Universal Connection - by Charles Freligh

COURSE

Universal Connection

With Charles Freligh

You may be familiar with the notion that "everything is connected", but this can be challenging to grasp practically in ways that impact your life. Utilize this course to gain a felt sense experience of this life-altering sensation of connection. We will identify and utilize what I call "The Ally" to drop through the layers of our separate selves and connect with something more basic, timeless, and universal. This practice will facilitate an entirely new experience of things like anxiety, frustration, anger, and other negative emotions. I look forward to being with you inside the course.


Meet your Teacher

Charles has a PhD in clinical psychology and training and experience in providing psychotherapy, and is an explorer of meditation and of consciousness, generally. He 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. He's also 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/ meditation in order to provide you with a unique training. He's also a lover of philosophy and believes that nothing is out of bounds in the realm of well-being, so he draws upon a variety of sources and traditions within his courses without espousing any particular ideology. Each year, Charles travels to a Zen Buddhist monastery for an opportunity to galvanize his meditation practice and explore his own self-awareness. He hopes to utilize Insight Timer as a space to share, practice, and grow alongside you.

read more

10 Days

5.3k students

4.9 stars

22 min / day

Divine Connection

English


Lesson 1

Your Pair Of Glasses

Become aware of your personal "pair of glasses," the story of who you are as a separate self, and experiment with seeing through them clearly - into a direct seeing of Just This.

Lesson 2

The Ally

Let's begin to develop a relationship with our own personal "Ally" to help us see through our particular pair of glasses into a connection with something much deeper, something beyond the separate self.

read more

Lesson 3

Passive Effort

We'll become more familiar with our personal Ally and explore the ways in which our separate self identity might be fighting against a deeper version of ourselves.

Lesson 4

Habit Energy

Let's explore why it can be so difficult to simply be here and now, and keep coming back to the Ally. Imagine yourself like flower inching directly toward the sun, and let's settle in.

Lesson 5

Zeroing The Scale

Let's explore a metaphor for the way we can continually see what is new in our experience as truly new. And then, we'll utilize the Ally for help with putting this into practice.

Lesson 6

Tree & Leaf

Through the example of nature, we will continue noticing our identity with a separate self and then reset into a felt connection with Everything. This feeling will continue to shed new light on the problems of the self, leading the problems themselves to change.

read more

Lesson 7

A Quiet Mind

Let's consider how simple yet easy this practice really is. With continued awareness of our habit energy, we can return to this simplicity in order to see all of This that is happening right now and feel our connection with It.

read more

Lesson 8

Infinity

Consider the connection between zero and infinity and explore how the notion of love relates to these concepts. If we drill down far enough, we might hit a source of powerful and unending love. Let's try.

read more

Lesson 9

That Which Is Aware

Let's feel into awareness itself. That which is aware of "negative" experience (e.g. anxiety) is the exact same as that which is aware of "positive" experience. How does this basic awareness feel? And how might it unlock a new perspective on the problems of the separate self?

read more

Lesson 10

Forget Everything & Remember

In our final session, we will begin again and see what is new as truly new, one more time together. We remember that thing that's always been there - remember before the glasses - and be as open as you can to this moment. We will simply sit in this raw and pure space together, in silence, with nothing to do but just be here and notice what its like and allow our current experience to be exactly what it is.

read more


Ask your teacher

This course includes 183 community questions and 16 audio replies from Charles Freligh. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

183

4.9 (456)

Recent Reviews

Jane

February 4, 2026

Thank you so much Charles for this wonderful course, the third one I have taken with you....all of them have blown me away and changed me in a visceral way. Your delivery and words are like magic, you feel like a good friend sitting in the room with me. I will download and revisit this course again and again....I am so deeply grateful to you ❤️

Cindy

January 29, 2026

Thank you for creating this course and reminding us that we're never alone. We always have an ally. I especially appreciated the personal stories that you shared as well.

Brenda

December 27, 2025

Wow, Wow, Wow.. Sooooo good, so Yummy 😋 😍 😊 ☺️ 😜 😄 😋 😍 😊 ☺️ THANK YOU 🙏🙏🙏

Candice

December 21, 2025

Thank you for this course & for introducing me to the concept of connecting with an ally in meditation. I did this course in conjunction with the 111 step zen practice & found it to be quite helpful❣️

Luna

December 11, 2025

I love the teaching and meditations in this course. I’ve listened to every offering posted by Charles and would listen to him every day if I could!

Marika

November 22, 2025

Very deep and interesting course. I really liked concepts of our own pair of glasses and the ally. The quotes were also well thought and supported the content of the course well. I especially liked the idea that there is a connection between all of us. Our balls of energy mingling all the time. Warm thank you Charles for sharing your wisdom and spreading your light to us. All the best and lots of love to your life.

Lisa

November 19, 2025

Charles course is truly awesome. I have repeated it twice already as there are so many nuggets of gold in every meditation. I feel like I am drinking from a warm cup of pure truth when I listen to his words. Enlightening, freeing, inspiring, connecting, touching in, heart opening guidance. Beautiful practice. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou 🙏❤️

Rick

November 15, 2025

The Game is only to be played in the right here and the right now. Good work. Full appreciation!

Elizabeth

August 4, 2025

I so enjoyed this course. It was well paced and thoughtful. Your voice and presence are calming. I know it took a lot of time to put this together. Thank you so much for doing this, Charles!

Sylvie

July 11, 2025

I see this more as a course on being in the present moment. Thank you 🪷

Agnès

June 2, 2025

Very helpful and meaningful course ! Thank you very much 😊 ! I bought the book to continue discovery what is already known as brand new 😉

Lu

May 2, 2025

Simple, yet highly enlightening. Very well, and calmly, presented. Charles' guidance, recommendations and insight are easy to follow...I will keep practicing... again...and again...and again.

Julia

April 24, 2025

Inspiring course, and I’ll stay with the quote “ the meaning of life, is to see”. Thanks Charles for your calming and affirming presence.

Valentina

March 20, 2025

Beautifully put together. It helped me access then & there purpose and let it go with intention. It felt fresh and also renewing to do this organically in 10 days. Thank you again, Charles. Sending the feeling of a hug back to you 💛

Pam

March 15, 2025

I enjoyed the consistent practice of coming back to the Ally. Like a Captain holding the wheel on a ship, it's now a regular part of my awareness as I sail through daily life. I also appreciate all of the quotes and personal experiences Chales shared. They added an extra depth to the whole experience.

Kyle

March 6, 2025

You killed it with this one.

Philip

February 25, 2025

Great to experience Charles and all he has to offer!

Dirk

February 23, 2025

This course is beautiful insightful and worth every moment of your time. A blessing. Dirk -

Talli

February 22, 2025

Such a worthy course…filled with quotes, metaphors, stories all as a way to draw into the nowness (my word) of the moment. Charles does a beautiful job of inviting into the practice and the settling into here and now. So much grace.

Emerita

February 2, 2025

This course is Help me to understand more of the things happening in hour life and sometimes we don’t understand thank you!

Trusted by 35 million people. It's free.

Insight Timer

Get the app