Sedona Method Retreat 2008 Summary

Written on July 6, 2008 by Tom Stine / 23 Comments »

credit: mroach

Now that I’m back and have had a few days to reflect upon my experiences, let me share with you my overall impressions of the retreat. Actually, I should say retreatS as I also did the 3 day Level 2 Coaching training following the 9 day retreat. Yes, 12 days of nothing but Sedona Method. Well, that isn’t quite true, as you will see in a moment. Here, then, is a list of my impressions, in no particular order:

1. At First Glance, It Seems that the Sedona Method Has Evolved

When I first began the Sedona Method, the material that was presented was all about “releasing,” which you quickly discover is a process for allowing any unwanted emotion to dissolve or leave your experience. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Well, it sounded really good to me at the time, because the book and audio program, as well as the marketing materials, explained that releasing unwanted feelings would change almost every area of my life for the better. And at the time, I needed some change! And, as I discovered, it was true.

However, when I attended my first retreat over 2 years ago, there was a lot of talk by Hale Dwoskin, the owner and teacher of the Sedona Method, about topics more spiritual in nature. So, my impression at the time was that the Sedona Method had a strong spiritual side, too, in addition to its more public self-help face.

As time has passed, the self-help face has changed. The retreats are strongly spiritual in nature, and the Advanced Retreats are almost exclusively so. Hale is very firmly grounded in the non-duality tradition most associated with the likes of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Papaji, Ramana Maharshi, Robert Adams (with whom Hale sat for a time), and a host of others.

Interestingly, as I’ve discovered personally, the non-duality teachings that are being used are actually far more effective at releasing than the original techniques taught in the book and audio program. While those methods are effective and still used at the regular 7 day retreats, they pale in comparison to doing self-inquiry. Let me illustrate:

Using the regular Sedona Method techniques, if you were experiencing some fear, you would work with it as follows by asking these questions:

Could you first welcome the fear as best you can?
Could you then let it go, set if free?
Would you let it go?
When?

Believe it or not, these questions, applied over and over, can tremendously reduce a feeling such as fear. I’ve done it many times, as have thousands of others.

But using the non-dual process of self-inquiry, you can quickly cut through the issue. Once you have the proper framework, which Hale teaches at the retreats, you can move quite quickly by asking one simple question:

Look inside, past your memories and body, and see if you can find the one who is experiencing the fear?

credit: Barbara L. Slavin

While it would take a few pages to explain the ideas behind the question, the basic results are phenomenal. Because when you look inside for the experiencer, the one feeling the fear, the one suffering in the moment, you can never find him. He doesn’t exist. The person you think you are simply isn’t. Amazing, huh?

I remember distinctly the first time I tried this process almost 2 years ago. I knew that someone had handed me the secret, the SECRET, to being free of anything. But is was a secret so obvious that it had suffused my entire life experience up until that point, but I had never noticed it before. The secret was so obvious: the “me” that I thought I was didn’t exist. How cool is that?!

2. The Sedona Method Was Always Intended to Be a Path of Spiritual Awakening

Well, as Hale fully revealed to us, the Sedona Method was never meant as a self-help process. It is a self-help process, and highly effective as many know, but that was never its purpose. From the moment that Lester Levenson created it, the process was intended to be a path of spiritual awakening, or freedom as Lester described it.

Lester had experienced a complete awakening in 1952 after being faced with his impending death from heart disease. It was do or die, literally. He knew from this awakening that the only way that anyone in the world would ever be happy was to realize the truth as he had. Maybe not in the same way, but they had to do so to ever experience peace, joy and happiness. There was, to Lester, no alternative.

After spending a number of years teaching to small groups on various aspects of spirituality, he, along with others, created the Sedona Method. Interestingly, to those involved with the method in its early years, the Method was something to be worked at diligently, in a very forced and contrived manner, to clean out every square inch of their mind/ego in order to achieve freedom.

credit: monoglot

But according to Hale, the Method as it was practiced then and is presented to the public at large, is just the first step. Letting go works, and is a wonderful process, but it really doesn’t substitute for looking at the fundamental truth of what we are: unitary consciousness or presence, never separate, always One. And the realization of that was always the fundamental purpose of the Sedona Method.

3. I Came to Spirituality Through the Front Door, Left, and Then Came Back in Through the Back Door

I first experienced spirituality in a very front door, direct way. I was told to get a spiritual life by a wonderfully MD 18 years ago, and so I did (someday I must write about that experience, mustn’t I?). I did the full frontal assault method, going after the spiritual goal with gusto. And after 12 years of that, I wore myself out. I somewhat gave it up.

But along came the Sedona Method, which I saw as a great way to fix some of my problems and un-screw my screwed up head. But as I observed above, it took less than a year before the method had me firmly back on the spiritual path. Well, not really on the path, but definitely seeing more clearly what it was all about it. And I mean ALL about.

