What Comes After the First Glimpse? Loch Kelly on Awakening and Flow

Amanda Wilson · 2026-09-15

### The First Glimpse Is Just the Beginning You've probably had one of those moments. Everything feels open. Quiet. Like the weight of being "you" just lifted for a second. Maybe it happened on a walk, in the shower, or right after a long exhale in meditation. That's what meditation teacher Loch Kelly calls the first glimpse. And according to him, it's not the finish line. It's the starting gun. In a recent conversation with host Michael Taft, Kelly unpacked what actually comes after that initial taste of openness. And honestly? It's a lot more interesting than the standard "just keep meditating" advice. ### Waking Up vs. Waking With Here's the distinction that stopped me in my tracks. - **Waking up** is recognizing openness, stillness, and the absence of a separate self. It's the classic awakening moment. - **Waking with** is what happens when appearances — sounds, sights, thoughts, feelings — are seen as inseparable from that awake awareness. Nothing is excluded. Everything belongs. Kelly calls this "one taste." It's not about escaping experience. It's about experiencing everything *as* awareness itself. Think of it like this: waking up is noticing the sky. Waking with is realizing the clouds *are* the sky. Same thing, different framing. ### Flow States Aren't a Side Quest Most people treat flow states like a productivity hack. You know the drill — get in the zone, crush your to-do list, feel like a superhero for 90 minutes. But Kelly and Taft frame flow differently. Flow isn't something you manufacture. It's something you *recognize*. It's a natural byproduct of no longer splitting yourself into "the one who's doing" and "the thing being done." When that split dissolves, action becomes effortless. Not because you're trying harder, but because there's no friction left. > "The glimpse shows you what's possible. Living from it shows you who you actually are." ### Why This Matters for Your Practice If you've been chasing peak experiences — the next retreat, the next big insight, the next moment of clarity — this conversation is a gentle redirect. Kelly's point isn't that glimpses don't matter. They do. They're doorways. But doorways are meant to be walked through, not camped in. The real work is letting that openness bleed into ordinary life. Doing dishes. Answering emails. Sitting in traffic. That's where "one taste" gets tested. ### A Simple Way to Start You don't need a 10-day silent retreat to explore this. Try this the next time you notice a moment of stillness: - Don't grab it. Don't analyze it. - Instead, ask: *What here is not already aware?* - Let the answer be nothing. That's it. That's the whole practice in miniature. Not adding anything. Just noticing what's already there. Kelly and Taft go much deeper in their full conversation — covering the stages after awakening, how flow states relate to non-dual awareness, and why the phrase "one taste" isn't just poetic. It's literal. If you've ever wondered what happens *after* the honeymoon phase of awakening, this is the conversation you've been waiting for.