When a friend invited me to Sedona, Arizona two years ago, I had no idea what to expect. I fell in love with Sedona immediately. Then I heard about the Sedona Method and I had to find out more. I was lucky enough to meet David Ellzey, a practitioner of the Sedona Method for 22 years and a coach for over 12 years.
What Is The Sedona Method
First of all, I can say that I feel my life has changed unrecognizably since I started exercising the Sedona Method. The main purpose of the method is to release limiting emotions; or, in short, the art of letting go. Through the method I found a simple, fast and effective way to connect with inner intuitive wisdom and mental clarity.
By understanding my own emotional inner mechanisms and through a series of structured questions, I experienced an immediate release and emotional uplifting.
"The body is a river of molecular movement," says David Ellzey, a former actor and mime, "not a fixed or completed system. We tend to slow down this river by repressing our emotions; and by so doing, we diminish and limit its strength and beauty."
"When emotions arise, primal energy moves through the body, even before the ‘story' is given a title. Instead of simply letting this wave of emotion pass its course naturally, we cause the moment to last longer than it has to by becoming attached and labeling it. In this way it stays in the body, along with the story we've given it. Then, there is nothing to be done but justify and defend our emotions and the stories that accompany them. We may suffer endlessly without every really becoming aware of it."
"Our suffering is unconscious," continues David Ellezy "it's not that things don't hurt, it's just how long will they last? If we don't give the emotion a story and a title it disappears. Otherwise, we create these feelings over and over again with out realizing. And so enters the Sedona Method, as a technique for freeing and opening ourselves."
The technique is based on a series of questions that touch on fundamental feelings of separation and the behavior that follows. The questions are structured to cut limiting emotions at the root, therefore allowing us to open up to the courage and freedom we are meant to experience.
"Basic questions that free you are: What do I feel about the topic? What are the basic underlying emotions? Can I welcome it? Can I release it? Am I ready to release it? When?"
Separation Becomes Unity
When we arrive at the root of a problem we remove the barriers that contain our beauty and strength. The method delves to the root of our problems and our universal human roots, not our historic roots.
The Method proposes that historic events cause me to understand that I am separate from the universe and alone - a little me. Until death, the little me will perpetually fear it won't survive. In this way we live in separation, and it is more likely that the ‘other' may be an enemy.
In the Sedona Method it is said that all life is interconnected. Separation is a painful illusion and the cause of our suffering. The release of suffering occurs when we resolve our feelings of separation.
Sedona Method Inventor
At 40 years old, Lester Levenson, the inventor of the method, suffered two heart attacks, six ulcers, high blood pressure and more, and was sent home by his doctors with a diagnosis of two weeks to live.
At home he reflected on his life, and realized he had a lot of emotional pain inside of him that had always been suppressed. And so, he became his own laboratory. Over the next three months his personal explorations led him to finally release all of his suppressed emotions.
He asked himself: What is happiness? As he later explained, he realized that he was happy, and that the love he felt for the world came from inside of himself. After a while his emotional pain disappeared, his physical body healed and he lived another 42 years, teaching small groups and individuals to uncover the peace and happiness that exists beyond suffering.
In 1974 he developed the Sedona Method to quieten the mind and emotions, and as a way for people to find peace. He moved from New York to Sedona, Arizona (hence the name Sedona Method) and lived out his life there until his death in 1994. Today the method is practiced internationally, expanding from the United States to Europe and Australia.
Taking Responsibility For Our Inner World
"We cannot live without emotions and we're not meant to," continues David "because these are basic human functions….Two things are necessary for emotional freedom: self awareness, and skill at letting go. For example if I am angry, I must be aware that I'm angry in order to release it. Instead of emotions controlling us, as is usually the case, we can learn to control them, and free ourselves.
In my seminars I ask: How many of you are aware of the emotions controlling you? Who would like to be in control of their emotions? I give people the opportunity to choose, and they choose freedom.
In the physical world there is always balance and harmony. This is based on the law that like attracts like. For example if you drink poison the body will do everything possible to return to a state of balance. When we experience pain in the emotional body we may look for the solution on the outside in an attempt to heal what is happening within.
However, our inner world is our own responsibility. If this was not the case we would continuously be victim to others and outside circumstances, surrendering our inner strength.
This method teaches us to own everything that happens to us, to calm emotional storms and find peace.
Laughter for example quietens the mind and opens the heart to freedom. When I teach I use a lot of humor, laughter, and wisdom."
"I teach the method, but the wisdom and the deep truths are already inside of us. I use the method to help you arrive at your own inner truth; I can't do it for you. You are already the wisdom, freedom, and love, only it's covered by emotions and beliefs. Our goal is simply to release what is unnecessary and prevents us from experiencing joy and inner freedom."