The Sedona Method: The Complete Guide to Letting Go of Unwanted Feelings

The Sedona Method is a self-help releasing technique that uses a short series of simple questions, such as “Could I let this feeling go?”, to help you notice an unwanted feeling and let it go in the moment. It grew from Lester Levenson’s teachings and is taught by Hale Dwoskin’s Sedona Training Associates. Independent research on it is very limited.

Mind and emotions · Helps with: stress, anxiety, worry, anger, stuck feelings, self-reflection, goals

Last updated: 23 October 2026

Reading time: about 35 minutes

How we wrote this guide
We based the step-by-step instructions on the official Sedona Method website and books, and we link to the original source for every claim. Where a study is cited by the company that sells the method and has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal, we say so clearly. We checked every video, podcast, book, course and account link in October 2026. This guide is general information, not therapy or medical advice.

⚠️ Before you start: what releasing is not

• It is not a treatment for any mental or physical illness. The company itself says the method “is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure any illness” (Sedona Method FAQ).
• If you have trauma, PTSD, severe anxiety, depression or an eating disorder, work with a qualified professional. Ask your doctor or a licensed therapist; in England you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies.
• Don’t stop or change any medication because of releasing. Talk to your doctor first.
• Letting go is not the same as pushing feelings away. If you notice you are using the questions to suppress or “bypass” a feeling, stop and simply allow it, or get support.
• If you are in crisis, contact a crisis line now. USA: call or text 988 (988 Lifeline). Canada: call or text 9-8-8 (988.ca). UK and Ireland: Samaritans, free on 116 123 (Samaritans). Australia: Lifeline on 13 11 14 (Lifeline). India: Tele-MANAS on 14416 (Tele-MANAS). Elsewhere: find a free local line at findahelpline.com. In an emergency, call your local emergency number (for example 911, 999, 112 or 000).

Quick answer: what is the Sedona Method and does it work?

• It is a releasing technique: you focus on a feeling, welcome it, then ask yourself “Could I let it go? Would I? When?” and repeat until you feel lighter (official instructions).
• It comes from Lester Levenson, an American businessman who said he healed himself in 1952 by letting go of “non-love” feelings. Hale Dwoskin now teaches it through Sedona Training Associates (Sedona Method).
• It also works on underlying “wants”: wanting approval, control and security (and, in Dwoskin’s later teaching, separation).
• The evidence is thin. The research the company quotes has never been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and we found no randomised controlled trial in PubMed. Independent studies are few and small.
• Parts of it overlap with well-researched ideas, such as naming and accepting emotions rather than suppressing them, which are central to mindfulness and ACT.
• It is free to try from the official website and YouTube; courses cost from about $100 to $1,397.

Contents

1. What is the Sedona Method?
   • What “releasing” means
   • The three analogies: pen, open hand, soap bubble
2. Lester Levenson: where the method came from
3. Hale Dwoskin and Sedona Training Associates
4. How to do the Sedona Method: step by step
5. The wants: approval, control and security
6. The nine emotional states
7. Variations and advanced processes
8. Using the Sedona Method in everyday life
   • Anxiety and fear
   • Money
   • Relationships
   • Goals
9. How it compares with other approaches
10. What the evidence says
11. Criticisms and what’s overstated
12. Cost: what’s free and what you pay for
13. Official courses, app and books
14. Watch, listen and follow
15. Frequently asked questions
16. Key takeaways
17. Sources

What Is the Sedona Method?

The Sedona Method is a technique for letting go of unwanted feelings, thoughts and beliefs. You don’t analyse where a feeling came from or argue with it. Instead, you notice what you feel right now, allow it to be there, and then ask yourself a few deliberately simple questions that invite you to stop holding on to it.

It is sold and taught by Sedona Training Associates (STA), a company based in Sedona, Arizona, through books, audio and video courses, live online retreats and a free podcast. The company describes it as “a simple technique to let go of unwanted feelings, emotions and everything else that is holding you back” and says it is not a religion and needs no special beliefs (Sedona Method FAQ).

The idea behind it is that most of us carry around feelings we have pushed down rather than felt. According to the method, these suppressed feelings drive our reactions, habits and stress. When you let them go, the theory says, you become calmer and clearer, and you act more effectively.

What “Releasing” Means

In the Sedona Method, releasing simply means letting go of a feeling, or of the urge behind it, in the present moment. The official site describes five ways of doing this (How It Works):

1. Choosing to let go of the feeling.
2. Welcoming the feeling, allowing it simply to be here.
3. Diving into the very core of the feeling.
4. Dissolving opposing polarities, the basis of what STA calls Holistic Releasing.
5. Seeing through the feeling to the “effortless Awareness” behind it, known as the Fifth Way.