4. The Sedona Method Is Excellent at Helping Solve Problems

No matter what form of the method you use, it is still very effective. I know that in a certain sense doing spiritual inquiry isn’t really about problem solving, but when you consider that the belief in the false sense of self is the root of every problem, then seeing through that is clearly the ultimate solution. It is truly remarkable how it changes everything.

I worked on several personal issues, ranging from more tangible things like an allergy to cats to more intangible ones like some seemingly deep seated psychological tendencies. The 3 day coaching training made it not only possible but necessary to work on issues since we were each others clients on 5 different occasions of practicing the skills we were learning.

It was fascinating to watch people who were relatively unfamiliar with inquiry use this approach to help with practical issues. For instance, with the cat allergy, while I don’t remember our dialogue word for word, it went something like this:

Tom: I have a horrible allergy to cats that is really a pain because most of my friends have cats. I can never go to their houses!

Tom: (Quietly looks inside, finds nothing. Peacefulness washes over him.) No, I can’t.

credit: kyle simourd

And the dialogue continued. And when it was over, I honestly had no concerns whatsoever about cats. I right now I have very little if not none. I may encounter a cat tomorrow, I may sneeze and my eyes water, but I don’t feel as if it really matters. I don’t really care. And then again, I may not have the problem. The interplay between the nervous and immune systems is to extensive that a simple process of reducing tension in the entire bodily system may in fact create relief from the allergy. But so what? The peace I feel is of far greater value.

5. We Are Already Awakeness

The entire topic of spiritual awakening is a tricky one. From the very notion of awakening to the whole conceptual framework that people build around it, awakening can get many, many people quite confused and lost, myself included.

The bottom line issue, it seems to me, is the whole notion of what awakening actually is. Awakening implies someone is asleep. Who is asleep? And who wakes up? Ah, there’s the rub. Who. The fundamental realization of anyone who experiences a clear seeing of the truth is that there is no who because there is no “me” or “I” or self involved. There never was one, and that’s the realization. And not an intellectual realization, but one that goes beyond the confines of the mind and that penetrates every level of being (whatever those levels may be, if there are any). It is a seeing through and through.

And when all this stuff starts to really become your experience, you start to realize an almost inescapable truth: everyone is already awake. Well, that’s not even true because there are no “everyones” to be awake. Rather, the essence of awake, awakeness, is what everyone already is. You may be totally asleep, completely blind to the truth of who you are, and yet, from the perspective of awakeness, you already are awake(ness).

If at this moment you are scratching your head and going, “huh?” don’t worry, you are in good company. I had the same struggle. But at this retreat, I realized in a much deeper way the truth of this idea. Or rather, that this is not an idea, but it is true. I began to “see” in a certain odd sense that everyone around me was this awakeness. They were alive with it, buzzing with it. It was amazing. Not a full experience of it, but a strong knowing of it. What a cool thing.

6. And a Ton More Stuff

I can’t possibly share all that I understood, gained and realized at this retreat. I will save some of it for future articles, as some of the things I realized are beyond a summary. But, just to tease you a bit, I will share a couple of interesting ones:

• Every thought you have is just energy spinning, looking to take some shape and form. And that is about as significant as a thought is.
• Everything you see is just energy spinning, having taken some visible form, but composed of nothing more than that fundamental energy.
• No one has the slightest idea what energy is or what the word means. Not even our wonderful scientist who use the word daily.
• Bad news: you have absolutely not one iota of control over the events of your life. As a matter of fact, it isn’t even your life. You don’t own it. It owns you!
• If there is a purpose to life it is for the One to become more conscious of itself so that it can express love more fully. But, there may not even be a purpose to life.

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As you can tell, my two weeks in Sedona were wonderful. Sedona itself is a fantastic town to visit. And the retreats that Hale Dwoskin puts on are fantastic. I’ve enjoyed them immensely, and this latest one was a true blessing. I’m glad I went.

I suspect that in the coming weeks and months I will be writing more about the topic that I like to call awakening but that others will call enlightenment or realization. I’ve really begun to see how awakening is an incredibly practical thing. Even small tastes of it are quite transformative in terms of one’s experience of the world. As Lester Levenson realized, the only way to every experience happiness in the world is to realize the truth of what you are.

It is good to be back with you. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below. Namaste.

Sedona Method Retreat Final Days

Written on June 29, 2008 by Tom Stine / 7 Comments »

While retreats can be many things, and can provide many different benefits to people, I often find that it is the little comments by the guy up front that really makes or break my experience. One simple change in wording of an oft repeated phrase or instruction can make all the difference.

While Hale Dwoskin, the head honcho of the Sedona Method and heir to Sedona Method creator Lester Levenson, is many things to many people, one thing he is for certain is a master at training and teaching. He can often find just that perfect turn of phrase that really makes a difference. I think the following items from Hale that made it into my notebook will suffice for almost everyone’s spiritual development:

• Can you let the body-mind take care of itself? In fact, it already is taking care of itself. It doesn’t need “your” help.
• Your patterns [conditioned behaviors that we repeat over and over] cannot survive direct examination.
• How do you cut to the root of a problem [in your life or experience]? Ask, “who is it happening to?”
• Another way to cut to the root of a problem is to ask, “Is the problem even here now? What is actually here now?” And whatever is here, does it need to change for you to be what you already are?
• Everything you are seeking [via goals] IS what you already are? It is all presence/awareness, and so are you.
• Discover there is no separation between what you want and what you are.
• Everything always resolves itself.
• All body-minds do is tell stories about what was. And that isn’t a problem.
• Be open to the possibility that this time right now of looking at the truth of who you are may be the last time you ever need to do so. Identity may permanently drop away.

