back on Day 1... about four posts ago I touched on cults. It seemed funny at the time.

How does one come to be in a cult?  Oh, it's pretty simple really...

As yogis, we have been instructed that our ego causes uncomfortable feelings as we are growing. We use yoga to help us connect our physical feelings to our emotions, and then we begin to have the ability to handle that discomfort more easily. To be comfortable with being uncomfortable can be beneficial. I am better able to trust myself to know when there is actual danger which allows me to (more confidently) take safe risks. "To put me out there," so to speak. For a yogi learning to understand and consciously control our reactions rather than act with our ego is key. To completely eradicate or hush the ego however, has become a popular idea. If less is good then none is perfect, right? Wrong!

Ego is not our enemy. Ego provides drive to accomplish.  It is the reason you eat healthy, brush your teeth, read this blog.  It also helps us discern when we are in real peril. It is the survival instinct- that feeling of unease that is our built-in protection from danger.
This instinctual mechanism is an element of our being and part of the mind-body connection that hatha yoga is excellent at honing.

Kundalini is another type of yoga. This yoga works with spiritual energy and cognitive process.  It is a somewhat controversial method of consciously "awakening" and changing your thought patterns.

"Transpersonal psychologists believe that the spiritual emergency can be quite powerful because the experience tends to transcend the ego, and may be a natural developmental process that has psychological and spiritual elements."


 We know this, right? This is why we do it. We use it to break through mental blocks. To break bad habits and help form better ones. It can be a tool for changing poor coping mechanisms and helping a person to live a more productive and fulfilled life. Kundalini is seen as a fantastic way to aid one in the removal of unwanted behavioral patterns (emotional eating, smoking,  extreme self-critisim ect.) It can  help challenge self-limiting beliefs, addictions and even rewire your brain. 

 “Yoga was originally a natural process of introversion. . . . Such introversions lead to characteristic inner processes of personality changes. In the course of several thousand years these introversions became gradually organized as methods, and along widely differing ways.” -Carl Jung

At it's best, it is a self-help dream. At it's worst, it could be the door opening service to allowing yourself to be manipulated and abused.

 I hope by confirming your understanding of what Kundalini is and it's purpose you will realize the necessity of thoroughly trusting all of your teacher/mentor/trainer/instructors. You are placing them in the drivers seat of exploring your most deep and personal thoughts. They will serve to guide you through the maze of your inner workings.  It might be helpful to consider the process a "re-parenting." As Kundalini helps bring awareness to and break down old programming it leaves uncharted territory that must be mapped as it is discovered. This is a process of creating new thoughts, social structures, morals, goals, interactions... All the programming that is thrown out will and must be replaced by something. It is important to consider what that replacement programming will be, where it will come from and who you trust to guide this new developing. For example: You might find yourself disoriented and be unsure of where personal boundaries should be placed.

Manipulation is a real concern at this point. It occurs when there is doubt placed in the mind and that is exactly what will be happening.

  "Because when there is someone in a position of power or authority, someone you idealize, or even as in many co-dependent relationships – when there is someone you are afraid to lose – their insistence that their reality is the reality can often cause you to doubt what you know to be true." Dr. Robin Stern

 Mind control is often misunderstood. It is mistakenly thought that your free will is taken away. That is not exactly how it works. The basis of your reality gets changed- core values, morals, and even beliefs.

 "Core beliefs are the very essence of how we see ourselves, other people, the world, and the future."

 You are in a vulnerable state and can be more easily persuaded to act in ways that serve others rather than through natural self-preservation and the experiential personal values you have developed over the years. This creates a problem for the "pick and choose" method of accepting a new doctrine. You will no longer have a personally derived base from which to build your new beliefs.  It doesn't work to simply decide you will use your current beliefs as blocks to anything you do not like. That is the very purpose of Kundalini- to remove the blocks that make it difficult under normal circumstances to change core beliefs.

Those "blocks" are everything you currently believe. 

In my opinion, Kundalini requires a conscious acceptance that you want to participate in a process of subliminal mind alteration. You should fully understand that you are giving permission to be "brainwashed." Kundalini will be cleaning out old thoughts, beliefs ect. and that all translates to- you are no longer who you are today.

