What do we really know about reality?
In March 2006, after returning home one evening, I felt something shift. That week, I had just begun meditating, and during my first session, something extraordinary occurred: a surge of energy climbed my spine and exploded in my head. Lights danced behind my closed eyes. Like many, I dismissed it—life’s demands seemed far more pressing.
Later, an inner voice urged me to meditate again. I complied. As I sat, my arms lifted on their own, moving as if guided by an unseen force, hovering over different parts of my body and performing spontaneous mudras. Though I had no knowledge of spiritual practices, I instinctively trusted the flow. Over the next three months, this force moved through my body putting me into spontaneous yogic postions. My breath would move and hold in different parts of my body. My debilitating sciatica began to ease, and I experienced profound intuitions.
Raised with traditional values of education, hard work, and status, I rebelled. Despite earning a degree and landing a promising city job, I left it to pursue a career in media, to my parents’ disappointment. What I didn’t realise then was that I was running—not just from societal expectations but from my fears. No matter the industry, dissatisfaction followed me, and I endured a prolonged "dark night of the soul."
Six Months Before My Breakthrough
Six months before my meditation breakthrough, I found myself bedridden with severe sciatica—a culmination of what felt like a long, dark night of the soul. In the stillness of that time, I began questioning everything: Is this my life? A revelation emerged: perhaps my physical pain was tied to unresolved emotions. This simple yet profound insight marked the beginning of my healing journey. By slowly tuning in to my emotions, I started regaining basic mobility. This exploration ultimately led me to meditation, where I experienced the spontaneous movements and significant relief from my sciatica.
After a year of profound experiences, I was guided to Sinai, Egypt, where I had what can be described as a NOTE (Non-Ordinary Transformative Experience).
That night, standing on a remote desert shore, I gazed across the Gulf of Aqaba, where lights from Saudi Arabia shimmered in the distance. The full moon hung over the land, its light reflecting on the sea. Suddenly, my body felt multidimensional, as if I was experiencing its truest form. A sensation like molten liquid seemed to flow from my skull, and I looked up at the millions of stars. In that moment, I realised: I was the stars, the land, and the sea, and they were me.
My perception of time and space shifted completely. I was shown that we can perceive space-time in entirely different ways, but on some level, we choose to veil ourselves from the true nature of reality.
The term “NOTE,” originally standing for Non-Ordinary Transcendent Experience, was coined by William Braud (1998), a pioneer in transpersonal psychology and parapsychology. Such experiences often involve a deep sense of oneness and lead to transformative change. While NOTEs can result from various triggers—psychedelics, near-death experiences, breathwork, trauma, and more—what’s essential to understand is that a Kundalini Awakening is not necessary to have a NOTE.
Integration and the Journey Forward
That state of oneness lasted for one night, followed by five days of profound bliss. But when I returned to Cairo, I crashed. I struggled to sustain the blissful feeling of interconnectedness, and I now understand why: my body and mind weren’t ready to hold that level of openness. It has taken years to integrate the experience, and the process continues even now.
However something shifted up a gear that night, and my life after took a non-linear turn—one I call “Suffering and Love.” Over years, through many challenges, I have been guided to face my fears. I came to understand that all forms of suffering are, on another level, expressions of love. Retrospectively I can say that this experience reprogrammed me to heal my trauma, not on an intellectually level but on a profoundly instinctive one. This was frightening as I did not understand what I felt. My instincts asked me to do things that on the surface did not make sense, but that was because I had built a life revolving around running away from my fears.
I began examining my relationships and working on myself. Toxic connections, unhealthy habits, and hollow pursuits gradually fell away—not all at once, but step by step.
Kundalini, or whatever this energy is, has been a grounding force throughout this journey, allowing me to learn from my mistakes while holding me accountable.
This process remains ongoing and often difficult, but I am profoundly grateful for it. It has shown me that transformation is not a single moment but an evolving journey of healing, connection, and love.
The unity I glimpsed—the oneness of all things—became an anchor amid life’s contradictions. This awakening eventually healed my relationship with my parents, led me to find real love despite my insecurities, and helped me embrace vulnerability in my creative career. It taught me that I am a product of my history, ancestry and environment, shaped by both joy and pain and this is something to find equinimity with, for without both I would not exist.
The Role of Community
For the past eight years, through the Kundalini Collective, I’ve connected with people who’ve had experiences like mine. Many are ordinary individuals without spiritual backgrounds who’ve undergone profound transformations. One thing is clear: community and validation are essential. In a society that often dismisses such experiences, isolation can be devastating. But with support, individuals can channel these experiences into remarkable growth.
