A therapist who works with sexual abuse survivors looked at my work and said, “This is wrong. You can’t just let go”.
The “could you let it go?” question always irritated me when I started learning the Sedona Method. Even though I didn’t believe it was possible, it would often happen anyway.
What does it mean to “let go”? The transformation is almost tangible when it happens—the tension drops away. I see it so often in the people I work with: their face changes, their eyes brighten, and their body seems to become more animated.
This isn’t about denying trauma. It’s about learning that all our experience is valid, and that the first step to changing how we feel or getting free of distressing preoccupations is to allow our emotions, stories, and even our discomfort to exist—to be met with understanding attention before we try to do something with them.
The solution to the “you can’t just let go” concern lies in scope and intention. The Sedona Method is not a replacement for therapy and doesn’t address issues like CPTSD or other mental health diagnoses.
Yet, if a person takes to it, even those suffering intense distress may feel a lot better if they simply lie down and use it as a guided meditation rather than a thing to “do” or to “get”.
If you had a technique that leaves you feeling even 50% better 80% of the time, you’d surely use it (even though “50% better” is impossible to measure).
To my mind, the Sedona Method is the “all is welcome here” technique. The miracle is that discomfort often begins to dissolve once it’s allowed to exist.
Image: Richard Serra’s “Hand Catching Lead” 1968
