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A spiritual awakening can be an extremely disorienting time of your life. You might feel like your world is falling apart from under your feet. But a spiritual awakening is a wonderful thing. It’s the process of shedding the ego and discovering the true essence of who you are: God.
A spiritual awakening is the awakening of your soul which opens the door to a deeper layer of your consciousness. This process can be challenging, but I can guarantee you that you won’t want to go back to how you were before.
Understanding this phenomenon can help you navigate this process much more smoothly, which is why I’m writing about it now.
What is a spiritual awakening?
A spiritual awakening represents the transition from your human awareness to your soul awareness. People often describe it as a profound shift in perception, values, and beliefs, which often accompanies a period of mourning and disillusionment known as a dark night of the soul.
A spiritual awakening creates permanent (and tangible) changes in your life experience and sets you on a new pathway of finding deeper meaning and substance in your life.
During this process, you may find yourself losing interest in the things you once loved. You may not find joy in the same pastimes which may be enjoyable, but otherwise hollow. This sets you on a path to explore your consciousness and discover yourself to a fuller extent.
You can view it as a major shift in consciousness which brings you more in alignment with your soul nature. This process is a catalyst for huge change and transformation, so even though it may be disorienting at first, lean into it and explore because it’s an exciting new chapter that is unfolding.
Your eyes are opening to a deeper truth beyond reality; which is like waking from the dream-like nature of your ego, and experiencing something more to life.
Another way to look at a spiritual awakening is that you’re breaking out of the matrix.
You have lived your life unconsciously, operating from your beliefs, indoctrination, and subconscious patterns and programs without experiencing true awareness.
Everyone who is on the pursuit of spiritual truth will experience a spiritual awakening at some point. It may come on like being hit by a truck, as did mine, or it may be a long-winded journey with many ups and downs and a whole lot of learning.
Either way, a spiritual awakening is a good thing because you’re starting to see beyond this dimension of experience, and recognizing that you are not your body. You are something much more profound.
What can you expect during a spiritual awakening?
During a spiritual awakening, you can expect some challenges. It will be a disorienting time of your life where you’re letting go of everything that didn’t serve your growth as a person, and finding a new identity that aligns with your soul nature.
With that said, a spiritual awakening is a period of transition, and periods of transition are often rocky.
People often struggle at times throughout this process as all the nasty things tucked away in the corners of your subconscious will slowly be illuminated. It’s natural to go through a process of shedding, because you have accumulated a lot of junk throughout your life that doesn’t serve your spiritual expansion.
You can’t expect people to understand you throughout this process. A fairly universal experience of a spiritual awakening is to feel alienated. You may feel like you can’t connect with a soul, and for the first time, you’re truly on your own.
But it’s also beautiful stepping into the unknown.
People who have not undergone a spiritual awakening (which is most people) won’t be able to connect on the same wavelength.
They might wish the best for you, but you’re going to feel a disconnect on a fundamental level. You might find it difficult to relate to most people or to find support, which makes a spiritual awakening a very personal journey.
Once you embrace this journey and get through the rough stages, an awakening is an extremely rewarding experience. For lack of a better word, you’re going to feel much more pure.
You will feel a sense of inner peace and genuine fulfillment that was previously missing from your life.
Your life will open up to an entirely new dimension of experience. Ultimately, life is going to be much more of an adventure because more dimensions will become apparent. You will see that there is a lot more to life than what meets the eye, and as a result, life becomes much more dynamic.
There are many signs you’ll experience during a spiritual awakening.
Below are some of the common symptoms that people experience when they’re undergoing a spiritual awakening.
- A feelings of being lost in life
- A sense of disillusionment and alienation
- A feeling of abandonment and loss of faith
- You feel like your life has been a lie, and there’s something more
- A sharp increase in curiosity, especially about the nature of your existence
- A deeper questioning of your belief structures and perceptions
- The realization that everyone is faking it (and pretty miserable)
- Insights and understandings about your soul nature
- A general disconnection from self and ego
- You start reflecting more, and paying more attention to your internal processes
- You generally become more introspective
- You start paying more attention to your triggers and dysfunctions
- Your journey of healing becomes much more intense
- A general disassociation from your identity
- You may not know who you are anymore
- Changing interests, motivations, and desires
- You stop finding pleasure in the same activities and hobbies
- Find that you can’t connect with the same people
- A deeper connection with your intuition
- Cultivation and connection with spiritual abilities
How long does a spiritual awakening last?
