teachings
Methods and practices
These are the methods and practices used by non-dual traditions to point toward the recognition of our true nature. Each offers a different doorway into the same essential understanding.
For thousands of years, human beings have turned inward in search of what cannot be found in the world. The practices gathered here come from that long tradition—from the sages of ancient India who composed the Upanishads, from Zen masters in China and Japan, from the Desert Fathers of early Christianity, from Tibetan yogis in mountain caves, and from contemporary teachers who have made these methods accessible to modern seekers.
These methods differ in approach but share a common aim: to reveal what is already present. Some use questions to turn the mind back on itself. Others cultivate stillness until the sense of separation dissolves. Some are devotional, requiring surrender. Others are ruthlessly analytical, stripping away everything that can be negated until only awareness remains. The traditions have different names for what is revealed—the Self, rigpa, Buddha-nature, the ground of being—but they point to the same recognition.
A few things are worth knowing before you begin.
First, there is a paradox at the heart of this work. You are already what you seek. No method can give you what you already are. And yet, for most people, practice is necessary. The great teachers—Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, the Zen patriarchs—spoke of our inherent freedom while also giving their students practices to do, sometimes for years. The effort is not to achieve something new but to clear away what obscures what has always been here. Think of clouds passing in front of the sun: the sun does not need to be created, only revealed.
Second, depth matters more than breadth. It is tempting to collect methods, to move from one to the next when progress feels slow. But the traditions consistently advise otherwise. Find a practice that resonates and stay with it. Self-inquiry, for example, may seem simple—just asking "Who am I?"—but it can take years to understand what the question is really pointing to. One method, pursued with sincerity, will take you further than a dozen approached superficially.
Third, a teacher can be invaluable. Books and instructions can only go so far. A qualified teacher can see where you are stuck, correct misunderstandings, and offer guidance tailored to where you actually are rather than where you think you are. This does not mean surrendering your discernment—trust must be earned—but the traditions unanimously affirm that the presence of someone who has walked the path can accelerate and deepen your own journey. If no teacher is available, the teachings themselves can serve as guide, along with the silent presence that is always with you.
Fourth, be patient with yourself. Thoughts will arise during practice. Restlessness, doubt, boredom—these are not signs of failure but part of the process. Ramana Maharshi taught that what lies hidden must rise up in order to be released. The practice is not to suppress experience but to see through it. Grace and effort work together: your sincere attempt is itself a response to something drawing you inward.
Finally, remember that these methods are fingers pointing at the moon. Do not mistake the finger for what it points to. The practice is not the goal; it is a means of discovering what is already so.
A method of turning inward by repeatedly asking "Who am I?" to dissolve the false 'I' and reveal the Self.
Core instruction
When any thought arises, ask: "To whom does this thought arise?" The answer is "To me." Then inquire: "Who am I?"
Abiding in the bare sense of "I Am" without adding any identity or thought until its root is transcended.
Core instruction
Hold onto the sense "I Am" without adding anything to it—no name, no form, no history. Just pure being.
A method of directly perceiving that, from the first-person view, there is no head—only open, aware space.
Core instruction
Point at where others see your face. What do you see there? Not a head, but open, boundless space—capacity for the world.
A classical Vedic method of negating everything that is not the Self, revealing pure awareness.
Core instruction
"Not this, not this"—systematically recognize that you are not anything that can be perceived or conceived.
Disidentifying from thoughts, emotions, and body by taking the stance of the unchanging witness.
Core instruction
Notice that you can observe all experiences—thoughts, feelings, sensations. Rest as the aware witness, untouched by what is witnessed.
Awareness watching awareness
Michael Langford, Sri Atmananda
Letting awareness rest in and observe itself, dissolving duality between observer and observed.
Core instruction
Withdraw attention from all objects. Let awareness be aware of itself—awareness watching awareness.
A rational, experiential inquiry that deconstructs perception to reveal that the perceiver is awareness itself.
Core instruction
Investigate any experience and discover that the perceiver, perceiving, and perceived are not three separate things but one seamless awareness.
Using discrimination and understanding to see the unreality of the ego and the reality of Brahman.
Core instruction
Through discrimination, recognize: I am not the body-mind; I am the awareness in which all appears.
A meditation practice pointing directly to the mind's nature as open, luminous awareness.
Core instruction
Look directly at the mind itself. See its empty, luminous nature—aware yet without substance.
A direct recognition of rigpa, the innate, primordial awareness, beyond effort or elaboration.
Core instruction
Recognize and rest in rigpa—the natural, uncontrived awareness that has always been present.
Non-striving awareness where nothing is sought, nothing added—simply being, here and now.
Core instruction
Just sit. No goal, no technique, no seeking—complete presence with whatever is.
Bringing attention back to the fact of being present, remembering "I am" in the midst of activity.
Core instruction
Remember yourself. While engaged in any activity, simultaneously sense: "I am here, doing this, now."
Perceiving that all objects are made only of knowing—consciousness modulating as experience.
Core instruction
Look at any experience and notice that it is made entirely of knowing. The object and the knowing of it are not two separate things.
Realizing the mind is like a mirror—reflecting everything, stained by nothing.
Core instruction
Like a mirror reflecting all things equally while remaining unchanged, recognize awareness as untouched by its contents.
Recognizing waking life as a dream appearing in awareness and "waking up" from identification.
Core instruction
Recognize that this waking experience, like a dream, is appearing in and made of awareness.
Total surrender of the individual self to the Divine, where the "I" dissolves in love.
Core instruction
Give up the sense of being a separate doer. Release all to the Divine.
Look at the looker
Robert Adams, John Sherman
A turn of attention toward the source of looking itself, beyond all mental objects.
Core instruction
Turn attention toward the one who is looking. Not what is seen, but that which sees.
The Cloud of Unknowing
Anonymous Christian mystic (14th century)
Placing all thoughts beneath a "cloud of forgetting" and resting in the silent mystery of God.
Core instruction
Release all thoughts beneath a "cloud of forgetting." Rest in loving unknowing, reaching toward the divine mystery.
Clarifying the natural state
Tibetan Dzogchen / Mahamudra
Letting the mind rest in its uncontrived, natural condition, which is already awakened.
Core instruction
Stop modifying. Let the mind rest in its natural condition, without improving or changing anything.
Engaging paradoxical questions to exhaust the conceptual mind and reveal original nature.
Core instruction
Hold the koan with complete intensity until the conceptual mind exhausts itself and truth is revealed directly.
Resting steadily in the sense of being—the "I" that shines in the heart—beyond thought.
Core instruction
Rest steadily in the heart—the source of "I"—as pure being, beyond coming and going.
Abiding in and pointing to the wordless presence from which all arises and to which all returns.
Core instruction
Rest in silence—not the absence of sound, but the fullness of presence beyond words.
A gentle turning of attention toward awareness itself, known directly and effortlessly.
Core instruction
Notice that you are aware. Rest in this knowing. Be aware of being aware.
Seeing reality just as it is, without concept or filter—"chop wood, carry water."
Core instruction
See what is, without adding thought. Just this, as it is.
A refined philosophical and experiential stripping away of all that is not the Self.
Core instruction
Systematically negate each of the five sheaths covering the Self, revealing the witness that remains.
Inquiry into thought
Krishnamurti, Buddhism, Tolle
Observing how thought creates division and seeing directly that awareness precedes thought.
Core instruction
Watch thought without involvement. See how it creates division. Notice the awareness that is prior to all thinking.