Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Beyond Letting Go Workbook PDF
Beyond Letting Go Workbook PDF
The publisher and author of this material make no medical claims for its use. This material is not in-
tended to treat, diagnose, advise about, or cure any illness. If you need medical attention, please consult
with your medical practitioner.
Copyright © 2009 by Hale Dwoskin. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission of the publisher.
Publisher:
Sedona Press
60 Tortilla Dr.
Sedona, AZ 86336
Phone (928) 282-3522
Fax (928) 203-0602
e-mail: release@sedona.com
2
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Table Of Contents
You already are what you are seeking..............................................................4
Lester Levenson called the main process we will be exploring The 5th Way....4
The first four ways of letting go........................................................................4
Explanation of the “I” Diagram.........................................................................7
A direct looking through the illusion of separation with The 5th Way...........12
Remember, it is not about the words.............................................................12
You are already awareness.............................................................................13
The false reference point of me.....................................................................13
What is actually here now?............................................................................15
Are you?.........................................................................................................15
Integrating the basic Method.........................................................................17
Working with the wants.................................................................................17
Truth is that which never changes..................................................................18
You are already beyond all the spinning........................................................19
Challenging false identities.............................................................................20
Action as the functioning of the One.............................................................20
There are no boundaries................................................................................21
Is that attached to anything or anyone?........................................................21
Rest.................................................................................................................21
Partner Work..................................................................................................23
Enough...................................................................................................................23
Believe it’s personal...............................................................................................24
Pretending to be the doer......................................................................................24
Enlightenment belief..............................................................................................24
Maintaining suffering.............................................................................................25
Exist in time............................................................................................................25
Body-mind belief....................................................................................................25
Seeking/striving.....................................................................................................26
Always been...........................................................................................................26
World Peace Begins Within............................................................................29
Share this Message with People Who Are Open to It...................................32
3
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
“You are already whole complete and perfect as you are.” - Lester Levenson
Before we get into exploring The 5th Way let’s explore the other four ways of letting go.
There are the four basic ways besides The 5th Way to approach the process of releasing and all lead to
the same result: liberating your natural ability to let go of any unwanted emotion on the spot and allow-
ing some of the suppressed energy in your subconscious to dissipate. All these ways of letting go when
4
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
taken to completion reveal that which we already are right now. The first way is by choosing to let go
of the unwanted feeling. The second way is to welcome the feeling—to allow the emotion just to be.
The third way is to dive into the core of the emotion. The fourth way is by holistically embracing both
sides of any issue or belief. The 5th Way of releasing will be described later in this manual.
Letting go is natural. Babies do it and so do you. It is happening all the time without our even re-
alizing it. Where are all the thoughts and feelings you had yesterday? Unless you call them back into
consciousness now, they are gone.
Deciding to Drop It
Let me explain by asking you to participate in a simple release. Pick up a pen, a pencil, or some
small object that you would be willing to drop without giving it a second thought. Now, hold the ob-
ject in front of you and really grip it tightly. Pretend this is one of your limiting feelings and that your
hand represents your gut or your consciousness. If you held the object long enough, this would start
to feel uncomfortable yet familiar. Now, open your hand and roll the object around in it. Notice that
you are the one holding on to it; it is not attached to your hand. The same is true with your feelings.
Your feelings are as attached to you as this object is attached to your hand. We hold on to our feelings
and forget that we are holding on to them. It’s even in our language. When we feel angry or sad, we
don’t usually say, “I feel angry,” or “I feel sad.” We say, “I am angry,” or
“I am sad.” Without realizing it, we are misidentifying that we are the feeling. Often, we believe a
feeling is holding on to us. This is not true… we are always able to let go and just don’t know it. Now,
let the object go. What happened? You let go of the object, and it dropped to the floor. Was that
hard? Of course not. That’s what we mean when we say, “Let go” or “release.’” You can do the same
thing with any emotion: choose to let it go.
5
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Holistic Releasing
Lastly, as you focus on the object in your hand you will notice that it is defined by opposites. In other
words the reason you can perceive the object is because of the space around it. Without space there can
be no contents. When it comes to emotionally-based problems and feelings, they are defined or held
together by opposites as well. We have good and bad, right and wrong, happy and sad, and love and hate
to just name a few. When you welcome both sides of any of these pairs, as opposed to clinging to one
and resisting the other, you find that they both dissolve leaving you with the empty space that allows for
all experiencing. We call this fourth way of releasing Holistic Releasing.
Please keep these four analogies in mind as we go through the releasing process together.
