Sedona Method

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Lester Levenson, Hale Dwoskin · 1974 · Sedona, Arizona

What it is

The Sedona Method is a commercial self-help programme, not a psychotherapy. It is taught through books, audio courses, live seminars, retreats, support calls and certified coaches. Its core idea is that people hold on to feelings, thoughts and beliefs as if they were who they are, and that they can…

Format

• Entry points: the book The Sedona Method, Happiness Is Free (Dwoskin and Levenson), The Greatest Secret, and a home-study audio course. The website also offers a short self-trial page.
• Session counts and lengths: none are given in the sources here beyond the two-weekend seminar format. This guide sets none.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Live training: the method was first taught as a seminar run over two weekends. Levenson ran intensives in Arizona from 1981. Dwoskin describes a basic programme, an advanced programme and an instructor programme, plus advanced retreats, one of them streamed online. The organisation lists live seminars in US cities and in Canada, Europe and Australia.
• Follow-on support: free monthly support calls, a Facebook group, an online forum, a directory of instructors and coaches, Instructor/Coach Training, and the follow-on course Mastering the Greatest Secret.
• Corporate work: custom training for groups and organisations by Dwoskin or his trainers.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Claims, attributed: the organisation says the method helps with stress, emotional pain, health, money, decision-making and addiction recovery, and that hundreds of corporate executives have taken the course. It also refers to unnamed researchers at Harvard, Columbia and the State University of New…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• missed appointments, stopped medication, and guilt ("I got ill because I didn't release enough").
• the client hearing your consent process as approval of the organisation, or as a promise that it works.
• borrowing to attend, a hope of income from coaching that rests on the method's promises, and secrecy from a partner.
• the client seeking your approval as a stand-in for their own judgement; a drift toward guru-like roles on either side.
• relational problems such as abuse, boundary violations or betrayal being treated only as the client's internal attachment. Name what is relational.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.