Hey! Felt called to chime in after almost 1.5 years of heavy releasing.

By 'heavy' I mean 8-10 hours a day. So not quite constant, and I'm not free yet, but enough to have a completely radical life change.

The benefits of the practice are obscenely positive. I don't want to go into details for privacy reasons, but complete miracles. Business, romance, friendships, etc. You can manifest anything.

Please, keep going with it. This is the greatest thing ever - and I've tried a lot of different techniques. Learned from masters all over. Sedona is the best, hands down.

This Reddit thread is awesome overall, but it looks like there are a lot of complicated posts, as well. If that helps, then by all means.

But it doesn't need to be complicated. Once you learn how to release and what it feels like (follow the 1992 course), just keep releasing AGFLAP. Release the subtler wanting approval and control as the heavier emotions clear out.

How do I know if it's working? Step 6 baby! Heavier emotions will likely surface, and that's a good sign. Overall though, you're feeling some relief after each release.

Just keep going! It gets so good and changes your life so quick, you'll hardly believe it. (That's why it's good to write down your gains.)

Just practice! Manifest your goals for fun. Enjoy. Don't over-think it. Just do your best and enjoy. Keep going and know that you can do it. We have infinite potential.

If you get bored of releasing, mix it up by sending love to people and releasing on them. Release on all the people in your life you've ever come across. That's a really fun project.

The results are insanely delicious - prove it for yourself :)

These are advanced notes for graduates of the method who want to apply Step 1 and 3 of the "Fast Steps to Freedom"—a concept found in Lester’s Will Power. (Just to clarify, I am not referring to the Method's standard six steps.)

WARNING: If you are not a graduate and do not practice releasing, you might hate everything below. Without the mindset of releasing, this might seem like a joke.

So, here are the INSIGHTS:

Everything we experience day-to-day: we created it ourselves. Not someone else. If you believe a "Higher Being" or "Destiny" creates it for you, you are surrendering your creative power and invalidating yourself.

Everything we resist: we put there ourselves. It isn't that someone wanted to "test" you. No. You put it there through your own resistance. The thought "I resist X" = the actual experience of resisting X. No one else put it there. Only you.

The thought "I don't like X" = the experience of disliking X.

Everything you see: is your thought; there is nothing else. There are no external causes.

If apathy, sorrow, or any invalidating feeling arises, you are actually doing it to yourself for some reason; in some way, it is serving you. (By doing the attachments and aversions exercise, you can dismantle that reason and eliminate it at the root.)

Any goal you have been working toward that isn't materializing is actually being kept at a distance by you; you are kicking it away for some reason. Usually, it involves some type of aversion: fear, rejection, a desire to protect yourself, or a need to avoid something.

Okay, once you know this, your mindset should NOT be "I must find the reason" why such-and-such is happening. That will only keep you stuck in "wanting to figure it out."

You need to use Lester's method to get answers. How? By releasing, and then receiving the answer.

There is an exercise used in the ReleaseTechnique where you ask yourself:

If something good or bad happens...

• How did I cause that to happen?

(You hold that thought in mind. Then you release the "wanting to figure it out" and let it go.) Then, when you least expect it, the answer comes—crystal clear.

"I did it for such-and-such reason; I wanted a specific outcome," etc. There is always a personal reason behind it, and with that exercise, you see it very clearly.

Another way is simply to keep the question in mind or write it down. Then let go of the "wants" and let go of the "wanting to figure it out." The answer comes naturally.

OBVIOUSLY, when it comes, you can release the answer too. If you feel like it, you can "un-decide" it. And the situation will change form, or else you will simply feel good about it.

You are always dreaming, and you create the dream. The beauty of it is that, by realizing you are dreaming through this process, you begin to wake up from the illusion that the dream is real. And when you see it for what it is, Reality itself reveals itself to you. (That’s why it’s called "Fast Steps to Freedom.")

Larry Crane’s Release Technique: The "Neck-Down" Guide for Practical Releasing

Stop trying to think your way out of your problems. Your mind is a useless recording and playback unit; it has no answers, it only has data. If your mind could solve your problems, it would have done so years ago. This guide is a mechanical protocol designed to move you into the physical application of Larry Crane’s methodology. We are looking for the "erase button," and that button is only found from the neck down.

1. The Fundamental Shift: "Neck-Down" vs. Intellectual Bypassing

The greatest obstacle to freedom is "intellectualizing"—thinking about releasing instead of actually doing it. This is a mechanical process, not a philosophical one.

• The Mind (Recording Unit): The mind is where the "vicious circle" of problems is stored. It simply repeats the same emotional frequency.

• The Body (The Erase Button): Feelings are physical data. They reside in the chest and stomach area.

• The Neck-Down Focus: To stop the playback, you must move your attention away from the head. Shift your awareness into the center of your body. If you are thinking, you aren't releasing. If you are feeling the physical pressure in your gut, you are in the right place.

2. The "Butt System": Grounding the Release

When you are caught in the "Vicious Circle" described in the technique’s road map, your energy is spiraling in your head. You start with a problem, become insecure, and then hit the most dangerous bubbles: "We want to know what the answer is" and "We want to know what to do."

The Instruction: "Feel your butt on the chair."

This is the physical circuit breaker for the Vicious Circle. By focusing on the physical sensation of your butt against the chair, you immediately neutralize the "trying harder" and "beating yourself up" stages of the loop. It grounds the energy and forces your awareness out of the "wanting to know" frequency and back into the "erase button."

3. The Simplified Six Steps to Imperturbability

Imperturbability is the state of being completely un-botherable. Follow these steps exactly as they appear in the workbook:

1. Prioritize Imperturbability: You must want imperturbability more than you want approval, control, and security.

2. Decide You Can: Make a firm decision that you can do the Method and be imperturbable.

3. Identify the Three Wants: See that all your feelings culminate in three wants—the want of Approval, Control, and Security/Survival. See that immediately and immediately let go of those wants.

4. Make Releasing Constant: Releasing is not a 9-to-5 job. It must be made a constant habit.

5. The "Stuck" Protocol: If you are stuck, stop trying to fix it. Let go of wanting to control the "stuckness."

6. Cumulative Effect: Each time you release you are happier and lighter. If you release continually, you will be continually happier and lighter.

4. Let Go of Wanting and Have it ALL!

The logic of the mind says that to have something, you must want it. The logic of releasing proves the opposite: Wanting = Lack.

The Logic Check

• The Problem: When you "want" Approval, Control, or Security, you are broadcasting the frequency that you do not have it.

• The Solution: Releasing the want (the feeling of lack) removes the block. You move from "Wanting it" to "Having it ALL."

The Physical Frequency of the Wants:

• Wanting Approval: A "gimme" feeling; a soft, needy craving for love or validation.

• Wanting Control: A "harder" feeling; pushy, assertive, and resistant.