A spiritual awakening doesn’t have a specific time frame, but it’s good to view it as an ongoing process, probably for the rest of your life.
In my case, my spiritual awakening happened overnight, as the result of a kundalini awakening. Even though I instantly developed spiritual beliefs and a new way of perceiving oneself and reality, I’ve been on a nomadic journey exploring my consciousness for the last 7 years.
During this time, I have continuously been more deeply embodying my spiritual self, which has led me into shamanic healing, and many interesting experiences have come from it including astral projection and clairvoyance.
But I recognize I’m still a baby on this spiritual journey. I know much more than I did when my spiritual awakening started, but I am continuously on this same journey of self-discovery and probably will be for the rest of my life.
That’s the thing, there is always more to know. You can always go deeper into your consciousness. Unless you’re enlightened, which none of us are, there is another layer of the spiritual onion to explore.ย
Imagine a spiritual awakening as the bud of a flower beginning to bloom. This process of unfurling takes time, but the more you lean into the experience by encouraging your self-discovery and growth, the quicker you will find your feet.
It’s difficult to say when you’ll experience a spiritual awakening, as they’re a natural product of the soul’s evolution.
Everyone is evolving at a different pace and a different stage. If you haven’t experienced the slow unfurling of your infinite consciousness, then continue learning, experiencing, and doing. If you are within this process, keep doing the work and deepening your connection with soul.
Why do people have spiritual awakenings?
Internally, a sense of dissatisfaction or yearning for a deeper meaning in life can spark the initial stages of a spiritual awakening.
This might manifest as a growing disconnect from conventional societal norms, a feeling of emptiness despite material success, or a curiosity about the nature of existence beyond the physical realm.
Sometimes, personal experiences such as trauma, loss, or moments of great joy can act as triggers, shaking individuals out of their regular routines and prompting them to seek a higher purpose or understanding.
While the triggers for a spiritual awakening vary from person to person, most people fall into one of the categories below:
Exposure: You stumbled upon something deeply meaningful
Exposure to new things can be a catalyst for spiritual awakening.
If you have lived your life within your programs and preset conditioning, but stumble upon something that truly makes you feel something that transcends the limitations of your programs, it may set you on a new path.
This exposure could come in the form of being introduced to a new idea that makes you think, exploring diverse cultures, witnessing someone you know die, or chance encounters with individuals who radiate spiritual insight.
All these things can play a pivotal role in awakening one’s spiritual consciousness.
Self-exploration: You discovered a deeper meaning
Moments of introspection and reflection can lead to deeper insights, which can act as a catalyst for awakening consciousness.
Whether you have some big realizations during meditation, you discover new things by dabbling with mysticism or other spiritual modalities or follow the voice telling you to explore your consciousness and ask questions.
This self-exploration can lead to profound insights, which create a shift of consciousness.
Suffering: You are forced to find a better path
One of the more common ways that people embark on a spiritual journey is when they experience something so unpleasant, that it forces them out of their slumber.
Pain is a catalyst for growth.
When you go through a period in your life that is extremely painful, sometimes this offsets a spiritual awakening.
The reason why this happens is because suffering forces you into the darkest parts of your consciousness, where you need to start exploring it, as anywhere is better than where you’re at. Therefore, when something in life causes a big deal of pain, this pain often illuminates a better path forward, one which they need to walk if they wish to heal.
Stages of a spiritual awakening
A spiritual awakening is often described in stages, with each stage representing a new chapter of the evolution of your consciousness. In reality, there aren’t distinct stages of a spiritual awakening, and people interpret this process differently.
Everyone’s process is different, but people often experience similarities along the journey. You might experience different stages than mentioned, or skip some altogether. It might be quick and smooth, and it might be long and endearing.