I hope you have enjoyed these reports on the Sedona Method Advanced Retreat as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. The retreat ended today, and while I had hoped to do a daily update, at least I managed to write to you 5 times. Tomorrow begins a 3 day Sedona Method coaching training, the 2nd in a series of 2 trainings that are being offered. I’m told over 100 people will be attending as this is the first time it is being offerred. I will try to do a report on it by the end of the week (probably while sitting in airports on Thursday).

In the coming weeks, I plan to do some additional articles on the Sedona Method, Hale Dwoskin and related topics. My original review of the Sedona Method audio program only tells a part of the fuller story of how the Method works and how far it actually goes along the spiritual path.

Namaste…. Tom

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Sedona Method Retreat Days 4 and 5

Written on June 26, 2008 by Tom Stine / 4 Comments »

This retreat has been amazing. While the Sedona Method in general seems more like a personal growth, self-help course with some spirituality tossed in, the “advanced” retreat is completely focused on what Hale refers to as “the realization of what you are” but in other spiritual circles would be called awakening. Personally, I love the term awakening, as it captures the flavor of the experiential side of things. It feels as if one is awakening from a dream. The dream of a separate self called “me.”

Let me share with you a few gems from the past 2 days:

• If there is no separate individual, then there is no one who can or has done anything. No doer. Just bodies in motion. Therefore, I’ve never done anything, and no one else has ever done anything.
• As you look within at various aspects of what you are, you discover that quite often you arrive at “I don’t know.” This not knowing IS what you are.
• The ultimate knowingness is not knowing.
• Lester Levenson, the creator of the Sedona Method, used to say, “Miracles are the world’s shortcut.” And Hale added to that, “And so what? It isn’t about miracles.”
• I realized that as much as I’ve wanted to know the structure of the world, the underlying principles that govern it, the rules for how it works, I never will. It is all a great mystery. I don’t know. And what a relief!
• Manifestation is all the rage in the spiritual world thanks to the Secret. But here are some questions to ask: if my thoughts create my experience, did I choose which thoughts to think? Did I create the “good” thoughts? Or did the thoughts just arise spontaneously in my mind? Did I think about what I wanted and then make it happen, or did I simply have a thought about what was going to happen anyway and merely watched it play out?
• One of the “problems” with most methods is that people are always trying to change things. People especially want to get rid of their feelings. But what does someone who has realized the truth do when they are sad? They cry. What do they do when they are joyous? They laugh. There is no need to do anything with our feelings. Just feel them.

That’s all for today. I hope you all are doing well. I’m having a wonderful time. I’m mellow and tired. Until next time. Namaste.

credit: sheldonschwartz

Sedona Method Retreat Day 3

Written on June 24, 2008 by Tom Stine / 5 Comments »

While talking with one of my roommates this morning, the following words came quite spontaneously out of my mouth:

The whole point of spirituality is to clear out the garbage that keeps you from knowing the truth of what you are so that beingness, which is what you are and synonymous with love, can express itself fully in the world through you.

He liked it so much that it seemed a bit obvious to share it with you. I’m quite certain there is more that could be said on the subject, but the above works well for me right now. It seems to be the real bottom line to all of the things we do that we call spirituality. And that pretty much sums up day 3 at the retreat. Until next time…. Namaste.

credit: andrew_j_w

Sedona Method Retreat Day 2

Written on June 23, 2008 by Tom Stine / 4 Comments »

What a day! I started the morning feeling incredibly resistant and, well, basically angry at everything. I have no clue where that came from, but there it was. It was a wonderful experience, because I have talked to many people at retreats who have gotten angry, had wild fits of rage hit them, etc., but I’ve never felt that myself.

What did I do with that, you might ask? Well, basically nothing. Just let it run its course. And as I did so, I was gifted with some great insights. One was how much Hale was annoying me. And as I looked into it, I discovered why: he is so different from Adyashanti.

Yes, I was guilty of comparing gurus! I had gotten so used to Adya’s style, his gentleness, his passive approach to people, that Hale’s more assertive style was irksome. Not that Hale is a jerk (too many of those already in the world), but he does like to challenge you to see past what you believe. So, thankfully, I saw past that one.

As the day progressed, I was treated to a wonderful insight that helped it all to melt. It went like this: someone (Sailor Bob?) said that the only difference between someone who is awake and someone who isn’t is that the one who is awake sees no differences. As that thought percolated through my awareness, it dawned on me that Hale must be awake. And the person sitting in front of me must be awake. And the person behind me. Everyone in the room. And so must “I”. Everywhere I turn must be awakeness because if there are no differences, then one awakened being means all are awake. Or better to say, awakeness is everywhere.

