Frequently Asked Questions About a Spiritual Awakening
What is a spiritual awakening?
A change in perception where you perceive dimensions of reality that take you out of your ego-self. It can happen while walking in nature, meditating, praying, exploring through the use of psychedelics or plant medicines…or even the stresses associated with Near-Death Experience, childbirth, or loss of a loved one.
What are the signs of a spiritual awakening?
At first there is a feeling of expansion of consciousness, often accompanied by a sense of profound connection to other beings and/or nature and or other dimensions, e.g the spirit realm. This can strike you as ecstatic or scary–and may alternate between the two emotions.
How long does a spiritual awakening last?
Seconds, hours, days or even years. If you have other challenges, physical, relational, or psychological, that emerge alongside the spiritual awakening, the time it takes to integrate all of it may mean the experience lasts longer.
What are the stages of a spiritual awakening?
Disruption, Opening, Purification, Reorientation, Integration. These are described in more depth here. IMHU also offers a course that can help you understand the whole territory of awakening and the associated phenomena.
Is anxiety normal during a spiritual awakening?
Yes, you may feel drawn–even catapulted– outside of what is normal or habitual for you and, possibly, those you are most close with. This typically creates some anxiety for most people.
What is a dark night of the soul?
Imagine feeling a strong communion with God, or your Higher Self, and then being unable to feel that connection for a period of time. The dark night is a time of feeling disconnected to what has previously been most important to you as a source of connection.
What is ego death?
When you fully know in your bones that you are something “other” than the ideas you previously had of yourself, it can feel as if the former self dies. For example, if you realize you are an immortal soul who has had many lifetimes, it can catapult you into a whole new way of defining yourself, relating to your blood family in this life, and thinking about death.
Can meditation trigger a spiritual awakening?
Yes, meditation is suggested for almost anyone of any age who wants to awaken spiritually. However, since meditation has this powerful effect, it may be unsuitable for unstable people to practice meditation for any length of time.
Can psychedelics trigger a spiritual awakening?
Yes, marijuana, psychedelics and plant medicines can trigger spiritual awakening experiences and have been used ritually for that purpose in indigenous cultures. Since the awakening can be explosive and disorienting, it is especially important to only use these substances with well-trained guides in suitable environments.
What’s the difference between spiritual awakening and psychosis?
Psychosis is a state of being out of touch with reality; whereas spiritual awakening is being more in touch with a reality greater than the ego. IMHU offers a 2-hour course dedicated to distinguishing spiritual awakening from mental illness.
How do I integrate a spiritual awakening into daily life?
It’s ideal to choose friends/peers with whom you feel safe and at ease telling the story of your awakening. Being witnessed and accepted by one or more people can often be the most important stepping stone to making meaning of your experiences and accepting them as valuable in your own life.
Should I tell my therapist or doctor?
Keep in mind that most healthcare providers have not been trained to recognize the signs of spiritual awakening, respect them, and be supportive of them. Choose a therapist or doctor who has personal experience of awakening and can be respectful of your experiences; you might find yourself being diagnosed with a mental illness.
Quick self-check: am I opening or destabilizing?
A short checklist focused on functioning, sleep, safety, support, and pacing
If you’re unsure, err on the side of getting help
If you are feeling overwhelmed for a period of time and are not sure how to care for yourself to return to a calmer state, seek support from someone trained to effectively support someone in a spiritual emergency. Connecting to IMHU’s International Directory of Spiritual Emergence Coaches may be the best first step in finding support.
Recommended next steps and resources
Stabilize basics first: sleep, food, hydration, movement, sunlight
The keyword now is “stabilize”, which means prioritize getting adequate rest and hydration, nutritious food, exercise and sunlight (if possible). Avoid sugary foods, alcohol, mind-altering substances, and stimulants. If it’s warm outside and you can safely walk on the earth barefoot–or lie on the grass–all the better…then take a few long, deep breaths. Ahhhh. This is literally “grounding,” which is always stabilizing.
Seek out and provide yourself with something that helps you get adequate rest. Melatonin may work for some and is readily available in drugstores.
Reduce overstimulation and intensity
This is not the time to go shopping at big, salesy box stores, attend loud, crowded musical events, or drive a car in heavy traffic. Better to be in a quieter environment in which you can be more aware of your inner thoughts and feelings. You might want to share some quiet time or gentle music with a good friend or family member. Isolation is not necessary and may be unhelpful.
