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formerreleaser
After releasing for so long, I feel like a woolen cloth has been pulled over my awareness and that the better parts of me have been grayed out.

FormerReleaser: This is exactly the long-term outcome I would expect for Releasers. In my understanding, SM/RT is primarily about non-attachment. It pathologises emotions - "Feelings Only Lie" - and views them as a pesky barrier to feeling good. If one practices non-attachment long enough in this context, then one must surely end up feeling chronically emotionally-detached. The result would be a flat existence without the vibrance and emotional colour we normally expect out of life.

The thing that annoys me most about SM/RT is that it bases itself in one or two Buddhist practices, but it divorces them from their ethical system and philosophical underpinnings. It invokes acceptance in a weak way, even going so far as to re-formulate acceptance in terms of non-attachment! I see releasing as only a partial, trivial response to the problems of imperfection and impermanence in human experience, and ultimately, a response that will leave adherents unsatisfied.

Anticult - thanks for your helpful and candid response. I will clarify that the technique DID offer some benefits, like deep relaxation. But that was about it. All of the rest of the promises were empty.

I'm dissatisfied with the hype (esssentially lies) that promised vast wealth by "doing nothing." It's ridiculous now that I see it. I feel no shame for being involved or under that spell, only resolve on letting people know about my experience.

Yep, the way you described it is pretty dead on. Make a big claim, charge lots of money, ask a question, get yelled at or confused thus averting an need for an answer to the question, pay even more money for more stuff that doesn't work, etc. Cycle goes on ad infinitum until you finally wake up, if at all.

Fortunately, I don't believe it would be that terribly hard to convince a releaser they are being ripped off. I'll tell you a secret - no releaser who has been involved with it for years and taken "advanced courses" wants to admit they are unfree. Simply use this knowledge to help them. Tell them "Are you free enough to see another point of view? Are you free enough to see how it's not working and hasn't worked for some time now?"

Most releasers would be able to say yes to that which is a positive sign.

Honestly, I don't want to put the releasing "crowd" into it's own evil little corner, because the people involved really mean no harm and they are great folks by and large. This is why I believe it's hard to classify The Release Technique as a cult. There is no allegiance to a central figurehead, no demands made upon the people, no giving up their car or homes, etc. However, some of the techniques lend themselves to brainwashing.

For example, the people involved are being mislead in the promise they will be millionaires simply by sitting on their butt and "letting go" of feelings. There is literally a program called The Butt System, where the claim is you can get anything and everything simply by sitting on your ass. Yeah, ok. So if I want to be a gold medal gymnast in the Olympics, I can do it by sitting on my butt all day long letting go of my feelings. Right.

This "Anything is possible" mindset is what blinds people to what is really out there. It would be nice if you could have an "effortless thought" (as some of the course material claims) and have a suitcase full of money. But that just doesn't happen.

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epyx

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formerreleaser
After releasing for so long, I feel like a woolen cloth has been pulled over my awareness and that the better parts of me have been grayed out.

FormerReleaser: This is exactly the long-term outcome I would expect for Releasers. In my understanding, SM/RT is primarily about non-attachment. It pathologises emotions - "Feelings Only Lie" - and views them as a pesky barrier to feeling good. If one practices non-attachment long enough in this context, then one must surely end up feeling chronically emotionally-detached. The result would be a flat existence without the vibrance and emotional colour we normally expect out of life.

The thing that annoys me most about SM/RT is that it bases itself in one or two Buddhist practices, but it divorces them from their ethical system and philosophical underpinnings. It invokes acceptance in a weak way, even going so far as to re-formulate acceptance in terms of non-attachment! I see releasing as only a partial, trivial response to the problems of imperfection and impermanence in human experience, and ultimately, a response that will leave adherents unsatisfied.

Epyx - yep, that's exactly how RT sees emotions, as a pesky barrier. I've experienced the flat existence and am now almost fully recovered from it, thankfully. The course is all about "letting go of the want of control", because they purport that "want" equals "lack." Ironic that I feel much more in control of me and my life now that I've let go of releasing altogether.

Anyone else?

formerreleaser:

Its usually very important to break out of group "Jargon" and fluff-language, which is why it seems to be most helpful, to just speak in blunt, direct, normal, everyday terms.

There doesn't seem to be many people calling Release Tech a cult, more just like a rip-off, or scam, using methods to screw with people's minds, to sell them more stuff.
This thread area is called..
Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"
and so that is accurate to where Sedona Release Tech sits. Its in the LGAT seminar area.

