Lawrence Edwards, The Soul's Journey, and Kundalini
Dr. Lawrence Edwards, also known as Kalidas, made this site possible.
For more information about Lawrence Edwards, please visit the following sites (these links will open in a new window):
Poetry: inspired works that illuminate the profound nature of the transformation wrought by the Divine within: Kalidas' poetry
Clinical Work: Optimal Mind
Free Meditation Programs, Videos & More: Anam Cara Meditation
Events:
Publications by Lawrence Edwards, PhD: click here
Awakening Kundalini: The Path To Radical Freedom - 7.5 hour audio course on 6 CDs published by Sound True
Awakening Kundalini: The Path To Radical Freedom book with in-depth teachings and practicing for integrating Kundalini's energy in everyday life.
“This book is a revelation that is a service to all of us—beginner, initiate, sage. It is a book about awakening that inspires awakening. It is a book about honoring the feminine that is a true sacred marriage of the masculine and feminine—remarkably clear and beautifully poetic. The book is elegant in the truest scientific and consciousness-based ways—simple and so powerful. Lawrence Edwards supportively guides us on our own heroic journey in a way that demonstrates he is what he writes about—so humble and so wise. A real teacher.”
—Andrew Hahn, PsyD, Founder and director of the Guided Self Healing Training Institute
“A rare combination of a highly trained, articulate Western mind and a deeply personal experience of this extraordinary subject. Wise, elegant, and inspiring. Highly recommended.”
—Lee Lyon, Founder and director of the Foundation for Integrative Meditation
“This book is an indispensable guide for anyone on the path of spiritual awakening. Dr. Edwards has devoted his life to studying and practicing the unfolding process of Kundalini, the subtle spiritual energy within everyone that leads to the highest states of consciousness. His depth of knowledge, personal experiences, and devotional poems illuminate the pages of this extraordinary book. Acknowledged worldwide for his professional experience in guiding people along the spiritual path—particularly through the mysteries of advanced yogic practice—Dr. Edwards is a gifted and compassionate guide. His devotional journey will inspire all who read his book. It is destined to become a classic in the field.”
—Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle
Author of Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple’s Journey through Alzheimer’s
“Lawrence Edwards has given us an incomparable gift: a detailed, compassionate, and brilliantly clear guide to the greatest mystery and greatest revelation of our existence. It tells the story of his call to the profound process of awakening known in the yogic tradition as Kundalini, through his early visionary experiences, his meeting with his Indian teacher, and how his life unfolded from that fortuitous meeting. Drawing on the rich legacy of numerous traditions—Jungian, Western psychology, scientific research, traditional yogic and mystical ones—this book is an incomparable aid in taking us beyond the confines of the delusionary certainties of our ego mind toward the experience of the deepest ground of our own being. Kundalini—known by other names in other spiritual traditions—is the path of reunion with the Divine Consciousness that lives and breathes in all of us—capable, as he says, of transforming our mind, our body, and every aspect of our lives. There is no one better qualified to explain and teach it, or to accompany us on our own mythic journey of discovery.”
—Anne Baring
Author of The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul
“This book is ‘state of the art’—the most comprehensive discussion of the Universal Life Force known as Kundalini. Edwards explores spiritual principles with his unique expertise in psychology, neuroscience, meditation training, and spiritual traditions. Western psychology has mapped our psychological and emotional development. Western medicine has mapped our physical development. Now Edwards shows us, in unprecedented depth, each step of our spiritual development. Toward the end of this excellent read, Edwards helps us to experience the realization that we humans are capable of and entitled to the wonder and splendor of each moment.”
—Charles L. Whitfield, MD – Author of Choosing God: A Bird’s Eye View of a Course in Miracles
—Barbara Whitfield, RT – Author of Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the Near-Death Experience and Doorways to Our Soul
“This book makes me very happy. First, as a woman, it is fundamentally reorienting to read the work of a man who is devoted to the wisdom and transformative power of the divine feminine. As a psychiatrist, it is immeasurably helpful to have a clear framework to understand the gift of the extraordinary consciousness beyond our usual body-mind perspective. Understanding the creative process of Shakti’s unfolding in the evolution of our Self is a much-needed perspective in interpreting the physical, mental, and emotional challenges that can arise in us—whether or not we are actively seeking to cultivate the vital flow of Kundalini. Dr. Edwards provides detailed guidance for exploring meditative techniques and other tools to work with this ancient tradition in our everyday lives. Further, he provides a balanced treatment of the psychological process encountered in inner work, including the healthful role of the ego mind and working with our shadow in the process of Kundalini awakening—essential but often neglected topics in spiritual guidance. This is an inspiring reference manual for my work with others.”
