Spiritual Glossary: 54 Terms, Explained Honestly
- Sylvia Leifheit
- 1 day ago
- 13 min read
Every field has its own words. This one has more than most, and they are rarely explained plainly — which makes it hard to know what you are looking at, let alone what would suit you.
Below are 54 terms you will meet on this site and across the wider field. Each one says what it is, what usually happens, and — the part most glossaries leave out — what the evidence actually shows and whether the work is regulated. Where we have written a full guide, the entry links to it.
You do not need any of these words to begin. They are here for when you want them.
Practices and Modalities
Reiki
A Japanese practice in which a practitioner places their hands on or just above the body, with the intention of supporting the recipient's own capacity to rest and recover. You stay fully clothed and usually lie down for 45 to 90 minutes. Clinical evidence for effects beyond deep relaxation is limited, and the title “Reiki practitioner” is not a protected profession in most countries.
Distance Reiki
The same practice carried out while practitioner and recipient are in different places, usually with a scheduled time and a call before and after. Practitioners describe working with intention rather than proximity; recipients typically lie down and rest during the session. There is no accepted physical mechanism for this, and no clinical evidence of effects at a distance — many people still describe the held time as valuable.
Energy Work
An umbrella term for practices based on the idea that a person has an energy field that can be sensed and supported — Reiki, Healing Touch, Polarity Therapy and others sit under it. Sessions are usually quiet, clothed and hands-on or hands-near. The underlying model is not recognised by conventional medicine, and the term itself carries no qualification requirement.
Shamanic Journeying
A practice in which a person enters a light trance, usually to steady drumming, to seek guidance through inner imagery. A facilitator holds the space, sets an intention with you, and helps you make sense of what came afterwards. It draws on Indigenous traditions from several continents, is not a clinical treatment, and no qualification is required to offer it.
Shamanic Healing
A broader set of practices — soul retrieval, extraction, ancestral work — carried out by someone trained in a specific lineage. Sessions often combine journeying with ceremony and can be emotionally intense. Traditions differ sharply in what they permit, training is entirely unregulated in Western countries, and lineage matters more than any certificate.
Sound Bath
A group session in which you lie down while singing bowls, gongs or voice fill the room, typically for 45 to 60 minutes. Nothing is asked of you beyond lying still and listening. Research on sound and relaxation is early but real; claims about specific frequencies healing specific conditions are not supported.
Cacao Ceremony
A gathering in which ceremonial cacao is prepared and drunk together, usually with music, intention-setting and time for reflection. Cacao contains theobromine, a mild stimulant, so effects on alertness are physiological and modest. Descriptions of heart opening are experiential rather than measured, and cacao interacts with some antidepressants — worth checking before you attend.
Yoga Nidra
A guided practice done lying down, in which a teacher leads attention systematically through the body while you stay on the edge of sleep. Sessions run 20 to 45 minutes and require no flexibility or experience. Studies on yoga nidra for sleep and stress are small but consistently positive; it is one of the better-evidenced practices in this glossary.
Yin Yoga
A slow form of yoga in which poses are held for three to five minutes, working into connective tissue rather than muscle. Props are used generously and the pace is deliberately uncomfortable in a quiet way. It is physically gentle but emotionally not always — long holds surface things, which is part of why people return to it.
Hatha Yoga
The broad tradition most Western yoga descends from, combining postures, breath and stillness. A class moves at a moderate pace with time to settle into each position. Yoga teacher training is unregulated in most countries; the 200-hour certificate is an industry convention, not a licence.
Coherent Breathing
Breathing at roughly five to six breaths per minute, in and out evenly, usually for ten to twenty minutes. You can do it alone with a timer or be guided. The effect on heart rate variability is measurable and well documented, which makes this one of the few practices here with a clear physiological basis.
Somatic Practice
Approaches that work through bodily sensation rather than through talking — noticing tension, tremor, breath and impulse. A session is slow, with frequent pauses to check what you notice. Somatic Experiencing and related methods have a growing evidence base for trauma; the wider field is mixed, and somatic coach is not a protected title.