And as far as relaxation, sure, that can be had for free, and easily, with deep breathing, and mindfulness, and things that are healthy.
One suspects the Release Tech people use that relaxation simply as a way to induce light-hypnosis in people, so they can give Suggestions to buy more of their stuff. They are abusing relaxation as well.


In these types of LGAT groups and systems, there are those who are "nice people" who are the ones buying the stuff, and getting exploited.
But then you have the Larry Crane type of salespeople at the top, who are NOT like that. They are in it for the money. It generally is that basic. Those who are selling the stuff professionally for a living, are different.

They are selling the exact same pipe-dream of The Secret, and aspects of New Thought, which says you can get anything you want by just "thinking it", or something along those lines.
Release Tech takes it even to a more absurd level, telling people to NOT think, and RELEASE, and they will get anything they want. Its absurd.
Even Alladin had to rub a lamp...but its a human weakness they are exploiting.
No one should feel ashamed they got ripped-off, it can happen to anyone, but hopefully people can learn from experience.

As far as Release Technique...here are 2 techniques they are using.
1) They are abusing the idea of Non-Attachment..why?
2) so people will literally become less-attached from their money! And buy their products!

That is not fiction, that is reality. That is how these guys think. They are softening up people's heads and emotions, so they will be less attached to their money, and buy ALL of their products for years.

Larry Crane and those salespeople are more that a little "attached" to their sales-methods, and products, and money.
The only way to understand how these professional salespeople think, is to study their methods. Its all there in black and white, in the advanced sales materials.

Frankly, the entire "Release Technique" is very similar to many other methods, where the goal is to literally SOFTEN up the cutomers, and make them more passive, and more persuadable.
Other methods attack the "Ego" for the exact same reason, to passify people.
Other cults talk about SURRENDER.

People can be a pain in the ass to salespeople, as they can be so cautious and skeptical, they can't sell them anything. So they want to short-circuit that, and make them easier to manage.
So they literally designed "products" that actually soften up people's minds, and then they can sell them anything. They started doing that decades ago.
Release Technique, is one of those things, as well as COUNTLESS other systems which attack the "Ego" or "Mind" and things of that nature.
Its very clever.
They promise Inner Peace if you Surrender the mind...
Then once they have the critical thinking passified, they can sell people almost anything.

So the entire Technique they sell is a Trojan Horse, who's real goal is to simply passify people's critical thinking, and make them more persuadable.
(Life Coaches call it being "coachable", its all the same thing really).

It might be hard to believe, but its something to keep in mind as one does research into these groups for months and years. You start to see what they are doing to people on the deepest level.

For proof, one could add up all the money they spent on one of these methods over many years. Its a painful exercise, but can be helpful.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2009 03:28AM by The Anticult.

Yes, I can now see how the release technique goes overboard into the realm of letting go. It's okay to let go of certain things and emotions at certain times, but your reasoning ability should not be one of them. And that is something the release technique specifically targets.

Anti-cult, you are dead on about the "nice people vs. Larry Crane" comment. I can totally see it now. He is 100% pure salesman. And he exaggerates just like any salesman. He's only in it for the money. Like I mentioned in my previous posts, I once helped him set up 2 different hotels in my state so he could hold release technique seminars here. I asked nothing in return. To his credit, he did allow me to go to one of them for free. There have been 3 or 4 in the area ever since I helped set them up. I asked him if I could go to another one free of charge. I was denied. So much for releasing and abundance. If it didn't make him profit, it wasn't worth considering, I suppose.

Larry comes off as an okay guy, not really sleazy. However, actions do speak louder than words here, definitely. I'll be blunt - he's cheap, meanwhile promoting abundance. I don't expect handouts of any kind, but when someone provides a service as I did to him free of charge, it's not out of bounds to expect some sort of equal recompense, which he denied.

Yep, it's absurd telling people they can have anything they want simply by letting go of feelings of lack. First, let me tell you - after 10 years of doing the technique, I have been unable to purge myself totally of the feelings of "lack" as they describe it. It isn't a possible feat, IMO. Not only that, but it didn't bring me what I wanted. Trying to eliminate the "lacking feelings" as they call it only served to frustrate and confuse me even more. Second, if I really can get whatever I want by releasing only, then why couldn't I materialize those pink panthers on the ceiling, as written in another post? I asked Larry that question and he was livid. Why not a suitcase full of money? Those type of questions are ignored, looked on with disdain or worse by Larry.

I can see now that he's totally in it for the money. He even admitted it as part of a short bio he recites at the seminars. "Before releasing life was all about making money." I'm pretty sure that agenda hasn't changed much even AFTER releasing.