Most beginners start with the first two. We cover the others in variations and advanced processes.

Two features set releasing apart from many other techniques:

• It is an “eyes open” practice. STA says you can release in the middle of a conversation, a meeting or a traffic jam, rather than withdrawing to meditate (Sedona Method FAQ).
• You don’t need to understand the feeling. The official instructions encourage you to “lead, as best you can, with your heart, not your head”. If you get stuck trying to work it out, you can let go of “wanting to figure it out” too (How It Works).

The Three Analogies: Pen, Open Hand, Soap Bubble

The official sample process explains releasing with three images (How It Works):

• The pen (choosing to let go). Grip a pen tightly, as if it were a feeling you’re holding. Then open your hand and notice that the pen isn’t stuck to you: you are the one holding it. Let it drop. STA’s point is that we hold on to feelings in the same way, and we say “I am angry” rather than “I feel angry”, as if we were the feeling.
• The open hand (welcoming). If you walked around with your hand open, it would be hard to keep hold of the pen. In the same way, welcoming a feeling is said to let it pass “like the clouds passing in the sky”.
• The soap bubble (diving in). If you magnified the pen enough, it would look like mostly empty space. STA says the core of a feeling is similar: “empty, silent, and at peace”, and it pops like a bubble when you look into it.

These are metaphors, not scientific claims, but they make the instructions easier to follow.

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Lester Levenson: Where the Method Came From

Lester Levenson (1909–1994) was an American who had trained in physics and worked as an engineer and property entrepreneur in New York. Sedona Training Associates and the separate Release Technique organisation both describe him as the originator of the releasing teachings (Sedona Method: Lester Levenson; Release Technique).

The story at the centre of the method goes like this. In 1952, when he was 42, Levenson was seriously ill. STA lists depression, an enlarged liver, kidney stones, ulcers and a second heart attack (coronary), and says doctors sent him home to his apartment on Central Park South, expecting him to die within weeks (Lester Levenson; About Us).

Rather than give up, he spent about three months looking inwards. He concluded that he had been happiest not when he was being loved but when he was loving: “It was when I was loving that I was happiest.” He began letting go of what he called “non-love” feelings, and STA says he regained his health and lived another 42 years, until his death on 18 January 1994.

We have no medical records to support this story. It comes from Levenson himself and from the organisations that teach his methods, and should be read as a personal account rather than evidence.

Levenson spent the following decades teaching. According to STA, his teachings were turned into a do-it-yourself system in 1973, and the first Sedona Method class was held in 1974 in Sedona, Arizona (Lester Levenson; Sedona Method FAQ). Recordings of his talks are still sold, and his book Keys to the Ultimate Freedom was published by the Sedona Institute in 1993 (Open Library).

You can hear Levenson himself in Talks With Lester Levenson, Vol. 1, Tape 1 on YouTube (35 minutes; this video can’t be embedded, so it opens on YouTube).

One Teacher, Two Branches

Levenson’s work has more than one modern branch. As well as the Sedona Method, there is the Release Technique, developed by Larry Crane (1935–2018), who studied with Levenson. It is run by a separate company and has its own courses and podcast (Release Technique). Its podcast has an episode explaining how the two relate: Sedona Method vs. Release Technique: The Lester Levenson Connection Explained. Both are commercial organisations, so treat each one’s account of the history with some caution.

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Hale Dwoskin and Sedona Training Associates

Hale Dwoskin is the main teacher of the Sedona Method today. According to his official biography, he had explored EST, Actualism and Rebirthing before meeting Levenson in 1976, and he went on to work closely with him (Hale Dwoskin biography).

Key facts from STA’s own pages:

• Sedona Training Associates was founded in 1996. Dwoskin is its co-founder, and STA says Levenson passed his copyrights to Dwoskin (About Us).
• Dwoskin wrote The Sedona Method (Sedona Press, 2003), which STA describes as a New York Times bestseller (Sedona Method paperback). He co-wrote Happiness Is Free with Levenson, and his newest book is Already Safe.
• He appeared in the films The Secret and Letting Go and is a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council (Hale Dwoskin biography).
• Levenson is the most quoted teacher in Rhonda Byrne’s The Greatest Secret (2020), according to STA (The Greatest Secret). That link with The Secret explains much of the method’s recent popularity. See our guide to The Secret and the law of attraction.

The method has well-known fans in self-help. Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, endorses it on the official site (Endorsements) and has interviewed Dwoskin about it. Endorsements show popularity, not proof, but they help explain how the method spread.

▶ The Sedona Method: What Is It – The Sedona Method (official). A short introduction from Sedona Training Associates.

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How to Do the Sedona Method: Step by Step

This is the basic process, which STA calls “Choosing to Let Go”. The steps below follow the official instructions (How It Works), with a short preparation step and a check-in added. A first round takes about five to ten minutes.

