Glossary of Key Terms

(For Reference)

This glossary offers brief, functional definitions of key terms used throughout the course. These terms are not presented as fixed truths or philosophical positions. They are practical ways of pointing to lived experience.

Different words may work better for different people. If a term doesn’t resonate, feel free to translate it into language that does.

Awareness

The capacity by which experience is known. Awareness is not an object, state, or special experience. It is the context in which sensations, thoughts, emotions, and perceptions appear. Awareness does not need to be created or maintained.

Attention

The selective aspect of awareness that highlights particular experiences. Attention may rest on sounds, bodily sensations, thoughts, or emotions and naturally shifts from moment to moment. Attention moves; awareness does not.

Identification

The process by which thoughts, emotions, sensations, or roles are experienced as “me” or “mine.” Identification often intensifies stress by making experiences feel personal, fixed, or threatening.

Nondual

Referring to experience as it is before being divided into a separate observer and something observed. In this course, the term is used functionally, to describe a way of relating to experience, not as a philosophical claim or belief system.

Self-Sense

The felt sense of being a central “me” to whom experience is happening. The self-sense may feel solid or subtle and often becomes more noticeable during effort, stress, or self-evaluation.

Non-Interference

Allowing experience to unfold without compulsive internal management, resistance, or commentary. Non-interference does not mean passivity or inaction; it means responding when appropriate rather than reacting automatically.

Grounding

Returning attention to bodily sensation and ordinary sensory experience to support stability and orientation. Grounding can be especially helpful during strong emotions, stress, or moments of disconnection.

Experience

Anything that can be noticed, including sensations, thoughts, emotions, images, sounds, and perceptions. Experience is what appears within awareness, moment by moment.

Contraction

A felt narrowing or tightening of experience, often associated with stress, fear, or effort. Contraction may show up physically, emotionally, or mentally and is not a problem to eliminate.

Openness

The quality of awareness that allows experience to appear without resistance or exclusion. Openness is not something to create; it is often noticed when effort softens.

Effort

Any attempt to control, improve, or maintain experience internally. Effort is not inherently wrong, but unnecessary effort can reinforce stress and the sense of a controlling self.

Allowing

Letting experience be as it is, without trying to change, suppress, or resolve it. Allowing does not mean liking or agreeing with what is present.

Reactivity

Automatic responses driven by habit, fear, or identification. Reactivity often feels urgent and narrow, with little sense of choice.

Response

A more spacious and considered action that arises when experience is met with awareness. Response tends to feel clearer and less compelled than reactivity.

Integration

The process by which insight or understanding becomes expressed in daily life. Integration is gradual, uneven, and ongoing.

Regulation

The natural settling of the nervous system when experience is met without resistance. Regulation is supported by awareness but may also involve rest, movement, or external support.

Ordinary Awareness

Awareness as it is in everyday life — not mystical, altered, or special. This course emphasizes ordinary awareness rather than peak experiences.

A Note on Language

These terms are meant to be practical tools, not fixed definitions. Language is used here to point toward experience, not to describe it perfectly. If a term feels confusing or unhelpful, it can be set aside.