What Comes After the First Glimpse? Loch Kelly on Flow States

Evelyn Reed · 2026-09-15

Most people think awakening is a one-time event. You sit down, you meditate, and then—boom—you're enlightened. Right? Not exactly. According to meditation teacher Loch Kelly, that first glimpse of openness is just the beginning. In a recent conversation with host Michael Taft, Kelly unpacked what actually happens after that initial taste of stillness and the absence of a separate self. It turns out there's a whole other layer to explore. ### Waking Up vs. Waking With Kelly draws a clear line between two distinct experiences. The first is "waking up"—that moment when you recognize the openness, the stillness, the fact that there's no separate self pulling the strings. It's profound. It changes how you see everything. But then there's "waking with." This is where things get really interesting. Instead of stepping back from appearances, you start to see them as inseparable from awake awareness itself. Kelly calls this "one taste"—the point where the observer and the observed aren't two different things anymore. Think of it this way: waking up is like noticing the sky behind the clouds. Waking with is realizing the clouds are made of the same stuff as the sky. ### Flow States Are Part of the Picture If you've ever been so absorbed in a project that you lost track of time, you've touched a flow state. Athletes call it "being in the zone." Musicians describe it as the instrument playing itself. Kelly suggests these flow states aren't random accidents. They're actually glimpses of what's always available when we stop contracting around a sense of "me" and "mine." But here's the catch: flow states come and go. You can't force them. And if you chase them, they slip away even faster. The invitation isn't to chase flow. It's to recognize the awareness that's already here, whether you're in a flow state or stuck in traffic. ### Why This Matters for Your Practice If you've been meditating for a while, you might have hit a plateau. You've had glimpses, but they don't seem to stick. You wonder if you're doing something wrong. Kelly's distinction offers a way forward. Instead of trying to recreate that first big opening, you can start exploring how awareness and experience aren't two separate things. You can stop trying to get somewhere and start noticing what's already here. As Kelly puts it, the goal isn't to have a special experience. It's to see that ordinary experience is already special. > "The awakening is not the end. It's the beginning of a new way of living." ### Practical Takeaways So what can you actually do with this? - Stop chasing peak experiences. They're not the point. - Notice moments of flow without trying to hold onto them. - Practice seeing appearances as not separate from awareness. - Relax the habit of contracting around a separate self. - Trust that ordinary moments are already complete. This isn't about adding more effort. If anything, it's about subtracting. Less grasping, less striving, less trying to get somewhere else. ### The Bottom Line The conversation between Taft and Kelly isn't just philosophical. It's deeply practical. It offers a map for what to do after the honeymoon phase of awakening fades. If you've ever wondered what comes next, the answer might be simpler than you think. Not another peak experience. Not a better version of you. Just this—ordinary, awake, and already whole. And that might be the most radical realization of all.