Past Life Regression
A guided hypnotic process in which a facilitator leads you toward imagery experienced as memory from another lifetime. Sessions run one to three hours and often end with time to integrate what surfaced. There is no evidence that recovered content is historical, and induced imagery can feel entirely real — which is precisely why facilitator skill and aftercare matter.
Mediumship
A reading in which a medium describes impressions they attribute to people who have died. Sessions last 30 to 60 minutes, in person or online, and good practice includes agreeing beforehand what you do and do not want to hear. No claim in this field has been demonstrated under controlled conditions, and the work is entirely unregulated — grief makes people vulnerable to both comfort and exploitation.
Intuitive Coaching
Coaching that combines ordinary goal-setting conversation with the coach's intuitive impressions. Sessions look much like other coaching: a regular hour, questions, agreed next steps. Coach is not a protected title anywhere, and intuitive coaching is not therapy — a good practitioner will say so and refer on when something clinical appears.
Spiritual Cleansing
Practices intended to clear accumulated heaviness from a person or space — smoke, salt, water, sound or intention. They range from a two-minute daily habit to a formal ceremony. Nothing here is measurable; the value most people report is the ritual of marking a transition, which is a real psychological effect even without a metaphysical one.
Kundalini
Energy described in Indian traditions as resting at the base of the spine and rising through practice. Work with it involves specific breath, movement and mantra, traditionally under close guidance. Rapid or unguided practice is associated with distressing states sometimes called kundalini crisis — this is one of the few practices where a teacher's caution is more important than their charisma.
Pranayama
The formal breathing practices of yoga, from simple lengthened exhales to complex retention patterns. A session may be five minutes or an hour, usually seated. Slow-breathing effects on the nervous system are well documented; retention practices carry real cardiovascular considerations and should not be learned from video alone.
Mantra
A sound, word or phrase repeated aloud or silently, drawn from Sanskrit, Tibetan and other traditions or chosen personally. Practice may be a fixed count, a set time, or singing together in a group. Effects on attention and mood are consistent with other focused-repetition practices; claims tied to specific syllables are traditional rather than tested.
Channeling
A practice in which someone speaks or writes material they attribute to a source other than themselves. Sessions vary from a quiet reading to a group transmission. There is no evidence for an external source, the practice is unregulated, and the sensible test is the same as for any advice: does it hold up when you examine it afterwards.
States and Experiences
Spiritual Awakening
A period in which a person's sense of meaning, identity or priorities shifts markedly, sometimes gradually and sometimes abruptly. It can feel expansive and destabilising at once, and often disrupts work and relationships. It is not a diagnosis; where symptoms include sleeplessness, confusion or fear, a clinical assessment belongs alongside spiritual support, not instead of it.
Spiritual Bypassing
Using spiritual ideas or practices to avoid difficult emotions or unresolved situations rather than to meet them. It shows up as premature forgiveness, insistent positivity, or treating ordinary distress as a lesson. The term comes from psychotherapist John Welwood and is widely used within the field — it is a criticism the community makes of itself, which is a good sign.
Feeling Ungrounded
A described state of being unanchored — spacey, disconnected from the body, difficult to settle. People notice it after intense practice, stress, travel or loss. It is a common experience, not a condition, and simple physical approaches often help faster than conceptual ones.
Grounding
Practices that bring attention back to the body and the present — feet on the floor, weight, breath, contact with the ground. They take one to ten minutes and need nothing. The underlying mechanisms overlap with well-studied attention and breathing techniques; this is among the most reliably useful entries here.
Soul Exhaustion
A depletion that sleep does not repair, often described as being tired of oneself rather than tired in the body. People reach for it when burnout does not quite fit. It is a descriptive term, not a diagnosis — and it overlaps closely enough with depression that ruling that out first is the responsible order.
