Whether to dig up unconscious stuff to release on.. or release in the moment? (Lester Levenson, Advaita, and Sedona Method)

 

So I'm continuing a deep dive into Sedona Method, Release Technique, the teachings of Lester Levenson and related material. 

It's mostly centred around 2 main areas:

- Emotional release work

- Advaita, or nonduality based on the teaching model of contemporary Advaita Vedanta (most similar to Ramana Maharshi's teachings and model)

 

A question has come up after going through (again) several of the courses and reading some of Lesters original writings (as transcribed for example in 'Keys to the Ultimate Freedom', and 'Happiness is Free'). Lesters original talks recorded in the 1960 (1964 and 1966) are also available on YouTube pretty must for free now.. for example here : https://www.youtube.com/@lesterlevenson8168/videos)

 

That question is -- is it better to 'dig up' and trigger the emotional reactions and uncover where the 3 Wants are hiding (and thus emotional reactions on the AGFLAP chart), or is it better to just release what comes up in the moment (ie during the day or night or while involved in activities)?

 

Larry Crane and Hale Dwoskin put together the current two main commercial offerings that are now available with Lester's teachings and the Sedona Method style releasing system. I met Larry Crane in person when he visited Australia about 10 years back.. and unfortunately, he's gone now. Hale is still very active in the releasing community and has evolved the Sedona Method to be much larger and encompassing many approaches that Lester didn't originally use.

There are also a few ex-students of Lester around that have kept Lester's original simplified version the Sedona Method / Release technique. They tend to be very similar to how Lester approached the releasing, and just use the 2 Wants (Wanting Control and Wanting Approval) to release on.

Apart from Hale, who has now fully incorporated the approach of Advaita Vedanta (in modern terms and without any technical terms or non-English terms) into his teachings with Sedona Method, not many of the other teachers or students of Lester make use of the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, or self-inquiry.. and not in the direct way that Lester himself references the "Eastern" teachings, for example in "Keys to the Ultimate Freedom" talks.

But back to the question about whether to release on stuff as it arises, or make an effort to dig into the unconscious via goals, worksheets, topics, journaling etc..

My view now is that it is likely better to just release directly on things arising in the moment, rather than spending large amounts of time digging up stuff and constantly filling out worksheets and goals and topics. The reason for this is that when just keeping the releasing on what is arising in the moment, it aligns much better as a tool or 'means to an end' practice for then moving on to self-inquiry or resting in the moment as beingness, suchness etc... which was always Lester's "Ultimate Goal". The ultimate goal was never to clear out all of the unconscious garbage.. which is more aligned with a Scientology type goal of clearing 'unconscious traumas' etc and getting to some "Clear" state. 

In contrast, any preparatory practice in the nondual approaches was always aimed at making way for the simples of situations in which things are able to rest and be seen exactly as they are in perfect peace, ananda, as suchness.. see for instance the preparations and end for Dzogchen, or the silent teachings of Ramana Maharshi, in which nothing needs to be done.. indeed, all conceptual designations are let stand but are known to be nothing other than the Absolute.

So if you have gone down the rabbit hole of Sedona Method, and wonder how far down you need to go, and when you need to stop releasing... then it's useful to keep these above things in mind, and veer towards an approach where you just release on things (emotional triggers, reactions, wants, craving etc.) in the moment, rather than try stir up unconscious stuff in an effort to clear it all. By doing this, you'll have a much better chance of being able to recognise and attain Lester's view of the "Ultimate Goal" which is to be that imperturbable peace and Happiness itself.

 

Establishing a 5 minute "emotional releasing" session - Sedona Method additions.

 

So I've been revisting The Sedona Method (and related teachings of Lester Levenson) over the last month or so. I've done it many times in the past, probably starting around the year 1998, 2000 or thereabouts. I had various levels of "success", but this time around has been excellent in terms of actually understanding where it is coming from, and what "releasing" (a subtle and often confusing topic) really is.

One way to use the method or approach is to establish a 5 minute (or more) quiet sitting meditation session, in which you just sit and do nothing for 5 minutes, apart from allowing issues, bodily sensations or other objects to arise and take hold of the attention (if it happens).

Then these objects and arisings can be tracked back to the feeling category (AGFLAP-CAP) or the 2 Basic Wants (Approval, Control) and released from there. If done correctly or to completion, this returns one's state back to just sitting (beingness, I-am-ness etc.)

One can notice the "I-thought" also attached to these basic wants and how they arise.

This is also a great little exercise that can be done to notice craving (tanha in Buddhism) and how craving arises and causes pressure (to escape it in either pleasure or aversion).

Getting success with the method really entails a LOT of repitition until releasing becomes automatic or second nature, as per how breathing happens (or burping etc.) and any other automatic bodily response.

Every arising, even unrelated, such as a thought, desire, bodily sensation etc. can be tracked back to the two basic wants (or prior to that the 6-9 basic feelings in the AGFLAP chart) and released from there.

Craving, desire, bodily impulses and management approach of various awakened "Nonduality" teachers.

 

12 February 2024.

I’ve been pondering a lot about craving, and dealing with craving. I noted that there’s a divide between mental type methods, and body methods or “embodied awakening” as SK calls it. I am moving towards the embodied practices at the moment such as Morrnah Simeona's Ho’oponopono 12 Step process and framework. This is much more on that embodied side than HL’s modernised form (which is a mix of both body and intellectual "tools", but for me in 2022 remained almost totally intellectual and mentally tiring vs now where it’s a breeze and effortless to work the practice and involves a strong connection with the Inner Child / Subconsious where arisings are mostly coming from).

Compared some advice today from NIS as well, which didn’t sit well about exteriorizing the craving or desire and watching it or observing it. Seems like the usual dislocated approach that I used to take, and most people take on encountering awareness teachings, and which works for a while, but not in the long-run. But on reading it later, it seems he was pointing to being aware of it first, and then somehow using it with the I AM.

This seems similar to the misunderstanding with Ramana, where people keep just ignoring arisings and emotions and going back to just awareness, when instead he MAY have been actually pointing to BEING the ego-I self and fully being present as the self, and then that gets subsumed into the I AM ness.. We don’t approach pure consciousness directly, since it’s not accessible for the intellectually identified mind, and will likely end up in spiritual bypassing and suppression of emotions, craving, etc.

A lot of teachers or teachings I've come across over the years, such as Shinzen Young, Scott Kiloby, Linda Clair, Eckhart Tolle, Barry Long, and many others, especially those of a more contemporary nature, are firmly in the embodied camp. Not to be confused with contemporary Nonduality teachers, such as Tony Parsons, Jim Newman, Ramesh Balsekar, Sailor Bob,  and all Neo-Advaitins who are firmly in the intellectual understanding only camp and don’t deal with the body at all except as some sort of aspect of consciousness.. And coincidentally are the most likely to be misunderstood and used for spiritual bypassing by the ego.