Something Profound Is Happening — And It Can Be Hard to Explain
You may have had an experience that changed everything. A sudden opening. An overwhelming surge of energy moving through your body. Visions, altered states, a dissolving of the self you thought you knew. Perhaps it happened spontaneously — during meditation, in nature, after a loss, or seemingly out of nowhere.
Whatever brought you here, you are not alone — and you are not broken.
These experiences have been recognized across cultures and spiritual traditions for thousands of years. In the West, we are only beginning to develop the language and the clinical frameworks to meet them with the care they deserve. That is the work I do.
What Is Spiritual Emergence?
Spiritual emergence refers to a natural process of psychological and spiritual growth — one that can sometimes unfold so rapidly or intensely that it becomes destabilizing. Pioneered by psychiatrists Stanislav and Christina Grof, the concept distinguishes between experiences that are transformative and those that temporarily overwhelm a person’s capacity to function.
Spiritual emergence is the gradual unfolding of expanded awareness — often felt as deepening intuition, increased sensitivity, meaningful synchronicities, or a growing sense of connection to something larger than oneself.
Spiritual emergency occurs when that process accelerates beyond what a person can integrate — flooding the psyche with experiences that may look like, or be misdiagnosed as, psychiatric crisis.
Common experiences include:
- Spontaneous kundalini awakening
- Mystical or unity experiences
- Near-death or out-of-body experiences
- Shamanic-type episodes
- Psychic or paranormal phenomena
- Dark night of the soul
- Past-life or ancestral experiences
- Experiences following psychedelic use
The difference between a breakdown and a breakthrough is often a matter of support, pacing, and integration.
Kundalini Awakening: When the Energy Rises
In yogic tradition, kundalini is described as a dormant spiritual energy that resides at the base of the spine. When awakened — through meditation, breathwork, trauma, spontaneous grace, or other means — it moves upward through the body’s energy centers, catalyzing profound transformation.
For many, this is a deeply liberating process. For others, the awakening is sudden and overwhelming, arriving without preparation or context.
Common kundalini awakening symptoms include:
- Intense heat or electricity moving through the body
- Involuntary movements, trembling, or kriyas
- Altered sleep, vivid dreams, or difficulty sleeping
- Heightened sensory sensitivity
- Waves of bliss, followed by periods of darkness or confusion
- Emotional releases that feel larger than current circumstances
- A sense of identity dissolution or ego death
- Feeling profoundly connected — or profoundly alone
Without proper support, these experiences can be frightening, isolating, and easy to misinterpret. With the right guidance, they can become the foundation of a life lived with greater depth, clarity, and purpose.
My Approach
I bring both clinical training and lived understanding to this work. My own path has taken me through the terrain of spiritual awakening — I know firsthand how disorienting it can be to move through experiences that have no easy name, and how essential it is to have someone who can meet you there without pathologizing what is happening.
My work integrates:
- Somatic Experiencing — to help the nervous system process and regulate the intense energies that accompany awakening
- Jungian depth psychology — to make meaning of the symbols, archetypes, and imagery that often arise
- Psychedelic integration — for those whose awakening was catalyzed by plant medicines or psychedelics
- Mindfulness and yogic frameworks — to provide context and grounding within established contemplative traditions
- EMDR — for resolving trauma that may be surfacing alongside spiritual material
This is not about pathologizing your experience or forcing it into a clinical box. It is about helping you find your footing — so that what is opening in you can become a source of wisdom rather than overwhelm.
Integration Support
Awakening is not a destination. It is a process — and integration is the ongoing work of weaving what has been revealed into the fabric of daily life.
Integration support may include:
- Making meaning of peak or non-ordinary experiences
- Grounding expanded states into the body and relationships
- Navigating the challenges of living in the world with heightened sensitivity
- Processing grief, fear, or disorientation that arises alongside opening
- Developing sustainable spiritual practice
- Discerning what is spiritual emergence from what may need additional clinical attention
Many people who come to me have already seen other therapists who didn’t quite understand what they were going through. If you’ve felt unseen or misunderstood in that way, this may be the right space for you.
You Don’t Have to Navigate This Alone
Whether you are in the midst of an acute spiritual emergency or integrating a profound experience from years ago, support is available. This work is some of the most meaningful I do — and I am honored to walk alongside those who are finding their way through it.
Steve Friedlander is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), and Certified Addiction Treatment Counselor (CATC IV) based in Los Angeles. He works with individuals navigating spiritual emergence, kundalini awakening, and psychedelic integration.