Let’s have a serious talk about health before we get anywhere near this topic.
Mental health and physical health are serious things, and there are very serious issues usually at play if someone is having muscle spasms, shivers, and so forth. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of talking to health practitioners. Repressed trauma, poor gut health, and other maladies should be considered first and investigated with multiple health practitioners before deciding this is something spiritual in nature.
Before reading on, please watch this 2023 video on the topic.
I can’t believe I haven’t written about this topic of energy-caused involuntary muscle spasms yet, but there’s so much to talk about on the spiritual path. It’s hard to address it all!
For some people, they have involuntary muscle movements as they experience energy more deeply and go deeper inwards. One word that I have heard for them is called, “Kriyas.” I am not going to use this word because I don’t like to tread on other tradition’s terminology, and many of those traditions have specific connotations. According to Wikipedia, one “meaning of Kriya is an outward physical manifestation of awakened kundalini, such as a spontaneous body movement related to Kundalini energy flow.”
That definition is too narrow for me. I’ve found that plenty of people who haven’t awakened can have these spontaneous body movements, and Kundalini tends to be a very specific term regarding spiritual awakening. I can’t say that many people who have awakened feel their energy in some of the ways that a Kundalini awakening is described. Hence, you don’t hear me use that term much at all either.
Kundalini Awakening and Kundalini Experiences
Instead, I simply say energy because energy can be anywhere in the body, and your energetic experiences can arise anywhere, not just one specific region. So, for the sake of this blog post, I’m going to use a made-up acronym. Let’s shorten energy-caused involuntary muscle spasm to ECIMS.
With all that said, let’s get into this topic of muscle reactions in relationship to energy to talk about what is going on.
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When in Doubt, See a Doctor
I said this before, but I’ll say it again: I strongly recommend seeing a doctor if you have involuntary physical movements. In fact, even if you aren’t in doubt, I recommend it. There are so many body issues and neurological disorders out there, and it is best to check in with a Western MD to make sure that there isn’t anything biologically wrong.
NONE of what I am about to write is medical advice. It should not be construed as such or used to self-diagnose any physiological issues you may have.
As I said, there are a lot of things that can go on with the human body, and everything out there–including Western medicine–is a tool to help you understand and heal yourself.
Okay?
So we good?
These days people are trying to self-diagnose more and more through online sources. It is a real problem. Many people try to address mental health and health issues with “spiritual” stuff. So hopefully, we’re all on the same page now.
Also, please check out the Mayo Clinic’s post about seizures at the end of this blog post.
Genuine ECIMS and Your Spiritual Practice
I’ve had numerous conversations with people who mentioned having ECIMS when they first start meditating. It is more than a little surprising, and rarely do they know that it is energy related. Are these people awakened? Usually not. But that is not a prerequisite for energy to move. This is one of the reasons that I am not using the term, Kriyas, because having a kundalini awakening seems to be a prerequisite with that term.
You literally can have ECIMS at any time energy starts moving inside you. For some people, their bodies respond very physically to energy. That can result in basically any body movement you can think of including,
- jerks,
- rotations,
- shrugs,
- tremors and shivers,
- and plenty more.
In my experience, what causes the jerks, rotations, shivers, and other involuntary muscle movements is resistance. Energy is like water flowing through a riverbed. If there are rocks, it gets frothing and more agitated. If there are no rocks, it just flows. And if nothing is flowing, you don’t feel anything wrong.
Certainly, if people don’t have ECIMS, that doesn’t mean there aren’t rocks in their proverbial riverbeds. I don’t know why some people get these experiences and others don’t. However, it does seem to be fair to say that some kind of energy movement needs to be at work for genuine ECIMS to arise. Many people who have ECIMS have never had such bodily experiences, and many only have them when sitting with a spiritual teacher, meditating, and other specific spiritual practices. If that’s the case and you’ve never had these energetic experiences and you are in good health, then it seems a relatively safe bet that you are having ECIMS.
How to Find and Release Physical Pain During a Spiritual Awakening
ECIMS and the Awakened Individual
Someone who has awakened doesn’t necessarily have jerky muscle experiences, and plenty of people who aren’t awakened can have these ECIMS when working with energy. That being said, “yes” someone who is awakened can certainly have this experience. Whether it is common for someone who has awakened or not is ultimately irrelevant. For those who are awakened, it seems like when they relax more, the energy kicks in again. Some awakened people can be have a normal day doing things, and then once they stop and give themselves space to just be, the rocking and rolling starts up again.