And at that moment, all my frustration, anger, annoyance, resistance melted away. I felt happy and content to be right where I was, sitting in a room with 140 people looking into the truth of who we are.

To close, let me share a few observations I jotted down during the afternoon, some random bits about the day:

• There is the raw data of our experience: this happened, that happened, then this, then that, etc. Maybe at best that equals 1% of the content of our memory.
• The other 99% : the feelings about the data, the judgments about it, the narration, the criticisms, the fears, the frustrations, the commentary, and on and on.
• Hale can say “so what” to someone’s story with far more compassion, love and kindness than most people’s “support” and sympathy. In the end, not buying into someone’s story that denies the truth of who they are is actually quite loving and compassionate.

Namaste.

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Sedona Method Retreat Day 1

Written on June 22, 2008 by Tom Stine / 5 Comments »

Greetings from Sedona, Arizona. It is beautiful, it is hot, the hiking is superb and the food excellent. Yes, I am here to attend a 9 day Sedona Method retreat, but being in Sedona is part of the experience. I came early this time, so I had a day and a half to enjoy this marvelous town. I’ve been to Sedona 14 times in 12 years, both for retreats and pleasure. One of my favorite places in the world.

Last night the retreat began. The supposedly “advanced” 9 day retreat is a mixture of Advaita-style non-duality teachings (think Nisargadatta Maharaj and Adyashanti) with a touch of personal development and a pinch of basic Sedona Method. It is very different, though, from what other teachers do for a non-dual type retreat in that our “guru” for the 9 days, Hale Dwoskin, actively yet gentle engages people directly to see past their limited sense of self or “me-ness” as he would say.

It was very obvious that for a lot of people in the audience (160 attendees, by the way), these ideas, while not complete new, were a bit difficult to understand. Hale’s intro left a lot of people scratching their heads. Even those of us who knew all about it were forced to wonder. As my friend Kerry put it, “Even though I did this same retreat 15 months ago, I am still wondering what we are going to be doing here for 9 days.”

This bit of confusion was not due to a lack of communication on Hale’s part or understanding on ours. It simply stemed from the fact that these teachings are perplexing to the mind. They are teachings for that which we truly are which is beyond the mind, beyond thought, beyond the ability to conceptualize with words.

Think about it (if you dare): what you are is not your mind, not your body, not any concept, not any idea. Even the words I’m about to use to describe it aren’t it and don’t even come close. Words like awareness, consciousness, spirit, Life, these are merely pointers to the Truth. But not the truth.

The implications of these ideas are astounding:

• Your self, the person you think of when you say “I” is not who your are.
• Your problems, while seemingly real, are not problems. They are just thoughts about the experiences you had, in the past, but having little to do with right now.
• Your thoughts are just stories about the past, even if it is the very immediate past
• Your stories about your life simply are not true. They are just the inventions of the mind.

I know some of the above may sound crazy to some of you, but further investigation reveals that these are more accurate representations of the way things are than most of what we believe. I invite you to investigate them for yourself.

These retreats are quite different from what you find in the Sedona Method audio course and book, as well as the normal 7 day retreat. But they are equally helpful in letting go of problems. Actually, more so, simply because they help you to see beyond all problems. They offer the possibility of a true ending to the issues that have plagued you for a lifetime.

As I mentioned, I will try to post daily during the retreat. I hope to be speaking with you tomorrow. Namaste.

credit: indi.ca

Off to Sedona

Written on June 19, 2008 by Tom Stine / 5 Comments »

I’m sitting at the “luxurious” Springfield-Branson National Airport (what a “national” airport is, I don’t really know) waiting on my delayed flight to Dallas and then on to Phoenix. Hopefully, I will be relaxing in gorgeous Sedona, Arizona by the time the sun goes down. It will be toasty warm in Sedona, 102ºF (39ºC), but dry as a bone. Phoenix is a lung searing 112ºF (44ºC) today. Ouch!

Why am I going to Sedona, you ask? To attend my 7th Sedona Method retreat. This one is 9 days long and supposedly “advanced.” There will be lots of good spiritual inquiry involved, which is always nice. Following this 9 day retreat will be the first “Level 2 Coaching Training” that Hale (Mr. Sedona Method) has offered, which I will of course be attending. It should be both fun and very educational.

My plan is to do frequent reports on my experiences at the retreat, hopefully in the form of short, daily articles. We shall see. But my reports to you will definitely be frequent. The retreat starts Saturday evening, so look for my first report on Sunday.

Be well. More soon. Namaste.

credit: andrew_j_w

The Sedona Method - A Review

Written on May 18, 2008 by Tom Stine / 15 Comments »

I’ve mentioned the Sedona Method more than a few times in past articles, so it feels like time to write a comprehensive review of it.

Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-Being!

