COURSE

Learn To Respond Without Reactivity

This course is designed to help you to reduce the ways that you respond reactively, whether it be with anxiety, anger, sadness, frustration, stress. These emotions can distract you from how you really want to be as a person – in relationships, at work, at play. Together, we will learn to install the “pause button,” allowing us to cutivate greater presence and respond with intention instead of reactivity. Over the next 10 days you will develop a conceptual and practical understanding of the life-changing impact of the ability to pause and will learn how to apply this to the ways you habitually react. This course offers a combination of engaging meditative exercises, conceptual lessons, and insights from Charles' experience as a long-time meditator and practitioner of psychotherapy.

Sciences Stress Stressanxiety Psychology Parentscience Mindfulness Anger Mindfulnessmeditation Anxiety Emotionalhealing Recoveryhealing Relationships

Meet your Teacher

Charles Freligh

Minneapolis, MN, USA

Charles Freligh is a psychotherapist and psychology instructor, in the final year of his doctoral training, as well as a long-time meditation practitioner. Charles has experience leading in-person and online mindfulness and meditation courses for a variety of audiences including college students, military personnel, athletes, and the general community. Charles has published original research in the peer-reviewed journal Mindfulness and writes the Mindful Lens column for Nature’s Best Photography Magazine. His goal is to combine his knowledge and experiences from the worlds of psychology and mindfulness – two worlds that he believes coalesce quite nicely - to provide you with a unique training. Charles is a lover of philosophy and believes that nothing is out of bounds in the realm of well-being. In this course he draws on a variety of sources and traditions without espousing any particular ideology. Each year Charles travels to a Zen Buddhist monastery for a few weeks. He explains that this isn't because he considers himself “Buddhist” but sees it as an essential yearly tradition of galvanizing his meditation practice, with one-pointed focus and no distraction, with the aim of making him a better instructor and a wiser, more compassionate person.

10 Days

47.0k students

4.8 stars

20 min / day

Stress

English

Lesson 1

Pressing Play On Life

In today's lesson Charles will explain the concept of the pause and play metaphor and show us two key reasons why pausing is essentially a superpower. Together, we will also explore the concept of “Internal Friction” and undergo an exercise experimenting with empty space.

Lesson 2

Curiosity Vs. Interpretation

In today's lesson you will be introduced to a meditation entitled 'Noticing the Train' and we will discuss how words and concepts limit our experience. We will also discuss the difference between curiosity and interpretation and come to understand how pausing can help us to stop dwelling on the past and come back to what’s happening now..the only time we actually ever have.

Lesson 3

Allowing The Mind To Settle

In today's lesson Charles will offer a personal example of how this practice has impacted his experience of anxiety. He explains that sometimes you need to press Pause first in order to be able to just press Play. We will also explore the concept of concentration and practice a mental noting exercise.

Lesson 4

Doing & Being

In today's lesson we discuss the experiential modes of Doing and Being. We live in a society of constant Doing, making it increasingly easy to forget the Being mode. We will explore how the Being mode creates space between what happens in life and your reaction to it and how we can use this in our favour.

Lesson 5

Just Practice - The Power Of Conditioning

Today, we uncover the importance of practice and of your experiential understanding, drawing on Aristotle's words “we are what we repeatedly do.” By installing new programming to replace your old programming you are planting the seeds of intention for positive and lasting change.

Lesson 6

Identifying A Pause Anchor

In today's lesson we will practice an exercise designed to help us 'find our feet'. We will look at how to identify a pause anchor, discuss an array of examples, and learn how to use them to extend your practice when you feel most stressed, anxious, or angry, etc. (i.e., reactive).

Lesson 7

Pockets Of Experience

Today we will explore the Second Arrow metaphor (a conceptual anchor) and undertake a practical exercise using your identified anchor. We will come to understand the importance of allowing ourselves to fully experience the newness and novelty of what is always around us. This will allow us to open up to more meaningful relationships, enhance our performance at work, and reduce procrastination.