I can’t say that it’s like this for everyone, but just from what I’ve seen, when a person stops doing things and settles, the energy has space to go to work. If you are too busy doing other things, the energy can be otherwise pre-occupied, and there isn’t enough of your energy left to do other things like healing. Some of you who get intense fatigue, however, may get forced into stillness, and then the ECIMS go to work. And that is ultimately a good thing.
Chronic Fatigue and Spiritual Awakening
Once again, spiritual practice can amplify the ECIMS so that they are much more prevalent in spiritual work than anywhere else. If they are arising randomly with no regard to whether you are relaxed or active, doing spiritual work or not, I would definitely advise checking with a doctor.
Relaxing and Directing Attention Inwards
Usually my experience with those who are awakened is that they can better direct their attention–and therefore their energy–towards the blocks causing this inner friction to work them out more quickly. It can take some time and practice, but this spiritual practice is not hard to do, although the issues may feel hard and uncomfortable, especially at first.
Additionally, you don’t have to have awakened energy to use this tool. The point I’m making is that awakened energy accelerates things.
Either way, you should pay attention to where in your body the muscle spasm is. Then you focus in deeper to find the epicenter, and then you breathe into it and around it until the issue that is being highlighted by the energy emerges. As many of you know, this can take minutes, hours, days, weeks, and longer depending on the issue.
Several Misconceptions About Body-energy Reactions
One of the big misconceptions of those new to spiritual practice is to think that their spiritual practice is the problem. I’ve definitely heard people say, “Well, I felt so much and my body was going crazy. So I stopped.” Stopping doesn’t remove a block. It simply stops the energy from moving. It’s like going back to a dry riverbed. When nothing is flowing, you don’t feel the friction of the “water” against the “rocks.” When things first start to move, the energy starts moving the debris and issues into your awareness. And there can be a lot of debris in the human energy field from years of neglect. Because everything seemed “fine” before, this movement and discomfort feels bad for many people. The person assumes that something is going wrong. Such is the nature of human ignorance.
The misinterpretations can get even worse.
Some people assume that these energetic jerks and random movements are signs of demon possession or some such nonsense. Let me assure you that such things are exceedingly rare. Demon possession or the devil taking over your body should not be in your top ten list of possibilities. They probably shouldn’t make the top 50. The possibility of seizures or some early stage neurological disorder are a thousand times more likely than demon possession, and that’s why I suggest the doctor visit first and foremost.
What some people will do to “exorcise” a demon in this situation I won’t get into it. Jumping to such a conclusion around possession is a misunderstanding of where pain is and how much pain can be unconsciously stored inside of a human being. To be sure, people need guidance with these types of energetic reactions. If you’re having ECIMs, I definitely encourage you to find a spiritual teacher who understands energy to help you figure this stuff out.
How to Address ECIMS in Your Spiritual Practice
Step one to addressing ECIMS is to not be afraid of them. Fearful responses cause immense problems for doing inner work. They shut the door to going any deeper, and it’s part of why relaxation and meditation are so important to going within. They help to neutralize the fear response so you can go deeper. If you don’t do that step first, you are not going to resolve the deeper issues that are creating the muscle movements.
In general, I’d say that ECIMS should not be a long-term part of your spiritual journey. They can and should be resolved if they are issue-related. If they continue with you, that’s usually a sign of not going deep enough into your inner work (I am continuing to assume that you are in good neurological and physical health). There’s all kind of ways people don’t go deep enough, and I’d encourage you to check out some of my posts and videos about going deeper and working through deeper layers of ourselves.
Learning to Work Through the Layers (YouTube Video)
Learning to Work Through the Layers Part 2 (YouTube Video)
As I mentioned earlier, you may need a teacher who is well-versed in energy to help you get to the core of the block, especially if they’ve been a long-term part of your spiritual path. You may also need a therapist to help if you have never looked at your issues and ego beliefs.
