Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
Sedona Method
Dissolve a stuck polarity by deliberately welcoming each pole of an opposition in turn, so the either/or that held the pattern collapses.
Name the two opposite poles of the stuck issue. Welcome one fully, then welcome the opposite fully. Alternate back and forth several times — equal welcome to both, no winner — until the polarity dissolves.
What it is
Holistic Releasing is the Sedona Method’s fourth way to let go, developed by Hale Dwoskin as an extension of Levenson’s work — and the most distinctive.
Instead of releasing a single feeling, you take a polarity (an opposing pair: wanting and not-wanting, love and hate, holding on and pushing away, wanting approval and wanting disapproval) and alternately welcome each side until the opposition itself dissolves.
The premise: many stuck patterns are held in place not by one feeling but by an unconscious tension between opposites. An emotion is partly defined by its opposite; welcome both poles fully and the boundary between them — and the grip of the either/or — falls away.
It operationalizes releasing the grip to receive (The Inner Creates the Outer), non-resistance (The Inner Creates the Outer), and the witnessing stance that can hold two opposites at once (Life Is a Dream).
The Method
From Dwoskin’s The Sedona Method teaching:
- Identify the polarity. Pick the issue, then name its two poles — e.g. “wanting to change this / wanting to keep it,” “wanting approval / wanting disapproval,” “holding on / letting go.”
- Welcome one side fully. Allow the first pole to be completely present — “could I welcome wanting to hold on?” — letting it be as much as it is.
- Welcome the opposite side fully. Now allow the other pole just as completely — “could I welcome wanting to let go?” Don’t choose between them; give each its full place.
- Alternate, back and forth. Keep moving between the two poles, welcoming each in turn, several times. You are not resolving the conflict by picking a winner — you are holding both until the charge equalizes.
- Let the polarity dissolve. As both sides are equally welcomed, the tension that defined the stuck pattern relaxes, often leaving a spacious, neutral, or unexpectedly free state. Repeat with any new polarity that surfaces. (Sourcing note: Holistic Releasing and the both-sides procedure are Dwoskin’s published teaching; faithfully described, not reproduced.)
Source & Lineage
Hale Dwoskin created Holistic Releasing as an advancement of Lester Levenson’s releasing method, presenting it as one of the four basic ways to let go. → (Dwoskin; cf. Levenson).
Common refinements
Secretly favouring one side. The point is equal welcoming; if you’re rooting for one pole, you’re resisting the other.
- Trying to resolve or decide. Holistic Releasing is not problem-solving; you hold both, you don’t pick.
- Welcoming only the comfortable pole. The unwanted side (e.g. “wanting to fail,” “wanting disapproval”) often carries the charge — welcome it just as fully.
- Too few passes. Alternate several times; one round rarely equalizes a long-held polarity.