Lesson 8

Communication – Matching Meaning

Today we will learn how to apply the pause button to interpersonal relationships and practice a meditation exercise titled Feeling the Connection to Others. We will discuss how to interact with others in a meaningful and productive way and let go of self-consciousness in communication.

Lesson 9

Mindfulness Is No-Thing

In today's lesson we will discuss the concept of 'mindfulness', exploring how it has somewhat become a buzzword and how many of us try to be “good at” mindfulness. Charles will offer us a short story from the Zen tradition: Empty Your Cup and we will learn how to use mindfulness practice to gain greater perspective and clarity on our lives.

Lesson 10

Letting Go of the Meditator & Maintaining Everyday Practice

In today's lesson we will undergo an intense breathing exercise to ground us into the present moment. Charles will then explore the importance of creating a daily environment and routine that enhances your practice rather than hinders it and how your practice can help you to live more fully. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde

Ask your teacher

This course includes 846 community questions and 91 audio replies from Charles Freligh. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

846

4.8 (3419)

Recent Reviews

Brenda

May 15, 2026

Loved it. Thank you

Mucki

May 14, 2026

Great variety of techniques to find your own comfortable way to be successful

May 9, 2026

He repeated a lot and the sessions could have been shorter

Laura

May 8, 2026

Great course! Love the idea of the train and platform. I’ve used it already for when I notice my my thoughts taking me away. Also, the metaphor of the glass of water. I appreciate visuals that help me engage and understand a concept. Thank you!

Rudolph

April 29, 2026

Practical magic

Sarah

April 29, 2026

Loved it! Thank you

Carolyn

April 20, 2026

Thank you for this course. There is so much good in the Pause and Press Play. The feeling is much greater than the words to express. For me, that is a good thing. Thank you, Charles.

Marg’s

April 19, 2026

I often struggle with meditation but I felt this course kept me interested, thank you.

Teri

April 12, 2026

I loved this course! Such a practical way to work on a pretty common issue in society today. This has already helped me to press ⏸️

Elizabeth

April 10, 2026

Another terrific course from Charles. Highly recommend! I've enjoyed starting my day this way.

Nicolas

March 25, 2026

Always such quality from Charles!

Shane

March 23, 2026

This was a phenomenal course! I got so much from it. The visualization techniques were extremely beneficial in understanding the concepts. I am putting into practice the things I have learned. Thank you!

Stacy

March 19, 2026

Very good! So many tools and ways to just be in my world and experience the moment we are in just now.

Cheryl

March 12, 2026

Course was well paced for someone new to meditation. Teacher is knowledgeable and offers a variety of activities. A good course!

Kathleen

March 2, 2026

Excellent! It changed my life and out look on life.

JENNIFER

February 24, 2026

This course is transformative. I’ve taken it twice. I love it.🙏✨

Bonnie

February 24, 2026

I love the way. Charles has a casual way of speaking very relatable. Loved all the concepts the different ways he saw how to meditate using examples that were concrete. Very helpful.

Luke

February 24, 2026

It’s hard for me to put into words but I have been trying to find excitement over meditating for many years now, dipping in and out. I just could never find a teacher that I connected with that also had a great amount of content out. Charlie really has begun changing my life. I feel extremely comfortable listening to him and he frames everything incredibly brilliantly. I really help extremely thankful to him, so Charlie if you ever read this, thank you and I hope you find as much enjoyment creating and I have done listening.

Simone

February 18, 2026

Thank you for this truly thought-provoking short course. It has taught me the value of pausing and being fully present in the moment. I am already noticing small but meaningful changes in my daily life, and I am hopeful that these changes will have a positive impact not only on my own life, but also on the lives of those I love and cherish, as well as those I encounter, even briefly.

February 17, 2026

Helpful mix of guided exercises and explanations— especially appreciate the metaphors and personal relatable stories. Great lessons to start the day.

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