The stages of a spiritual awakening can be likened to our chakras, and that’s what we’re going to use as a guide to navigate a spiritual awakening.
Stage 1: Disillusionment (Muladhara | root chakra)
Depending on what has triggered the spiritual awakening, you’re likely to feel a little off as there has been a shift in your consciousness, but you can’t quite put your finger on what it means, or why it happened.
You might feel some detachment from your usual self or the feeling of generally being lost in life. During this time, you might experience some inner turmoil or unease, and feel disillusioned as you’re no longer finding comfort or joy in the things you used to do.
There’s a deeper yearning to explore your life and make something of it, and a sense that there’s a whole lot more to be found. During this initial stage of your spiritual awakening, your beliefs will come into question. Instead of just going along with things you begin questioning them.
You might start seeing things that most people don’t see and have questions that most people don’t ask. Whatever it is, you begin to look for a new road to fulfillment, because currently, you feel a little alienated.
The first stage of a spiritual awakening represents the root chakra, which is your sense of survival and connection to the physical. During this stage, it’s important to realize that you’re safe and to detach from the innate need to ‘survive’ by conforming, working a job you hate, and doing things that you know don’t serve your growth.
- Focus on grounding yourself and being present
- Detach from your instant gratification and the need to ‘survive’
- Focus on inner centeredness and stabilizing yourself emotionally
Stage 2: Dark night of the soul (Svadhishthana | sacral chakra)
This newfound path of inner discovery becomes more alienating the further you walk down it. You can’t go back to your old life, and you can’t seem to find your place in the new one. This leads to a period of intense internal struggle as you shed your skin and let go of everything that’s no longer serving you.
During this stage of a spiritual awakening, nothing makes sense anymore. You don’t know how to find a sense of peace in life, you’re not sure where you’re going, and everything seems to be cultivating to a point tipping point. So you feel extremely disoriented, distressed, and overwhelmed and things are only getting more difficult.
But this dark night of the soul serves a purpose. It’s dredging everything up that has been rotting away in the subconscious, in an act to cleanse you where you can move forward with a clean slate.
During this stage, you will confront deeper truths about yourself, and process your deep-seated emotions. You begin to see your dysfunction, and how dysfunctional our world is, to the point it’s almost too much to handle. But as always, you do handle it, and learn a lot through the process.
- Explore your creativity during this time of your life
- Let go of attachments and relationships that aren’t serving you
- Seek more substantial passions, desires, and avocations for your life
Stage 3: Surrender (Manipura | solar plexus chakra)
Eventually, the pain becomes too great. You’re tired of feeling this way, and there’s no escape from the disillusionment you’re feeling. So you come to a point of surrender, whether you do it willingly, or it takes you with a fight.
Either way, the only way out is to go through, and when you surrender to those dark feelings of isolation and helplessness, that’s when you see the light. That’s when you let go of everything that you’re holding onto, you’re purified and are reborn on a new journey.
During the surrender, you let go of attachments. You let go of needing to be someone, needing to have a nice house, or fancy job, or to please everyone else in your life. These expectations that were either self-imposed, or imposed by other people disintegrate, and you discover a deeper meaning of your life experience.
The surrender is associated with the solar plexus chakra, which is your sense of personal power. You need to activate your inner strength, determination, and willpower to surrender to your demons, and allow yourself to be overcome with everything you don’t want to face.
- Develop the courage and inner strength to let go and embrace the next chapter
- Trust in the process, and be confident that you’re on the right path
- Stop protecting your identity and dysfunction, and let the transformation happen
Stage 4: Integration (Anahata | heart chakra)
After surrendering to the pain, you come to a point of acceptance. This is the calm after the storm where you pick up the pieces and start anew. It’s time to start rebuilding your life in a much better way. Instead of living by your patterns and programs, your consciousness is opening to a higher awareness.
After illuminating all the things holding you back and showing you the path forward, the integration stage of your spiritual awakening is where the real healing begins. No doubt you’ve removed a lot of stagnant energy and cut a lot of cords, but now it’s time to implement the changes into your life and start paving a better path for yourself.
