Effortless Mindfulness for Beginners: An Introduction to Loch Kelly

When Loch Kelly was in graduate school–way back in 1981–he received a travel fellowship to study meditation in Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal. While in Sri Lanka, he completed a number of meditation retreats in the classical, Theravada Buddhist style. 

At the end of his second 10-day retreat, he remembers being very clear: “no thoughts, complete stillness, feeling calm.”  Then he got on the bus home. As the bus rolled through the mountains and tea plantations around Kandy, more and more people climbed aboard. Soon, the bus was very crowded. (If you’ve ever ridden a bus in South Asia, you know just how crowded). 

At one stop, a very drunk man got on the bus. As he pushed his way to the back, he kicked Loch right in the shin. As Loch cried out in pain, he felt the chaos of his ordinary mind come rushing back in. The peace and stillness that had taken ten days to achieve were gone in seconds. The drunk man laughed in Loch’s face, then walked away.

Months later, when Loch traveled to Nepal, he had the opportunity to meet the renowned Dzogchen master, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. After a short talk, Tulku Urgyen led Loch and the other students in a short awareness exercise. Within three minutes, Loch says, he felt the same sense of peace and clarity he had at the end of a 10-day meditation retreat. This time, it was Loch who started laughing… then crying, as he realized that what he was seeking was already right here, available at any time with a moment’s shift of awareness.

This story illustrates the difference between what Loch calls “deliberate mindfulness” practices and the Effortless Mindfulness approach he teaches today. 

Deliberate vs. Effortless Mindfulness

In deliberate mindfulness, which makes up most of the mindfulness practice that is taught today, both in Asia and the West, we learn to quiet our minds, developing concentration and attention by returning again and again to the object of our meditation, whether that’s the breath, a mantra, or a body scan. This approach is effective, but it tends to require long hours of meditation, even longer retreats, and heroic efforts on the part of the practitioner.

In the effortless mindfulness approach, Loch suggests using “small glimpses, many times” to access awareness directly, gradually training ourselves to live from a more awake state. In this approach, the goal is to shift into the basic awareness that is always present underneath our thinking minds. It’s not a “get enlightened quick” scheme, but a different approach that may feel more natural or like less of a struggle for many individuals.

Who is Loch Kelly?

Loch Kelly, M.Div., LCSW is an author, meditation teacher, and psychotherapist. (His first name is pronounced like “lock,” as in the Scottish word for lake). He’s been teaching meditation and practicing therapy for over 30 years. He worked in community mental health settings for many years and even worked with families recovering from the trauma of 9/11. He’s the founder of the nonprofit Effortless Mindfulness Institute and has worked with neuroscientists to study what happens in the brain during effortless mindfulness practice. Loch has also taught alongside Richard Schwartz, the founder of Internal Family systems therapy (IFS), as the two approaches complement each other well.

My Story

I first discovered Loch’s work over five years ago, shortly after his first book, Shift Into Freedom, was released. 

At the time, I was a young therapist working at an alcohol and drug rehab center for men. I had a steady deliberate mindfulness practice, getting up early to sit in meditation for 45 minutes each morning before work. Although I had occasional glimpses of clarity and inner peace, I often struggled with back pain, frustration, and a mind that seemed to wander incessantly. I was starting to wonder whether I had undiagnosed ADHD, and question whether I would ever make any real progress in meditation. 

When I came across Loch’s book, something about it immediately resonated with me. Here was an approach that promised not more hours, days, and years of struggle on the meditation cushion, but a natural process of shifting into the awake mind that is already our deepest nature as humans.

But what appealed to me most about Loch’s approach was his concept of awakening as the next natural stage in human development, one that includes waking up out of the small sense of self, waking in to embodiment in our physical forms, and waking out to our relationships, creativity, and work in the world. 

Glimpse Practices

One morning, back when I was working at the rehab center, my job for the day was to take a group of men on an outing to a park near the beach. We’d have a picnic lunch and spend the day playing frisbee, enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather, and trying to show these newly-sober men that it was possible to have fun without relying on substances. 

I’d arrived early, and as I sat at a picnic table with my coffee and Loch’s book, I decided to try one of the first “glimpse practices” that Loch teaches. I asked myself a question: “What’s here now, when there’s no problem to solve?” Silence. The roar of the surf. Cars passing on the road. Just the sense of being present in this moment. Awesome. I tried the question again, and again, quiet.

Although it only lasted a few moments before getting caught up in thoughts again, the silent, aware presence I experienced was a glimpse of my–and our–true nature. Being able to access this nature at any time has made a profound difference in my quality of life, and I believe it can do the same for you.

You can try this first glimpse practice, which Loch calls “no problem to solve,” for yourself right now:

Here’s another practice from Loch, called “mind the gap,” a variation on mantra-based meditations you may have experienced. Instead of focusing on the mantra, however, you’ll learn to notice the space between the words. This one always gets some good laughs when I share it with clients and colleagues:

If you feel like you’re not getting it right away, no need to worry. Although it’s called Effortless Mindfulness, in my experience, it takes some practice and experimentation for most people before this approach starts to click. 

Once it does, however, you’ve just possibly learned what author and neuroscientist Sam Harris called “without question, the most important thing I have ever been explicitly taught by another human being,” that is, how to shift out of the limited, thinking mind that we typically identify with , and into the open, limitless mind of awareness. (By the way, Sam was referring in this quote to his experience with Tulku Urgyen, the same meditation teacher who introduced Loch to this approach).

From there, in Loch’s method, you “learn to return, and train to remain” in that state of open awareness more and more of the time. 

How to Learn More

I highly recommend Loch’s two books, Shift Into Freedom and The Way of Effortless Mindfulness. If you’re only going to read one, I would start with the more recent one, The Way of Effortless Mindfulness, as it’s a little bit more succinct and reflects Loch’s evolution towards being a clearer writer. There are audiobook versions of both.

If you’re a podcast nerd like me, you should definitely check out Loch’s interviews on Deconstructing Yourself with Michael Taft (2019, 2020).

And if you’re ready to dive deeper into Effortless Mindfulness practice, Loch has a paid, monthly membership program where you get access to tons of high quality guided meditations as well as live Q&As with Loch (a mobile app is currently in development). The membership area also includes an advanced course and a 3 day online retreat that you can do at home. 

If you’re a user of the Waking Up app, Loch also has a course available within the app (look for Effortless Mindfulness in the Practice tab).

None of the links I just shared are affiliate links. I have no financial interest in writing this article, I just want to share Loch’s teachings with people who I think would enjoy them and benefit from them. And if you’re reading this, that includes you.

Since my initial experiences with Loch’s teachings, I’ve explored a number of other meditation techniques. But I keep coming back to Loch’s glimpse practices when I want to experience the pure, open awareness that spiritual traditions speak of as our true nature. Even if it’s only for a few moments, I use some form of these glimpse practices every day.

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