1. Get comfortable. Sit somewhere you won’t be disturbed for a few minutes. Your eyes can be open or closed. Take a breath and turn your attention inwards.
2. Pick an issue. Choose something you’d like to feel better about: a worry, a conflict, a decision or a recurring frustration. It doesn’t need to be big. You can even start with how you feel about trying this exercise.
3. Feel what you feel right now. Notice the feeling in this moment, not the story about it. It might be tightness, heaviness, irritation or numbness. STA says flat, blank or empty feelings can be released too. Welcome the feeling and let it be here as fully as you can.
4. Ask: “Could I let this feeling go?” Alternatively, ask “Could I allow this feeling to be here?” or “Could I welcome this feeling?” You are only asking whether it is possible. “Yes” and “no” are both fine. Answer quickly, without debating it.
5. Ask: “Would I?” In other words, are you willing to let it go? It doesn’t matter whether the feeling is justified. If the answer is “no” or you’re unsure, ask: “Would I rather have this feeling, or would I rather be free?” Then carry on, whatever your answer.
6. Ask: “When?” This is an invitation to let go now. Many people notice a small sigh, softening or sense of space. STA describes letting go as a decision you can make at any time.
7. Repeat. Go back to the feeling and run through the questions again. You may notice the feeling changes, or that another layer appears underneath, such as fear under anger. Keep releasing whatever is there now.
8. Check in and stop. When you feel lighter or neutral about the issue, or after a few rounds, stop. Notice how you feel about the issue now. Results are often subtle at first. If the feeling grows overwhelming rather than easing, stop and come back to it another time, ideally with support.

Tip: keep the questions light

STA stresses that the questions “are not important in and of themselves”. They are pointers to the experience of letting go. If you start analysing or arguing with yourself, let go of wanting to get it right, and go back to step 3.

▶ The Sedona Method: How It Works – The Sedona Method (official). An official explanation of the basic releasing process.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Trying to make the feeling go away. Releasing works with the feeling, not against it. If you’re forcing, you’re suppressing. That’s why the welcoming question is often the easiest way in.
• Getting lost in the story. Thinking “but they really were unfair” pulls you away from the feeling in your body now. Notice the story, then come back to the feeling.
• Expecting a dramatic release every time. Most releases are small. STA says you will probably let go “a little more on each step”.
• Using it to avoid action. Feeling calmer about an unpaid bill doesn’t pay it. Releasing is meant to help you act more clearly, not replace action.

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The Wants: Approval, Control and Security

The Sedona Method goes beneath individual feelings to what it calls the basic wants. The teaching is that “wanting equates to lack”: when you want something, you are telling yourself you don’t have it (Sedona Method paperback). So rather than releasing endless separate feelings, you release the want behind them.

The classic teaching names three basic wants:

Dwoskin’s later teaching adds a fourth want: wanting to be separate (its opposite being a sense of oneness). STA’s own peer-to-peer releasing handouts group their questions under four wants: control, approval, security/survival and separation (After-Releasing Clean-Up Procedure). The Sedona Method book refers to “the four basic wants” (Sedona Method paperback).

How to Release a Want

1. Notice a feeling about something, for example irritation with a colleague.
2. Ask: “Does this feeling come from wanting approval, wanting control or wanting security?” Go with your first answer. There can be more than one.
3. Ask: “Could I let go of wanting approval?” (or control, or security). Then “Would I?” and “When?”
4. Repeat until the want feels lighter.

A Note on the Psychology

Interestingly, these wants loosely mirror ideas in mainstream psychology. Self-determination theory proposes that people have basic needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Researchers also argue that the need to belong is a fundamental human motivation (Baumeister & Leary, 1995).

There’s an important difference, though. Psychology treats these needs as healthy, and their frustration as the problem. The Sedona Method treats the wanting as the problem. Letting go of the compulsive, grasping quality of a want can be helpful. But it doesn’t mean you should stop caring about safety, relationships or having a say in your own life.

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The Nine Emotional States

The Sedona Method uses a chart of emotions to help you recognise what you are feeling. STA’s description of Already Safe refers to “9 fundamental emotional states” (Already Safe), and The Sedona Method book includes “the chart of emotions” (Sedona Method paperback).

In Dwoskin’s teaching, the states run from the least to the most energised:

1. Apathy: feeling stuck, hopeless or numb.
2. Grief: sadness, loss and hurt.
3. Fear: anxiety, worry and dread.
4. Lust: craving or “I must have it”, in a broad sense, not just sexual.
5. Anger: frustration, irritation and resentment.
6. Pride: smugness, judging others and defensiveness.
7. Courageousness: willingness, confidence and “I can”.
8. Acceptance: things are fine as they are.
9. Peace: calm and completeness.

