Glossary

I use a lot of words and concepts that may be unfamiliar, and I want to share my personal definitions for them. There are many different definitions, and these are based on my own experience and learning.

Chronic Illness
Those of us that experience chronic illness have our own definitions. For me, every day is different, and there are many factors that affect this. It is a long term health condition that limits your ability. This can be anything from fatigue to mobility issues.

Dharma
This is a Buddhist term that means right direction and is what you were born to do. Living your dharma means living your life’s purpose.

Felt Sense
This is an experience that, you’ll know when you connect to it. It may not be a tangible sense like touch or sight, but it is a familiar one. It is a kind of awareness of multiple aspects of self that allows you to deepen your connection to your values, identity, and experience.

Holistic
While there are so many definitions of this, I am a firm believer in the fact that we are multifaceted beings! Our identities, experiences, walks of life, communities, family, and more all affect our dis-ease and ability to connect to wellness.

Inner Light [Knowledge, Power]
You’ll see versions of this throughout this site and my work! Your inner light, inner knowledge, and inner power can only be defined by you. I like to envision this as light, bright, warm, burning—a part of myself that survives everything and can be reignited at any point.

Neurodivergence
This is actually not seen as a medical term, rather for me an overarching word to encapsulate how brains work in a variety of ways. Generally speaking, it can mean a difference in thinking, behaving, processing, and responding to situations and stimuli.

Somatic
Directly meaning ‘relating to the body’, somatic work has become popularized. For me, somatic has become defined by embodied activities and healing.

Trauma
Whether defined as a distressing event, or an experience outside of an individuals ability to process, trauma is a disruption to your nervous systems ability to regulate as it was designed to.