If you go to sedona.com you will see the above prominently displayed at the top of the page. So the question foremost in anyone’s mind who is exploring the Sedona Method is: does this program work? Will it really bring me lasting happiness, success, peace and emotional well-being? The short answer to that question, for me personally, is yes, it really did all that it claims. So read on to see the details of this review.

Sedona, AZ credit: jmenard48

What Is the Sedona Method?

The Sedona Method is a program for teaching you how to let go of any emotion or belief. When you begin reading the book or doing the audio program, you are given the background for what the method terms releasing, i.e., letting go of emotions. The Sedona Method teaches that releasing is natural, and if you pay attention, you will notice that most feelings come and go quite easily if you do not repress them or attach to them in some way. The only reason a feeling sticks around is because we don’t allow it to be felt and then flow out.

Initially, the Sedona Method focuses on letting go of negative feelings, the ones that cause problems for us in life, like fear, anger and apathy. And you let go of feelings initially in the program by asking yourself 3 simple questions:

1. Could you let this feeling go?
2. Would you let this feeling go?
3. When?

It is interesting that these 3 simple questions could be the catalyst for letting go of a painful emotion, but they do work. Since releasing is a natural process, since feelings want to be felt and then flow out of our awareness, the power behind these questions is that they invite you to let this natural process happen. In fact, releasing is less something you do and more something you allow to be done. It is a process more of allowing the emotions to leave than anything else.

Beyond the Basics

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Once you’ve mastered the use of these 3 questions and have applied them to a few areas of your life, the Sedona Method gets a bit more involved with what it refers to as the wants that underlie all emotions. In its model, we are all being driven by 4 wants:

1. Wanting control.
2. Wanting approval.
3. Wanting security or safety.
4. Wanting separation and oneness.

While I initially found this focus on wants to be effective in going deeper with releasing and letting go of more and more difficult emotions, I found after a while that it was way too heady. Over time I became aware that all feelings were being driven by all the above. And at the core always seemed to be some sense of wanting either to survive or to be in control.

Interestingly, too, I began to see how almost every feeling I had could be reduced to anger or fear, and in most cases, anger seemed to be generated by a deep seated fear. And by seeing that it has become easier to release any emotion.

Welcoming and Allowing Feelings

In addition to the above, the Sedona Method uses other techniques for releasing. Probably the simplest, easiest to use, and most profound for me, though, was welcoming or allowing a feeling. Remember, the basic premise of the Sedona Method is that releasing is natural, that feelings merely want to be felt and then pass through. If you think about it, that is what ultimately happens with any feeling.

So, the process of welcoming a feeling is a conscious decision to feel, a conscious choice to allow what you are feeling to be exactly what it is. I had the most dramatic release one day by using this technique that permanently ended panic attacks that had plagued me off and on for almost 30 years. I woke-up one morning feeling extremely anxious, and then slipped into a full-blown panic attack. That familiar feeling of impending doom and death engulfed me. If you’ve ever had a panic attack, you know what I mean.

I had released on panic attacks before, with some success, but never had been freed from them. So, I began releasing on this one, and this time I had no luck. I was deep in panic. And then I remembered something I had heard at one of the retreats I had been to, and so I let myself sink into the panic, going deeper and deeper with it, allowing the panic to completely engulf me and even, I remember thinking, to get stronger if it could. I fully allowed the panic attack and welcomed it. In a sense, I embraced it.

And then, like a fever breaking after the flu, it left, it released, it was gone. Not only was I no longer panicked, but I knew, I absolutely knew that I would never have another panic attack. And I didn’t. Now, as I look back on it, I can’t even conceive of how I ever had panic attacks. They seem an utter impossibility to me. Chalk one up for releasing!

Who Created the Sedona Method

The man who created the Sedona Method, Lester Levenson, was an interesting character. I’ve heard him described variously as a saint, a modern day mystic, an enlightened master, a miracle worker and a shyster businessman from New Jersey. From all that I can gather of the real life Lester, he was quite likely all of these. One man I know described him as “a black hole, so egoless that nothing really could attach to him.” He sounds like he was quite a character and a remarkable man.

Lester’s story is a fascinating one, as it is the story of the awakening of a modern day spiritual master. Others have told his story much better than I can. You can read more about Lester’s life and Lester’s realization and awakening at The Sedona Method website.

Who Teaches the Sedona Method

After Lester passed away in 1994, there was a bit of the inevitable power struggle amongst the faithful. The clear winner was Hale Dwoskin, who was granted the rights to the name “The Sedona Method” by Lester and who probably is the most well known of those teaching some version of Lester Levenson’s technique. I’ve looked into most of them, and for me, Hale has proven to be the most interesting, the most helpful and the clearest, both as a person and as a teacher.

On the whole, I like Hale and his teaching style. He is a kind man, gentle with most people and truly interested in helping them. A popular question at Sedona Method retreats revolves around how enlightened Hale is, a question I know he personally laughs at. In my estimation, Hale has had a definite bit of dropping away of his ego, at least to some extent. He feels “clean” to me. He is fairly honest and straight forward. It feels good to be in his presence.

