Dr. David Hawkins speaks a lot about this awakening and its inherent dangers/benefits in his book, The Eye of the Eye. I highly recommend reading it to anyone interested in the higher spiritual paths. As shr33 mentioned previously, there are many free and natural methods of awakening these higher levels of consciousness, including self inquiry (asking "Who/What Am I?"), continuous devotion/surrender to the truth in every moment (as in the third step of AA), chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo (devotion to the mystic law of the lotus sutra), or other mantras.
See:
http://veritaspub.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=29&osCsid=ef2ac9e050a6e6d4636fea9881f2b3bd
Best wishes,
Robert
