Meanings
plural kundalinis
- countableuncountableyogaAn energy said to lie coiled at the base of the spine and to be released by yoga.
The physiology of Tantra yoga focuses on the magical numinosity of the male semen, but the experience of the awakening of kundalini is not an exclusively male phenomenon.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 191 more example
For us it is, of course, a symbol of the caduceus of Aesculapius, of the spinal column, of the kundalini-serpent of the Indians – you will be able to trace the ancestry of the idea through many continents and many religions.
1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 131
Origin
- Sanskritकुण्डलिनी“coiled”
- Englishkundalini
From Sanskrit कुण्डलिनी (kuṇḍalinī, “coiled”).
More words from Sanskrit
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
kundalini. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kundalini
“kundalini.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kundalini. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kundalini,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kundalini.
Source: kundalini on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.