Yes, nobody should feel ashamed about being ripped off, because when you're in it, you don't see that it is happening. Everyone is prone to errors in judgment. I seek to have people learn about my experience so they can make a more informed decision if getting involved with the RT.

Let me point out here that the technique HAS given me some benefit. I have much more emotional control since adopting it. I use it occasionally to decrease stress levels. It has even had some health benefits of which I will not go into. My only qualm with it was it's claim to make you rich - which is nothing but helium-filled marketing hype and tripe.

The idea of attachment - yep! I can see how it adds up to the idea of making more money. In fact, at the end of the last seminar I went to, Larry was upselling going to a week-long retreat, adding on all sorts of "bonuses" for people who signed up that day. He asked people what their objections were or "what their minds were telling them". People would answer "I don't have enough money" or "My business needs to be run." Stuff like that. He would then lead people through releasing the feeling around it until it was gone. In other words, he got people to stop thinking or being attached to their "ego" (reasoning).

Again, you are right about Larry and attachment. I bet he wouldn't touch the technique if it didn't yield him the money it makes him these days. He told us that he gave away all of his money 4 different times just to prove that he was unlimited and could make it back. That story sounds great on the surface, but I'm sure if you dug deeper you would have found that he may have given away all the money 4 times, but NOT THE SYSTEM THAT GENERATED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. I would have been very impressed if he gave away all the money PLUS the system he used to make it, THEN made the money back somehow. He never mentioned if he gave away the system.

One thing I am totally for is overcoming your own perceived limitations. I don't believe "attacking the ego" or mind is the way to do it. It comes through honest effort and DOING things - something that isn't emphasized in the RT. The idea that the RT presents is nice in itself - that we are unlimited beings. I have yet to have that proven to myself. But I'm not going to bother trying to prove it anymore with the RT. It has failed on that front.

Another thing I've taken away from this whole experience is this absolute, tremendous iron resolve to go after what I want - DOING - without apology. It's as if the past 10 years I've pent up all of the energy of doing and it is suddenly exploding out. And as long as it is ethical, legal and helps me and others, I'll pursue it, whatever it is. That's integrity. While RT may have some benefits, the manner in which it is presented and the promises it makes fall over into the abyss of non-integrity. And I want no part of it. I will not spend one more dime on that over-marketed garbage.

As an aside, I will say this. Lester Levenson's original message was a good one. Just love yourself and love others. That can make you happy. Pretty simple and wise. I don't believe Lester Levenson was a scam artist. I do believe he was in it to really help people in a spiritual (or emotional) sense.

Larry? Well... pretty much just shared it all from my POV.

:-)

Hi formerreleaser, it is good to see you on these forums.

I heard that the Sedona Method and Release Technique organizations are sales apparatuses and lack integrity, twisting the truth to manipulate secular suckers into buying a spiritual technique in order to gain in their lives.

I also heard that while the above is true, the technique itself can be a valuable asset to a balanced life and is not itself unhealthy (even if the organizations that promote it are 'sick').

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disconnect
Hi formerreleaser, it is good to see you on these forums.

I heard that the Sedona Method and Release Technique organizations are sales apparatuses and lack integrity, twisting the truth to manipulate secular suckers into buying a spiritual technique in order to gain in their lives.

I also heard that while the above is true, the technique itself can be a valuable asset to a balanced life and is not itself unhealthy (even if the organizations that promote it are 'sick').

Disconnect,

I'm not sure about the Sedona Method crowd, as I have not been involved with them. However, Larry Crane & Co. - I have a good amount of experience with him.

He's pretty much a very, very clever and experienced salesman and is using a low key method to achieve profits. Read my previous posts and you'll see what I mean. For someone so "released", he seems awfully attached to his money. And he often exaggerates claims and so-called "gains" of people using the technique.

For example, there was one lady who went to a 7-day retreat. She has Parkinson's disease. After working with her for about an hour, she stopped shaking - which truly is impressive. He essentially said she was "cured" of Parkinson's disease on subsequent conference calls and testimonials. Flash-forward to a weekend RT seminar. That same exact lady was there. Guess what? She was shaking like crazy at points. Hardly "cured" as he had stated. Perhaps MANAGED, but definitely NOT CURED. Those kinds of outright lies and exaggerations are one of the major reasons why I left the release technique. I can remember several more.