So you embark on a journey of healing and personal growth. This is a beautiful stage of the spiritual awakening, as healing is a beautiful process, and you benefit so much by doing it. You’ll do the shadow work and look into your traumas. You’ll implement practices and dip into other healing modalities.
As the integration stage corresponds with the heart chakra, it’s important to align your values and intentions with your heart. The heart is much more powerful than the brain, so this stage is here to help you become more heart-centered, align you with your soul nature, and nurture you to become a better person.
- Focus on cultivating love, forgiveness, and compassion for oneself and others
- Cultivate your intuition, and focus on your feelings rather than your thoughts
- Practice plenty of self-love and self-care.
Stage 5: Exploration (Vishuddha | throat chakra)
Since doing the heavy work, you’re well on your journey of self-exploration. During this stage of your spiritual awakening, you’re putting spiritual insights into practical actions, and walking the talk. You understand the infinite depth and complexity of consciousness and begin aligning yourself with your authentic desires.
You feel like the dust has settled where you have much more clarity, and can start integrating these new understandings into your life. A heightened sense of interconnectedness usually accompanies this deeper understanding of self and insights about how you can be a better person.
Now you begin to explore your reality and make the most of it with this newfound wisdom. So you embrace it, and free the authentic self. This usually leads people to pursue spiritual practices, seek knowledge, and help other people.
This stage of a spiritual awakening corresponds with the throat chakra, which is all about expression! It’s more important now than ever to align with your authentic self and seek to express that part of who you are.
- Be authentic with who you are, and stop trying to fit in
- Focus on your self-expression, and be more in tune with how you feel
- Express your creative nature, and discover what value you can provide to humanity
Stage 6: Transformation (Ajna | third eye chakra)
This stage of a spiritual awakening is when you notice tangible changes in your consciousness, perception, and belief systems. You’re opening up to new layers of information, and becoming much more receptive to other dimensions of experience.
You begin to identify in a different way, in which spirituality has been fully incorporated into your life and occupies a much bigger presence within your life, desires, and ambitions. You notice a stronger connection with spirit and are beginning to see through the vale.
At this point, you’re starting to explore your spiritual gifts and realize your true calling in this world. You have a more substantial desire to utilize your gifts and experiences to provide value to humanity, as you understand that being in service is synonymous with being aligned with your true nature as a soul.
As this stage of your development corresponds with the third eye chakra, it’s important to focus on deepening your awareness and tuning in with the spiritual dimension. Meditate regularly, introspect often, and pay attention to the teachings you are receiving in life.
- Deepen your awareness of spirituality and the spiritual body
- Encourage spiritual insight via intuition and meditation
- Foster your imagination to develop a vision of your future
Stage 7: Embodiment (Sahasrara | crown chakra)
The embodiment stage of your spiritual awakening corresponds with the crown chakra and signifies a deeper immersion and balance between the material realm and the spiritual realm.
At this stage, you’ve fully embodied the lessons and teachings of the spiritual awakening process. While your feet are planted in reality, you’re tapped into other realms of experience, where they occupy a big part of your life experience.
You recognize some profound spiritual truths and see the interconnectedness of all things. During this stage, you’ll feel a deep sense of peace, stillness, and fulfillment in your life. Your cup is full, so you want to spread your joy and wisdom to other people and help them throughout their processes.
The final stage of a spiritual awakening corresponds with the crown chakra, which is the connection to god, and the divine. Continue exploring spirituality, seeking wisdom, and giving back to humanity and other people. Remember, getting through a spiritual awakening is not the end of your spiritual journey. It’s just the beginning, but now you can enjoy it, and the experience of life that you’ve been gifted with.
- Focus on raising your vibration and try to make the world a better place
- Dedicate your life to the service of humanity and all living things
- Continue studying, practicing, and mastering spiritual knowledge
3 comments
Thank you so much for sharing all of this information
You’re welcome, hope you find it useful :)
Iโve been through a learning stage and Iโm exhausted. Trying to hard to understand. Time to finish healing and put into practice. I love all your articles.