Loch Kelly, MDiv, LCSW
Loch Kelly, M.Div., LCSW is author of Shift into Freedom: The Science and Practice of Open-Hearted Awareness, which was named “Top 10 Best Books of the Year” by Spirituality & Health Magazine. He is an educator, contemplative psychotherapist and recognized leader in the field of consciousness and awakening. Loch is the founder of the non-profit Open-Hearted Awareness Institute.
He is a graduate of Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, where he received a fellowship to study Insight Meditation, Advaita, and Tibetan Buddhism in Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal. Loch trained with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche in Nepal, served on the Teacher’s Council at New York Insight and is affiliated with Adyashanti.
Loch has worked in community mental health, established homeless shelters and counseled family members after 9/11 in New York City. He collaborates with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn and NYU to study how awareness training enhances compassion and wellbeing. Loch is dedicated to reducing suffering and supporting people to live from open-hearted awareness.
Loch is known for his warm sense of humor, and his trust that awakening is the next natural stage of development. He teaches the advanced, yet simple, nondual pointers and direct methods of effortless mindfulness, informed by psychology and social justice. Loch lives in New York City with his wife Paige and their cat Duffy.