Can the Arizona Shooting be Linked to Yoga?

Individuals engaged in Meditation, Yoga, and Qigong sometimes report symptoms usually associated with psychosis.

Jared Loughner, the Arizona Shooter that killed six and wounded thirteen including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, reportedly participated in Tia Chi, Yoga, and Meditation classes in the years prior to the rampage on January 8.

Is there a link?

Researchers in Transpersonal Psychiatry suggest that participation in various spiritual practices such as Yoga, Meditation and Qigong can trigger psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and paranoia that mental health workers sometimes mistakenly diagnose as a mental disease, which can lead to improper treatment.

As a result, psychiatrist David Lukoff and others coauthored a new diagnosis category now included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  Referred to as the Qigong Psychotic Reaction, the DSM-IV describes this syndrome as “an acute, time-limited episode characterized by dissociative, paranoid, or other psychotic or non-psychotic symptoms.”

Gop Krishna, founder of the Kundalini Research Institute, describes his experience with psychotic-like symptoms associated with his spiritual emergence as a time of great uncertainty. "After my experience (with Kundalini), I oscillated between life and death, sanity and insanity, for nearly twelve years and experienced the indescribable ecstasies of the mystics on the one hand and the agonies of the mentally afflicted on the other. For part of this period my mental state become so acute that, when retiring to my bed at night, I was never sure whether or not I would rise alive or sane in the morning."

Can Loughner’s psychotic rampage be linked to his spiritual emergence brought on by his Yoga classes or due to a mental disorder?

Those that undergo psychotic episodes due to their spiritual emergence usually awaken to a new, positive life-changing perspective while those crippled by psychosis due to physical or emotional triggers often fall prey to ascending destructive behaviors.

According to Andrew Newberg MD, in Kundalini Rising, individuals that suffer through their physical and emotional upheaval due to their spiritual transformation reported a “greater sense of meaning and purpose in life, better interpersonal relationships, and improved perspective on their jobs and life goals.”

Contrary, Loughner’s alleged psychotic episodes did not lead to an elevated perspective, but instead, he reportedly appeared despondent and engaged in negative behaviors such as heavy drinking and drugs. And, instead of improving his relationships, he alienate those around him and even became hostile.

According to his high school friend Ashley Figueroa, as reported by CNN news, Loughner sometimes scared her with his aggressive behavior. Aztec Middle College reportedly suspended him for his hostile behavior.

So even though an individual might temporarily experience psychotic episodes through her regular and intense Yoga, Meditation, and Qigong practice, this appears to never spark destructive and dangerous behavior, but instead, usually awakens the individual to a new, positive perspective on life.

According to Benedictine Monk David Steindl-Rast (Lukoff, 2009) , “Spiritual emergence is a kind of birth pang in which you yourself go through to a fuller life, a deep life, in which some areas in your life that were not yet encompassed by this fullness of life are now integrated…Breakthroughs are often very painful, often acute and dramatic.”

Therefore, the evidence suggests that an individual engaged in a spiritual journey definitely faces risks and perils. However, these difficulties appear to not damage the soul, as in the case of Loughner, but raise the soul to new heights.

“The Journey to God…is a journey without distance to a goal that has never changed.”

--A Course in Miracles