Much has been written on Kundalini and Tantra, it is a vast topic, although very little of it is available in English, so we must rely on the little information we do have and personal experience.
I am speaking for myself here, but allowing the experience to unfold naturally is what worked for me.
I am now fully convinced that Kundalini is a (the) Goddess, she is intelligent universal energy in a localised form, which we call Shakti or Shekinah in Hebrew. In our culture, she is symbolised by the dove, having her origins in the Dove Goddess Ishtar, Queen of Heaven, the female side of God in the trinity.
To me, Kundalini isn’t just a mystical, but also a religious experience, it involves surrender to a higher power, in this case, the female side of God, the Goddess. This dualism is usually referred to as Shiva/Shakti in Hinduism and often they are merged into one being, with one side female, the other side male, to indicate that duality ceases to exist once Unity is achieved.
The Goal of Yoga is to achieve unity and this is done by raising Shakti (the Goddess Kundalini) up along the Sushumna (central spinal channel) all the way to the Sahasrara, which signifies the thousand petalled-lotus that blossoms on top of the head as the Kundalini pierces the last knot and its energy is finally merged with Shiva (the male creative power of the universe) in the space above the head.
This is not only a mystical, but also a sexual experience, often depicted in Tantric art. If you are a male, you merge with the Goddess (or any tantric Goddess that She might manifest for this purpose) energetically, which is a sexual union of the highest order, it is the very same process, that creates and destroys the universe.
In the beginning, Shiva and Shakti, male and female, separated, to create the dualistic universe, when they merge again, matter will be destroyed and only energy will remain, hence the dualistic, material universe will cease to exist.
When you raise Shakti and merge her with Shiva, you achieve the same goal on a smaller scale, you destroy your ego, your own materialistic Self and allow for a new Self, an infant god, to be born, one that is no longer tied (with ropes of matter, called gunas) to the material universe.
The new Self is non-dual, in this world, but not of it, experiencing and enjoying the world, but without forming any attachments to it (see Krishna’s speech to this effect in the Bhagavad Gita).
So, in this sense, letting go, of everything, is pretty much the first step on this tantric path. When she rises, her fire will burn all attachments and past Karma, the soul will be completely purified, but the old ego will die and only the Self (Atman) will remain.
Since the Goddess is Self-Aware and infinitely more intelligent than any human, it is best to let her rise and work her way up at the pace that She herself considers best. Forcing her won’t work anyway, but if you try to raise your energies prematurely and treat her like an inanimate tool, the consequences can be quite severe and so this is to be avoided. Conversely, trusting in her and surrendering to her higher judgement is likely to yield, positive and swift results. It may even happen, as it has in my case and in many other cases, that she will appear to you in person and do any adjustments or confer gifts (shaktipat) onto you in that manner.
The entire religion of Shaktism (a branch of Hinduism) is essentially based on this concept and it seems to have the best approach to completing the Tantric path. Even mainstream RHP practitioners (such as Tibetan Lamas, Hindu Gurus, etc… ) acknowledge the power of Goddesses as being the best and swiftest path to liberation.