And it's kind of brilliant how it all works. The methodology is to let go of desire, since desire is "lack" according to the philosophy. Thing is, when you let go of desire but the results don't show up (as they didn't with me), you blame it on still having desire. "Oh, I'm wanting, that's why it didn't show up." So you spend even more money on his over-inflated, over-hyped crap in order to weed out the desire or release until you become airy fairy. But it still doesn't work, and you try to figure out why. Uh oh! Wait! Figuring it out is desire! Rinse, repeat. :-O By this time, you are so "imperturbable" that you don't care about how much money you spent or the fact that you are earning nothing from it.

I became very bland and full of air after releasing for so long. It essentially makes you into a "whatever" person. Even if you have mountains of debt and you haven't achieved what you are striving for with releasing, at least you are released, right? :-) And that's why the technique is so brilliant for Larry. He profits. Guess that's why it's called "the Abundance Course". LOL.

Don't get me wrong - the release technique can be a very good method of relaxation and stress relief. And as long as you don't go overboard with non-attachment or desirelessness or believe all the hype around it re: manifesting money, you should be okay. It has helped me to become very objective when needed and able to see clearly through dramas that need not occur.

So the technique itself is pretty much harmless as long as you do it correctly and aren't going overboard. The problem with it is it promotes getting EVERYTHING ONLY by "releasing", which essentially means "think whatever you want into existence and do nothing else." If that is possible, then I haven't achieved it after 10 years of great effort. 10 years wasted. The marketing message over-promises and the technique under-delivers on a financial level. Keep away from it if you want to become rich. Great for stress management, though.

Harmless? Hale Dwoskin's Sedona Method & Larry Crane's Releasing Technique have had a devastating effect on my family. My wife's business in now $10,000s in debt from financing these 7 day "releasing" retreats over the last year. The relationship between my wife and our teenage childern has been transformed to a delicate fragility at best. Our marriage has been ravaged by guiltless & remorseless infidelity with releasing colleagues / partners. This is releasing!? Seemingly from a family & marriage, not as a source of strength or empowerment for it.

I suppose you could argue that this turn in my wife's life, and what seems as an increasingly dismal family environment, brought on by this "releasing" is somehow good & positive and is just what "needed" to happen. This new age reasoning supposes that what ever happens is what is intended and so neither "good" nor "bad", but just what is, or certainly better that what otherwise might have been .... so what real role did this releasing even play?

Its really hard from a family and spouse's perspective how this has at all been helpful and positive. I have tired hard to grasp the "releasing" philosophy to apply for personal self help ... it has not proven useful or helpful to me ... I suppose the expanation of that would be I did not spend enough time releasing, or work at it hard enough...? Or is "releasing" truly anything other than simply LGAT generated euphoria??

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WIZARD
Harmless? Hale Dwoskin's Sedona Method & Larry Crane's Releasing Technique have had a devastating effect on my family. My wife's business in now $10,000s in debt from financing these 7 day "releasing" retreats over the last year. The relationship between my wife and our teenage childern has been transformed to a delicate fragility at best. Our marriage has been ravaged by guiltless & remorseless infidelity with releasing colleagues / partners. This is releasing!? Seemingly from a family & marriage, not as a source of strength or empowerment for it.

Wizard,

Very sorry to hear of your experience, yet realize you are not alone at all. There are an increasing number of people who are speaking out about the ineffectiveness (and downright destructiveness) of the release technique. I know how destructive it can be because I've lived it and so have you.

Keep in mind I have zero experience with Hale Dwoskin's Sedona Method, so I'm not speaking about that here. I've only experienced the Release Technique method.

Yes, you are right, the release technique IS harmful when done to an extreme, and no, don't let that highly damaging notion of "everything is good and balanced (even though things really suck)" argument cause you to think you are 100% culpable for what has happened to you and your family. It is a TWO-WAY street, despite what Larry wants you to think. He is just as responsible for teaching the technique as you are for learning it. To say you are 100% responsible for the results you get (or don't get) is like being sold a car, but you aren't told the car has no brakes. When you get into an accident, it's your fault, not the dealership's.

Right. And this is the same logic applied to what Larry teaches. He's cleverly managed to evade responsibility when it doesn't serve his bottom line by making YOU, alone, responsible. Brainwashing at it's best.

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WIZARD
I suppose you could argue that this turn in my wife's life, and what seems as an increasingly dismal family environment, brought on by this "releasing" is somehow good & positive and is just what "needed" to happen.

No. NO! No, no, and more NO! Unacceptable! Do NOT fall for this. This is the pinnacle of releasing philosophical garbage. Do not make rationalizations in the face of a stark and tangible reality. You and your family are SUFFERING. That is reality. I did this same thing (rationalize) for YEARS, my friend. It just kept me spinning in the dark, hoping that things would get better. They never did. Sound familiar?

