Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
The Sedona Method (Releasing)
To dissolve unwanted emotions and limiting beliefs by gently ‘letting go’ of them in the moment, using a short sequence of releasing questions.
Sedona releasing in 5 lines: Bring up the feeling and let yourself fully feel it now. Then ask: “Could I let this go?” (am I able) — “Would I let it go?” (am I willing) — “When?” (now). Any answer is fine; just keep going around the loop until the feeling lightens. For stubborn feelings, release the deeper want beneath it — the want for approval, control, or security. Use it anytime, in real time.
What it is
The Sedona Method is a simple technique for letting go of unwanted feelings — anxiety, anger, fear, craving, grief, limiting beliefs — in the moment, using a short, repeatable sequence of questions. Its founding insight (from Lester Levenson): emotions are not fixed facts about us; they are things we are holding onto, and we can choose to let them go as easily as we let go of a pen we’ve been gripping.
The method does not analyze, fight, or fix the feeling; it simply invites you to welcome it, then release it — and to keep releasing until the charge dissolves. Levenson framed all suffering as rooted in a few basic “wants” (the want for approval, for control, and for security/survival), and taught that releasing those underlying wants frees the surface emotions.
It operationalizes non-resistance and letting-go (The Inner Creates the Outer), surrender (The Inner Creates the Outer), and the witnessing relationship to one’s feelings (Life Is a Dream).
The Method
The form systematized by Hale Dwoskin (Levenson’s student) in The Sedona Method (2003). The basic releasing sequence:
- Focus on an issue or feeling you’d like to feel better about. Bring to mind something that’s bothering you and let yourself actually feel the emotion as fully as you can right now — welcome it rather than push it away. (Allowing comes first; you can’t release what you won’t let yourself feel.)
- Ask: “Could I let this feeling go?” This is simply asking whether you are able to release it — a yes/no openness question. Either answer is fine; even “no” is accepted, and you proceed.
- Ask: “Would I let it go?” This asks about willingness — are you willing to let it go? Again, either answer is fine. (If “no,” you can ask: “Would I rather have this feeling, or would I rather be free?”)
- Ask: “When?” This invites the release now. The answer the method points toward is “now” — but it’s an invitation, not a command.
- Repeat the sequence. Most feelings release in layers. Go around the loop again — feel it, could I, would I, when — as many times as needed, until the issue feels lighter, neutral, or you reach a calm, even joyful, sense of release.
- Release the underlying “wants” (the deeper layer). Dwoskin/Levenson teach that emotions are sustained by deeper wants — chiefly the want for approval, the want for control, and the want for security/survival (some versions add the want for separation/oneness). For stubborn feelings, ask whether the feeling comes from one of these wants, and release the want itself: “Could I let go of wanting approval / control / security?” Releasing the root collapses the branch.
- Use it continuously, in real time. The method is designed to be used on the fly — the moment a feeling arises, you can quietly run the questions. It’s cumulative: regular releasing is said to lighten one’s baseline state over time. (Sourcing note: the releasing questions (“Could I let it go? Would I? When?”) and the three “wants” framework are the Sedona Method’s published, structured teaching, attributed to Levenson/Dwoskin; faithfully described, not reproduced.)
Source & Lineage
Lester Levenson (1909–1994), after a heart-attack-prompted health crisis in 1952, reportedly developed a method of releasing all negative feelings and reached a state of deep peace; he taught it informally for decades as the “Release Technique.” His student Hale Dwoskin co-founded Sedona Training Associates and systematized and popularized it as The Sedona Method, publishing the bestselling book in 2003.
The method has a non-dual flavor (Levenson spoke of realizing the Self and unconditional love) blended with practical emotional release; it sits alongside other “letting-go” approaches. A parallel lineage from Levenson’s teaching is the “Release Technique” taught separately by Larry Crane. → (Levenson, Dwoskin).
The Traditions' versions
Hawkins’ “Letting Go” — David Hawkins taught a closely related surrender/allowing mechanism (he and Levenson are kindred).
- Surrender / “saying yes” (Michael Singer) — relaxing and releasing the inner contraction.
- Acceptance & defusion (ACT) — making room for a feeling and unhooking from it.
- Vipassana equanimity — observing a sensation/emotion without clinging or aversion until it passes.
- Buddhist non-attachment / Taoist wu wei — releasing grasping as the root of suffering.
Common refinements
Skipping the “feel it” step. You can’t release a feeling you won’t let yourself have. Welcome and feel it first; releasing isn’t suppressing or “thinking it away.”
- Treating “no” as failure. The method explicitly accepts “no” to “could I / would I” — you keep going anyway. Fighting for a “yes” creates resistance.
- Forcing the release. Letting go is a gentle allowing, not a willful shove. Strain re-grips the feeling.
- Staying on the surface. Stubborn emotions usually sit on a deeper want (approval/control/security); release the want, not just the symptom.
- Using it to bypass. Releasing is not a license to skip needed action or to avoid grief/trauma processing (see safety).