Be aware: If you have done anything you did not want to, did things you did not feel comfortable to do, or participated in that which you explicitly disagreed- the process of changing YOU has already begun.

Kundalini is useful. There is nothing wrong with conscious, purposeful growth and change. My mission here is simply to educate so that everyone realizes the facts and moves forward with full disclosure of the risks involved. If you are then on-board- go for it. Please consider whether you will be allowed to form your own ideas or you will be indoctrinated with a specific belief system as you move through your journey. Remember that is a crucial point- it forms the basis of where all your new thoughts will be conceived. That belief system will ultimately write and control your free will.

To make that decision from your current base of belief you must establish it TODAY and stand strong in your decision. All in- or all out. If you have reservations STOP NOW.

You are the frog.
How do you like your soup?

Mind Control Tactics:
-Control types of clothing and hairstyles
-Manipulation and deprivation of sleep
-Major time spent with group indoctrination and rituals and/or self indoctrination
-Thoughts, feelings, and activities (of self and others) reported to superiors
-Discourage individualism, encourage group-think
-Keep members busy so they don’t have time to think and investigate
-Control through cell phone- texting, calls, internet tracking 
-Encourage spying on other members
 -Impose a buddy system to monitor and control member 
-Report deviant thoughts, feelings and actions to leadership 
-Ensure that individual behavior is monitored by group
-Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda, including:Newsletters, magazines, journals, audiotapes, videotapes, YouTube, movies and other media 
-Public confession used to disrupt and/or dissolve identity boundaries
-Require members to internalize the group’s doctrine as truth 
-Adopting the group's ‘map of reality’ as reality  
-Instill black and white thinking  
-Decide between good vs. evil Organize people into us vs. them 
-Change person’s name and identity
-Use of loaded language and clichés/quotes which constrict knowledge, stop critical thoughts and reduce complexities into platitudinous buzz words
-Hypnotic/Meditation techniques are used to alter mental states, undermine critical thinking and even to age regress the member
-Teaching thought stopping techniques which shutdown reality testing 
Chanting
Meditating
Praying
Speaking in tongues
Singing or humming
-Rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism
-Forbid critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy allowed (Dissent)
-Labeling alternative belief systems as illegitimate, evil, invalid, or not useful
-Instill new “map of reality” (Core Values)
-Manipulate and narrow the range of feelings some emotions and/or needs are deemed as evil, wrong or selfish (Ego)
-Teach emotion stopping techniques to block feelings of doubt
-Make the person feel that problems are always their own fault, never the leader’s or the group’s fault (Ego, fear of growth, resistance)
-Promote feelings of guilt or unworthiness, create a need for change such as Identity guilt:You are not living up to your potential
Your family is deficient
Your past is suspect
Your affiliations are unwise
Your thoughts, feelings, actions are irrelevant or selfish
Social guilt
Historical guilt 
-Instill fear, such as fear of:Thinking independently (Dissent)Losing one’s salvation (Getting off-path)Leaving or being shunned by the group (losing your friends, family, support group)Other’s disapproval (Ousted from the tribe)
-Extremes of emotional highs and lows:
love bombing and praise one moment and then disappointment and/or disapproval, loss of position/popularity in the group
-Ritualistic and sometimes public confession of sins/ perceived shortcomings (Sharing circles)
-Never a legitimate reason to leave; those who leave are weak, not ready, undisciplined, un-spiritual, worldly, brainwashed by family or counselor, or seduced by money or sex 


More information:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mind-body-connection/201407/cults-and-the-mind-body-connection

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-intelligent-divorce/201305/what-awful-marriages-cults-have-in-common

http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/attitudes/brainwashing/

http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/galleries/5-signs-your-church-is-brainwashing-you.aspx?p=7

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/09/us/yogi-bhajan-75-boss-of-worlds-spiritual-and-capitalistic-dies.html

https://freedomofmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BITE-Model-Handout-9-23-16.pdf

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lama-surya-das/cults-come-in-all-kinds_b_3998714.html

Do not take my word for it. Please check the links for yourself. Do your own research. Get yourself a trusted friend, relative or therapist to help you keep a reality check and navigate your journey. Be cautious and understand it is REAL.