From Kundalini to Breath Meets Energy: My First Experience
I went to my first Kundalini activation session with Kelly Bisson out of pure curiosity — no expectations, no idea what to expect. What happened surprised me so much that one session became two, and two became a conversation about bringing her work and mine together. That conversation is now a workshop: Breath Meets Energy.
By the time I found Kundalini, I'd already done a lot of work with breathwork — personally, and as a facilitator. I was becoming more and more interested in what happens when we get out of the thinking mind and into the body. Kundalini was something I'd heard about but, I'll be honest, I didn't really know what to expect. So I went along with an open mind. I wasn't looking for anything in particular. I just wanted to see what happened.
What is Kundalini activation?
From my experience as a first-timer: Kundalini activation is an energy-based practice where you lie down, close your eyes, and allow the experience to unfold rather than actively trying to make something happen. It's guided by a facilitator — in my case, Kelly used music and moved around the room while I stayed lying down. People can experience physical sensations, spontaneous movement, emotion or imagery, and everyone's experience is different. That's the honest, first-timer version — not a textbook one!
What actually happened
The first thing that struck me was how different it was from breathwork. With conscious connected breathwork, I'm actively using the breath — there's something for me to do. With Kundalini activation, I was essentially being asked to lie down, close my eyes, and allow whatever was going to happen to happen. That in itself was interesting, because I usually want to be "doing" something.
Kelly used music and moved around the room while I stayed lying down. Things started to happen that I wasn't consciously creating — physical sensations, spontaneous movements — but the biggest part, for me, was emotional.
I had this incredibly vivid experience of connecting with a much younger version of myself. Little Claire. I could see her, and I felt this enormous amount of love and compassion towards her. It was incredibly powerful.
What fascinated me most was that I hadn't gone in thinking about my childhood, or intending to bring any of that up. It just appeared. I couldn't explain exactly what was happening or why — I just tried to let go of needing to, and allow and accept it.
Why I went back
I think the fact that I couldn't completely explain the first experience was partly why I wanted to go back. I was fascinated by what my body had done without me consciously directing it, and by the emotional response I'd had. So I booked a second session with Kelly.
The second time, I knew a little more about what to expect — but I also knew that didn't mean the same thing would happen again. That's true of breathwork too: you can do exactly the same practice on two different days and have two completely different experiences. After the second Kundalini session, my curiosity had grown rather than disappeared.
Kundalini and breathwork: different, but connected
This is where it got interesting for me professionally as well as personally. Conscious connected breathwork and Kundalini activation are very different practices. With breathwork, we consciously change the breath and use it to move beyond some of the noise of the thinking mind and connect more deeply with the body. My experience of Kundalini was different — I wasn't consciously controlling my breath or trying to create anything. I was being asked to do less, not more.
But the two felt connected to me. Both created a way to get out of my head and into what was happening in my body. I do a lot of mindset work with clients about getting out of the head and into the body — we spend so much time living in our heads, thinking, analysing, planning, trying to work everything out, when there's so much information available to us through the body. We just have to let ourselves access it.
I started wondering what might happen if these two very different practices were brought together.
What if we put the two together?
Kelly had her work with Kundalini and energy. I had my work with breath. Rather than trying to make one practice into the other, we started talking about whether they could complement each other. The idea appeared: what happens if breath meets energy? That eventually became the name of the workshop — Breath Meets Energy.
What I loved was that neither of us was trying to step into the other's area. Kelly facilitates the Kundalini activation, I facilitate the breathwork. Two different modalities, two facilitators, brought together in one experience.
The flow matters. We start gently, with grounding and breathwork, giving everyone time to arrive, get out of the busy mind and begin connecting with their body. Kelly then facilitates the Kundalini activation. Afterwards, I take everyone into conscious connected breathwork, before we allow plenty of time at the end for integration — journaling, hot herbal tea, and gentle reflection. These practices can bring things up, physically or emotionally, or simply in the way you feel, so that integration piece matters just as much as the session itself.
The first time we ran it, it worked beautifully. There was a lovely energy in the room, and I loved seeing how differently people experienced it — some very physical, some emotional, some quiet. There isn't one experience everyone's supposed to have. I'd started out lying on the floor experiencing Kelly's work for myself. A relatively short time later, Kelly and I were standing in a room together, each bringing our own work to something we'd created together. It wasn't planned. It came from being curious, trying something new, and following it through.
Who this is for, and what to expect
You don't need any experience of breathwork, Kundalini, or anything in between before you come. We explain and guide you through it, and there's no particular response you're supposed to have: some people feel a lot, some feel very little, and both are completely normal.
What I can tell you: come with an open mind. You don't need to know what to expect, or what you're supposed to feel. Just come, and see what unfolds.
What I've taken from it
The biggest thing I've taken from the whole experience is an even greater respect for the body. We spend so much of our lives trying to think our way through everything — I'm definitely guilty of that. Breathwork already taught me that we need to get underneath thinking and come back into the body. Kundalini opened up another way of exploring that.
I don't understand everything that happened during those sessions, and I really don't need to. I'm getting more comfortable with the idea that science, physiology, spirituality and the things we can't quite explain don't necessarily have to compete with each other. Being curious is becoming more important to me. And ultimately, that's what took me from my first Kundalini session with Kelly to the two of us creating Breath Meets Energy together.
FAQs
What is Kundalini activation? From my experience as a participant, Kundalini activation is an energy-based practice where you lie down, close your eyes and allow the experience to unfold rather than actively trying to make something happen. People can experience physical sensations, spontaneous movement, emotion or imagery, although everyone's experience is different.
What happens during a Kundalini activation session? In my sessions with Kelly, I lay down while music played and Kelly facilitated the activation around the room. My experiences included physical sensations, spontaneous movement and strong emotional responses — another person's experience may be completely different.
What's the difference between Kundalini activation and conscious connected breathwork? The biggest difference for me is participation. In conscious connected breathwork I'm deliberately using and changing my breathing pattern. During Kundalini activation, I was largely being asked to let go and allow, rather than actively do.
Can Kundalini activation and breathwork be combined? Kelly and I brought the two together in our Breath Meets Energy workshop, each facilitating our own modality, moving through grounding, Kundalini activation, conscious connected breathwork and integration.
Do I need experience of either practice before attending? No. You don't need to know how to "do" either of them before you come. We explain and guide you through the experience, and there's no particular response you're supposed to have.
Who facilitates Breath Meets Energy? I facilitate the breathwork, and Kelly Bisson facilitates the Kundalini activation. We each stay within our own area of practice while creating the overall experience together.
When is the next Breath Meets Energy? There's nothing booked in just yet — join the newsletter to be the first to hear when the next date is confirmed.
Curious?
I went to my first session with Kelly simply because I was curious. I had no idea that two Kundalini sessions later we'd be talking about bringing her work and mine together.
From experiencing something new, came curiosity. From curiosity came a conversation. And from that conversation came Breath Meets Energy.
If you're curious too, sign up to my newsletter and you'll be the first to know when the next Breath Meets Energy session is confirmed. You don't need to know what to expect, or what you're supposed to feel. Just come with an open mind and see what unfolds.