Hale is a former New York City businessman, so a bit of that shines through his personality, too. This aspect of him caused me problems at first, because the Sedona Method is a for profit endeavor, and Hale is not hurting financially. I know that this aspect of the method bothers others, too. Hale likes to hang-out with the big names in the personal and spiritual development arena, and Jack Canfield in particular is one of his buddies. Yes, Hale was in the Secret, and he knows a lot of those people quite well.

I eventually resolved all of these issues by realizing that he’s no saint and the Sedona Method isn’t perfect. And so what? It works, Hale’s an honest, delightful person, and I’ve benefited from all he does tremendously. I have learned a great deal about my own personal hang-ups about money and success in the process and gotten a fair amount of freedom going in those areas. On the whole, I like Hale a great deal.

Here is a short video of Hale discussing how to let go on the little annoyances of life, to give you a taste of his style and personality:





You can read Hale’s bio here at the Sedona Method web site.

How I Have Personally Benefited

If you go to the Sedona Method web site, you can read hundreds of testimonials from people who have benefited from using it. You can also read all the marketing material as well. But one of the most powerful things to me has been hearing how the Sedona Method has benefited people I know. So, here is how it has helped me:

• A permanent end to panic attacks.
• Less anxiety by an order of magnitude (in other words, a lot!).
• Little if any concern about the future.
• I survived a painful divorce. More importantly, my ex and I get along great, and I can honestly say I love her more now than I ever did when we were married because I’m now capable of really loving someone. Amazing.
• I’m a much, much better father these days. My son and I have bonded to an extent I wouldn’t have thought possible a few years ago.
• I don’t feel desperate about life the way I used to. I’m much happier to let life happen, to flow with life, to be a part of life rather than always fighting it.

credit: blakespot

• I had chronic fatigue for a number of years. My doctor said at one point that he thought the fatigue would resolve when the anxiety resolved. He was right.
• I never was diagnosed with depression, but after a few years of working with the Sedona Method I felt a fog lifting from my mind. It was strange, like I had been living in a haze for at least a decade. And I never knew it.
• I finally allowed myself to fully grieve the death of my father 16 years ago. At a Sedona Method retreat, I had a realization that I had been somehow expecting my father to come back to life. I shared this insight with the group, and almost immediately I start crying, sobbing actually, and couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. I cried for 20 minutes. And then I was done. Done. And I knew it. A huge weight had lifted from me.
• I finally have a sense of what I’m doing with my life. Writing, coaching, teaching, all these things are pointing me in a direction that I never had the will to move in. Now I do. I can’t say I know exactly what I’m doing, but I’m doing it, and it feels right.
• And lastly, for all the years I’ve spent in spirituality, I never really took the idea of spiritual awakening seriously. That is, until Hale started discussing it, in his own way, at one of the retreats I attended. He introduced us to spiritual inquiry, and I took to it like a duck to water. The releasing that occurred from doing inquiry was tremendous. I dove into inquiry from that point, which lead me to all the wonderful teachings I’ve explored since then (and the retreats with Adyashanti). And “best” of all, it has lead to a fuller experience of what I truly am.

In case you can’t tell, I like the Sedona Method. I use it in some form with all my coaching clients. The techniques are quite powerful and supportive of you at just about every stage of your spiritual and personal journey.

How to Learn the Sedona Method

The best way to learn it is to purchase the audio program. The audio program is quite complete, consisting of 20 CDs of recordings at a live class (I was in the audience for the recording). Hale teaches releasing from the basics to the advanced exercises. Moreover, he applies a lot of the material to the three areas of life that concern most people: money and success, relationships and health and well being. You can buy the audio program here. By following the same link, you can also ask to receive a sample CD and DVD of Hale teaching releasing at a Jack Canfield seminar (and yes, Hale really does laugh that much in real life).

You can also buy the book, The Sedona Method, by following this link to Amazon.comthis link to Amazon.com or heading to your local bookstore. The book is where I began, but soon after I started I bought the audio program. It helped tremendously.

Once you’ve gone through the book or audio program and learned the method, you can head out to Sedona, Arizona, for a 7 day retreat with Hale. He also offers a 9 day advanced retreat and a coaching course. I’ve loved the retreats I’ve been on (I’ve been to 6 retreats, 3 coaching trainings and 2 other weekend courses with Hale). And I’m heading back to Sedona in June for 2 weeks of retreat and additional coaching training. I can’t say enough good things about them.

In conclusion, if you want to dive into a personal and spiritual development program that is as good, if not better, than anything out there, and lives up to its hype and claims, then go grab the Sedona Method.

Disclaimer: all the links in this article are affiliate links. I make a commission from each copy of the Sedona Method audio program sold from this website. I think it should be obvious that I’m not reviewing the Sedona Method primarily to make a buck, but if you decide it is right for you, your purchase does support this website and my writing. Only fair to let you know, don’t you think?

Q&A: How Can the Sedona Method Help Traders?