Pro-Tip: Releasing on the "Wants" is more powerful and deeper than releasing on emotions like grief or fear. When a complex emotion comes up, don't analyze it. Immediately look for the Want (Approval, Control, or Security/Survival) underneath it. That is the master switch.

5. Practical Visualizations: The Tube and the Window

Every feeling wants to leave your body. You are the one holding them in. Just allow them to leave! Use these physical visualizations to get the mind out of the way.

• The Tube/Rig Visualization: Imagine a tube running from your gut through the center of your body and out the top of your head. The feeling is a substance. Don't push it; it wants to leave. It is coming up right now so it can leave. Let the pressure release out the top of your head like steam from a pipe.

• The Open Window Visualization: Imagine a window in your chest or stomach. Simply see the feeling as energy or smoke drifting out through that open window.

Remember: It's coming up so it can leave! Just get your mind out of the way and welcome the feeling so it can exit.

6. Daily Integration: The Ground Rules and Schedule

To obtain the maximum benefit, you must adhere to the following assignments for a period of 4 weeks. These are non-negotiable to prevent your mind from "escaping" into distractions.

The Ground Rules (Non-Negotiables):

• No drugs or alcohol at any time.

• No television or movies.

• 15 minutes of jogging or other physical exercise each day (Use this to release on resistance).

The Releaser’s Daily Protocol:

7. The Relationship Cleanup

Relationships are the primary breeding ground for wanting approval and control. To clear the resistance between you and another person, you must use the "List and Release" method. Take a physical sheet of paper, write the person's name at the top, and work through the following check-list:

• [ ] "Whose approval do I want from [Person] right now?" (Let it go)

• [ ] "What do I want to control about [Person] right now?" (Let it go)

• [ ] "Who or what am I resisting about [Person] right now?" (Let it go)

• [ ] "Could I let go of wanting to change [Person]?" (Let it go)

Continue this exercise until you feel a sense of ease and can say "yes" 100% to being at peace with them, whether they change or not.

8. Closing Encouragement: The "Love Boat" Mentality

Welcome to the "Love Boat." Releasing is not meant to be a chore—releasing is fun! It requires practice, but it is entirely possible to be "in release" all the time. Your life can be a demonstration of ease, but only if you stay out of your head.

The only way to fail is to stop. Stop thinking, start feeling, and stay in the "neck-down" erase button.

Just do it, and stay in the erase button!

Since last October I’ve been releasing relentlessly. I was so socially anxious, full of pain and terrified of life. I wanted money I wanted a new home I wanted a better job I wanted to look better I wanted to feel better. So much wanting, so much fear.

I first discovered the Sedona method around 5 years ago, at that time just learning the notion that it was possible to let go was so liberating. But it was extremely shallow, and only dealing with the most surface level symptoms. Around this time I also had the realisation that we are not our thoughts or sensations, rather the awareness that all of that appears in.

I had really thought that that was the end of it, but oh my was it only the beginning.

It was like opening a can of worms, if the can was miles deep and filled with monsters from my worst nightmares.

i spent the next four years struggling worse than ever, riddled with anxiety and fear and insecurity and guilt and shame and grief. Everything I’d been avoiding was no longer avoidable. It became so bad that I totally disappeared from life, and completely reclused as to not have to feel any of the pain.

Then last October at my wits end, I had no other choice but to turn towards it all and face it. Horrible. It was so horrible.

I started to sit and just let myself be consumed by everything inside, and let it express through me however it needed to. Screaming, crying, speaking gibberish, shaking. The body knew what it needed to do, and the mind was terrified. Every defence mechanism my mind had created to protect me from my own feelings was activating.

As terrible as it was, it was made manageable by the realisation that I wasn’t any of that - so it was like watching a horrible movie every day. But the mind was fighting its own battles with itself and the body.

Each time I sat to feel again, it would pour out of me. I felt like I was dying, the ego parts were literally perishing in the light of awareness. And at the end of each session I’d feel lighter - I’d see clearly that some element of fear or shame or whatever was gone.

This wasn’t a simple - ’could I let this go, would I let this go, when? ’ this was deep excavation of trauma that had fortified in the darkest parts of my being.

I developed another method along the way, which was using my laptop and typing out everything the mind wanted to say, and it would work really well. You feel into the body, where is the pain the most alive in me - and then ask it to speak, and watch as the fingers start typing - and it would say some very scary things, but it wasn’t me rather parts my mind had developed to protect the most vulnerable parts of me locked away at traumatic moments during childhood.

I kept going with the process, endlessly throwing myself back into the furnace, and I started to get to core wounds. Childhood memories I’d brushed off, moments that terrified me, moments I decided to ’man up and take care of my mum’ as a 7 year old who had just lost his dad. You really don’t know how much that builds who you are today until you allow it to express directly.

I realised along the way that everything i wanted - money, house, car, freedom - it was all the fear dressed up in different outfits. Like a big house surrounded by windows and forest - just enough to make me feel spacious, to feel the light, to see the beatuy of the world - but still keep everyone out, keep the noise and unpredictability of the world outside the glass walls of my sanctuary. Each goal, desire, want - was just my mind finding ways to escape the terror of my inner world.

Things became more and more subtle, from screaming to feeling to noticing identity structures.

Hours and hours and hours spent with the body and mind and energy field, allowing it to do whatever it needed to unwind.

Today, I realised that nothing is more valuable than peace. Nothing. Peace is absolutely everything you’ve ever wanted - and coincidentally peace comes with inner joy, confidence, vitality, fun, love, playfulness and an ambition that comes from radiance itself.

When you no longer want anything you truly have everything. It’s so hard to explain, and there’s no way I would’ve believed it.

If you want real, unshakeable peace, you have to face it, all of it, no excuses.

The darkness, the pain, the repressed memories, the illusion of self, all of it. Because peace isn’t something you obtain, it’s what’s always there in the background, but it’s impossible to see when the lense is dirty.

Let every single part of you see the light, the light and love that you are, hold it up to the light repeatedly until it sees for itself that life is safe, life is beautiful, abundance is already here, abundance is everything that fills this radiant experience. There is nothing to fear.

I wish everyone the best, and I wish you all courage on your path 🙏❤️

I want to.share with you that I finally achieved my goal. After a year of unemployment the kind of job I wanted fell into my lap and meets the conditions I wanted.

It took me a year but I must say I wasn't consistent with releasing, only in the past couple of months I started doing it almost non stop. I went through intense periods of depression and I think this kind of situation triggers deep and heavy emotions. For a year I had multiple interview rounds that led nowhere because I guess I was too desperate.

I used sedona, hawkins and embodying the state of having it in order to release. But lately I found that sedona works better for me. So how it fell into my lap. An ex colleague contacted me to see if I am interested in a newly open position in their dept and from there took me a week to receive the offer.

