In this episode, we take a fresh look at the journey from our everyday, habitual sense of ego-centered identity—the “small self”—toward discovering and living from our True Nature or what IFS calls Self Leadership. Through a guided glimpse practice and gentle inquiry at the end, we explore how to unblend from the thinker or manager part of the mind and shift into the spacious, compassionate presence of Self.

You’ll learn to recognize the levels of identity—from ego-centered small self to Self Essence, Self Energy, and then Self Leadership. Rather than dissolving parts or pushing them away, we honor them as expressions of natural humanity. By shifting into Awake Awareness as the foundation of Self Essence, we gain access to qualities like clarity, curiosity, and compassion, allowing us to relate to our parts from the Self within that has the capacity to heal us.

This episode offers a direct taste of what it's like to unhook from our ego's effort and rest in the open-hearted, effortless flow of Self Leadership. You'll walk away with a glimpse practice for identifying your parts, creating space around them, and leading your inner life from the natural wisdom of Self. This isn’t about spiritually bypassing or calming our parts—it’s about welcoming, listening, and returning home to who you truly are.

Mindful Glimpse
The episode features Loch offering a guided practice called “From Small self to Self Leadership.” These mindful glimpses serve as invaluable tools for experiencing ways to access the awake consciousness that is already here within all of us.

You can now explore all of Loch Kelly’s practices and teachings on the new Mindful Glimpses app, found at https://lochkelly.org/mindful-glimpses. This innovative meditation and wellness app offers daily micro-meditations, step-by-step programs, and simple-yet-advanced tools for awakening.

EM+IFS Training
If you want to explore today's topic in more depth, shifting from small self to authentic Self, please check out the Effortless Mindfulness and IFS training program.

Loch Kelly Bio
Loch is the creator of the Mindful Glimpses app, and an award-winning author, psychotherapist, and nondual meditation teacher. He is also known for his unique practical methods that support awakening as the next natural stage of human development. Backed by modern neuroscience and psychology, Loch introduces Effortless Mindfulness, which combines an ancient form of nondual meditation and IFS psychology that allows immediate access to our embodied awake nature which arises as our calm, clear, and compassionate healing capacity.

Connect with Loch:

Mobile App: https://lochkelly.org/mindful-glimpses

Website: https://lochkelly.org/...

In part two of this deep conversation, two “happy” masters of meditation, Loch Kelly and Henry Shukman, explore a range of topics and questions through the lens of awakening as a natural human potential. What can we learn about how to shift into awake mind and heart to live with and recover from injury and long Covid? What is effortless focus and flow, aka Flow Know? And why is it so important for meditation and mindfulness practitioners to understand the distinctions between conventional mindfulness and more direct paths like Zen and Effortless Mindfulness?

And finally, what are the benefits of new emergent spiritual models that integrate nondual mindfulness and Internal Family Systems? How does it work and how are models like this different from more traditional approaches to waking up and growing up? Loch and Henry Shukman engage with these questions and more.

Part 1 Recap

In part one, Loch and Henry Shukman explore their similar and unique approaches to awakening. With delight and curiosity, they share some of their own initial awakening experiences. They also discuss their process of discovering and unfolding and how they share it with students.

To this end, they unpack and illuminate the contemplative art and science of Inquiry and Koans as ways to shift out of the chattering mind and into our already awake heart mind. Henry talks about his experience with Zen Koans and Loch shares his Mahamudra approach to inquiry. Loch calls this Glimpsing, and it emphasizes immediate experiential pointers which help practitioners directly realize their already awake nature.

Henry Shukman Bio

Henry Shukman is a meditation teacher, poet, author, and co-founder of the single-path meditation app The Way. His most recent books are Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening (HarperOne) and the Zen memoir One Blade of Grass. He has taught at Google, the New York Times, Harvard Business School and Medical School, and the Institute of American Indian Arts. He has written several award-winning and bestselling books of fiction and poetry. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Guardian, Times and Sunday Times. He has an M.A. from Cambridge and an MLitt from St Andrews.

Mindful Glimpse

The episode features Loch offering a guided practice called “Learn to Stay in Your Heart.” These mindful glimpses serve as invaluable tools for experiencing ways to access the awake consciousness that is already here within all of us.

You can now explore all of Loch Kelly's practices and teachings on the new Mindful Glimpses app, found at https://lochkelly.org/mindful-glimpses. This innovative meditation and wellness app offers daily micro-meditations, step-by-step programs, and simple-yet-advanced tools for awakening.

Loch Kelly Bio

Loch is the creator of the Mindful Glimpses app, and an award-winning author, psychotherapist, and non-dual meditation teacher. He is also known for his unique practical methods that support awakening as the next natural stage of human development. Backed by modern neuroscience and psychology, Loch introduces Effortless Mindfulness, which combines an ancient form of nondual meditation and IFS psychology that allows immediate access to our embodied awake nature which arises as our calm, clear, and compassionate healing capacity.

Connect with Loch:

Mobile App: https://lochkelly.org/mindful-glimpses
Website: https://lochkelly.org/
Donate: https://lochkelly.org/donate
Podcast: https://lochkelly.org/podcast

In this deep conversation, two “happy" masters of meditation, Loch Kelly and author of Original Love, Henry Shukman, explore their similar and unique approaches to awakening. With delight and curiosity, they share some of their own initial awakening experience. They also discuss their process of discovering and unfolding and how they share it with students.

To this end, they unpack and illuminate the contemplative art and science of Inquiry and Koans as ways to shift out of the chattering mind and into our already awake heart mind. Henry talks about his experience with Zen Koans and Loch shares his Mahamudra approach to inquiry. Loch calls this Glimpsing, and it emphasizes immediate experiential pointers which help practitioners directly realize their already awake nature. Henry and Loch also lean into questions around the importance of integrating ancient wisdom approaches with contemporary models of psychology and human development.

Other key areas of their trans-traditional dialogue include recognizing ordinary experiences and pain as opportunities for awakening. They also talk about the role of personal loss in awakening and the role of personal storytelling in teaching. They both agree that awakening is the discovery of what Henry calls Original Love (instead of Original Sin) and what Loch calls Unconditional Love, which allows us to live from Awake Loving Flow.

Mindful Glimpse
The episode features Loch offering a guided practice called “Compassion Is Already Here.” These mindful glimpses serve as invaluable tools for experiencing ways to access the awake consciousness that is already here within all of us.

You can now explore all of Loch Kelly's practices and teachings on the new Mindful Glimpses app, found at https://lochkelly.org/mindful-glimpses. This innovative meditation and wellness app offers daily micro-meditations, step-by-step programs, and simple-yet-advanced tools for awakening.

Loch Kelly Bio

Loch is the creator of the Mindful Glimpses app, and an award-winning author, psychotherapist, and non-dual meditation teacher. He is also known for his unique practical methods that support awakening as the next natural stage of human development. Backed by modern neuroscience and psychology, Loch introduces Effortless Mindfulness, which combines an ancient form of nondual meditation and IFS psychology that allows immediate access to our embodied awake nature which arises as our calm, clear, and compassionate healing capacity.

Connect with Loch:

Mobile App: https://lochkelly.org/mindful-glimpses
Website: https://lochkelly.org/
Donate: https://lochkelly.org/donate
Podcast: https://lochkelly.org/podcast