The serpents in this symbol are seen to cross at five points, which are the five chakras of the abdomen and the chest. In their center is the spine and at the upper end are a pair of wings, symbolizing the ascent of the forces: the male (positive) referred to as Pingala, and the female (negative) termed Ida. In yoga these forces are aroused by breathing through the left and right nostril with a deep concentration on the power of the inflowing breath. Speaking in the terminology of psychosynthesis, the arousing of the lower centers is the personal synthesis that must precede the spiritual synthesis. This is accomplished through self-discovery, through recognizing our ego and accepting ourselves just as we are. Having recognized our sensual life and given it expression, there follows a period of raising the consciousness through character-building, clean living, and controlled emotional life so that we become masters of our emotions rather than servants. The solar plexus, with its close connection to the adrenals, is the master center in this area of building and purification as it is a center of strength. The adrenal hormones are our primary source of body defense.

As this stage of life nears completion, personal desires are raised to the heart chakra in the chest area, and, through sublimation, they are transmuted into a higher form of love energy directed away from personal concerns and toward humanity in general. Meditation then becomes a vital part of everyday life, and one's life takes on an organized purpose. Through further meditation, the forces rise eventually to the highest head center of the pituitary and pineals. At this point one no longer lives for himself but finds his life is live through grace. Saint Paul describes this state as:
I (the ego) am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me....⁹ N.L. relates the story of her own kundalini experience:

After a two-year bout with increasing depression, I surrendered myself totally to God, not knowing or believing consciously in God-like casting oneself into an abyss of unknown. For six months following this surrender I simply lived without concern and worry or particular desire for anything, but awareness of my duties in caring for our children and other family activities.

At the end of the six months, my husband became quite ill and was hospitalized so that the demand on my energies was much greater than normal, yet there was no feeling at all of stress, rather more like a stimulant to keep all things running as smoothly and the children well cared for as possible.

One afternoon between two and three P.M, the house and surroundings were very quiet and sunny. I sat alone reading Peter Marshall's sermons, when one particular phrase mentioning the Pearl of Great Price took hold of a higher emotion. I felt it in the heart center like a white bird taking wing and flying upward through the head center. Somehow, I went completely with this feeling, and there was a rush of energy from the base of the spine flowing up through the center of the body and out the top of the head. It was like golden-white liquid light fire that does not burn.

It took no more than three seconds for this rush of light to envelop the body and "take" everything with it. It flowed out the top of the head and down over the whole body. I thought briefly "this is 'my cup runneth over' " before all-house, landscape, world, and universe-became this same light everywhere. No forms at all and no separation of being. All this oneness was God, without words.