Sedona Method Retreat 2008 Summary
Written on July 6, 2008 by Tom Stine
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?
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.
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!
Coach: Can you see that what you said is just a memory about the past, but isn’t here right now? It is just a story you are telling yourself.
Tom: Yes, I can see that. (A shift occurs in the body, along with a decrease in anxiety and tension.)
Coach: So, what is actually here right now?
Tom: Nothing, just a feeling of peacefulness. But I worry that I will have this problem again.
Coach: And who is it that is worried? Can you look inside and find the one who is worried?
Tom: (Quietly looks inside, finds nothing. Peacefulness washes over him.) No, I can’t.
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.
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.
on July 7th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Hi Tom
Wow, a number of great points and a fascinating glimpse into Sedona. I have read several stories of teachers coming from the east to help people awaken, only to find what they sought was something to help them sleep better. You have to clear some of the scrub before you’re ready to ask the deeper question. Before, that it can seem meaningless.
Interesting about your own history too. I also was mr. involved then pulled away. Raising a family changed my attention. And then life changed and the spiritual came back – only now much more grounded, clear and progressive. They talk sometimes about the inward and outward strokes of life…
Oh- and there is a purpose. How we perceive that purpose evolves. But there is a point to the whole enchilada. The reason why the fundamental experience is one of peace, happiness, and love? It’s a celebration. And each person who awakes expands the party.
Davidya’s last blog post..Poverty declining Worldwide
on July 7th, 2008 at 8:13 am
@Davidya Thanks for the comments. I would agree that for the most part, some type of “house cleaning” seems necessary before people are ready for the deeper process. But, you never know!
As for purpose: the one thing I’ve learned on this journey is that I simply can’t know anything with any certainty. Definitive statements just don’t exist. All statements, all words, are just pointers, as the Buddhists would say. So how can there be purpose? Purpose is a definition, a summation, all done with words. Even a statement of purpose, no matter what its intent, is just a pointer at something. That said, IF there is any purpose, I think what you stated matches my statement pretty well. But a true purpose? I doubt it. Life is a mystery. Always will be. And I love it more for it.
on July 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Thanks for the look into the Sedona Method!
on July 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
@Eric You are welcome!
on July 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Hi Tom
Perhaps we’re using the term “purpose” a little differently. I do not mean a purpose as in a statement like “My purpose is to be the best carpenter.”
I mean an underlying intent.
Everything we experience is intended. In other words, that energy has been given a direction and taken form. Even the idea of “Tom”. The appearance of disorder or randomness is only in looking to closely.
In this context, the best way I could describe purpose is the driver of the intent. Tom’s purpose is thus what drove him into form.
Without intention, there is no expression. No Tom. So the experience of Tom means there is a purpose.
I agree that there is no fixed definition because it depends on where you are “standing”. Even with one truth, there are so many ways of seeing it. That’s intended too (laughs)
Davidya’s last blog post..Poverty declining Worldwide
on July 7th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hey Tom,
I have the Sedona Method on CD, and I’ve found it very helpful. A imagine a retreat would take it even further.
Mike
http://www.ChangeYourLifeCoaching.com
on July 7th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I was talking about Purpose just the other day on a skype call. It was strange. Someone asked me, “What is your purpose?” I really did not understand the question at all. So we went into it for a bit, and eventually I grasped their concept of it. So they asked me again, “What is your purpose?” Once again, I didn’t understand the question.
Sometimes it can go on and on like this.
If there is a purpose, it is not to be had, but lived, within every moment of life. But Takuin cannot solidify a conceptual purpose.
@Davidya – Maybe you could go into what you mean by intention. I do not understand what you mean when you use that word. If there is an underlying intent, who’s intending the intention? You explained it all very well, but perhaps there is another way to put it? Thanks.
Takuin Minamoto’s last blog post..Aesop and The Ass Carrying the Image
on July 7th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Welcome back Tom, missed ya
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net’s last blog post..How Our Cravings and Attachments Cause Our Pain And Suffering, Part 2
on July 7th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Takuin
I agree. Purpose is not a thing, its a kind of process or intent. It is the expression of being.
Intention – again, not a statement like an affirmation in this context. What is it that causes the thought to arise? What is it that causes awareness to move, to flow? What draws potential energy into motion, then form? This is what I mean by intention. It is not the intention of the individual but that of the whole. The individual is the vehicle.
In that sense, Tom is right. Individual purpose or intention is an illusion. The ego taking credit, always after the fact. But from the perspective of the one, all is intended, all has purpose. Not for gain or credit, simply to express.
The question of purpose is interesting. For Tom, purpose may be to express love but may not even be. For Takuin, the question of individual purpose is meaningless. For me, my purpose has been quite clear for some time. But its a broad abstract purpose that continues to express in unexpected ways. And one I don’t entirely accept the implications of. Same movement seen many ways.
Apologies if I don’t entirely make sense but I’m pretty tired. Even with a simplified life, one has stuff to move when moving… (laughs) And one is no longer 21.
Davidya’s last blog post..Poverty declining Worldwide
on July 8th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Is it a purpose, or a path we are fated to walk? Tom said something to the effect of we do not live life, it lives us. We parse words and sentences looking for indications,hints and pointers to the truth. But words have definitions and definitions are constraining, limiting while reality is infinite.
They are all we have though. We must use the tools of duality to guide us to non-duality just as we use roads to get us to a place where we can go off-roading.
I am a beginner at this so perhaps I state what is obvious to you old hands, but if I may relate what came to me in a recent meditation and then you can all comment: If desire is the cause of all suffering, and I desire to let go of all my desires, then I must let go of my desire to let go of my desires.
Life is just one big koan, sigh.
I am thankful for this blog Tom, keep it up.
on July 8th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
@Mike Yes, it really does. The retreats are fantastic.