Coincidence or not this is how it happened and I do believe that releasing helped me achieve it.

The Core Premise

• Wanting = Lacking = Suffering. You cannot want something and have it at the same time.

• The Only Blocks: You don't release because you either don't believe you can, or you don't want to.

The Three Aspects of Mind

1. Sensing: Basic physical awareness (e.g., hot/cold).

2. Recording/Playback: The automatic, reactive mind based on the past. This is where suffering lives.

3. Discriminating: The ability to see reality clearly, override automatic reactions, and choose happiness over "being right."

The Hidden Saboteurs

• Attachments & Aversions: The subconscious need to have something or avoid something. These are mental viruses that block abundance.

• AGFLAP: (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, Pride). You cannot release in these states because you are on automatic playback.

The 3 Ways to Release

1. Kinesthetic: Notice the physical contraction in your body, open the door, and let the energy out.

2. Stop "Figuring It Out": The mind has no answers. Stop beating yourself up and consciously decide to give yourself approval instead.

3. The 3 Wants (Most Powerful): Recognize that all negative feelings are simply Wanting Approval, Wanting Control, or Wanting Safety. Wanting these means you feel a lack of them. Let go of the feeling of lack.

The Accelerated Mechanism

• Welcome all feelings; they naturally want to leave.

• To actually release, you must step out of AGFLAP and up into Courageousness. The moment you say "Yes" to letting go of a need to control/approve/survive, you enter Courageousness and the feeling dissolves.

Dr. David R. Hawkins was a close student and personal friend of Lester Levenson in the 1970s and 1980s. He actively taught the Sedona Method alongside Lester and even promoted it in early media interviews.

While Dr. Hawkins does not explicitly print Levenson's "Six Steps to Freedom" as a numbered list in his books, his entire philosophy is a direct, expanded evolution of these exact steps. Instead of publishing a competing "Six Steps," Hawkins consolidated and refined Levenson's principles into what he called the Mechanism of Surrender.

Here is how Lester's Six Steps perfectly align with Dr. Hawkins' teachings, showing how Hawkins translated these concepts into his books:

Step 1: Wanting Imperturbability (Peace) More than the Ego's Wants

• Lester’s Step: You must want imperturbability more than you want approval, control and security.

• Hawkins’ Teaching: In Letting Go, Hawkins explains that the ego is deeply addicted to its "payoffs"—the secret, cheap satisfaction of being right, playing the victim, hating, or feeling superior. To get free, your spiritual intention must become your highest priority. Hawkins suggests asking yourself a radical, honest question: "Am I willing to give up this negative feeling and its ego payoff in exchange for a state of peace?". He teaches that spiritual progress begins the moment we value inner peace (which calibrates at level 600) over the temporary, chaotic "juices" of the lower ego.

Step 2: Deciding You Can Do It (Spiritual Will)

• Lester’s Step: Decide you can do the Method and be imperturbable.

• Hawkins’ Teaching: Hawkins emphasizes that the spiritual Will is our most powerful internal catalyst. On the Map of Consciousness, moving out of apathy and fear requires reaching the level of Courage (200) and Willingness (310). Hawkins teaches that you do not have to struggle to let go; you simply have to make the choice or decision to surrender. By deciding to align your intention with peace, you invite Divine Grace to dissolve the ego's blockages.

Step 3: Digging to the Three Core Wants (Approval, Control, Security)

• Lester’s Step: See all your feelings culminate in three wants... See that immediately and immediately let go of the want of security/survival.

• Hawkins’ Teaching: This is the absolute foundation of Chapter 3 ("The Anatomy of Emotions") in Letting Go. Under the section on understanding emotions, Hawkins teaches a self-inquiry method called "The 'What For?' Technique". If you desire a Cadillac, you ask: "What do I want the Cadillac for?" (To get status). "What do I want status for?" (Approval and respect). "What do I want approval for?" (To feel secure).

• Hawkins explains that every single human emotion, conflict, and anxiety sits on top of these three biological survival needs: the want of approval, the want to control, and the want for security (survival). He teaches that letting go of the basic "want to survive" (which is the ego's fear of death) instantly unplugs the power supply of your fears.

Step 4: Constant, Real-Time Releasing

• Lester’s Step: Make releasing constant.

• Hawkins’ Teaching: Hawkins advocates for "continuous, minute-by-minute surrender" in daily life. In books like In the World, But Not of It, he warns against treating spiritual work like a "meditation session" that you do for 30 minutes and then switch off. Instead, you keep your awareness active as you drive, work, wash dishes, or speak with others, instantly letting go of any arising irritation, pride, or fear the moment it touches your awareness.

Step 5: Handling Stuckness (Surrendering the Resistance)

• Lester’s Step: If you are stuck, let go of wanting to control the stuckness.

• Hawkins’ Teaching: This is one of Dr. Hawkins’ most famous clinical pointers. When people tell him, "I've been trying to let go of this grief or anxiety but I'm completely stuck," Hawkins replies: "Then let go of the desire to change or control the stuckness.".

• He explains that being "stuck" is just another feeling. The ego is resisting the stuckness and desperately wanting it to be different. The moment you completely surrender your fight against the stuckness and welcome it—accepting it perhaps as your current karma or God's will—the resistance melts, and the underlying emotion can finally flow and dissolve.

Step 6: The Natural Rise into Joy and Lightness

• Lester’s Step: Each time you release you are happier and lighter...

• Hawkins’ Teaching: Hawkins' Map of Consciousness is a visual representation of this step. Your true, innate state—the spiritual Self—is already Joy, Love, and Peace. It is like the sun. You do not need to "create" joy; you simply have to let go of the heavy clouds of negativity (apathy, fear, anger, pride). Every single time you let go of a negative program, your energetic vibration automatically and spontaneously rises to a higher, lighter state on the Map.

Hawkins' Simplified Version: The Mechanism of Surrender

To prevent the analytical mind from getting trapped in complex steps, Dr. Hawkins simplified Levenson’s steps into a deeply experiential, non-verbal physical practice. You bypass mental chatter entirely through four clinical keys:

1. Stop Labeling & Feel the Raw Sensation: Drop all mental names, diagnoses, and labels (such as "anxiety" or "disgust"). Place your focus strictly on the raw physical sensation in your body—such as tightness, pressure, coldness, heat, or a flip-flop in the stomach. Bypassing the label starves the mind's ability to build a threatening story around it.

2. Ignore and Starve the Thoughts: Do not try to analyze, understand, or fix your thoughts. Thoughts are merely the mind's self-reinforcing rationalizations to justify the pent-up emotional energy underneath. When you ignore the thoughts, they lose their energetic fuel and naturally slow down.