Notes
6
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
7
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
8
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Right underneath wanting approval on the chart is the sense of wanting to control. Sometimes
people don’t approve of us in exactly the right way. They don’t give us the right gift, the right compli-
ment, or they’re not being nice enough to us. You get the picture. Then, we want to control them
to get their approval in the way that we’d prefer. Sometimes we give up on getting approval from a
particular person, or in a particular situation, or we sense an apparent threat that has nothing to do
with others or with love. In cases such as these, we want to control directly—instead of for the sake
of approval—in order to be safe or survive as a body. That’s what the arrow connecting wanting to
control with wanting to survive as a body represents.
All four wants culminate in the nine emotional states discussed in our basic program: apathy,
grief, fear, lust, anger, pride, and the limited parts of courageousness, acceptance, and peace. That’s
why AGFLAP-CAP appears underneath wanting to control on the diagram. The feelings are what we
use to try to get approval, control, security, and oneness. Our feelings also motivate our thoughts.
In The Sedona Method, we’ve been focusing more on what we feel, than on what we think.
We do this because it is nearly impossible to make changes in your life solely by thinking positive
thoughts. If you’ve ever tried, you know it can be very difficult unless you deal with any apathy, grief,
fear, lust, anger, and pride you may be feeling, and the underlying wants.
What you’ve probably already noticed, however, is that your thinking naturally changes to the
positive as you start to release on any topic, feeling, or want. You don’t have to try to think positively.
It just happens of its own accord. You don’t have to effort at it. You don’t have to try to do something.
It is plain to see that, to a degree, your thinking does color your perception of the world; and, if
you’re willing to stretch a little bit, you might even see that it colors what actually happens in your
life. Here is a concrete example from sales. If you’re a salesperson and have a positive attitude—you
feel good about yourself and good about your product—it’s easier to sell your product. Whereas if
you’ve had a bad day, experienced a series of rejections, or it’s been a long time since you made a
sale, it is difficult to make sales, because you feel progressively less positive. That is the time to re-
lease. As a result, your thinking will be increasingly positive—and so will your world.
Have you noticed that the emphasis in this program, unlike the emphasis of most self improve-
ment programs, has nothing to do with getting you to modify your behavior? That’s because people
naturally move in a positive direction through releasing. Lasting change, positive change, real change
comes from the inside out, not from trying to impose changes from the outside. Look to your past
experiences to verify this point. For instance, before you had the tools of the Method, you may have
been able to quit smoking temporarily, only to have the habit reassert itself. Or perhaps you replaced
smoking with overeating. Thus, in suppressing your urge, you possibly gained weight. The reason this
happens is that when you push down a tendency in one spot, it usually pops up somewhere else.
That is what most people and organizations do when they try to change from the outside in.
It is different when you fully release a tendency. When you change from the inside out, the
changes are lasting and they’re positive. Every change you make using the Method uncovers more of
the unlimited potential of who you are. We encourage you to ponder the “I” Diagram. Work with it.
Take it for checking. Don’t believe it: prove it for yourself.
Please note: The 5th Way may contradict the last few paragraphs of this explanation. You may
discover throughout this course that you are not your thoughts or feelings and that they are merely
appearing in or on the presence of awareness that you are. In fact you may even discover that what
we call our world is merely an appearance in or on this knowing presence and has no independent
nature, nor is there anyone directing the show.
9
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
10
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
11
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
• First, that the separate “me” with its story of suffering is not true, and
• What is here is simply here. And it is simply the truth of what you are.
Allow yourself to explore this without forcing, and do this from your direct experience in this mo-
ment, as opposed to from memory, or what you think should be experienced. Also, know that what you
are exploring is really not a technique, but a direct looking through the illusion of separation to the simple
presence that is what you are and is what your client is as well.
12
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
“The only difference between someone who knows who they are
and someone who does not is that the person who does know, knows
there is no difference.” – Sailor Bob Adamson
Emotions may continue to arise, with the difference being that attachment and aversion to what-
ever arises begins to drop away: and know that none of that is about you.
13
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
know that what you and what they are never comes or goes. What does come and go cannot be who you
are by its very nature because it comes and goes. What you are is that which is aware and unmoving with
all coming and going.
Nisaragadatta Maharaj put it this way: You are the Beingness in being, the awareness in conscious-
ness and the interest in every experience…
If the false reference point does reappear, this does not mean that you have done something wrong;
it only means the habit has not completely dropped away. Simply continue to remind yourself of what is
actually here now or use any of the other tools that are outlined in this manual, as well as any of the other
tools that make up The Sedona Method.
In my experience, the presence that you are is always here and now, and has always been. This pres-
ence is the background on or in which all experiencing appears, including any of the apparent help “you”
are giving to “others.”
