"Novocaine Spirituality" is a phrase coined by Teal Swan that describes practices within spirituality that provide temporary relief rather than long term solutions and are therefore more akin to a coping mechanism or painkiller like “novocaine”.  The tricky thing about Novocaine Spirituality is that many of the practices provide relief in the short term and on their own can indeed cause awakening, they just need to be used in the right ways at the right times to ensure that they aren't being used as an escape mechanism.