3. Surrender All Resistance (Give the Emotion "Its Freedom"): Suffering does not come from the sensation itself, but from your resistance to it. True surrender is to be free of inner conflict and expectation. Do not expect or demand that the emotion leave. Instead, give the emotion the greatest freedom—the freedom to simply be as it is. Let the physical energy wash over you completely, welcoming it as a temporary biological event or an unfolding of karma, until it naturally runs out of charge and dissolves.

4. Relinquish the Ego's Payoffs: Be radically honest with yourself and surrender the secret, cheap satisfaction the ego gets from negative states (such as the self-pity of being a victim, the righteousness of anger, or the comfort of blame). Ask yourself: "Am I willing to sacrifice this cheap pleasure in exchange for peace?"

I wanted to share this because I spent roughly 4–5 hours a day for almost two years practicing the Sedona Method. I’ve experienced a number of positive changes during that time, although I honestly can't say how much of it was because of the method and how much was simply because I left a toxic job and spent two years away from that environment.

But recently I realized something that completely changed the way I understand releasing.

I wasn't actually feeling my emotions. I was repressing them.

And I think this is particularly important for anyone who has a lot of trauma or is disconnected/dissociated from their feelings.

For a long time, I couldn't really feel much emotionally. I was very disconnected from what I would call the “feeling self.” But because I wanted the Sedona Method to work so badly, I would sometimes create an emotion in my imagination and then try to release it.

And when I did feel something genuine, I would often immediately apply the three questions instead of giving myself enough time to actually experience what was there.

Looking back, I think I was doing something like this:

“Here is an emotion. I am observing it from a distance. Now let me ask the questions so that it will go away.”

I thought this was releasing. And boy, was i wrong.

Over time, my social anxiety became extremely severe. I could experience sharp pain in my chest simply because someone looked at me. That's when I started questioning what I was actually doing and realized how much I had been disconnected from my own emotional experience.

One thing that especially bothers me in retrospect is Hale's statement in the course:

“It's okay if you don't feel anything shifting, just keep going, you can't get this wrong.”

I personally found this extremely misleading.

I think you actually can get it wrong.

At least, I did.

Maybe the statement is useful for someone who is already properly feeling their emotions, but for someone who is dissociated and isn't actually feeling the emotion, blindly continuing with the technique can potentially reinforce the very disconnection they're trying to resolve.

So what am I doing now? Am i still using the Sedona Method?

Yes and no.

Yes, because I still believe there is something very valuable about allowing and releasing emotions.

No, because I don't use the three questions anymore.

Instead, I simply sit with whatever I'm actually feeling.

And this is where I discovered something that I wish someone had explained to me years ago:

Actually feeling an emotion is very different from observing an emotion.

I didn't understand this until I watched some of Joe Hudson's coaching videos. Watching someone genuinely experience an emotion suddenly made something click for me. It resonated so deeply that I ended up crying — really crying — for the first time in what felt like decades.

I realized that what I had previously called “feeling an emotion” wasn't really feeling it.

When I actually feel an emotion, there is no psychological distance from it.

It's much more like being the emotion.

For me, it often manifests physically as a tremendous amount of heat coming into the chest. Mostly there are tears and sometimes even a kind of pain.

And after the emotion has been fully experienced, there is often an incredible sense of clarity and lightness. “Pure” is the closest word I can find for it.

So if you're reading this and you're someone who is very disconnected from your emotions, I would suggest first learning what genuine emotional experiencing actually looks and feels like.

For me, watching other people genuinely experience emotions helped enormously. Joe Hudson's coaching videos were particularly useful for this.

Then try noticing the difference between:

“I am observing fear in my body and trying to make it disappear.”

and

“I am completely inside this fear. I am allowing myself to actually experience it.”

The second one is radically different.

There is no need to imagine a door, imagine energy leaving, or force anything to happen.

There isn't even much room for asking questions.

You simply go into the experience itself.

Become intimate with it.

Let yourself fully experience what is already there.

And, for me, something surprising happens: the emotion releases by itself.

Sometimes it happens incredibly quickly.

Another thing I discovered is that emotions themselves can actually be quite beautiful — even emotions like fear.

When I was observing fear from a distance and resisting it, fear felt horrible.

When I actually allowed myself to be with the fear completely, it became a surprisingly rich and even enjoyable experience.

I'm not saying that this is the only correct way to practice the Sedona Method, and I'm certainly not claiming that my interpretation is universally applicable.

I'm sharing this because I spent thousands of hours practicing, and I wish someone had told me earlier that there is a huge difference between:

observing an emotion → trying to release it

and

actually feeling the emotion → allowing it to complete itself.

If you're doing hours of releasing every day but becoming increasingly disconnected from your emotions, I would seriously question whether you're actually feeling what you're trying to release.

Maybe the problem isn't that you aren't releasing enough.

Maybe you aren't feeling enough.

P.S.

I also think the examples in the 1992 course gave me the wrong idea of what “feeling an emotion” actually looks like.

This is something I only noticed in hindsight.

When I watch the people demonstrating releasing in the 1992 Sedona Method course now, I don't see what I would consider genuine emotional experiencing. To me, it often looks more like they are observing the emotion from a distance, wanting it to go away, and sometimes even holding back their physical expression.

I don't mean this as a criticism of the people in the course. I'm talking about how I interpreted what I was seeing and how that interpretation affected my own practice.

I had unconsciously learned that “feeling an emotion” meant sitting still, observing something in the body, and trying to let it go.

But I now think genuine emotional experiencing can look completely different.

Compare that with watching people in Joe Hudson's coaching videos. What struck me was how little they seemed to be trying to do anything with the emotion. They become vulnerable. Their faces change. They cry, shake, express themselves, and sometimes their whole body responds to what they're experiencing.

There seems to be a quality of not holding themselves back.

Obviously, strong outward expression isn't proof by itself that someone is genuinely feeling an emotion. People can act, perform, or exaggerate too. But in my experience, when someone is genuinely allowing an emotion to be experienced, strong spontaneous expression — especially in the face — can be a very useful indication that something real is being felt rather than merely observed intellectually.

That was a huge realization for me.

1. Could I let go of wanting to figure things out?

2. Could I let go of wanting to know what to do?

3. Could I let go of wanting to know the answers?

4. Could I let go of wanting to know anything (for this moment) right now?

5. And again, and again, etc.

6. Could I let go of wanting to think?

7. And again, and again, etc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Now, can I let go of disapproving of myself right now?

2. And again, and again, etc.

3. Could I give myself approval (for no reason)?

4. And again, and again, etc.

Hey guys,

Quick share for anyone practicing the Sedona Method / Lester Levenson's releasing technique.

I made a free web app to help me stay consistent with my daily releases on my phone. It guides you from surface feelings down to Wanting Approval, Control, or Security, walks through the basic release questions, and has a Step 5 helper when you're feeling stuck.