NOTEs reveal deep patterns, forcing us to confront trauma and fears. Without guidance, this can be overwhelming, but with the right support, these experiences become opportunities for growth. My own journey has spanned nearly 20 years, revealing glimpses of interconnectedness across space and time. It has shown me that facing fears and healing wounds is the most important work we can do.
The Implications of NOTEs
I believe that NOTEs carry three key implications:
1. The Nature of Reality
Reality is more than just material. Whether it is energy, consciousness, or quantum information, it transcends space and time, connecting us all. I believe that consciousness is not an emergent property of neurones but actually the opposite is true,
2. Healing Trauma
Trauma is like entangled energy—a web binding us individually and collectively. Avoiding it reinforces dysfunction, but confronting it unlocks profound transformation. Healing trauma aligns us with our true selves and creates ripples of change in the world. Many people who experience NOTES, consciously or subconsciously begin in time to heal their trauma, in ways therapy cannot do. Could this collective wisdom be beneficial for a wider society?
3. Human Evolution
Humanity is transitioning from subconscious to conscious evolution. This means taking charge of our emotional landscapes and awakening dormant abilities ethically and safely.
The Elephant in the Room
After years of research, personal experiences, and connecting with others on similar journeys, I have come to believe that something profound is happening to us collectively. Yet, we neither fully understand it nor are we willing to address this ‘Elephant in the room.’
Increasingly, we are sensing that something fundamental about our reality is amiss.
The truth is, we don’t fully understand what Kundalini really is, nor can we be certain that everyone experiencing these phenomena is undergoing a Kundalini Awakening. For those rooted in the traditions of India, such self-diagnoses might be met with skepticism, possibly even viewed as cultural appropriation. Many in these lineages might instead interpret these experiences as Prannothana or a Pranic Awakening—a precursor that does not always lead to a full Kundalini Awakening, and I think there is some truth in this.
Across cultures, including the Abrahamic traditions, there are frameworks for interpreting such experiences. This suggests that what we are witnessing may not be a collective Kundalini Awakening but rather a broader, global spiritual awakening—or simply, human evolution. While Kundalini arises from a Vedic framework, applying this term to the diverse experiences within the Kundalini Collective has its limitations. It may have served as a useful descriptor in the past, but I believe we are witnessing something entirely new—an awakening born of our interconnected time and space.
Kundalini, after all, is just one term. However, when discussing something as significant as this global phenomenon, I believe that we need to develop a more comprehensive understanding—a meta-map of consciousness. The Hindu framework is one of many valuable lenses, but it is just one part of the bigger picture. In my opinion we should not hold any particular culture's wisdom above an other but instead find the 'elixir' in the mix. To navigate this emerging reality, we must embrace a broader, integrative approach that reflects the diversity and unity of human experience.
The Parable of the Elephant and the Blind Men
Reports of spiritual and mystical experiences are rising globally. This is an intro from a Pew Research finding on religious and mystical experiences.
'About half of the U.S. public (49%) says they have had a religious or mystical experience, defined as a “moment of sudden religious insight or awakening.” This is similar to a survey conducted in 2006 but much higher than in surveys conducted in 1976 and 1994, and more than twice as high as in a 1962 Gallup survey (22%). In fact, the 2009 Pew Forum survey finds that religious and mystical experiences are more common today among those who are unaffiliated with any particular religion (30%) than they were in the 1960s among the public as whole (22%).'
Like the Indian parable of the blind men and the elephant, I believe that we each perceive only parts of the whole. Sharing our perspectives allows us to see the bigger picture. We all have a piece of the puzzle and we are collectively putting it together.
Every culture has frameworks for understanding these experiences, whether through Kundalini, Christian mysticism, or indigenous traditions. I believe we are witnessing a collective spiritual awakening—a global shift in human evolution.
This realisation inspired 'Elephant', a project I am working on with Katie Mottram. Hosted on the Mighty Networks platform, Elephant is both a community and a creative initiative, including a documentary film. Our aim is to try and make these experiences and their implications more mainsteam and more visible. To help validate individuals experiencing NOTEs, while fostering dialogue across cultural and scientific perspectives. The film will share personal stories from around the world, connecting ancient traditions, neuroscience, physics and emerging insights.
Building a New Framework
By sharing stories of pain, healing, and transformation, we hope to inspire others. A community like Elephant could have profoundly impacted my younger self. While we cannot eliminate life’s challenges, we can help others navigate them with greater understanding and less fear.
If you’re interested in learning more, you can watch a recording of the call here:
Finally, if you'd like to join our herd, you can become a member of Our ELEPHANT platform here:
We look forward to journeying together.
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