I would also recommend grounding. Grounding gets convoluted these days when other spiritual people talk about it, but it can be as simple as sitting and relaxing. Other times, a nice walk in nature or gentle exercise is a way to drop more into your body. Grounding may drive up the issues as you settle more into your body, and that’s fine. That’s not a problem. You just need to breathe and relax into the feelings that are surfacing as well as the muscle movements. Many of these ECIMS are not overly problematic. You just sit and rotate your body or your head. Or they ripple through like a shiver. Or you shoulder roll for awhile. It’s not a big deal.
Addressing Blockages Correctly (video)
As I said, the complicating issue is if you have a fearful reaction to them. That tends to make everything more tense and upset.
4 Kinds of Cold Shivers and Energy
Once again, there are lots of legitimate health reasons for cold shivers, and professional medical practitioners should be consulted. And this type of ECIMS is not meant to be any kind of an exhaustive list on the topic of cold shivers and tremors. I just feel like talking about one very small possibility in the vast numbers of spasms that people can feel. Hopefully, this advice is useful for those who experience this type of ECIMS.
Low Energy Cold Shivers–If someone has been doing too much with energy work, they can get the low energy cold shivers. Doing self-care is important to rebuild the energy. Meditation is useful here.
High Energy Cold Shivers–This comes up when people are moving into an energy state that is higher than they’re accustomed. There can be a kind of euphoria to it. It’s pretty ungrounded, so grounding tends to be useful here.
Cold Shivers Specific to Body Regions–Certain areas of the body as they get worked on by energy can be unreasonably cold and shivery. This often only comes up during spiritual practice.
Cold Shivers and Connection–Sometimes when a person is opening to a deeper level of meaningful connection, they may feel these shivers as two or more people connect energetically. Or sometimes, they may be feeling a deeper level of fear or pain in another. This ECIMS is tricky to figure out, but usually, the more someone dissolves the pain inside themselves, the more they will not react to the pain in another.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, here are thoughts about sweating and heat as well as a link about other energy states people have.
Spiritual Sweats and the Icky Sticky of Burning Out an Issue
5 Energy States and Experiences
Resting Deeper Into Your Body
As you listen, please remember that your body and energy won’t speak in words. They don’t speak in ideas or even emotions. They speak in sensations, and the more you can allow them to talk in their native language and be heard, the more they can move.
One key aspect of energetic issues is that they move. Blocks can shift from one area of the body to the next unlike a real physical issue. A real physical issue like a twisted ankle never shifts from your ankle to your knee to your heart. Energetic issues, however, can and often do. They often move up towards the head until they’ve been fully expressed and understood, and when that happens, things open up inside; the issue resolves.
Depending on where you are in your spiritual journey, an opening may lead to expansion and deeper relaxation into your body. The ECIMS may stop or may stop occurring in that specific area where the issue originated. Or the release may open the door to a bunch more repressed and forgotten issues. That may cause more intense body sensations and even more powerful ECIMS. Either way, my advice is the same: breathe and relax deeper.
Doing Too Much Energetic Work
I just mentioned in this in the shivers part, but doing too much energetic work can cause problems and not just shivering and light tremors. Maybe they’re working too much on themselves, or they’re doing too much with others. Energy is powerful stuff, and human beings are children in terms of how much they understand energy. This is just a fact.
If you are doing too much, the following post can help, but the main recommendation is to do less with energy until you re-stabilize.
Dropping Into Our Power
I’m jumping way ahead in this topic, but I feel like it is important to understand how powerful human beings are. When we are cut off from ourselves, all kinds of imbalances are created. We then create all kinds of unconscious responses to these imbalances to hold it all together. But this is a precarious and exhausting balance to try to maintain.
So if nothing else, ECIMS show an imbalance. But as you resolve that imbalance, you can become more naturally stable.
Natural stability is like a tree with its roots in the ground. It may even feel like a mountain. It’s a very, very powerful thing to have this kind of rooted strength, and most human beings do not. If any wind blows on us when we are uprooted or tipped on an edge as opposed to planted firmly on the ground, we are susceptible to being blown around and blown down. We cannot handle even the simplest of life’s difficulties. When energy starts to move via awakening or via a spiritual practice that just works for you, it illuminates these imbalances. It pushes you towards a deeper, stable state, but that means going through a lot of issues that you’ve created and are holding on to that maintain your imbalances.
