Chapter 8

The Cosmic Trigger

| Oct 16, 2025
7 min read 1403 words
Table of Contents

We stand on the shores of a vast universe which continues to amaze us and inspire us with awe and wonder every time a new discovery is made. Despite recent developments in rockets, computers, atomic power and other marvels of science, we are painfully ignorant of the world in which we live. We are even more ignorant of our inner universe which for some reason we have forgotten about and ignore, despite a pressing inner need to uncover the truth of our existence.

Since the concept of kundalini has been introduced in the west, various groups of scientific and yogic minded people have sought to understand and explain this phenomenon which promises to be our rocketship into inner space, to lift us out of the confines and limitations of time and space so as to experience ourselves as we really are. Strangely enough, this inner experience also promises to unveil many of the outer mysteries baffling scientists and researchers in many fields today. Recent developments in neurophysiology and meditation research have outlined a possible explanation for kundalini which unifies both its physical and psychic aspects. This research outlines a comprehensive approach to understanding how meditation can release energies within our nervous system, unlocking latent capacities and speeding up our evolution at both the physical and consciousness levels. This allows us to perceive the universe from a new and broader perspective, to see things from a more total point of view and to understand more about life and ourselves.

The pbysio-kundalini syndrome

One researcher who developed an ingenious method to measure bodily changes during meditation and the awakening of kundalini, is Itzhak Bentov. In his book Stalking the Wild Pendulum he has set out an original and very yogic understanding of consciousness and matter, one which can very neatly explain kundalini from the point of view of physics. He also discusses a model by which we can understand the kundalini experience in physiological terms.

Bentov states that “the human nervous system has a tremendous latent capacity for evolution. This evolution can be accelerated by meditative techniques, or it can occur spontaneously in an unsuspecting individual. In both cases, a sequence of events is triggered, causing sometimes strong and unusual bodily reactions and unusual psychological states. Some of those people who meditate may suspect that these reactions are somehow connected with meditation. Others, however, who develop these symptoms spontaneously may panic and seek medical advice… Unfortunately, however, western medicine is presently not equipped to handle these problems. Strangely, in spite of the intensity of the symptoms, little or no physical patholcgy can be found.” (1) Bentov estimates, on the basis of discussions with psychiatrists, that as many as 25 or 30 percent of all institutionalized schizophrenics belong to this category, a tremendous waste of human potential. There is a vast area of the human psyche which we are totally ignorant of, which we do not experience consciously in our lives, and which we are therefore helpless to deal with adequately if something goes wrong. Bentov feels that symptoms do not occur in the healthy, relaxed state but only when energy reaches tensions m the body. This agrees with the yogic view that we must prepare ourselves for awakening by a long period of preparatory sadhana to avoid unpleasant results. Bentov states that we urgently need modes that will allow us to understand kundalini in terms which make sense to us. As a result of this need Bentov has delineated a unique and brilliant model of the meditation/kundalini process so that doctors, psychiatrists and psychotherapists can become aware of this possibility and develop more benign methods of dealing with this situation. More knowledge about the physical basis of spiritual knowledge is required in medical and scientific circles in order to expand our concept of man.

Measuring the waves in the brain

As we start to practise meditation we initially experience its calming, relaxing and stabilizing effects. Prolonged practice, and especially the more vigorous forms of meditative practice take us far beyond these preliminary changes which many modern researchers have been stressing as the main aim and effect of meditation. After some time, actual psychophysiological changes take place and amongst these there is a change in the mode of functioning of our nervous system.

In order to measure these changes Bentov used a modified ballistocardiograph, a machine which measures small body motions accompanying the motion of blood through the circulatory system. (2) “A subject sits on a chair between two metal plates, one above the head and one under the seat, 5 to 10 centimeters from the body. The two plates of the capacitor are part of a tuned circuit. The movement of the subject will modulate the field between the two plates. The signal is processed and fed into a single channel recorder which registers both the motion of the chest due to respiration and the movement of the body reacting to the motion of the blood in the heart-aorta system.” (3)

Bentov states that the spinal cord can be thought of as a spring which, during meditation, reacts to the movement of blood into the heart and circulatory system. The heart pumps blood into the large blood vessel called the aorta. The aorta is curved on top (at the level of the bottom of the neck) and bifurcated at the bottom (in the lower abdomen). Every time blood enters the aorta it moves upward towards the head and this gives a minute upward push to the upper part of the body. The blood then moves downward to strike the bifurcation of the aorta, gently pushing the body downward. This movement is called micromotion and the movement recorded on the ballistocardiograph is only in the order of 0.003 to 0.009 millimeters, a very minute amount. This gentle upward and downward movement has the tendency to oscillate the whole body, spine and skull up and down. The natural rhythm of this oscillation is 7 cycles/second (7 Hertz, Hz). Of course in the normal situation we do not feel such minute micromotion, however, in the deep stillness of profound meditation even the slightest and most subtle movement of the body or thought creates ripples within the nervous system which, to our introverted consciousness, become magnified and disturb inward progress. Yogis have always stressed that the most important preliminary ingredient for meditation is to develop a straight and strong spinal cord through asana and to gradually develop stillness of the body, nervous system and mind through pranayama.Through Bentov’s model we can now see that this is because immobility of body, breath and mind sets the stage for the production of rhythmic waves within the spine, skull and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). When subjects are in a deep meditative state, Bentov’s machine measures an almost pure, regular, S-shaped sine wave of large amplitude and moving at approximately 7 cycles/second. This is opposed to an irregular wave in the baseline resting state before and after meditation. Something happens in meditation which does not normally occur in most of our waking, dreaming or sleeping lives. At the same time we enter a hypometabolic state in which our breathing rate slows down and the oxygen need of our tissues lessens. We should note that it is also possible to produce a sine wave on the ballistocardiograph by stopping our breath, however, we quickly develop oxygen deficiency and have to overbreathe to restore balance. In meditation, however, this does not occur; we are balanced at all levels.

The oscillating circuits

The up and down movement of the body produced by the heart during meditation affects the brain which is floating in its protective bony and fluid casing, the cranium and CSF. According to Bentov, this micromotion up and down sets up acoustical and possible electrical plane waves reverberating in the skull. Mechanical stimulation may be converted into electrical vibrations.

The acoustical plane waves are focused within the third and lateral ventricles, small cave-like, CSF filled structures deep within the brain. The plane waves activate and drive standing waves into the ventricles. While the body stays in meditation, the frequency of waves within the ventricles of the brain will remain locked to the heart/aorta pulsation. Bentov felt that these vibrations within the brain are responsible for the sounds yogis hear in meditation. This aspect of meditation is called nada yoga, listening to and following the inner sounds, and is said to herald the coming of kundalini.

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