Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelvin Chin.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have been helping people navigate their lives more easily and effectively for over 40 years. I currently focus full-time on my two nonprofits teaching meditation and helping people overcome their fear of death as a Life After Life Expert & Meditation Teacher.
I formerly held executive roles at global law firms, and was a vice president for the American Arbitration Association, and am a graduate of Dartmouth College, Yale University, and Boston College Law School.
At age 19, I learned to meditate as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In 1971 and 1973, I studied personally with Maharishi and was an international leader in his organization teaching meditation worldwide for about ten years before I left to pursue law school and my business and legal careers. Since then, I have removed all cultural trappings from the teaching and have continued to make the technique even more effortless and flexible, so it even more easily fits into our busy daily lives. I call my technique “Turning Within” Meditation.
In my mid-20’s, I began to remember ancient personal memories from many centuries ago, and over the past 30 years, I have had many experiences with the “other side of the veil,” so that now my connection between this physical side and the more non-physical side is normal and natural, not unusual or extraordinary.
In my third year of law school, my mother died suddenly. I was very close to her and it shook me to my core. When I started talking with classmates about this shocking loss, I found ways of discussing it that helped both them (many had experienced their own losses) and, importantly, me in the processing of her death. That was the genesis of my helping others with their grief and for starting my nonprofit on Overcoming the Fear of Death.
I am the author of the bestselling book: “Overcoming the Fear of Death: Through Each of the 4 Main Belief Systems” — available on Amazon — it takes a non-religious approach to helping people reduce their fears about death. My second book is coming out in March 2021.
So, I draw from all of that life experience — both in meditation, death and dying, and from the corporate world — in my group teaching and private client work. I have taught thousands to meditate worldwide in schools, businesses, the U.S. Army and at West Point, and now teach my “Turning Within” Meditation via Zoom, phone and in-person.
I am also a certified Grief Recovery expert helping people recover from the painful experience of loss that all of us go through in life…whether from the death of a loved one, divorce, layoff, financial setback, or other losses. I have lived and worked in 7 countries, have worked with clients from more than 40 countries, and I have two beautiful, talented children who also live here in Los Angeles.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t know if life is ever a “smooth road” if people are being totally candid and honest. We all have challenges in our lives — sometimes they’re internal, others are external. Often they’re a combination. When I was at Dartmouth College, I had high anxiety which is why I learned to meditate. That was a major turning point in my life when I learned how to “turn within” and manage my own stress in a natural way. When I moved to Hong Kong to teach meditation after graduate school, it was a culture shock — completely foreign from what I was used to, having been born and grown up in the U.S. Later, when my mom died suddenly in her 50’s, I struggled with the grief as I finished law school. And finally, I have been challenged with five layoffs since I was 50 years old, sometimes due to company mergers, and other times related to the 2000 dotcom bust and the 2008 recession. Getting yet a new job to raise my family of four during those difficult years was sometimes a struggle, but I dug deep within and managed to resurface, at times in a different role and industry.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
Through my “Turning Within” Meditation nonprofit, I teach an easy, effortless meditation technique that has helped thousands worldwide. I’m an internationally-recognized meditation teacher featured in Business Insider, Newsweek, Kaiser Health News, and have taught meditation at West Point and in the U.S. Army and Air Force, including on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea. I’ve taught this nonreligious practice to celebrities, athletes, business executives, healthcare workers, children, Buddhist monks, and Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy. It helps with PTSD, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and the effects of grief. Doctors and psychotherapists around the world regularly refer their patients. I’m often told by those desperately seeking relief from their anxiety attacks, “I’ve tried everything…you’re my last hope.”
My other specialty is Overcoming the Fear of Death and educating about what may happen after we die. I take a non-religious approach to this work as well, helping people from all cultural and religious beliefs reduce and overcome their fears so they can live life more fully now in the present, whether they believe in an afterlife or not.
I am most proud that my teaching through my nonprofits has helped so many thousands of people worldwide, now in 44 countries – from all cultures and continents. In addition, my paperback, e-book and audiobook on “Overcoming the Fear of Death: Through Each of the 4 Main Belief Systems” has helped thousands more worldwide in reducing their fears around death and dying.
What sets my work apart is that I take both an “understanding” approach, i.e., learning new practical content, and an “experiential” approach, i.e., learning how to “turn within” to reduce stress and expand the capacity of the mind. Most self-development teachers take one or the other approach. I do both. And by doing so, my students get the maximum benefit out of both their understanding and their expanded experience of self.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The ability to understand all the various levels of a student’s question and be able to answer in a way that is easily digestible by them that is in plain English, not jargon. Since I have been meditating for so many decades and have had so many experiences of my own personal anxiety reduction, as well as those related to my spiritual journey, I can speak easily about those areas in a clear, consistent and non-mystical way. Because for me it is not mystical, it is just a normal human experience. And my experience teaching others is that it can be normal for them too, i.e., living life stress-free, fear-free, with greater ease and contentment.
That said, I have had my own personal life challenges, so I can empathize with the pains of my students and guide them from both my experience and understanding of where they are at.
Pricing:
- Free initial phone session about any topic (part of my nonprofit offerings)
- Classes have a fee structure – but no one is ever turned away for financial reasons
- Fees are adjusted as needed, e.g., fixed income, veterans, unemployed, international countries (fee will be discounted proportional to the cost of living)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.KelvinChin.org
- Phone: (202) 870-9999
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @kelvin.h.chin
- Facebook: kelvin.chin1
- Twitter: @KelvinHChin
- Other: Subscribe to my YouTube channel here: youtube.com/c/KelvinChinTurningWithin
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