Karmic Connection
A relationship experienced as unusually charged or fated, often intense and difficult. The idea draws on Indian concepts of karma, though popular usage has drifted far from the original. Nothing here is verifiable, and the framing carries a risk worth naming: calling a harmful relationship karmic can become a reason to stay in it.
Spiritual Integration
The work of turning an experience — a session, a retreat, an insight — into something that changes daily life. It usually looks unremarkable: journaling, rest, conversation, small adjustments over weeks. Practitioners increasingly treat it as the more important half of the work, and the absence of integration support is a fair reason to question an offer.
Embodiment
Living an understanding through the body rather than holding it as an idea. Practices include movement, breath, and simply noticing sensation during ordinary activity. The word is used loosely across the field; asked precisely, it means the difference between knowing something and being changed by it.
Inner Work
The deliberate, usually solitary practice of examining one's own patterns — through writing, meditation, dialogue or ritual. It is ongoing rather than a course with an end. The term is borrowed from Jungian psychology and is used in this field more broadly than Jung intended.
Nervous System Regulation
Practices aimed at moving out of states of alarm or shutdown into settled alertness — breath, orientation, movement, safe contact. Sessions are short and repeated rather than long and rare. This is the most clinically grounded concept in this glossary; the underlying physiology is established, while some popular applications of polyvagal language outrun the research.
Body-Mind Connection
The two-way relationship between physical state and mental state — stress showing up as tension, posture affecting mood. It is the shared ground where conventional medicine and holistic practice actually meet. The general principle is well established; specific claims that a given emotion causes a given illness are not.
Spiritual Hygiene
Small repeated practices for tending one's inner state, in the sense that dental hygiene is repeated rather than dramatic — a short morning practice, a boundary, a clearing at the end of the day. The value lies in regularity, not intensity. Nothing here is measurable, and nothing here is expensive.
Tools and Symbols
Tarot
A deck of 78 cards used as a structured prompt for reflection, laid out in spreads and interpreted in context. A reading takes 30 to 60 minutes and works best when you arrive with a question rather than a demand for prediction. There is no evidence cards predict events; their usefulness is as a mirror that makes you articulate what you already suspect.
Divination
The broad family of practices that seek insight through a structured system — cards, casting, pendulum, observation of natural signs. Methods differ enormously in tradition and formality. None has demonstrated predictive validity; what they reliably do is externalise a decision so you can look at it.
Akashic Records
In theosophical and New Age thought, a described repository of all events and experiences, accessed by a trained reader in a meditative state. A session runs about an hour and is usually recorded. The concept has no basis outside the tradition that produced it, and no verification is possible — readings are best treated as reflective material rather than fact.
Flower of Life
A geometric pattern of overlapping circles found in decoration across many ancient cultures, adopted in modern spiritual practice as a symbol of interconnection. It appears on objects, in meditation focus, and in design. Its ancient uses were largely decorative; the metaphysical meanings attached to it are modern.
Sacred Geometry
The study of geometric forms and proportions treated as meaningful rather than merely mathematical — the golden ratio, Platonic solids, the Flower of Life. It appears in architecture, art and contemplative practice across traditions. The mathematics is real; the claim that these proportions carry inherent spiritual power is a belief, not a finding.
Chakras
Energy centres described in Indian traditions as arranged along the spine, each associated with particular themes and functions. Practices work with them through breath, sound, movement and attention. The seven-chakra system familiar in the West is a simplified and partly modern rendering of older, more varied sources, and there is no anatomical correlate.
The Aura
A described field surrounding the body, which some practitioners report perceiving as colour or texture. Aura readings and aura photography are offered as services, the latter measuring skin conductivity rather than any field. No perception of an aura has been demonstrated under controlled conditions.
Crystal Healing
The practice of placing or carrying stones chosen for attributed properties, alone or during a session. It is often combined with other energy work rather than offered on its own. Controlled studies find effects indistinguishable from placebo — which does not make the practice worthless, but does mean claims of physical healing should be treated as unsupported.