In this way, ECIMS are just another method for the Divine to show us how out of alignment with truth we are. We do not understand what is real or natural, and that puts us into strangely unstable spaces internally. Through awakening and spiritual practices, our energy finds the extra jolt to attempt to fix that and break us out of these unhealthy patterns and inner postures.
Whatever your ECIMS are like, they are just an experience. I can only encourage you to go within and find out how you have forgotten the truth and held onto some kind of pain. Then you can learn to heal and continue to journey back to reality and spiritual truth.
Spiritual Growth and Energy Imbalances
I’ll offer one last word about spiritual growth. In spiritual growth, we can go through all kinds of imbalances as well. In that state, we aren’t looking for unconscious issues because we’ve usually rooted out a few thousand attachments. So the ECIMS in this situation is just a kind of growing pain.
However, the vast majority of people have a lot of unconscious attachments that have never been addressed. Step one is almost always looking within for an attachment or block. Those who are truly growing spiritually and have ECIMS have probably already passed through a phase of getting used to ECIMS during the healing phase, so you probably aren’t too concerned about them by now if this is where you truly are.
Imbalances Caused by Spiritual Growth
Important Medical Information to Review
Once again, I think it’s important to cover all bases before deciding you’re having ECIMS, so here’s a link to the Mayo Clinic with their information on seizures:
If you feel this is part of a spiritual awakening, please go to this link:
Spiritual Awakening Help and Tips Guide
If you really think this is energy related and regardless of if you feel awakened, this is a good post to read:
The Process of Releasing Pain from Your Energy Body
If you want support, you can learn about my online classes.
39 Comments
lovely post, helped me a lot. Thank you 🙂 and Namaste from India.
Great. I'm glad to hear it.
I enjoyed your video post. I have found many answers here. I would love an afternoon just chatting. I feel your easy to connect with. Thank you.
You're welcome. I'm glad that my blog and my videos can help you!
Hi
Loved the post…understand it fully. I have been going through the process of awakening for nearly 7 years but only just found out what it was ! Amazing ….great knowledge…thank you so much. Cant wait to share it 👌
I'm glad it helps.
Thanks so much for this post! A couple years ago, after a period of consistent meditation, I started getting powerful, involuntary jerks in my body whenever I sat to meditate. Those jerks would continue to appear for several weeks in a row. I didn't know what to do about them and found no helpful information, so I just stopped meditating believing that the jerks would never go away as long as I continued to meditate. Recently, I've tried picking up a meditation habit again, and the jerks have returned. This time, I did more digging online hoping to find some guidance and stumbled upon your site. The advice about "looking for the epicenter" is something I just tried in my meditation session this morning and already I've noticed how finding that epicenter and relaxing into it has lessened the severity of the jerks. I feel a renewed motivation to practice now 🙂
Wonderful. Thanks for sharing, and I am glad that this simple technique is already helping you find some of these hidden "knots" in your space. Keep going with it!
Thank you going through the same.
Thanks for sharing, Angiras.
Its been a long painfull journey since childhood and at this point i have found you while searching things in google and subscribed your news letter. Understood another type of self avoidance, cause of painful sensation and involuntary jerk and movement of body. Thanks. Wish you had been in India.
You're welcome. I can't be everywhere, but fortunately, the Internet lets my work reach people in places where I might not be. 🙂
I have been experiencing these spasms specifically at the sacral or solar plexus centers for the last 6years (when I started doing energy work), but these spasms would only occur in moments of mediation, acupuncture, or osteopathy treatments (holistic therapies only). It would only be in moments of deep peace, quiet, or typically solitude. Freaked me out initially, as well as my practitioners, until I sought out answers and stumbled upon your post today. Now it all makes sense. Now that I know what to do with it, I can work on consciously healing it and move towards it instead of shutting it down out of fear. Thank you.
I'm glad this can help. Shutting things down typically requires tension, and that makes things really physically and emotionally uncomfortable. Relaxing into things is how we listen to what is going on within and allow it to flow through.
I've been experiencing jerks and twitches as I remember old memories and their emotions such as blame and guilt. They aren't severe, but constant. They don't worry me and I feel that each jerk helps release the negative emotion. I don't feel like it's a block – I'm freely experiencing the emotions, not identifying with them. Is it possible that the jerks are helping, not hindering? Thankyou 🙂
i feel the same way as you; they are meant to jerk & massage one into oneness, that´s how i feel about them.