—Mary B. O’Malley, MD, PhD, Harvard trained psychiatrist and sound healer
Om Namah Shivaya meditation and chanting CD with world mantras and guided meditation instructions.
Kali's Bazaar penned by Kalidas - a book of inspired poetry.
Enter this book and you enter into Kali’s terrifying and amazing world in which all of your fantasies both of power and of limitation will be exploded. Let yourself be exploded by the wild truth in these poems so you can become both sane and mad enough to do Kali’s work.
Andrew Harvey, author of Turn Me to Gold: 108 Translations of Kabir, Return of the Mother, Son of Man: The Mystical Path To Christ, and many more.
Kali’s Bazaar is poetry in the ecstatic tradition of Hafiz, Rumi, and Kabir. This type of poem isn’t cultivated or tidy; it’s devotional and raw. The fundamental drive and message of Kalidas’s poems are eternally important—they speak of love, fearlessness, and joy, and they speak about all of these things in a large voice. The style of the poems departs from the more refined voice of traditional poetry, which might not appeal to every ear. But because of their driving intent to realize and “see through,” the poems in Kali’s Bazaar are worth a look for anyone trying to do the same.
Keith Belcher – Yoga International journal, Fall 2012
Extraordinary poetry — pure bhakti!
Roger Woolger, world-renowned Jungian analyst, past-life healer and author of several books including The Goddess Within.
This collection of devotional poems, a rarity in today’s world, will awaken the heart of love within any reader whatever their spiritual tradition. Lawrence Edwards, a long time devotee of the Devi (the archetypal feminine that exists within all), has had the blessings of some of the leading Masters of our time. As these ecstatic poems reveal, he provides a shining example of the spiritual life fully lived, able to embrace with eloquence all of life’s extremes from suffering to bliss. These poems are in the tradition of the great ecstatic poets such as Rumi, Kabir, Hafiz and others. They transport the reader beyond this world of duality into unconditioned Oneness, a rare gift indeed!
Most of the poems came to Kalidas during meditation by “the Divine’s power of Grace.” Others were born amidst the challenges of daily life. The sign of a wise teacher, he doesn’t separate the inner, devotional life from the world’s suffering, but rather weaves them together masterfully. These poems radiate a passionate, timeless, love-saturated intensity and will touch your heart in unimaginable ways.
Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle, author, Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple’s Journey Through Alzheimer’s. Excerpt included in an anthology of Best Buddhist Writers, 2009.
Here, gathered over many years of quest and deep experience, is a beautiful symposium of devotional poems to awaken the mind and rejoice the heart. The introduction is a powerful call to the incandescent reality of inner experience. Here are poems to savor, to guide, to bring tears and, above all, to dissolve the veil that lies between us and the Divine Presence who tells us that we live within Her Being and Her Love.
Anne Baring, British Jungian analyst and author of One Work: A Journey Toward The Self, and co-author with Andrew Harvey of The Mystic Vision and The Divine Feminine. www.annebaring.com
O My Beloved: Whisperings From The Divine Heard By Kalidas - critically acclaimed collection of poetry received from the Beloved.
Lawrence Edwards is that rare miracle—an authentic mystical poet inspired by direct experience of the divine. In O My Beloved, he offers us a gorgeous, wild, passionate, sacred feast. Eat, be inspired, rejoice, and keep using these messages from reality to embolden and ennoble your life. —Andrew Harvey, author of Turn Me to Gold: 108 Translations of Kabir www.andrewharvey.net
The jewels in this collection are translucent. By getting out of their own way, these poems let the divine light come streaming through. —Mirabai Starr, author of Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of Women Mystics www.mirabaistarr.com
These whisperings from the Divine are magnificent. As I read O my Beloved, I see spiritual seekers getting off their cushions, spreading out their arms to the sky, and breaking out in joyous song for the Divine Love that has given them life. As the seekers find each other in dance, the surrounding clouds of doubt, fear, brokenheartedness, loneliness, and self-reproach fall away, revealing their fellow dancers, Buddha, Jesus, Lord Yama, Saraswati Devi, Mother Mary, Shekhinah, and Tara. Reading these poems is a Lectio Divina, changing us as we drink the nourishment of Kalidas’ shared freedom. —Robert A. Jonas, EdD, retreat leader, musician (shakuhachi), and founder and director of The Empty Bell sanctuary www.emptybell.org
Gently Falls Her Rain Of Light gathered by Kalidas -
Poetry often conveys truth better than any other form. In this book you will encounter beautiful words that shine with truth. The truth of love, the truth of surrender, and the truth of unity. Reading these poems with an open heart and mind you find yourself invited into an inner revolution that leads back to your original home. I would encourage anyone to savor these profound expressions of truth.