The first six are treated as states to release. The last three are more open, though even these can be let go of. If this sounds familiar, it is similar to the scale of emotions David R. Hawkins described. See our guide to the Map of Consciousness.

You don’t have to name the state to release it, but naming it can help. Research on “affect labelling” has found that putting feelings into words can reduce emotional reactivity (Lieberman et al., 2007).

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Variations and Advanced Processes

The basic questions are only the start. These are the main variations taught in the books and courses.

Welcoming

Instead of trying to let go, you simply welcome the feeling, or allow it to be here, as fully as you can. Many people find this the gentlest way in, especially with strong feelings. Happiness Is Free teaches a practice called Triple Welcoming (Happiness Is Free), which extends welcoming beyond the feeling itself to any resistance to it and the wants behind it.

Diving In

With a feeling that seems stuck, you go towards it rather than away from it. You dive into the very core of the feeling and notice what’s actually there. STA claims you’ll find that at the core you are “empty, silent, and at peace” (How It Works).

Holistic Releasing (Polarities)

STA’s mission statement names both “the Sedona Method and the Holistic Releasing Process” (About Us). Holistic Releasing works with pairs of opposites, for example:

• “Could I welcome liking this?” … “Could I welcome disliking this?”
• “Could I allow myself to feel accepted?” … “Could I allow myself to feel rejected?”
• “Could I welcome wanting to change this?” … “Could I welcome wanting to keep it the same?”

You switch back and forth between the two sides for several rounds. The idea is that welcoming both sides loosens the inner tug of war.

▶ Hale Dwoskin – Holistic Releasing – The Sedona Method (official). Dwoskin explains the Holistic Releasing process.

Advantages and Disadvantages

This process is useful for habits you want to change, or decisions you feel stuck on. You alternate between two questions, releasing whatever comes up after each answer:

1. “What’s the advantage of this habit or situation?” Then release.
2. “What’s the disadvantage of this habit or situation?” Then release.

You often discover a hidden “advantage” of a problem (for example, procrastinating keeps you safe from criticism). Once you release it, change can feel easier. The process is listed among the topics in Dwoskin’s book (Sedona Method paperback).

The Clean-Up Procedure

This is a set of questions for releasing about a particular person, such as a partner, parent or colleague. For each want, you ask questions such as “Did this person try to control me?” and then release wanting to control them back. STA says you’re done when you can picture the person’s face “and have only acceptance/love for them” (After-Releasing Clean-Up Procedure).

The Fifth Way

The most advanced practice is the most openly spiritual. Rather than working on feelings one at a time, you rest as the “effortless Awareness” behind them and see feelings as coming and going within it (How It Works). This is close to non-dual spiritual teachings, and Dwoskin’s conversations with the teacher Rupert Spira (see podcasts) give a sense of it. If this interests you, see our guide to the Big Mind process.

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Using the Sedona Method in Everyday Life

Anxiety and Fear

The Sedona Method book includes a specific “protocol for working with fear and anxiety” (Sedona Method paperback), and Dwoskin’s newest book, Already Safe, is about letting go of fear, anxiety and stress (Already Safe).

A simple way to use it for everyday worry:

1. Notice the anxious feeling in your body: in your chest, stomach or throat.
2. Welcome it: “Could I allow this feeling to be here, just for now?”
3. Look for the want, which is usually wanting security or wanting control. “Could I let go of wanting to control what happens?”
4. Ask “Would I?” and “When?”, and repeat.

This overlaps with good evidence on anxiety. Trying to suppress anxious feelings tends to backfire. In one study, people with anxiety and mood disorders who were asked to accept their emotions during an emotional film reported less negative feeling afterwards than those told to suppress them (Campbell-Sills et al., 2006).

But releasing is no substitute for treatment. If anxiety is affecting your daily life, the NHS recommends talking therapies such as CBT and applied relaxation (NHS: generalised anxiety disorder; NICE CG113). If you have panic attacks or PTSD, please get professional help first (NHS: PTSD).

▶ The Sedona Method: How to Deal with Fear and Panic – The Sedona Method (official). Using releasing with fear and panic.

Money

Money is one of STA’s main selling points. The 4-in-1 Supercourse includes an “Effortless Wealth and Success” course, and a past Live Releasing Series was called The Money Course (Try It).

The approach is to release the feelings and wants that come up around money, such as fear of not having enough, guilt about wanting it, or anger about debt, so that you can make clearer decisions. That part is reasonable: making financial decisions in a panic rarely ends well.

Be cautious about anything more. There is no evidence that releasing makes money appear. Even the official “Likely Results” page warns that the area you want to change “may not change as quickly as you would like” (Likely Results). If you are struggling with debt in the UK, free and confidential help is available from StepChange.