Presence can also be called knowingness because it is the “cognizing” emptiness that al-
lows for all experiencing. This knowingness that we are, is closely associated with thinking. Think-
ing, when colored by the belief in the false reference point of “me,” is limited, but as that dis-
solves, what is revealed is the direct knowingness that is always here and now. Thinking also gets
quieter and more aligned with our natural knowingness, which then shines through the mind as
clear reason and intuitive knowing, and infuses the body with a sense of energy and aliveness.
It is also helpful to add, “If there is no ‘me’ in this moment, is it possible that there has never been one?”
And, “What is actually here now?” Please note this question will be explored in greater detail later on in
this manual.
Here is how you can explore this in relationship to your feelings and problems:
When you appear to be lost in a feeling or a story from the past, or you simply would like to support
yourself in seeing through the illusion of “me,” ask yourself, “Whose feeling or story is this?” If you are
identified with the false center, the answer will be “mine.” If you are not identified with the false sense of
“me,” which may happen at any time, there may be an experience of no one and no thing taking delivery
or claiming ownership of what is being experienced. If this happens, just allow yourself to rest as that and
know that further questioning is not required.
If the answer is “mine,” then ask yourself, “In this moment, if you do not go into memory, can you
actually find this “me?”
You can also ask: “Does this feeling or story actually belong to anyone?” This question will often cut
through any illusion of the personal and allow you to notice that what you are is not bound by, or even in
relationship with any thought, feeling or story no matter how compelling.
When there is not identification, you can also follow it up with, “If there is no me in this moment, is
it possible that there has never been one?” “Could you allow yourself to rest as that?”
14
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Are you?
A great starting or ending place for any releasing session when you are wanting to explore the
truth of who or what you are is this simple question: Simply ask, “Are you?” and give yourself a mo-
ment to rest as the answer to that simple question. Then ask, “Could you allow that to be enough?”
Keep asking these questions until you find that the mind no longer feels the need to answer and you
are aware of the rest that you are.
Once the mind is done, you can also add: “What is aware that you are?” or “Could you allow
yourself to rest as that which is aware that you are?” This can open you even further to true self-
recognition, even though, of course, there is no where to go.
Allow this to happen naturally without forcing, and do this from your direct experience as op-
15
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
posed to from memory, or what you think should be experienced.
You can also use the classic self-inquiry question, “What are you?” Lester Levenson always preferred
the question of “what” to “who.” He knew that what we are is not personal and when we ask “who” it
appears to direct us towards a person. This question is designed to do the same thing as all other 5th Way
questions: point to the absence of separation and the presence that you are now. By asking that ques-
tion, sometimes the mind will simply stop and rest and you will become more self-obvious to yourself or
the mind will provide an answer. If the mind provides an answer, continue with the question: “If you are
not that, what are you?” or “If you are beyond that what are you?” or “If you are more than that what
are you?”
Here are some other questions that can be used for this type of inquiry:
• “What is that which was never born nor will ever die?”
16
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
17
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
• “Can the thought ‘me’ actually live or die?”
This statement is a great clue to use when working with yourself with The 5th Way. Our stories, ideas,
thoughts, feelings, experiences, even our body and persona are always changing; therefore, they can not
be true. You can gently remind yourself of this by asking “Is that something that has never changed?”
or “Has that ever changed?” or “Are you that changing _____or are you that which never changes?”
Often you will see right away that if that has changed, you cannot be that, but are instead the change-
less background or that which is aware, yet unaffected by all that changes, including that particular thing.
If the answer is yes, it has always been that way, then look more deeply at this until you can see that it has
changed. Simply seeing that it has changed is often a breakthrough. Seeing that it has not always been
this way will help lessen your suffering, even if you are not aware in this moment of that which never
changes.
18
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
19
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
As you explore this, you can discover that all action is spontaneous or simply part of the functioning
of the One.
20
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Rest
What you are is naturally unmoving or always at rest. You can end your releasing sessions or
individual series of inquiries or releases by giving yourself time to rest as that which you are. You can
use this simple question of: “Can you allow yourself to rest as that?” or simply be what you are in
silence.
All of the questions in this manual are just jumping off points to get the ball rolling as you work
with The 5th Way. Follow your heart or your intuitive knowingness, and know that all is well.
21
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
22
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Partner Work
We may or may not do all the exercises in this section. However, they are all included here to
support you in continuing the exploration that we have begun together.
Enough
• How has _________ appeared to either not have enough or not be enough?
• Could you welcome any and all wanting associated with that including any wanting to fix,
change, hold onto or control that?
• Could you also welcome any sense that that is personal, who you are, or about you?
• Could you let go of wanting to believe you either do not have enough or are not enough
again?
• Could you rest as that which is now and has always been whole, complete and enough
exactly as it is?
23
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
• Could you welcome any and all wanting associated with that including any wanting to fix, change,
hold onto or control that?
