In this episode, Loch unpacks how his unique approach to awakening fuses two powerful and transformative systems—Effortless Mindfulness (EM) and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Each of these systems asserts that our true Self is ever-present and inherent. We don’t need to create or develop anything to realize our true nature. In Effortless Mindfulness, we uncover this ever-present Self (aka the IFS Self) directly. Each of these systems is the missing link for the other. EM+IFS solves the psychological problem of trying to develop a strong and kind ego and also the Buddhist problem of calling the ego an illusion with the goal of “no self.”

IFS Exercises

In this episode Loch leads us through powerful IFS exercises designed to evoke the IFS Self and the shift to Self Leadership, where the ego is part of the team and neither an enemy nor an illusion.

What kind of IFS exercises and parts work therapy help us to become aware of our sub-personalities? And what role does learning the markers of the 8 c’s of the IFS Self play in living from awake loving consciousness? Loch explains how doing IFS exercises like parts mapping and healing with parts therapy is essential not only to reduce our suffering but for accessing our true nature.

What does Self leadership as the next stage of human development look like in the world in and as you and me? How do we consistently make decisions based on wisdom and love instead of our egos or our protective parts? EM and IFS offer us a model for recognizing the interdependence of all our parts, so that we can truly live from a ground of awake loving flow.

[Want to learn more about IFS and parts work? Read Loch’s article on Integrating Parts Work Therapy and Effortless Mindfulness]

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Loch Kelly Bio

Loch is the creator of the Mindful Glimpses app, and an award winning author, psychotherapist, and nondual meditation teacher. He is 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.

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.

Connect with Loch:

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

In this episode, Loch introduces you to the essential shift in the Effortless Mindfulness Awakening Process (EMAP)—Awake Aware Mind. He addresses the often elusive but essential question: What is it like to directly experience our already Awake Mind?

The goal in EMAP is not a sustained experience. Instead, we aim for an orientation, recognition, and realization of this already awake and ever-present dimension of our own consciousness. The key is to shift out of the thought-based knowing of “I think therefore I am” by having awareness rest back and know itself as both the subject and object of knowing. From this spacious and pervasive way of simply being, you are aware of pure awareness—as what knows directly—without needing to refer back to thought for a second opinion. To help facilitate this shift, Loch leads you through three powerful experiential inquiries and glimpses.

Mindful Glimpses:
(00:13:33)-Embodied awareness to effortless awareness
(00:58:03)-Awareness of senses to awareness of awareness
(01:33:43)-Finding awake awareness between your thoughts

In the first Glimpse, you’ll traverse everyday mind into the conventional mindful witness. From here, you’ll attend to the contents of body and brain and then turn awareness around to look through the meditator and discover Awake Aware Mind. Your Awake Mind is free from fear, worry, and shame and welcomes all positive and negative experiences as waves on the ocean of our awake humanity.

In the second Glimpse, you’ll unhook from thinking and move through the doorways of seeing and then hearing, decentering your normal head-centered awareness. Then you’ll move into hearing and the auditory field, mingling awareness with space so that awake space is both outside and within all of life.

And in the final Glimpse, Loch guides you into an inquiry to help you discover and identify the ever-subtle awareness of awareness between thoughts and words. This is a simple yet profound practice recommended by the Dalai Lama.

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 nondual meditation teacher. He is 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/
Podcast: https://lochkelly.org/podcast
Donate: https://lochkelly.org/donate

In this podcast episode, Loch explores the three main obstacles to awakening. As part of the Effortless Mindfulness Awakening Process, he emphasizes the importance of having a map, a method, and markers to help us understand where we are on the path at any given time. In Effortless Mindfulness, that map is called the Five Levels of Mind, and Loch spends time illuminating the different levels. He then goes on to pinpoint the three biggest obstacles that prevent us from truly awakening to and abiding in the deeper levels of our being.

The Three Main Obstacles

The first obstacle to awakening is that many people have an incomplete map of the awakening process. That means people often start on the path of awakening but don’t always have the necessary tools to follow through.

The second obstacle to awakening is our confusion around what to do with our common experience of ego identity. Many psychologies try to balance and strengthen our ego while many meditation systems ask us to see the ego as an illusion that’s unnecessary. Loch leads us in a glimpse to appreciate our “ego” or “problem solve” identity and then shift out of it as the center but to include it as a helpful part of us.

And the third major obstacle to awakening is spiritual bypassing and getting lost in the mistaken assumption that delightful spiritual experiences of pure awareness, no self, peace, and ecstasy are the end point of awakening. Instead, Loch emphasizes an awake, embodied, and heart-based connection to the community of life.

Loch unpacks these obstacles in depth. He stresses the importance of thanking and acknowledging all the parts of oneself, including protectors and exiles. He also highlights why off-the-cushion practices and entering flow are essential to integrating awakening into daily life, promoting a sense of peace, well-being, and optimal functioning.

Guided Glimpse Practice

(00:22:02) The episode features Loch offering a guided glimpse practice called “The Everyday Problem Solver Is the Obstacle.” 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 nondual meditation teacher. He is 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/
Podcast: https://lochkelly.org/podcast
Donate: https://lochkelly.org/donate

The Effortless Mindfulness Podcast is brought to you by our 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity. Our mission is to make learning how to tap into your inner resources simple, teachable, and accessible to everyone.