▶ Let go of your stories about money – The Sedona Method (official). Releasing the stories you tell yourself about money.

Relationships

Releasing is often used on resentment, hurt and recurring arguments. The clean-up procedure above is designed for this. A simple version:

1. Picture the person.
2. Ask: “Do I want their approval? Do I want to control them? Do I feel threatened by them?”
3. Release each want you find, then picture them again.

Letting go of resentment can make it easier to talk calmly and to set boundaries. It doesn’t mean putting up with bad behaviour. If you are in an abusive or controlling relationship, releasing is not the answer: call a domestic abuse helpline or talk to your doctor. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233; in Australia, 1800RESPECT is 1800 737 732; in the UK, the free 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.

▶ Your Bad Relationships – It’s Not Their Fault – The Sedona Method (official). Releasing patterns in relationships.

Goals

The Sedona Method has its own goal-setting process, which is one of the topics in the book (Sedona Method paperback). In outline, you write the goal as though you are allowing it to happen, then release whatever feelings come up when you read it, such as doubt, fear or “it’ll never happen”, until you can read it calmly.

This is similar to visualisation and the law of attraction, and has the same weakness if used on its own: a calmer feeling about a goal is not a plan. Use releasing to clear the resistance, then decide on the next practical step.

▶ Release on your goals – The Sedona Method (official). How to use releasing with your goals.

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How It Compares With Other Approaches

The Sedona Method shares ideas with several better-researched approaches. Here’s how they differ.

EFT Tapping

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) combines a phrase that names the problem and accepts yourself (“Even though I feel this anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself”) with tapping on points on the face and body. Like the Sedona Method, it starts by acknowledging the feeling rather than fighting it.

The difference is that EFT adds a physical element and has a bigger evidence base. A meta-analysis of EFT for anxiety found a significant reduction in anxiety scores, though many of the studies were small (Clond, 2016). Read our EFT tapping guide for more detail.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment without judging it. The Sedona Method’s first step, feeling what you feel right now, is very close to this. But mindfulness doesn’t ask you to let anything go: you just notice.

Mindfulness has a much stronger evidence base. A large review of meditation programmes found moderate evidence that mindfulness meditation programmes improve anxiety, depression and pain (Goyal et al., 2014). The NHS describes mindfulness as a way to improve mental wellbeing (NHS: mindfulness).

STA argues that its method is quicker than meditation and works with your eyes open (Sedona Method FAQ). There’s no research comparing the two.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Defusion

ACT is an evidence-based therapy that helps people stop struggling with difficult thoughts and feelings and focus on what matters to them. It is probably the closest well-researched cousin of the Sedona Method.

Both approaches see the struggle with feelings as a big part of the problem. ACT researchers call this “experiential avoidance” and have linked it to many psychological problems (Hayes et al., 1996). ACT teaches “defusion”, which means stepping back from thoughts so they have less grip. In one classic experiment, repeating a negative self-referential word out loud rapidly for about 30 seconds made it less believable and less distressing (Masuda et al., 2004).

There’s a key difference in aim. ACT doesn’t try to get rid of feelings at all. It aims for willingness to have them while you act on your values (Hayes et al., 2006). The Sedona Method’s language of “letting go” can slip into wanting the feeling gone. Its welcoming questions, and its advice to let go of wanting to change a feeling, bring it much closer to ACT.

ACT has been tested in many randomised trials. A meta-analysis found it outperformed waitlist and other control conditions and was about as effective as established treatments (A-Tjak et al., 2015).

▶ The Struggle Switch – By Dr. Russ Harris – Dr Russ Harris. A short animation on why struggling with feelings makes them worse, from the author of The Happiness Trap.

The Work of Byron Katie

The Work is another question-based method. You write down a stressful thought, then ask four questions (The Work):

1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without that thought?

You then turn the thought around to its opposites and find examples of how each could be as true or truer.

The Work questions thoughts. The Sedona Method releases feelings and wants. Many people use both. The Work has a little more research than the Sedona Method, including a small pilot study that reported improvements in psychological symptoms (Smernoff et al., 2015), but it is still thin.

▶ The four questions that can help your mind heal – Byron Katie for Big Think. Katie explains her four questions.

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What the Evidence Says

This is the weakest part of the Sedona Method’s case. In short: there is very little independent research, and the studies the company quotes have never been published in peer-reviewed journals. When we searched PubMed for “Sedona Method” in October 2026, it returned no results.

The Studies the Company Cites

STA’s Scientific Evidence page describes three studies. All three are cited by the company, and we could not find any of them in a peer-reviewed journal.