Amazing article!
Thanks Jim. I had a period of about a year and a half with involuntary and quite violent muscle movements during meditation. Eventually I realised that there was a particular point on my spine which, when I focused on it, caused my body to practically go haywire. Very strange for someone with no spiritual or religious background like myself, and I was glad I had the privacy of my bedroom to let this stuff play out. Eventually, I suppose I lost interest in that energetic movement or something, and it didn't happen again
Thanks.
Relaxation is key to allow things to resolve themselves. Energy works best when we don't try to manipulate it. Glad things have settled for you, Shazbut.
Thanks so much for this information. In the past I have experienced minor twitches and vibrations in my head when I meditate. I recently started to deepen my meditation practice and the movements have become much more intense. I can feel energy moving throughout my face that gets so strong that it causes tense contractions of muscles that force my lips and nose up, my eyes squint, cheeks tremble and forehead creases up. At first it scared me but then I relaxed into it and just let it happen. Now it starts up just as soon as I begin to meditate and it gets more intense each time. It's good to know that this is somewhat normal.
You're welcome. Keep surrendering. If there is an old energy or idea or emotion that needs to express itself, breathe and relax into it.
thank you so much for this post. it has given me a clearer understanding of what i have been experiencing for the last two or three years. i am almost sure the first time it happened to me was during an ayahuasca ceremony. Later, during a 10 days vipassana meditation course i felt again this kind of currents in my body that made me move it in strange ways during intense meditation: the fingers in my hand start to rotate fast, my tongue moves, also my mouth from one side to the other, i turn my head. It’s in a way similar to stretching. i always have the option of repressing this energy and stay still, it's not like if i am possessed and i can't control it. it has always felt a bit scary for me, even though i always somehow knew that this was something that had to do with energy flowing. I have also believed that this current came up when the universe and spiritual teachers wanted to send me signs, messages and guidance. for example, when i have a moment of sudden insight or discovery, i tend to suddenly have this current going through my fingers and/or mouth! it is a bit hard to explain. now with this post everything makes more sense, and with the comments i am reading too. thank you to all of you!
Thanks a ton for this blog, Jim! I don't feel jerks, twitches or any such energy movements, however I have been feeling spiritual chills in the whole body and sensations in the center of the forehead like a cool breeze emanating for almost a year now. And lately I have started feeling as if something is stuck in the spine, in the lower and middle back. Are these also related to ECIMS and breathing through them is the way to go?
I would encourage you to relax and focus on those spaces, and see what images, emotions, or other sensations arise. The body, heart, and unconscious are interesting places, and they'll tell you what is going on the more deeply you silence the mind, relax, and listen.
You're welcome for the post. Are you still working with mind-altering substances? These can be tricky as they can open people up too soon before they are ready.
Part of the reason that I talk so much about inner work on this blog is to help prepare people for what may flow through them so that it is easier and less physically upsetting.
I did not know what it was when it happened. It was strong and undeniable, jerking, creased into fetal, tears, grunts, then neck up to the sky as I was invisibly vomiting garbage out of me. I was not afraid, as if I had a definite "knowing" this was clearing. Happened during backyard meditation, in a chair. Had several less intense instances after learning what it was. I had been meditating on forgiveness to my verbally abusive husband of 25 yrs. I feel so free. I have forgiven everyone and taken on a compassion for humanity. ECIMS have now sprouted up during sex w/ new love. Very exciting and all positive. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Namaste.
I also get these "ecims". Its pretty cool how relatively common it seems according to these comments anyway. I found they have gotten more intense as my posture has improved. I had forward head posture and have been sitting meditation pretty much daily for around 9 years or so (30 mins/day average)Only fairly recently has my postute started to improve and my ecims got more wierd and intense including sort of spontatneous bark shouting burts etc. Also now i feel a sort of emptiness and flatness and dont really know what my routine should be. Sort of like i need to create new behaviours but dont know what they should be and get new hobbies etc.
I'd encourage you to learn how to dissolve your ego attachments. If these are ECIMS, then they're caused by all kinds of internal (emotional, psychological, and so forth) attachments. The weird experiences you have should get eliminated eventually by doing inner work. There are lots of posts on this site to help you on the topic of dissolving the ego.