Educate yourself
In the most acute phase of an awakening experience, you likely will not want to read or listen to a book or lecture. You are more likely to be listening and responding to your intuitive perceptions, and sensing yourself and the world in an unusual way. However, when this acute phase becomes less intense, you may be hungry to understand, “What was it that I just experienced?” Obtaining a map to better understand the territory can be grounding and provide helpful insights. You may find it very useful to acquire new words that help you find language to communicate what you have experienced, to normalize it, and help you distance yourself from the fear of the unknown.
Journal and track patterns rather than chasing explanations
Your own way of seeing what you have experienced is very important. You are unique. Your dreams, visions and memories are also unique to you. As you settle into making meaning of your experience, journaling can be another helpful tool for grounding, making meaning and integrating. You are also more likely to see patterns emerge that underscore certain themes in your life that are important.
Seek grounded support (therapist, mentor, community) with good boundaries
Your best source of support is someone who is grounded, stable, and clear that creating a sexual relationship with you is out of bounds. You will benefit from a person trained in supporting spiritual awakening who is 100% dedicated to serving your needs–and is also able to set clear boundaries in a kind way.
How to integrate a spiritual awakening (the part most people skip)
Turn insight into behavior: habits, relationships, work choices
After the acute phase is over and you have harvested insights from your experience, it is time to bring them into the life you want to lead. If you realized you hate your job that involves sitting all day long, it’s time to find a job that allows you to move around. If you realized that you want more emotional sharing in your relationships, it’s time you exert effort in that direction. If you find you don’t want to feel heavy in your body, it may be time to contemplate doing more exercise.
Somatic regulation and nervous-system repair
If you are experiencing anxiety and your system is in “fight or flight” mode, there are steps to bring yourself back into “rest and repair”. These include grounding (as described above), being very present while you scan your body to non-judgmentally notice places where you are holding tension, practicing self-acceptance, and simultaneously doing deep breathing to help relax those holding places. You might find it helpful to do gentle yoga or stretching to release tension. Diaphragmatic breathing (e.g., inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 3, exhale for 7) activates the parasympathetic nervous system and thus helps calm the system.
Community and accountability
Ideally, you have a close friend or two with whom you can share your experiences, affirming your sense of belonging in community. They may also be helpful in supporting your new perspectives and new choices regarding self-care, or shifting your work or the quality of your close relationships. Change is not always easy, so the understanding and compassion of your close friends will be essential alongside their offering support for change.
Avoid spiritual bypassing
Spiritual bypassing refers to a behavior in which someone identifies with their spiritual aspirations and avoids acknowledging the personal issues they have, which may be negatively affecting others. A dramatic example is the married spiritual guru who speaks about the virtue of celibacy in his lectures and secretly carries on multiple sexual relationships with his students. He is likely acting out his own desires for sexual stimulation and the power he feels when adoring students surrender to him. In this case, the guru figure and the community around him both need to wake up, stop the secrecy, acknowledge what is going on, and attend to the hurt in all involved. Spiritual awakening needs to go hand in hand with engaging the wisdom of the heart and respectful behavior. In a less dramatic example, someone might be hiding away in their meditation practice to avoid the discomfort of speaking truthfully to an intimate partner or family member. By being “spiritual,” this person may unknowingly cause hurt to partners or children, leaving them feeling unmet and unloved.
Finding meaning may come later: Let it be, avoid “meaning addiction.”
After the most acute part of a spiritual awakening, some people feel a very strong need to label the experience and put it in a box, to be stored and tucked away. It may be an effort to create some nominal meaning and order, but also to avoid the sense of the unknown, the discomfort that can come with a whole new way of looking at oneself and others. This packaging-it-up is not always easy or even possible, and not advisable, either.
Better to simply let the experience be…as you might with a powerful dream you have at night. You recognize what you saw, take time to think about it, and conclusions may come as you watch a film, talk to a friend, walk with a child, or relax. We are not in a race to make meaning. There’s no prize to be won for capturing the experience by putting a fence of words around it. Like tea, let it steep and it will bring out its flavor for you to enjoy.