Effortless Mindfulness with Loch Kelly

Awakening to Original Love with Henry Shukman (Part 1)

Apr 23, 2025

Henry Shukman, a poet and meditation teacher, joins Loch Kelly for a fascinating dialogue on awakening and love. They reflect on their personal awakening journeys and explore the power of inquiry and Zen koans. Shukman highlights how acknowledging ordinary experiences and pain can lead to deeper insights, while both discuss the transformative concept of 'Original Love.' Their conversation blends ancient wisdom with modern psychology, encouraging listeners to find awakening in everyday life and embrace the complexities of emotions with compassion.

54:53

Episode guests

Henry Shukman

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Deep inquiry and curiosity about our experiences are essential for awakening and understanding our consciousness and interconnectedness.

Integrating ancient wisdom from practices like Zen Koans with contemporary psychological insights fosters holistic personal growth and compassionate awareness.

Deep dives

The Nature of Inquiry

Deep inquiry into one's experience is fundamental for personal awakening and understanding consciousness. This process often begins with curiosity about what it means to be truly conscious, as exemplified by a personal anecdote of walking to school without awareness of one's surroundings. Such awakenings can happen spontaneously, revealing a profound shift in one's perception of self and reality. This concept emphasizes the importance of individual exploration while being supported by various traditions and methods that aid in the quest for deeper understanding.

Intro

2min

Exploring Spiritual Awakening

8min

Exploring Koans and Their Historical Significance in Zen

3min

Exploring Non-Separation and Awakening

28min

Embracing Awareness and Emotions

10min

Exploring Open-Hearted Awareness and Compassion

5min

In this deep conversation, two “happy" masters of meditation, Loch Kelly and author of Original Love, Henry Shukman, explore their similar and unique approaches to awakening. With delight and curiosity, they share some of their own initial awakening experience. They also discuss their process of discovering and unfolding and how they share it with students.

To this end, they unpack and illuminate the contemplative art and science of Inquiry and Koans as ways to shift out of the chattering mind and into our already awake heart mind. Henry talks about his experience with Zen Koans and Loch shares his Mahamudra approach to inquiry. Loch calls this Glimpsing, and it emphasizes immediate experiential pointers which help practitioners directly realize their already awake nature. Henry and Loch also lean into questions around the importance of integrating ancient wisdom approaches with contemporary models of psychology and human development.

Other key areas of their trans-traditional dialogue include recognizing ordinary experiences and pain as opportunities for awakening. They also talk about the role of personal loss in awakening and the role of personal storytelling in teaching. They both agree that awakening is the discovery of what Henry calls Original Love (instead of Original Sin) and what Loch calls Unconditional Love, which allows us to live from Awake Loving Flow.

Mindful Glimpse
The episode features Loch offering a guided practice called “Compassion Is Already Here.” 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 non-dual meditation teacher. He is also 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/
Donate: https://lochkelly.org/donate
Podcast: https://lochkelly.org/podcast