• A stress study with a gory film (company-cited). STA says this pilot study was run by Dr Richard J. Davidson of the State University of New York with Dr David C. McClelland of Harvard. Three groups of 20 people learned the Sedona Method, learned Progressive Relaxation, or learned nothing. They watched a film of industrial accidents before training, two weeks after and three and a half months after. STA reports a “360% improvement” in heart rate for the Sedona group compared with the control group, and a 10% fall in diastolic blood pressure (against a 3% fall for relaxation and a 2% rise for controls). Muscle tension fell by 26% in the Sedona group, 28% with relaxation and 14% in controls. No date, statistics or publication are given, and “360% improvement” isn’t a standard measure.
• A sales study at MONY (company-cited). STA says insurance salespeople who took the course outperformed a matched control group by 33%. No further details are given.
• A graduate survey (company-cited). 117 graduates were surveyed an average of nine months after the course, and 91–92% rated it valuable or better. This measures satisfaction, not effectiveness.

STA’s About page also quotes researchers “at Harvard and Columbia Medical Schools and SUNY” as saying the method “stands out far beyond the rest for its simplicity, efficiency, absence of questionable concepts and rapidity of observable results” (About Us). We couldn’t find a published source for this quote. The Release Technique site similarly says researchers “validated” its programme (Release Technique), again without a published reference.

Independent Research

We found only a handful of independent papers that mention the Sedona Method by name:

• A small Indonesian study (2014). Kartini, Gunawan and Yuniarti applied “Sedona therapy” to patients with chronic illness, comparing 16 patients who received it with 16 who didn’t. The authors reported higher resilience scores in the Sedona group (Kartini et al., 2014). It’s a small study in a local journal, so its results can’t be generalised.
• A conference paper (2025). Zonenstain proposed a model for using the Sedona Method in school emotional education. It mentions a pilot programme with a 25% reduction in student stress, but gives no sample size or methods (Zonenstain, 2025).
• A literature review preprint (2024). Sulianta compared the Sedona Method with Trauma Releasing Exercises and Vipassana meditation. It’s a preprint on SSRN that hasn’t been peer reviewed, and it doesn’t add new data (Sulianta, 2024).

A related study tested “letting go” of anger based on David R. Hawkins’ approach, not the Sedona Method itself. In a diary study of 55 adults, letting go of anger was linked to better daily adjustment (Kaźmierczak & Lacko, 2025). This suggests releasing-style techniques are worth studying, but it doesn’t test the Sedona Method.

What Mainstream Science Does Support

Several parts of the Sedona Method line up with well-established research, even though the method itself hasn’t been tested properly:

• Suppression backfires. Trying not to think about something can make it come back more (Wegner et al., 1987). People who habitually suppress their feelings report more negative emotion and lower wellbeing (Gross & John, 2003).
• Acceptance helps. Accepting emotions rather than suppressing them reduced negative feelings in people with anxiety and mood disorders (Campbell-Sills et al., 2006).
• Naming feelings calms them. Affect labelling, or putting feelings into words, reduced activity in the amygdala, part of the brain’s threat system (Lieberman et al., 2007; Torre & Lieberman, 2018).

That makes the Sedona Method plausible as a simple acceptance-based tool. It doesn’t prove that its specific questions work, or that it works better than mindfulness or ACT.

Evidence at a Glance

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Criticisms and What’s Overstated

The Sedona Method is gentle and low-risk for most people. But there are fair criticisms to bear in mind.

• The science claims go beyond the evidence. STA calls its studies “scientific evidence”, but none has been published for independent scrutiny. Phrases like “360% improvement” sound impressive but don’t tell you much.
• The origin story can’t be checked. Levenson’s recovery from serious illness is central to the method’s appeal, but it is a personal account with no published medical records.
• The marketing promises a lot. STA talks about being “free of all inner limitation” and liberating your freedom “to have, be, and do whatever your heart desires” (Sedona Method FAQ; About Us). Testimonials on the official site include money windfalls and claims about health problems (Reviews). These are individual stories, not evidence, and the company’s own disclaimer says its material is not medical advice (Disclaimer).
• It can be used to suppress feelings. Despite the emphasis on welcoming, it’s easy to turn “could I let this go?” into “make this go away”. That kind of avoidance is linked to worse outcomes (Hayes et al., 1996).
• It can become “spiritual bypassing”. Letting go of anger about real unfairness, or fear about a real risk, isn’t always healthy. Some feelings are useful signals that something needs to change.
• “You can’t become dependent” is a strong claim. The FAQ says the method “frees you from your dependencies” (Sedona Method FAQ). Most people won’t have a problem, but repeatedly buying courses and retreats in search of the next breakthrough is a pattern to watch for in any self-help programme.
• The cost can add up. The basics are free, but courses and retreats cost hundreds of dollars (see cost).
• It isn’t a therapy. Instructors don’t have to be mental health professionals, and the method isn’t recommended in NICE guidance.