Written on March 23, 2008 by Tom Stine / 2 Comments »

credit: four4dots

A few days ago, a potential client wrote to me asking a few questions about how coaching and The Sedona Method would apply to his career, professional commodities trading. With his permission, I’d like to share his question with you and my response (with a few additional thoughts added).

The Question

Hi Tom
I am wondering since you are familiar with the [commodity] trading aspect [of my work], how do you deal with the difficulties of trading when you don’t take losses after you said you would and doing the opposite of what you planned to do? How does, or even does, this work help with that?

My Response

In a nutshell, if I’m following your question correctly, you are asking “how does the Sedona Method and coaching in general help with the fundamental problem of all traders: discipline.” I can’t tell you how many times I read when I was learning to trade commodities that successful traders do not pay attention to their emotions, but stick to their plan, their trading strategy. Obviously, having a way of dealing with your emotions is central to that. Here is how I see the work I do as helping:

The two emotions that are the most important with regard to trading are fear and lust (some call it greed, but the word lust is more appropriate in my view). Traders make lousy decisions when they operate from either of these two. The Sedona Method has numerous ways to approach these, but the simplest of all is to simply get in touch with them, give yourself permission to actually feel them as fully as you can, and then give yourself permission to let them go. The process is simple, quick and effective. It often takes many repetitions, but sometimes it works very quickly. You never know.

More Intuitive from Letting Go

Another benefit to doing this type of work is that one is often more intuitive the more open you become. For me personally, I feel more in sync with what is occurring around me. The markets sometimes feel more transparent. I’m not a professional trader, nor do I follow technical analysis, but I do some trading and tend to hold longer-term positions. I almost exclusive use options so I don’t have to worry about many of the problems that are inherent with futures contracts. I follow a financial writer who is quite often accurate in his ideas about the markets, but he is VERY doom and gloom. I can’t tell you how I know, but I just KNOW that we won’t see what he predicts. That’s what I mean by more intuitive.

In essence, as I have dealt with my fears and my lust/greed, the better my trading/investing has been. I still get afraid at times, but I can release through it easily. I’m less subject to hoping things will turn out okay and then being disappointed. And, I’m less subject to the lust part of the equation, which really caused me some difficulties in the distant past.

Working with Lust and Greed

The way out the lust/greed side is to recognize the inherent feeling of lacking, of craving, of wanting inside the lust. If you close your eyes and think about something you’ve really been wanting, you can feel that lusty, greedy feeling inside of it. In an of themselves, desires and wants are not really a problem, but that greedy feeling can really get in the way.

You can work with it in the same way as outlined above: first allow yourself to feel it. Then make the choice to release it, to drop it, to let it go. Finally, see if you can feel paste your prior feelings of lust and craving into the state of actually having things. You know you are there if you have a sense of completeness. It is a much better place emotionally to feel “I have” than “I want.” And it is a lot better for making good investment decisions.

I hope the above makes sense. If not, ask me for a clarification. I will be glad to help.

And the same offer goes out to all my readers. As you can see, I’m more than happy to answer questions, time permitting. If you have a question, be sure to ask.

Desire, Part 2: Is Desire a Bad Thing?

Written on March 20, 2008 by Tom Stine / 9 Comments »

credit: digiart2001

In my last article, Desire, Part 1: The Agony of Lack, I discussed how desire often creates agony, primarily because, as I saw it at the time I originally wrote that article a year ago, desire comes from a place of feeling empty, of lacking, of feeling an emptiness that we want to fill. I would like to go much further in this article, and I will begin with a reader’s comment that got the ball rolling on the subject of desire. It sparked a mini-debate that spurred me into thinking more about it.

So, let me begin with my reader’s comment:

I notice that the Sedona Method, in its sidebar ad, promises that you will “have all that you desire” if you follow it.

I’d like to call your attention to a posting I got this morning from Tricycle’s Daily Dharma: “When we contemplate suffering, we find we are contemplating desire, because suffering and desire are the same thing.” So, in Buddhist teaching, this “coaching” will increase suffering.

Any remarks?

What Is a Desire?

First, let’s look at what desire is. A desire is a feeling. Although in spiritual discussions it seems to be a much more potent force, when you boil it down to its essence, it is merely an experience of thought or belief in the body, and in every day language, that is a feeling. It is a feeling no different from fear, anger or sadness. It is the sensations that we experience in our bodies that gives all feelings their power. They aren’t merely thoughts that run through our minds but strong sensations running through or chest, gut, arms, legs, back and other body parts.

So, given that a desire is a feeling, it is therefore an experience that we have. In and of itself, a desire is really no big deal. Just like fear or anger or sadness is really no big deal as long as it is simply an experience. Think about it: have you ever been at a movie, one where you’ve really gotten into the story, and then something happens to a character and you strongly feel something? The main character gets dumped by her boyfriend, or finds his long-lost love, and a huge up-welling of feeling arises, such as sadness or joy. And there you are, crying, or smiling with joy, or scared silly, all because you are experiencing a reaction to the character on the screen.