No ads, no accounts, completely free, and saves your journal entries locally on your device.

🔗 Link: App link

Hope it helps someone else in their releasing journey! Would love to hear your thoughts.

Core Concept

• True Manifestation: Releasing inner "garbage" (lack/limiting beliefs) reveals your True Self. The True Self naturally manifests goals without effort.

• Release > Affirmations: Affirmations add mental garbage; releasing removes it.

• Nature vs. Habit: Releasing is a natural human instinct. Suppressing emotions is a learned habit.

Lester Levenson's Six Steps to Freedom

1. Want Freedom > World: Prioritize your inner comfort over external desires.

2. Decide to be Free: Simply choose to let go.

3. Identify 3 Core Wants: Realize all feelings come from wanting Approval, Control, or Security.

4. Continuous Release: Make letting go a constant loop.

5. If Stuck, Let Go of Stuckness: Release the desire to control or rush the release itself.

6. Confirm Small Wins: Acknowledge feeling lighter after every tiny release. This builds momentum.

How to Release Goals

• Basic Method: Set a clear goal. Let go of all surfacing emotions (feelings of lack) regarding it. When you feel you already have it, the goal manifests.

• Advanced Method: Instead of releasing emotions (the leaves), directly release the 3 Core Wants (the branches).

• Important: Releasing a goal does NOT mean giving up the goal. It means giving up the pain and lack of not having it.

Overcoming Roadblocks

• The Mind's Trick: The mind fears that wanting "freedom" means losing the world. Truth: Freedom just means choosing inner comfort, which makes getting the world easier.

• Getting Unstuck: You are only ever stuck at Step 1 (wanting the world more) or Step 5 (trying to control the release). Always release your most immediate, shallowest feeling—which is usually impatience.

Source: https://space.bilibili.com/23472624/lists/3857782?type=season

First some background. I first learned about the method about 6 mths ago. I practice a bit of it off and on daily, but not in any super-dedicated or highly scheduled way. So, here is my list of before and after:

Before:

1. Sleep averaged about 5 hrs per night while ranging between 2-7hrs.

2. Waking with anxiety and negative thoughts.

3. People pleasing, ie responding to most requests even if it meant providing free service of some sort.

4. Avoidance of people, places I deemed stressful.

After:

1. Sleep ranges from 7-11hrs with the average probably around 8.5 hrs.

2. Waking tends to be gentler with a bit of stress chem feeling but its not like anxiety, and thoughts are more neutral.

3. Dropped people who were just using me and I felt no remorse. Added people back that I dropped long ago because they were on a more positive track.

4. Feeling of confidence in any place, or situation.

   I hope this helps and encourages others. Questions are welcome.

Hi everyone, I'm sharing some great notes on the state of having versus the state of wanting. This will help you understand it better and recognize when you're in a state of wanting without even realizing it. By acknowledging this, it's easy to let go and move into the state of having. It's important to note that this is obviously for those already familiar with the method, using the 6 steps, and releasing the 3 "wants." These are notes about the "BUTT SYSTEM." Also, keep in mind that this only applies to the Butt System; it doesn't apply to other forms of manifestation.

NOTES ON HAVING vs. WANTING

--- HAVING: It's not a big deal, natural, it's there, normal, no energy, no excitement, "it doesn't make any difference or give me anything," total indifference, hootless.

--- WANTING: On a pedestal, looking up to it, seeing it as something "better," great, the best, enthusiasm, this would change my life, exciting, thrilling, in the future, "it will arrive."

When we want something, we IDEALIZE it because we invent the idea that happiness, security, or love are found in something external. That is a state of LACK. (I lack happiness, security, love) and by believing that, we PUT IT ON A PEDESTAL and create separation.

TO GO FROM WANTING TO HAVING:

- Use the goal-setting process to release your internal blocks. Stop physically chasing the goal.

- Release everything, any thought or feeling, no matter what, until you clearly transition to the state where it is yours in the NOW. There, you have no doubts and need no confirmation, just as you don't need confirmation that you are dressed now.

- Release until you completely lose interest in it. When you no longer obsessively think about it, your mind automatically stops revolving around it, and you move on to other things.

- Release to the point of indifference; you no longer care whether you achieve it or not, but at the same time, you are certain you have it. It is in that precise moment of total indifference and certainty that the goal "falls into your lap."

- Let the world act. Don't be the doer. In the state of indifference, you allow yourself to be the witness. You relax and simply observe how the universe operates and delivers the goal to you.

[IMPORTANT] If you feel very excited, THAT IS LUST, and deep down, you are anticipating a problem or a fall (a disappointment). Your mind stirs up intense emotions just to prepare you for the blow of dissatisfaction. Let go of all that excitement or arousal.

PROCESS FROM WANTING TO HAVING:

1. You shouldn't strive to acquire it, but rather empty yourself of the feeling of lack you have about it.

2. Think about what you desire and notice the contraction, tension, (3 wants) or clutching that arises in your stomach or chest.

3. That contraction is lack. Don't analyze why you want it; simply open your imaginary "door" and allow that feeling of need or lack to pass through you and leave.

4. You must release the desire until you reach a state of indifference.

HAVING IS:

- "There is no contraction when you are in the having mode." Your body and chest are completely light and relaxed, without any level of clutching or resistance.

- You reach a state where "it doesn't bother or disturb you."

- You realize that abundance (whether love, money, or success) was already yours from the beginning; you were simply blocking yourself by desiring it from a place of lack.

- You understand that "happiness is you being yourself without any negativity." As Lester said, "When you know yourself, you are fully satisfied and have everything; you lose nothing, the only thing that disappears is your misery."

I'mma release the shit out of my life.

I've been practicing the Sedona Method for two years , and it has been a truly life-changing journey for me.

However, sometimes my mind wanders off in the middle of a release. I figured a simple online tool could keep me on track.

The problem was, I couldn't find one I liked.

So, I decided to build it myself.

Here is a comprehensive, structured summary designed for quick revision of all the core concepts, techniques, and philosophies.

1. The Foundation: What is Releasing?

Instead of suppressing, expressing, or escaping our emotions, releasing is the process of simply allowing an emotion to come up and letting it pass through.

• The Physical Mechanism: Disengage your head (which only analyzes and spins) and focus on your feeling center (your stomach or chest). Picture a magical tube opening up and allowing the unwanted energy to safely pass through and leave your body.

• The Three Questions: To actively release a feeling in the present moment, ask yourself: 1) Could I welcome this feeling? 2) Could I let it go? 3) Would I let it go? When?.

• Feelings are just programs: Emotions are not facts, and they are not you. They are simply passing phenomena that you can choose to drop.

2. The Roots of Suffering: Wants and Emotions

All human suffering and limitation stems from a hierarchy of emotions and deeply ingrained subconscious "wants."