None of this means releasing can’t help you. Many people find it a quick, useful way to calm down and see a situation more clearly. Just treat it as a self-help tool, not a cure.

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Cost: What’s Free and What You Pay For

Free Ways to Try It

• The sample process on the official How It Works page.
• The Letting Go film, which STA says is free on its YouTube channel and lasts an hour and eight minutes (Try It).
• Monthly free support calls, held at 11:00 a.m. US Pacific time, with recordings (Support calls).
• The official podcast, Letting Go & The Greatest Secret (Podcast).
• The official community forum at community.sedona.com and the official Facebook group.
• Dozens of short videos on the official YouTube channel.

Paid Options

These are the retail prices shown on the official site in October 2026, in US dollars. If you live outside the US, your bank may add a conversion fee.

Sources: Try It; Sedona Method paperback; Programs.

STA offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on purchases. Retreats have their own cancellation terms, so check the refund policy before booking.

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Official Courses, App and Books

Official Courses and Events

All official courses are listed on sedona.com. At the time of writing, upcoming events included a Holiday Retreat from 28 December 2026 to 1 January 2027 and an Advanced Retreat from 10 to 14 March 2027, both held online on Zoom (Upcoming Events).

STA keeps a directory of instructors and coaches it has trained (Instructor/Coach Directory), and its training page says no new instructor training is currently planned (Training). Other websites offer “releasing” or “Sedona-style” courses that aren’t connected with STA, so check whether a teacher is listed in the official directory.

Is There an Official App?

We couldn’t find an official Sedona Training Associates app in the UK App Store in October 2026 (app stores differ by country). There is an independent app, iRelease: Relieve Stress Now, made by Tim McCavitt, who is listed in STA’s instructor directory. It isn’t an official STA product.

Books

• The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin (2003). The main book, covering choosing to let go, welcoming and diving in, the wants, goals, and specific releases on wealth, health and relationships (official page; Open Library).
• Happiness Is Free: And It’s Easier Than You Think by Lester Levenson and Hale Dwoskin. Five short books in one, now in a “Greatest Secret Edition” endorsed by Rhonda Byrne. It covers Holistic Releasing and Triple Welcoming (official page; Open Library).
• Already Safe by Hale Dwoskin. Dwoskin’s newest book, on letting go of fear, anxiety and stress, endorsed on the official page by John Gray (official page).
• Keys to the Ultimate Freedom by Lester Levenson (Sedona Institute, 1993). A collection of Levenson’s own words, later succeeded by Happiness Is Free (Open Library).
• No Attachments, No Aversions by Lester Levenson. His autobiography, published by Larry Crane’s company (Open Library).
• The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne (2020). Not a Sedona Method book, but it quotes Levenson extensively and brought his ideas to a wide audience (Open Library).

Related reading from outside the Sedona Method:

• Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David R. Hawkins. A different but similar approach to surrendering feelings (Open Library).
• Loving What Is by Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell (2002). The book that introduced The Work (Open Library).
• The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. A popular, practical introduction to ACT (Open Library; official site).

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Watch, Listen and Follow

We checked all of these links in October 2026. Remember that the official channels, and many of the guests, also sell courses or books.

Videos

• Letting Go: The Sedona Method Movie – The Sedona Method (official). The full film, linked from the official site. It can’t be embedded, and YouTube may ask you to sign in.
• Letting Go Movie Trailer – The Sedona Method (official).
• Could You, Would You, When? – The Sedona Method (official). A preview of the film built around the core questions.
• Hale Dwoskin on Already Safe – The Sedona Method (official).
• Hale Dwoskin – Releasing Your Stress, Tension, and Anxiety – The Sedona Method (official).
• Release with Hale Dwoskin – The Sedona Method (official).
• Talks With Lester Levenson, Vol. 1, Tape 1 – an archive recording of Levenson teaching.
• SEDONA METHOD: Letting Go Explained and Experienced – David Ellzey, an instructor listed in the official directory.
• The Sedona Method: The Fifth Way of Letting Go, Explained – David Ellzey.
• No One Can Wrong Me – Byron Katie (official). The Work in action.
• Psychological flexibility: How love turns pain into purpose – Steven Hayes, co-founder of ACT, at TEDxUniversityofNevada.

▶ EP 7 – Mastering Emotional Release with The Sedona Method – Jack Canfield. Canfield interviews Hale Dwoskin on the Jack Canfield Podcast.

