Several years ago, when I was experiencing an intense Kuṇḍalinī phenomenon during the puraścaraṇa of Mahāvārāhī mantra, several spontaneous kriyās would manifest. They were scary and fascinating at the same time. At that point, there was not sufficient insight into spontaneous energetic phenomena, but looking back now, such phenomena are documented by several spiritual traditions.
Taoist Masters, among different types of Qigong, list Zifagong or Spontaneous movements. Due to a driving factor, which could be intentional or otherwise, the higher intelligence within the body directs Qi or prāṇa to areas with blocked energy. As an effect of the body’s endeavor to break through the blockages, spontaneous physical movements manifest. There are several such practices spanning across different cultures: the Latihan Kejivann of Indonesia, Seiki Jutsu, the shaking N/om of the Kalahari Bushmen, etc. We have the ancient Taoist practice of Yi Gong which deals entirely with spontaneously induced energetic movements.
Spontaneous movement can also be viewed in a slightly different light. Call it samskāra or vāsana, or even muscle memory – like the mind, the physical and subtle bodies are also caged in patterns and habits. Every thought or idea beyond this habitual pattern will not register and the individual becomes trapped within these patterns, which promote further patterns. When a higher form of energy arises within the practitioner, be it the grace of the Sadguru through śaktipāta, the intense awakening of Kuṇḍalinī or the beaming of prāṇa/Qi by a Master, these habitual patterns are broken down – even at the levels of physical and energy body; and spontaneous movements appear. With the refinement of one’s energy body, the movements also are refined and appear almost like an art form, full of grace and beauty. However, several Daoist masters suggest that the full manifestation of the spontaneous splendor of lifeforce cannot occur as long as there is interference from the lower mind or the ego. Once this has been laid to rest either by complete surrender (Bhakti) or by attainment of stillness (Dhyāna), the lifeforce within awakens in all its glory, and there is harmony between the external spontaneous movements and the internal unwavering stillness.
Due to ignorance of such an energetic phenomenon, one may comprehend spontaneous movements incorrectly. Many Islamists and Christians attribute such phenomena to Djinns and Demons without understanding the subtle workings of the lifeforce and the body.
Japanese Grandmaster Ikuko Osumi was initiated into the teaching of Seiki Justu by her aunt Hayashibe. She had experienced initiation into the sacred art even as a child when a white snake seemingly entered her belly. The method of Seiki Jutsu involves creating a vortex of lifeforce which can be used to heal or to achieve other purposes such as astral travel. Spontaneous movements are used to build this vortex. She can be credited as the modern reviver of spontaneous energy arts. Malcolm Ritchie, one of the first Westerners to study with Sensei Osumi, writes thus:
.. We have created a ‘culture’ of anesthesia and amnesia, a ‘culture’ that encourages us to stop feeling our bodies and minds and prevents us from experiencing and realizing ourselves as part of the universe. Instead, we exist as paranoid strangers within it, and this divests us of the knowledge of our true nature.
In recent days, David Barcelli and Peter Levine have done pathbreaking work in the field of the energetic release of Trauma where spontaneous movements are initiated to accomplish the release.
Spontaneous movements, though seen as an effect of the more structured Kuṇḍalinī Yoga, can be traced back to Pāśupata Shaiva ascetics. The Nātha lineages trace several popular yogic asanas to the Pāśupata ascetics, who, it is believed, recorded their spontaneous movements in the form of the āsanas. By mimicking their postures that were attained spontaneously during a state of high energy, later aspirants hoped to accomplish similar energetic states. The wild dance, chants, and movements of the Pāśupata Shaivas, at least in part, possibly hints at a spontaneous energetic phenomenon. Stuart Stovatsky notes the following in this regard:
‘The Indian yogic traditions inclusive of Kuṇḍalinī manifestations are traceable at least five-thousand years ago to the archeological relic known as the Paśupati seal. It depicts an antler-crowned demigod sitting cross-legged with one heel pressing his androgynous perineum and the other the root of his celibately erect male organ. Mildly breasted, with fruit in one hand and a phallic staff in the other, he is the ultimate attainer Himself, Shiva, to be reincarnated some twenty-eight times, with the most recent being, Lakulīśa, the staff-bearing Gujarati saint (100 A. D.). As the grand-guru of the legendary Matsyēndranātha and Gōrakṣanātha, he is the inspiration from whom all modern, even chic, Haṭha Yoga has emerged.’