• Could you welcome any sense that this is about you or who you are?
• Could you rest as that which is beyond the personal and the impersonal?
• Could you welcome any sense that that is personal, about you or who you are?
• Could you let go of wanting to pretend that you are the doer again?
• Could “you” be open to the possibility that “you” have never done anything?
• Could you rest as that which is beyond both doing and non-doing – that simply is?
Enlightenment belief
• What did _______ believe was freedom, enlightenment or awakening?
• Could you welcome any sense that that is personal, about you or who you are?
• Could you let go of waiting for that to appear in order for you to be what you already are?
• Could you rest as that which needs no memory, concept or belief to Be?
24
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Maintaining suffering
• What was _______ ‘s favorite routine for maintaining suffering and separation?
• Could you also welcome any sense that this routine is about you or makes “you” special?
• Could you let go of wanting to maintain suffering or separation in that way again?
Exist in time
• How has ______ appeared to exist in time?
• Could you let go of wanting to identify with what was or what might be?
• Could you be open to the possibility that you are only NOW?
Body-mind belief
• How has ______ bought into the belief ‘I am the body/mind’?”
• Could you welcome any sense that that is personal, about you or who you are?
• Could you be open to the possibility that you are not now and have never been the body/mind?
• Could you allow yourself to look through the body/mind and notice what is actually here now?
25
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Seeking/striving
• How has ______ been seeking what he/she already is?
• Could you welcome any wanting to stop or hold onto the seeking or striving?
• Could you welcome any sense that seeking or striving is personal, about you or who you are?
• Do you actually need to seek or strive in order to be what you already are?
• Could you allow yourself to look through all seeking and striving and allow yourself to notice
what is already and always here now?
Always been
• What is the advantage/disadvantage in accepting and knowing that you have always been, and
are now that which you were seeking?
• Could you welcome whatever comes up in response to this question—along with all wanting?
• Could you allow yourself to look through all seeking or striving and to the HOME that is right here
right now?
• Could you allow yourself to welcome yourself back to the HOME you have never left?
Notes
26
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
27
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
28
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Become Transparent
As you move to help others, you may experience opposition as the world appears to push back.
This can take the form of others resisting or doubting your efforts, acting threatened by you, or your
29
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
own difficulty in following through on positive actions. In order not to collapse under this intense pres-
sure, it is important to learn to become as transparent as you can to these turbulent energies as they
appear to come at you.
Our reflex when challenged in this way is to contract, shut down, protect ourselves or simply push
harder. When we protect ourselves in this manner, we are merely holding in the pain and suffering. Even
though it is counter intuitive, the safest and most effective thing you can do when being challenged is to
let go of whatever feelings this brings up within you. Open inside and become as transparent as possible.
Transparency is what’s here naturally when you don’t erect artificial walls around you.
As you become transparent, you will discover that you actually feel safer and have more energy to
support positive change. This allows you to act from what you know is best in each situation, rather than
getting caught in defensive reacting.
If you find yourself shutting down or burning out, simply ask yourself: Could I welcome whatever is
being experienced in this moment? Could I also welcome any wanting to do anything with this experi-
ence? By welcoming what you are experiencing, you naturally open, let go, and allow these energies to
pass through your awareness.
30
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
In this moment, see if you can actually find the “me” if you do not go into memory. If you are
open to it, you will discover that in this moment there is no separate me at all.
You can also ponder simple questions like: Am I the body or am I that which is aware of the body?
Am I the thoughts I think, or am I that which is aware of thinking? Am I this body or is the body an
appearance in or on the awareness that I am?
As you ponder these questions, examine your basic assumptions, and are open, you may just
discover that what you are is not a separate person, but rather the presence of awareness in or on
which the thought of “me” appears. As you discover that you are not actually separate, you feel safe
and at peace within, which translates naturally into positive outward action that supports the whole.
You become the living embodiment of peace.
I highly encourage you to explore these simple shifts in consciousness in order to bring the peace
that is at your core into your moment by moment experience. The more energy you put into explor-
ing these positive inner actions, the more you will find that your outward actions bear more fruit, and
you will also find that your own experience of living will change dramatically for the better.
As we practice loving kindness and compassion in the world in order to give inner peace a chance,
remember it is also important to let go of whatever is inside of us that is obscuring the peace that
is already within. By letting go, we allow the flower of peace to bloom in our hearts and take root in
the world.
31
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
32
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
33
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
Beyond Letting Go
Notes
34
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates
©2010 by Sedona Training Associates and Sedona Press
60 Tortilla Drive • Sedona, AZ 86336
928.282.3522 • 888.282.5656 35
info@sedona.com • www.sedona.com ©2010 by Sedona Training Associates