Podcasts

• Letting Go & The Greatest Secret – Hale Dwoskin’s official podcast.
• Hale Dwoskin – Releasing Your Stress, Tension, and Anxiety – a good first episode.
• Jack Canfield – Save 20 Years of Meditation – Canfield in conversation with Dwoskin.
• Hale Dwoskin (2nd Conversation) – Rupert Spira Podcast. A conversation about awareness.
• Hale Dwoskin on the Sedona Method: Tapping Into Your Self-Radiant Awareness – Change Proof with Adam Markel.
• Sedona Method vs. Release Technique: The Lester Levenson Connection Explained – Release Technique podcast. The other branch’s view of the history.

Accounts to Follow

• The Sedona Method (official): website · YouTube · Instagram · Facebook · community forum
• Hale Dwoskin: X (@sedonamethod) · biography
• Byron Katie: website · YouTube · X
• Dr Russ Harris, ACT trainer and author of The Happiness Trap: website · X
• Steven C. Hayes, co-founder of ACT: website · X

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Frequently Asked Questions About the Sedona Method

What is the Sedona Method in simple terms?

It is a self-help technique for letting go of unwanted feelings. You notice what you’re feeling, welcome it, and ask yourself “Could I let this go? Would I? When?” until you feel lighter. It was developed from Lester Levenson’s teachings and is taught by Hale Dwoskin.

Who created the Sedona Method?

The method is based on the teachings of Lester Levenson (1909–1994). The first Sedona Method class was held in 1974 in Sedona, Arizona. Hale Dwoskin, who met Levenson in 1976, co-founded Sedona Training Associates in 1996 and is its main teacher today.

What are the Sedona Method questions?

The basic questions are “Could I let this feeling go?” (or “Could I welcome this feeling?”), “Would I?” and “When?” If you’re unsure, you can ask “Would I rather have this feeling, or would I rather be free?” You repeat the questions until the feeling eases.

What are the three wants in the Sedona Method?

The three basic wants are wanting approval, wanting control and wanting security (or survival). Hale Dwoskin’s later teaching adds a fourth: wanting to be separate. The method teaches that releasing the want behind a feeling is quicker than releasing each feeling separately.

Does the Sedona Method work?

Many people say it helps them feel calmer, and parts of it match well-established research on accepting rather than suppressing feelings. But the method itself has barely been studied. The studies the company cites are unpublished, and independent studies are few and small.

Is the Sedona Method scientifically proven?

No. We found no randomised controlled trials in PubMed, and the studies on the official website haven’t been published in peer-reviewed journals. The method is plausible, but it isn’t proven.

Can the Sedona Method help with anxiety?

It may help with everyday worry, and its focus on allowing feelings overlaps with approaches that do have good evidence. But it isn’t a treatment for anxiety disorders. If anxiety affects your daily life, talk to your doctor or a licensed therapist (in England you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies).

How long does it take to learn?

You can learn the basic questions in a few minutes. STA says results are often subtle at first and become more noticeable with practice. Most people release for a few minutes at a time, or whenever a strong feeling comes up.

How much does the Sedona Method cost?

You can try it for free using the official website, the free Letting Go film, the podcast and the monthly support calls. The book costs about $20, online courses cost $100 to $388, and a week-long retreat costs $1,397.

What’s the difference between the Sedona Method and the Release Technique?

Both come from Lester Levenson’s teachings. The Sedona Method is taught by Hale Dwoskin’s Sedona Training Associates. The Release Technique was developed by Larry Crane, another of Levenson’s students, and is run by a separate company.

Is the Sedona Method religious?

STA says it isn’t a religion and doesn’t require any beliefs. The basic technique is practical and secular. Its more advanced material, especially the Fifth Way, draws openly on spiritual ideas about awareness.

How is the Sedona Method different from EFT tapping?

Both start by acknowledging a feeling rather than fighting it. EFT adds tapping on points on the body while you say a phrase, whereas the Sedona Method uses only questions. EFT has been studied much more, including in several meta-analyses.

Can the Sedona Method be harmful?

For most people it is low-risk. But it can be used to push feelings away instead of allowing them, and strong feelings or traumatic memories can come up. If you have a mental health condition or trauma, use it only alongside professional support, and stop if it makes you feel worse.

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Key Takeaways

• The Sedona Method is a releasing technique that uses simple questions to help you let go of unwanted feelings in the moment.
• It comes from Lester Levenson’s teachings and is taught today by Hale Dwoskin’s Sedona Training Associates.
• The core questions are “Could I let this go? Would I? When?” Welcoming the feeling first is often the easiest way in.
• It works on the wants behind feelings: approval, control, security and, in later teaching, separation.
• The evidence is very limited. The company’s studies are unpublished, and independent research is small.
• Its principle of accepting rather than suppressing feelings is well supported by research on mindfulness, acceptance and ACT.
• It isn’t a treatment for anxiety disorders, trauma or other conditions, and claims about money or health go beyond the evidence.
• You can try it free before spending anything on courses.

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