For our discussion, this reaction is no big deal, has no real import at all, because it is just a feeling, and when the movie is over, the feeling ends. So, the bottom line is simply that experiencing a feeling is in and of itself no big deal. And therefore, the same should be true of a desire.

Desires Seem Big in Our Lives

But when you and I experience a feeling in every day life, or in specific the feeling called desire, the result is often a big deal. Not only do we experience the feeling or desire, but we become wrapped-up in it and start to suffer from it. Why? Because the feeling or desire isn’t connected with some make believe character on the screen, but instead is about you and me. It is personal. In effect, we have identified ourselves with the desire, we make it not only our own but literally us. It becomes a focus for who and what we are.

credit: Carol Mitchell

And it is this identification that is at the core of the problem of desire, the one the Buddha and Buddhists for centuries have been pointing toward. Identification is what the Buddhists mean by attachment to a desire or things. We attach and they become who we are. And this false identity, this belief in a separate self, is the cause of suffering. As a Buddhist teacher said, summarizing the Buddha’s teachings, “No self, no problem.”

I suspect that many Buddhists, including some important writers and teachers over the years, have missed this distinction. They have focused on the desires themselves and have attempted to do away with them. But desires can and do arise, at least in those of us who have not had the final realization. As a matter of fact, we have no more control over desires arising than we have over any other thought or feeling. We have no control at all. It becomes apparent, after spending any amount of time struggling with desires themselves, that it is pointless to try to suppress them.

Desires arise less and less the more we remove our identity from them. The state of freedom of desire is an end state, a by-product of awakening. It is not a path to awakening. When we suppress or deny the desires that arise, we give them strength because we are in effect declaring them real, important, meaningful. The far better approach is to let them arise, allow them their 15 minutes of fame in our consciousness, and then move on. They are simply feelings, and they will rise and fade if allowed to do so.

The Sedona Method and Desires

So how does this relate to The Sedona Method? The Sedona Method is a technique that at its core allows feelings to arise and then naturally release or be let go. It is a process that makes this natural flow conscious. And it works. It acknowledges that feelings are just feelings, that desires are just desires. In they come, out they go.

If a desire is persistent, if it sticks around, the Sedona Method offers techniques for working with those desires so that they are satisfied by changes in our outer circumstances. For instance, if a desire arises to earn more money, and after a bit of releasing work that desire still persists, then it can be worked with in a way that is honoring of our experience. Instead of fighting, we follow the lead of these persistent desires (assuming, of course, that they aren’t destructive to ourselves and others, but that is a whole other topic).

Let’s face it, we have no idea where our desires are ultimately arising from, so who are we to say that we should not honor ones that are persistent? Maybe they are the divine knocking at our door, helping us to see areas of our lives that we have been suppressing or hiding from.

I’ve read instances of people who experienced a dramatic realization of the truth only after they got out of their spiritual beliefs and honored their persistent longings and desires. Some have gone out and found a romantic partner, some left the monastery and got a job, and others started exercising or even, horror of horrors, started eating meat! They honored the feelings arising in them, gave that energy its due, and allowed themselves to act upon them. And the result was a complete harmony with the Truth of their being, an awakening.

Moreover, another result of working on desires with the Sedona Method is that they inevitably change over time. I will admit, when I first worked with the Method, and looked at my desires with regard to money, I was definitely in the “make a million dollars” camp. As time has gone on, I’ve seen through that desire to what lies underneath: a desire for security and safety, for freedom to do as I please in the world.

As I have worked with these desires, I’ve ended up finding the work I enjoy doing most in the world, I’ve become more productive and helpful, and I’ve benefitted financially. And more importantly, these desires have faded and given way to a great sense of peace and knowing that all is well.

Spirituality and Marketing

Okay, now that I’ve given what I hope is a reasonable answer to my reader’s question, I will share one final thought on the subject of The Sedona Method, as well as all spiritually oriented systems of personal growth. So, let’s talk about marketing.

Like many spiritual types, I have had my share of difficulties with marketing and spirituality. While I’m perfectly fine with shiny, hype filled ads for Coca-Cola, iPods and Porsches, I have in the past had a real problem with marketing of anything connected with spirituality. When I first encountered the Sedona Method, for instance, my first thought was “what utter bullshit!”

But something brought me back to it, and I eventually started using it, and as time went on, I was cured of my distaste. Sure, a cynic could point out that I was cured because I started making money from the Sedona Method, but in the beginning, that was definitely not the case. No, to be honest, I started making money from it after I let the distaste go. For just like everything else, I had developed a set of beliefs around spirituality, and feelings attached to those beliefs, that when honestly looked at and released, faded into the ether. I was reacting to nothing, and now I see no objection to saying, “The Sedona Method can help you financially, help you with your relationships, and help you have all that you desire.” Of course, I would say the same thing about Buddhism, believe it or not. Not very “Buddhist,” but true nonetheless.

I invite more comments on this topic. It is a good one, and I would be happy to read your thoughts and opinions.