Astrology
A system interpreting the positions of celestial bodies at a moment in time as meaningful for character and timing. A natal chart reading takes an hour or more and is usually recorded. Astrology has been tested repeatedly and has not demonstrated predictive accuracy; it remains widely used as a language for self-reflection.
Community and Formats
Spiritual Circle
A small recurring group that meets to practise together — sharing, meditation, ritual or study — usually with a facilitator and an agreed structure. Groups run from four to about twenty people. Confidentiality and a clear agreement about what is shared are what separate a functioning circle from an uncomfortable one.
Retreat
A residential gathering over several days, combining practice, rest and shared meals away from ordinary life. Formats range from silent to highly social. The intensity is the point and also the risk — ask what support exists if something difficult surfaces, and what happens in the weeks afterwards.
Spiritual Immersion
A concentrated period of practice, usually shorter and more focused than a retreat, built around one tradition or method. It may be a weekend or a single long day. The word is used loosely; ask specifically what the schedule is before booking.
Spiritual Event
Any gathering built around practice or teaching — a workshop, talk, ceremony, festival or online session. Online events increasingly run over video with recordings afterwards. Format varies so widely that the useful questions are always the same: who is leading, how many people, and what is actually going to happen.
Spiritual Community
An ongoing group of people who practise or explore together, online or in a place. It differs from an audience in that people know each other and turn up over time. A healthy one tolerates disagreement and makes leaving easy — the absence of either is the clearest warning sign there is.
Grief Ritual
A deliberate ceremony marking a loss, alone or with others, using objects, words, movement or time set apart. It can be improvised or drawn from a tradition. Research on ritual and bereavement is genuinely encouraging: structured mourning appears to help, independent of belief.
Sacred Sites
Places treated as significant by a tradition — temples, wells, mountains, stone circles — visited for practice, pilgrimage or reflection. Visits range from a quiet hour to an organised journey. Many are living places of worship or belong to Indigenous communities, so how you behave there is a question of respect before it is a question of experience.
Choosing, Safety and Concepts
Red Flags in Spiritual Healing
Warning signs that a practitioner or group is unsafe: pressure to decide quickly, discouraging outside contact, escalating payments, claims to cure diagnosed illness, or discouraging medical care. None of these is subtle once you know to look. Because this field is almost entirely unregulated, recognising them yourself is the main protection available.
Trauma-Informed Care
An approach that assumes participants may carry trauma and builds in consent, pacing, choice and the ability to stop. In practice it means being told what will happen before it happens and being able to decline any part of it. The term is increasingly used as a marketing label — ask what it concretely changes in the session.
Psychic Abilities
An umbrella term for reported capacities such as clairvoyance, clairsentience or precognition, offered in readings and sometimes taught in courses. Sessions resemble mediumship or intuitive readings in format. Over a century of controlled testing has produced no reliably replicated result; the field remains unregulated and unverified.
The Divine Feminine
A concept describing qualities such as receptivity, intuition and cyclical rhythm as a spiritual principle, often paired with a divine masculine. It appears in women's circles, ritual and writing. The framing is contested within the field itself for mapping human traits onto gender — worth knowing before joining a group built on it.
Universal Consciousness
The idea that awareness is fundamental and shared rather than produced individually by each brain. It appears across Vedantic, Buddhist and modern spiritual thought, and occasionally in philosophy of mind. It is a metaphysical position, not a finding — presented as established science, it is being oversold.
Spiritual Alchemy
The reading of historical alchemy as a symbolic description of inner transformation rather than a chemical process. It informs Jungian psychology and various contemplative traditions. Whether historical alchemists intended it this way is genuinely disputed by historians; as a framework for describing change, it stands on its own.
Not sure which of these fits
You do not need the right term to begin. Describe what you are going through in your own words, and find the people and practices that fit — online or near you, through the free Spine app.
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