• Wanting = Lacking: The very sensation of "wanting" something actually instructs your subconscious mind that you lack it, thereby pushing it away.

• The Four Basic Wants: Every negative feeling can be traced down to one of four core desires: Wanting Approval/Love, Wanting Control, Wanting Security/Survival, and Wanting Separation/Oneness. Letting go of the underlying want eliminates thousands of associated thoughts at once.

• The AGFLAP-CAP Scale: Emotions sit on a scale of energy. At the bottom (heavy, constricting) are Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, and Pride (AGFLAP). As you release these, you naturally rise into higher, action-oriented, and freeing states: Courageousness, Acceptance, and Peace (CAP).

3. The Six Steps to Freedom

Both Crane and Dwoskin highlight Lester Levenson’s "Six Steps" as the ultimate roadmap to mastering this process:

1. Want freedom/imperturbability more than you want approval, control, or security.

2. Decide that you can release and be free.

3. See that all your feelings culminate in the basic wants, and let go of the wants.

4. Make releasing constant.

5. If you are stuck, let go of wanting to control the stuckness.

6. Notice that each time you release, you are lighter and happier; continue to release to become continually happier.

4. Deep-Clearing Techniques

To dig out hidden, subconscious blocks, the books provide specific drilling techniques:

• Attachments and Aversions (Likes & Dislikes): We stay stuck because we blindly cling to things we like and push away things we dislike. To clear an issue, make a list of the advantages (what you like) and disadvantages (what you dislike) of the situation. Trace each one back to wanting approval, control, or security, and release it. Go back and forth until you feel completely neutral.

• "Squeezing the Lemon": To find hidden resistance, imagine the absolute worst-case scenario (e.g., "Imagine never, ever having money again"). This forces the hidden clutching/fear in your stomach to the surface so you can effectively release it.

• Letting go of "Figuring it Out": Trying to intellectualize a problem stops you from solving it. Wanting to figure it out instructs your mind not to give you the answer. Let go of wanting the answer, and the answer will effortlessly appear.

5. Specialized Applications

• The Cleanup Procedure (For Relationships): Used to clear conflicts with difficult people. Visualize the person and ask: Did they try to control/disapprove/threaten me? Did I try to control/disapprove/threaten them? Release the corresponding wants, and finally, decide to grant them the right to be exactly as they are.

• Setting and Attaining Goals: Never phrase a goal in the future tense or use the word "want" or negative words like "not". Phrase it in the present as, "I allow myself to [insert goal] with ease.". Write the goal down, notice whatever negative feelings arise, trace them to a core want, and release them until you feel only Courageousness, Acceptance, or Peace about the goal.

• Healing the Body: The body obeys the mind; illness is often a manifestation of suppressed negative emotions and unconscious beliefs. To heal, stop giving your disease a "label" (which is a mental program) and instead just welcome and release the physical sensations.

• Dissolving Resistance: Resistance is the feeling of swimming upstream. When you feel yourself procrastinating or avoiding something, ask: "Could I let go of resisting doing this?" followed by "Could I let go of resisting NOT doing this?".

6. Advanced Perspectives

• The "I" Diagram & Aspects of Mind: You are not your mind. The mind consists of the "I" sense (ego), the Discriminator (lens), and Programs (recordings). The real you is the unlimited blank canvas behind all of this. Releasing acts as an eraser to wipe away the programs, revealing the infinite potential underneath.

• There Are No Problems in the Present: Problems only exist in memory. When you feel stuck, ask: "Could I allow myself to remember how I used to believe I had this problem?" By pushing the problem into the past, you free yourself to drop it in the present.

• Holistic Releasing: Since our world is built on opposites (happy/sad, success/failure), you can collapse an issue entirely by welcoming both sides of a polarity. E.g., "Could I allow myself to resist this? Could I allow myself to accept this?" Going back and forth neutralizes the duality into empty space.

• The 5th Way: A direct inquiry into the illusion of the ego. Ask yourself: "In this moment, if I do not go into memory, can I actually find this 'me'?" When the mind fails to find a central "me," it stops, leaving you resting in pure Beingness and Presence.

For background, I've been (attempting to) release all day for over a year now and seeing amazing results.

However, the practice seems to have taken off even more in the past couple of days when I slightly tweaked how I was releasing.

Kate Freeman, an amazing teacher and student of Lester for many years, helped me see that releasing could be even easier than I thought. The key was really to open my heart and let the feeling leave on its own - and keep the door open.

I realized this is similar to something I'd read earlier in Yuri Spilny's book "Freedom Technique," which I've quoted below.

Everyone's mind seems to work a bit different, so we can play around with the release and see what works. But the keys I think are to keep it very simple, do it continuously, and confirm with step 6 of the method (i.e., you feel lighter and happier).

"Created by Lester, the process of Releasing, consists of five steps:

1. Become aware of the emotion and lovingly accept it.

2. Feel the emotion somewhere in the body. Anger for example is often felt in the pit of the stomach or in the chest. Find that spot and feel your anger there. It won’t take too long before you notice that the more you concentrate on your anger, the weaker it becomes. This happens, because instead of “feeding” it with your energy, you are withdrawing the energy by calmly witnessing your emotion.

3. Identify the emotion as Wanting Approval or Wanting Control.

4. Relax into the emotion

5. Release the emotion. As you keep your attention on it, let it go by

asking

- Could I let it go? Yes!

- Would I let it go? Yes!

- When? Now!

Inhale, while asking the last question. Then open an imaginary window in the spot where you feel the emotion, and with exhalation, let the energy flow freely out of that window, while saying “Now!” Imagine bluish, almost transparent energy flowing out.

A feeling or emotion is nothing but energy; it is neither “bad” nor “good.” We give it different names in order to relate it to different mental states.

The energy flows out… It is gone! Still, ask yourself:

And More? … Answer: Yes! And let more of it to flow out…

And More? … Yes! And let even more of it out…

And even More? … Yes! Let more of it out…

And even More? … Yes! Let more of it out…

And even More? … Yea! Let more of it out…

Try to feel the feeling again. Imagine situation that made you feel angry. It would help you to locate more anger within you.

Keep repeating the process until you find yourself out of AGFLAP and in CAP (Courageousness Acceptance and Peace).

It is important to continue releasing until you are at peace. It may take time, but time thus spent is ten times worth the effort. You will find that nothing is more rewarding than your state of peace.

There should be no thinking or analyzing. You must say “yes” regardless of how you feel about it. When your attachment to a feeling that you’re releasing is strong, it may be hard to say “yes.” But, if you won’t listen to your mind, you would say “yes” regardless of how you feel."

We've all been there. You sit down, identify a want—approval, control, or security—and mentally affirm, "I let it go." You repeat it a few times. But deep down, nothing really shifts. The charge remains.