Thanks for your comment.
Thank you Jim! Good initial info, its close… but not to the magnitude I've experienced since I was young…so I'm not 100% certain.
I have experienced deep cold, shivering and spasms since I was in adolescence. As I've gotten older (50 now) they have increased in intensity and frequency the past 10 years and now happening once a month maybe.
Best described as a outwardly visible mild seizure that I am lucid and partially in control of, could be a 95 degree day and I suddenly feel like a part of me is astrally visiting the Arctic, cuz the core of me is suddenly uncontrollably shivering. I have about a 5 second lead time to excuse myself and spasmatically curl into an almost involuntary fetal position on my bed. No pain, just tightening convulsing in the spot between my solar plexus and gut. I can resist and push through it with some force, straightening out my body and it may go away in a couple minutes, or if I let it ride out its course it's less painful but takes 5-10 maybe to go away.
Have one yesterday grilling for the 4th. Wife is very worried 😪 as she is not a believer in energy work, ascension, 5d or anything.
What do the doctors say about this condition?
I've been experiencing this for 20 years.
It doesnt have to be meditation. It happens whenever I focus on my breath and let go of thoughts.
I've read many times advice to just go with it, and I try, but the movements are violently convulsive and I have to stop because it becomes painful. I have arthritis in my neck from years of thrashing.
Im going to try what you suggested, breathing into the area. It feels like two areas, small of back and back of neck. Cant entirely pinpoint.
So I'm assuming that this comment is from the same person as the one I replied to. If you're a different "Unknown" user, then please tell.
As I asked before, what do the doctors say about this condition?
Googled in the middle of the night due to so many leg, jerks and spasms. Even though I have been teaching yoga for 18 years, I still needed comfort and assurance. It is a Young part of me root chakra. Thank goodness I have a hot tub!
Thanks for your comment, Anita.
Any sort of body issues should be checked out with a trained physician. Stored trauma in the body is a big culprit in these situations. While time in the hot tub is a nice form of self-soothing, it’s important to get to resolution of these body issues. I encourage you to find a somatic therapist to help you. Otherwise, you’ll spending the next 18 years sitting in hot tubs hoping for things to stop. 🙁
If you want to connect more, here is my newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/spiritualawakeningprocess/jimtollesnewslettersignup
Just found your blog and have been enjoying reading the articles and reader comments – thank you.
I started doing (mostly distant) energy healing sessions for acquaintances about 1 ½ years ago. Then about a half year ago, I was a client myself for a past-life regression therapy session. During this session I started to convulse and we assumed that it was related to the supposed torture (electrical shocks) that I might have experienced as a prisoner of war in a previous life. So far, so good.
Then I started trying distant healing sessions for friends who were interested to see if certain issues had a past-life connection. I would ask in my meditative state why that person has that problem. That’s when the spasms really started. Whenever I hit upon something that seemed to be particularly relevant for the person I was working on, I had a major spasm, sometimes several within one session.
(I am not epileptic.)
My theory is that in hooking up with the other person’s energy, I am acting like a lightning rod, expressing their energy as a means to help them heal, which comes out as a spasm. I feel fine both during and after the sessions, by the way.
Just curious if this seems feasible to you?!
Thanks.
If you want to be a conduit to helping other people, then you need to go deeper in your inner work to resolve deeper levels of resistance that may get activated and which you mean not realize you have.
Great article! I've been wondering about these movements for several years. I really appreciate your perspective.I'm wondering if you could comment on an experience I had this morning. As background, I consider myself an energy channeler which I use to help other people but also results sometimes in clairvoyant visions. This morning, during what felt like very intense energy with subsequent vision, there was also an uncontrollable writhing or spasms of my jaw. Something like this happened a few weeks ago in my neck area. I'm a nurse. I'm not medically concerned about these events. I'm just curious if you have any insights. Thank you
Superb article! Recently I have been experiencing muscle pull as I delve deeper in my spiritual awakening journey. And what seems interesting to me is the fact that at the onset of the muscle pull I am able to lay my hands on the part of my leg and almost as if it were to mentally shoo the pain away and within seconds the intensity stops! Just like that. I had to find out if muscle pulls were linked spiritually. Grateful for the article!