What Comes After Your First Awakening Glimpse?

Amanda Wilson · 2026-09-15

### The Glimpse Is Just the Beginning Most of us have had at least one moment where everything just... stopped. The mental chatter went quiet. The sense of being a separate self loosened its grip, even if only for a few seconds. Meditation teacher Loch Kelly calls this 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 breaks down what actually happens after that initial opening. Because here's the thing nobody tells you: the first glimpse can be profound, but it doesn't automatically stick. You can wake up in one moment and feel completely lost in the next. ### Waking Up vs. Waking With Kelly draws a distinction that's worth sitting with. He separates "waking up" from "waking with." Waking up is that recognition of openness, stillness, and the absence of a separate self. It's the classic awakening experience — the one people chase after for years. But waking with is different. It's when appearances — thoughts, sensations, emotions, the whole show — are seen as inseparable from awake awareness itself. Kelly calls this "one taste." Nothing is rejected. Nothing is added. Everything is just... here, and it's all made of the same aware space. That shift matters more than most people realize. Waking up can feel like a peak experience. Waking with becomes a way of living. ### Why Flow States Fit Into This The conversation also digs into flow states — those moments when you're so absorbed in what you're doing that time disappears. Athletes call it being "in the zone." Musicians call it "the pocket." Kelly and Taft explore how flow isn't separate from awakening; it's actually a natural expression of it. When you're in flow, the separate self quiets down. There's just the doing, the movement, the moment. Sound familiar? It should. That's waking with, showing up in everyday life. ### What This Means for Your Practice If you've been meditating for a while and wondering why the peace doesn't last, this is for you. The glimpse is real. But the integration — the waking with — is where the real transformation lives. It's less about chasing the next peak and more about noticing the awareness that's already here, right in the middle of your messy, ordinary day. As Kelly puts it, the goal isn't to escape your life. It's to wake up *with* it.