@Albert Nice to be back. I missed all of you, too.
on July 8th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
@Davidya I think I’m with Takuin on this one. Even after you explained further your meaning of purpose, or intent, I still can’t see it the same way. Granted, we all agree that there is no individual, so no individual intent or purpose. But the One having a purpose for all this? Or an intent? You seem to be using intent as some type of “activating agent” so to speak, as in the One “moves” in some fashion and out pops some bit of form. But there is just no way to know. Even if the “knowing” is beyond the mind, still, it isn’t really a knowing. The further this process goes, the more apparent to me is the utter mystery of it all. The One can be purposeless or free of intent. It could just flow, or create, free of all possible intent. Or what if it isn’t even flowing, or creating? What if it really is just a dream, just an odd little imagination in the unbroken emptiness?
All is possible. All is possible. I just can’t go with you, Davidya, on assigning a definitive intent, even in the manner in which you describe it. And so what?
on July 8th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
@Eric Nice to have your comments! No such thing as a beginner. “Zen mind, beginner’s mind.” With the recent realization of desire about letting go of desire, there are some nice analogies for how this works. The last desire to remove all desire, blah, blah, blah. But you wanna know the truth? It is a freakin’ mystery! You know, you just do your bit, meditate, read some cool non-dual stuff, meditate some more, go to retreats, live your life, and then for no apparent reason, and because of nothing you’ve done, the Infinite moves and WHAM! There you are, face to face with Truth. Anyone who has ever truly realized what they are will tell you: it wasn’t anything they did to make it happen. It’s all grace. You can prepare the feast, but the Guest arrives on his own time schedule.
Thanks for your comments. I’m very glad you are enjoying my blog. Namaste.
on July 8th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Well put, Tom (laughs)
And now I must pack my computer…
on July 8th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Nice comments, everyone.
@ Davidya
Thanks for going into it even further. It is still outside of one’s perception, but that is probably due to the words in use. We may all be saying the same thing, but the words get in the way, along with our definitions.
Perhaps Tom and I are using the word “intention” as a determination to act in a certain way. There is the idea behind the intention, and the fragmented mind behind the idea. These are facts, as we can look into the world and see how fragmentation permeates the populations of earth and separates all.
Now, seeing that the world is fragmented; and if one is not there, we can go further into it; are there any individuals at all? (Individual meaning = not broken, not separated, or undivided.) And don’t say, “Yes, I am an individual.” That may or may not be true, but if one is undivided, they can’t really say, “I am an individual.” It is an immediate separation. If one is “enlightened,” whatever that means, and they say they are an individual, it is immediately the me that is not divided vs. the they that are. This may be due to the use of the word individual, though.
Don’t trust anyone that needs to convince you they are enlightened.
By the way, I am not saying it is or isn’t the case, and I am not saying this to Tom, Davidya, or anyone else. I am just going into the words as they appear.
It appears we have left the neighborhood of the post topic. Oops. Sorry about that.
Takuin Minamoto’s last blog post..Aesop and The Ass Carrying the Image
on July 10th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Takuin – I think it is more than terminology, rather a little different perspective. Ideas in the individual mind behave like constructed ideas of the One mind. Intention in the individual reflects intention of the One. Intention and idea of the One are unrestricted. Indeed, that is the the world we live in. The dream of the One.
For me, individual exists, but not as separate from the One. It is rather like an increment of the whole. But to come to the cosmic I, one must first step out of the individual I and see it correctly.
Must run. Am moved and now am off to retreat 1.
Davidya’s last blog post..Relationship
on July 10th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
@Davidya Enjoy your retreat. I’m still not sure I agree with your comments about intention, but who knows? Let me meditate on it a bit and see what I get.
on July 11th, 2008 at 12:14 am
@Davidya Thanks for going into this even more. But there is still this lingering emptiness that doesn’t connect with what you have said. It is certainly not a deficiency on your part. It just doesn’t stick here.
I didn’t know you were headed for a retreat. If you aren’t able to connect online, be sure to write down your findings to share them at a later time. Have a great time, wherever you are off to.
Takuin Minamoto’s last blog post..Aesop and The Ass Carrying the Image
on July 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
@Takuin
Am back from the first retreat and am off to a second silent one in a couple of days. I blogged about it briefly. I mentioned what inspired me the most but as for my findings, I’m not sure i could describe that in words that would mean anything, like the shift in silence from having an aspect of liveliness into a deeper value of clarity.
As for intention, I think you will find that as you step deeper into oneness, the process of expression will reveal itself. The role of intention will then be apparent.
Davidya’s last blog post..6,000 stairs
on July 18th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
@Eric
What you will find as you move deeper into who you are is that free will and determinism are the same thing. Purpose is a word we can use to describe the reason for our expression. Why we are. In our life, that structure exists to guide our way as an aid. Unseen, we may stumble over the boundaries, not realizing their value. But who sets this purpose? We do. But not the individual we, the one. The one we really are, beneath the mask of illusion.
If this is not seen, there is simply some further value of illusion to awaken from. This is why some speak of a series of awakenings. The awakening from the illusion of individual is only the first. If we do not see the full mechanics of the world, we have not yet woken from the illusion of the world. That is the secret of Maya. Within it, it is the illusion. Outside, it becomes the ladder.
Davidya’s last blog post..6,000 stairs
on August 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Very interesting observations and insights, Tom. Thank you for sharing them! I always thought the Sedona Method was more grounded in non-dual advaita vedanta than personal development.
on August 6th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
@Duff You know, when I first began, I didn’t know it’s non-dual nature. Given that Lester Levenson was clearly “awake” it should have been obvious. But the public face doesn’t look that way at all. If you go to sedona.com, you won’t see hide nor hair of advaita. Just a lot of personal development.
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