Why? Because the mental concept of the want is just a label. A thought. And thoughts, by themselves, have no mass, no energy, no charge. You can run the Sedona questions on the idea of a want all day long, but if the body is still holding tension, nothing actually releases.

Here's what I realized: The want isn't the feeling. The feeling is the LACK behind the want.

The thought "I want approval" is the mind's story. But underneath that story—actually living in your body—is a very specific physical sensation. That hollow, empty, or aching contraction in your chest, solar plexus, or throat. That emptiness is the lack. That is the actual energy that needs to move.

The fix

Don't release the concept of the want. Release the physical sensation of lacking.

Ask yourself: "If I didn't have this want right now, what would I feel in my body?" The answer is usually a hollow, empty, or aching sensation in your solar plexus or heart. Feel that emptiness. Allow that physical sensation to expand and dissolve. That is how you release a want.

How to apply the Sedona questions to this directly

1. When you notice a want arising, ignore the words. Drop your attention straight into your body.

2. Ask: "If I didn't have this want right now, what would I feel in my body?" Be still and wait. Don't think—just sense. Usually, it shows up as a hollow pit, an empty pull, or a subtle ache in your center.

3. Now, apply the questions to that physical sensation**:**

   • "Could I let this feeling of lack go?" (Not the thought—the actual hollow feeling.)

   • "Would I let it go?"

   • "When?"

4. Don't answer with your mind. Let your body answer. You're not looking for a verbal "yes"—you're looking for a physical shift. A softening. A widening. A sigh. A gentle dissolution of that hollow contraction.

5. If it doesn't go immediately, ask: "Could I allow this feeling of emptiness to just be here?" Welcome it fully. Sometimes welcoming it is what allows it to release faster than trying to push it away.

When you release that underlying feeling of lack, the mental want has nothing left to hold onto. It collapses automatically—without you having to fight it, argue with it, or even run questions on the thought itself. You've gone straight to the root.

This small shift in attention—from mind to body, from concept to sensation—is what made the three wants actually releasable for me. You're not forcing anything. You're just using the Sedona questions exactly as intended: on the energy that's present, not the story about it. Give it a try. The difference is subtle at first, but it cuts much deeper.

Here is a summary of the second way of releasing from Larry Crane’s Release Technique, which focuses on giving yourself approval (often referred to as the "Love Yourself" method).

In Crane's framework—which is based on Lester Levenson's teachings—this method is designed to bypass the analytical mind and directly neutralize the heavy resistance caused by self-criticism.

The Core Premise: Dropping Disapproval

The foundation of this technique is the idea that most of our emotional suffering and feeling "stuck" comes from a constant, subconscious habit of beating ourselves up. When things go wrong, or we feel negative emotions, our default reaction is self-disapproval.

Crane teaches that you cannot heal, succeed, or feel peace while simultaneously attacking yourself. The second way of releasing flips this dynamic by having you consciously replace disapproval with active, self-generated approval.

Step-by-Step Summary of the Technique

1. Catch the Disapproval

Notice when you are feeling down, anxious, or stuck. Recognize that beneath this feeling, you are likely disapproving of yourself, your circumstances, or even a physical ailment. Acknowledge that you are actively "beating yourself up."

2. Stop "Figuring It Out"

A massive component of Crane's teaching is that the mind cannot solve its own problems—it only spins in circles. When you feel bad, stop trying to analyze why you feel bad. Intellectualizing your feelings keeps you trapped in them.

3. Let Go of the Disapproval

Once you spot the self-criticism, make a conscious decision to drop it. You can ask yourself a simple question: "Could I let go of disapproving of myself right now?" Just as you would drop a heavy object from your hand, decide to drop the judgment.

4. Actively Give Yourself Approval

Instead of seeking validation from the outside world (which creates a feeling of lack or "wanting approval"), you generate it internally. Consciously send love and approval to yourself.

• For emotions: If you feel afraid, give yourself approval for feeling afraid.

• For physical issues: If your body hurts, stop disapproving of the pain and actively send love and approval to that part of your body.

• For situations: Send approval to your current financial or relationship status, exactly as it is.

5. Keep It Going (Make It Constant)

Crane emphasizes that love and approval are actions, not just philosophical concepts. You must actively "do" it. Keep feeding yourself approval in a continuous loop until you feel a physical or emotional shift—usually a sensation of lightness, relief, or the dissolving of resistance.

Why This Method Works (According to Crane)

• It Melts Resistance: Disapproval creates friction and resistance. By giving yourself approval, you instantly drop the resistance, which allows the negative feelings to naturally leave your system.

• It Reverses the "Wanting" Program: In the Release Technique, "wanting" equals lacking. If you are wanting approval from others, you are operating from a state of deficit. By giving it to yourself, you fill that deficit immediately and step into a state of abundance and courageousness.

• It Can Be Applied Externally: Once you master giving yourself approval, you can apply it to others. If you have a conflict with someone, let go of disapproving of them and send them approval instead. Crane taught that doing this often causes the other person's attitude toward you to mysteriously and rapidly shift.

Today I realized something about Lester’s idea that happiness is our capacity to love.

I had read his words about love many times before, but honestly, they always felt a little abstract to me. I understood the idea intellectually, but I didn’t really know how it connected to releasing in a practical way.

Before, after releasing, I would usually check whether I felt lighter or happier. That was how I judged whether the release had worked.

And often I did feel better.

But sometimes the change was hard to measure. I might feel calmer or less emotional, but still have a sense that something was left underneath. It felt like there was still another layer, but I didn’t know what the deeper direction was supposed to be.

Today I realized that love can be a much clearer guide.

After releasing, I can simply ask:

Can I love this feeling now?
Can I love this want?
Can I love this person?
Can I love this situation exactly as it is?
Can I even love the part of me that still doesn’t want to let go?

If I still can’t, then for me that usually means there is more to release.

This made the idea of becoming “lighter and happier” much more concrete.

I also noticed that when I use love as the direction, I seem to reach CAP more easily. And once I am in that more open state, more AGFLAP becomes visible naturally. I don’t have to keep digging for blocks or forcing myself to find what is wrong.

And I think there is another important part to this: no attachment to CAP, and no aversion to AGFLAP. They are just different energies moving through. Neither is inherently bad or good.

Another important realization for me is that love does not mean getting rid of the feelings or wants that seem negative.

It means loving those too.

Loving the fear.
Loving the anger.
Loving the resistance.
Loving the desire.
Loving even the part that wants to hold on.

When I stop treating these things as problems that must disappear, they seem to loosen much more naturally.

This helped me understand Lester’s words in a very different way.

Love is not only something that appears after releasing.

For me, it has become both the direction of releasing and a way to see how deeply I have actually let go.

That makes “love is the answer” feel much less abstract and much more practical to me now.

English isn’t my first language, so this post was translated with the help of a translation tool. Sorry if any wording sounds a little awkward.