—Jeff Carreira, meditation and spirituality teacher, and author of Transdimensional Spirituality. www.jeffcarreira.com
Kalidas (Lawrence Edwards) guides the reader beyond tendencies to dwell in memory, confusion, and reactivity into the light of Divine Presence. This collection of treasures is filled with gems of insight, gold of wisdom, and beauty that reflects the faces of the Divine. Each poem is an invitation to embrace and dance with the Sacred.
—Martin Lowenthal, PhD, author of Avatars of Wisdom, Love and Service and To Bless In Challenging Times: A Season Of Blessings. https://dli.org/books
Lawrence Edwards continues to inspire. His poems are a secret window on the private moments of the meditating soul in communion with the Eternal in an ongoing dialog. Mother and child, lover and Beloved, self and the Self of selves. Throughout, the divine touch keeps returning to us as droplets trailing down windowpanes, the rain cascading down in torrents, manifesting for us the heavenly presence eternally circulating. Read these poems with openness and stillness. They awaken blissful moments.
—Ivan Granger, author of The Longing In Between: Sacred Poetry From Around The World and creator of the online sacred poetry site, Poetry Chaikhana – www.poetry-chaikhana.com.
These poems are pure gold! Nothing more need be said.
—Lee Lyon, author of The 112 Meditations from the Book of Divine Wisdom: the meditations from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra with commentary and guided practice, Founder and Director of the Institute for Integrative Meditation. www.integrativemeditation.com.
The Soul's Journey: Guidance From The Divine Within - audiobook, ebook and softcover
“…Edwards’ first person accounts are riveting. [His] descriptions of his Kundalini states are eloquent, including colorful descriptions of his imagery (olfactory and tactile as well as visual and auditory) and profound insights into the human condition. …Edwards skillfully guides his readers through a pathway on which he has been an experienced traveler.”
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., professor of psychology, author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing and editor of Dreamscaping. (AHP Perspective, Sept/Oct 2001)
“You have a treasure chest of experience – so rich a story…. The only one worth telling – the only game in town.”
Joseph Chilton Pearce, noted author and lecturer on human development whose books include THE MAGICAL CHILD, THE MAGICAL CHILD MATURES and EVOLUTION’S END
“I find your descriptions of your experiences fascinating. I really feel that blackness – radiant blackness [of Kali] – you describe. Also your descriptions and explanations and in-depth experiences of the chakras are excellent. Many thanks for sharing this with me. I know it can be of value to many who are working so hard to bring East and West, body and mind together.”
Dr. Marion Woodman, the highly regarded Jungian analyst, author of numerous works and co-author of DANCING IN THE FLAMES: THE DARK GODDESS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
“This is a moving and highly intelligent book that raises many searching questions with honesty and love. I especially enjoyed Lawrence Edwards’ fearless nakedness about the nature of evil and the nature of the dark obstacles that all true seekers at a certain level will encounter. In the sickly caramel factory that is the New Age it is profoundly invigorating to converse with a mind and heart that knows the extreme price lovers of God must be prepared to pay to come into the radiant atmosphere of union with the Beloved. Whatever small differences I may have with Dr. Lawrence Edwards on the guru question are not as important as my gratitude for his integrity and acumen.”
Andrew Harvey, renowned teacher and author of THE DIRECT PATH and SON OF MAN
"This book is full of wisdom, revelation and love. Let readers prepare themselves for transformation--and a joyful willingness to engage consciously in their own sadhana--their own spiritual path."
-Stephen Larsen, PhD.
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Podcasts and video interviews with Lawrence discussing Kundalini and spiritual development can be found at