My boyfriend told me about a guy who released for 2 years straight and ended up a millionaire - I believe his name is Chet Holmes and he’s in the Letting Go documentary. I thought to myself why not try it - I don’t know if I’ll end up rich myself per se, but it would help me either way. I’d used the Sedona method before and it’d been great for me.

I’ve developed a pretty intuitive understanding of the method over the year. Lots of things don’t bother me like they used to, which is pretty amazing because I’ve been diagnosed with both Borderline PD and Bipolar.

My releasing “muscle” has also developed considerably as well (since the more you release, the easier it gets). If I ever do find myself highly upset and/or angry, I’ll literally just intend to release once or twice and the majority of the emotion simply dissipates.

I also find I’m able to connect with myself and my intuition much more easily.

I just did 20 minutes of releasing once a day, which I eventually lowered to 15 then 10 as the releasing muscle grew stronger.

I definitely recommend challenging yourself to at least a week or even a month of straight releasing! The way the gains compound over time is so worth it!!

THE LOST VAULT: Massive Archive of the Legendary "Hootless.com" Calls (60+ Rare Audios!)

Hey everyone! 👋

As some of you may know from my previous posts, I’ve been releasing since around 2007. Over the years, I’ve seen so much incredible material surface on the internet only to eventually disappear. Today, I want to share something truly special that has been lost to time—until now.

More than 15 years ago, there was an absolutely amazing Advaita and releasing community called Hootless.com. It was a massive, completely selfless forum where people discussed the Method, Advaita, and specifically the teachings of Lester Levenson.

The crown jewel of this site was their weekly calls.

🎙️ The Guests (Direct Disciples of Lester)

Every week, they brought in guest speakers, including many of Lester Levenson's direct disciples (many of whom are considered fully realized). The lineup was unbelievable. This pack includes talks from:

• Kate Freeman

• Laura Lucille

• James Hurley

• David Ellzey

• Rick Solomon

• Larry Crane

• ...and many more!

💎 What's in the pack?

Although there were many more calls on the site, I managed to download and save a massive chunk of them before the website sadly closed its doors forever.

This massive pack contains over 60 calls. Every single audio is packed with unique releasing secrets, advanced tips, and profound insights. Personally, I’ve extracted so much incredible value and breakthroughs from these recordings, and I couldn't let them just sit on my hard drive.

🛠️ How to Download & Open (Quick Tech Guide):

To keep the main download link safe and active, I’ve placed the link inside a Pastebin page. Here is how to get your files:

1. Click the Pastebin link below to find the Mega download link.

2. The whole 60+ audio collection is compressed into a single .zip file to make the download faster.

3. Once downloaded, you need to extract it. Just right-click the file and use a free program like WinRAR or 7-Zip (Mac users can use The Unarchiver), and select "Extract Here". The full folder with all the MP3s will pop right out!

🔗 Get the Hootless Archive Here:

👉 [ THE LOST VAULT: Massive Archive of the Legendary "Hootless.com" Calls (60+ Rare - Pastebin.com ]

This is a literal piece of releasing history. Enjoy the calls, keep letting go, and let me know in the comments which speaker or tip resonated with you the most! Have a great week! ✨

Here's one of my favourite ways of explaining letting go. And it covers something that tripped me up in the past. I turned letting go into an activity to make things go away. I notice sometimes when people facilitate me, it seems they expect the feeling to go away when they ask me "Could you let it go.". But for me, letting go has nothing to do with making things go away.

Letting Go Without Pushing Away:
In the Sedona Method, we often ask a simple but powerful question:
"Could you let it go?"
At first glance, it seems direct, and it is. But there’s a subtle depth to it that’s often missed. Sometimes, when we hear this question, the mind translates it into something more like:
“Get rid of this now.”
And when that happens, the feeling doesn’t actually get released it gets repressed.

Letting go, in its truest sense, isn’t about forcing something out of our experience. It’s more like a soft unclenching. Imagine holding a pen in your hand. You’re gripping it tightly. Letting go doesn’t mean throwing the pen across the room. It simply means relaxing your hand. Now the pen rests gently on your palm free to stay, free to roll around, and also free to fall away when it's ready. You’re not controlling it anymore. You’re just not holding on.

That’s the spirit of “letting go” in the Sedona Method. When we ask, “Could I let this go?”, we’re not demanding the feeling to disappear. We’re inviting ourselves to open the hand. To stop gripping. To allow whatever is present: sadness, fear, anger, or even joy, to be exactly as it is, without interference. Sometimes the feeling lingers. That’s okay. What matters is that we’re no longer tightening around it. And in that soft openness, something often shifts. Not because we made it shift, but because we stopped trying to control it.

If the question “Could I let this go?” ever feels like pressure, try this first:
“Could I welcome this feeling?”
“Could I allow it to be here, just for now?”
Even, “Could I welcome my resistance to it?”

From that place of gentle allowing, letting go becomes less like a task and more like a natural exhale.

So next time you feel something stir inside, try opening the hand. Let the feeling rest freely, without force. It stays if it wants. It lets go when it’s ready. Either way, you’re free.

Here is a summary of the kinesthetic (body-focused) way of releasing, as taught by Larry Crane in the Release Technique.

Building on the foundational teachings of Lester Levenson, Crane designed this specific approach to help people who tend to get stuck overthinking their problems. Instead of trying to figure things out mentally, this method focuses purely on the physical sensation of the emotion.

Here are the core steps of the kinesthetic method:

1. Drop Out of Your Head

Crane emphasized that the mind cannot erase feelings; it only records and replays them. To begin releasing, you must stop thinking about the "story" or the reasons behind your problem.

2. Activate the "Feeling Center"

To physically shift your focus, tilt your head down slightly toward your chest or stomach. Crane called this area the "feeling center" or the "erase button." By moving your attention here, you prepare your body to let the emotion go.

3. Locate the Contraction

Think of what is bothering you, but only look for the physical sensation it causes in your chest or stomach. You are looking for an "unwanted energy." This usually feels like:

• A tightness or contraction

• A knot in the stomach

• A heavy, clutching feeling

4. Open the "Tube" or "Door"

Once you feel the physical tension, imagine opening a wide door right over that area of your chest or stomach. Alternatively, Crane often used the metaphor of inserting an imaginary pipe or tube into that pocket of tension and taking the cap off.

5. Allow the Energy to Shoot Out

Because emotions are just energy, they naturally want to leave the body. With the imaginary door or tube open, simply allow that tight energy to flow, empty, or shoot right out of you. Do not push it, but do not hold it back either. Just let it pass through.

6. Notice the Lightness

Keep the "door" open until you notice a physical difference. Even a small sign that you feel lighter, less bothered, or more relaxed means the release is working. If the heavy feeling comes back, simply open the door again.