I was essentially blaming myself for not getting the results promised in the marketing message, when it was really the technique itself which was ineffective. "Whatever happens is whatever happens, it's all good, it's all what I created", right?

NO. Get out of that thinking - it will keep you frustrated and STUCK and things will only get worse. But I think you have realized this. I may be preaching to the choir.

This "if you aren't getting the results you want, it's YOUR fault" reasoning that Larry et al promote is a slap in the face of decency, ethics and common sense. It's just a way he makes more money on the neverending treadmill of salesmanship without being held accountable. The fact that he teaches "you are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens to you" is not only morally corrupt, it's reprehensible. It abdicates Larry and his cohorts of ANY responsibility where the technique is concerned. Oh, you haven't become a millionaire as marketed in the salesletters? You haven't cured yourself of cancer? You haven't gotten that dreamhouse, left your job? Even after 8 years of very intense effort, expense and emotional upheaval? You must be doing the technique wrong! You are responsible! Oh, and thanks for those checks for the 7 day seminars, weekend retreats, and junkpile of rehashed releasing courses.

What a horrid approach to humanity that is. 100% pure marketing and a bankrupt sense of responsibility.

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WIZARD
This new age reasoning supposes that what ever happens is what is intended and so neither "good" nor "bad", but just what is, or certainly better that what otherwise might have been .... so what real role did this releasing even play?

Read above, my friend. Don't fall for the "not good not bad" thing. It robbed me of my ability to see things as they were. Sounds like your wife is where I used to be.

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WIZARD
Its really hard from a family and spouse's perspective how this has at all been helpful and positive. I have tired hard to grasp the "releasing" philosophy to apply for personal self help ... it has not proven useful or helpful to me ... I suppose the expanation of that would be I did not spend enough time releasing, or work at it hard enough...? Or is "releasing" truly anything other than simply LGAT generated euphoria??

LOL, classic releasing rubbish. "You didn't spend enough time releasing, that's why it didn't work!" Back to the car analogy. If your car has a leaky oil gasket and you want to get to LA from New York, but can't because the motor keeps overheating, is it because you didn't spend enough time driving? No freaking way, dude! It's because the CAR doesn't WORK! It's broken!!!

By the way, I'm not yelling at you or putting you down in any way. This is just how I write, because the technique has affected me very deeply and I want to save you YEARS of wasted frustration and going through what I did. I'm (com)passionate to your plight and I hope to help wake you up out of the hypnosis of releasing. :-)

Yes, I hear you on the "guiltless" and "remorseless" aspect. The course teaches that you are responsible for your feelings and if you are hurt, it's pretty much your fault. I used to believe this. "I cheated on you. So what? You feel hurt? Those are YOUR feelings!"

Awful. No responsibility. Borders on sociopathy.

If I come up to you and punch you in the face and then blame you for feeling pain, that would be absurd to an extreme. Yet when it comes to emotions, somehow this logic is overlooked.

I'm glad I finally woke up to seeing how harmful this can really be. And I hope you do, too, bro.

Am I responsible for myself emotionally? Sure. Does this mean that others can behave irresponsibly towards my emotions without accountability? Hell no! But most people deep into releasing don't see this. They want to believe everyone is responsible for his or her own feelings no matter what, and if you don't like how you feel, it's nobody's fault but your own. Even if someone punches you in the face emotionally, it's not their fault you feel hurt.

What a crock.

I may sound bitter. I'm not, but I am VERY passionate about exposing the fraud that Larry and his materials are. He is no master as is implied by being a teacher of the technique and by him hanging out with Lester. He's a master MARKETER, and that's all.

The longer I've been out of the LGAT of releasing, the clearer I can see how big of a spell I was under all those years. Sitting on your butt and letting go of your limitations does NOT make you richer, happier, or closer to this peace Lester speaks about. Again, Larry is not a master. He's a master SALESMAN. He's very, VERY good at persuasion, psychology, influence, and he uses it to manipulate people out of their money. This isn't hearsay, it's based on what I've witnessed and how he runs things.

He is not loving or giving as far I saw all of those years. He's just in it for the money. And I used to be a sucker to his ways.

Hopefully I've helped to open your eyes a bit. Take a good, honest look at how this is all going down. Has releasing made you and your wife happier? No. Richer? No. But I believe you've already seen this, which is a good thing.

Keep me apprised. If you want to talk with me privately, I'd be happy to help you out.

When I first started doing the Sedona Method, all that could be found on the Internet were glowing testimonials about how wonderful the method was. When I began to have doubts about the value of the progam, there were no balanced viewpoints to be found. As some posters have stated, there may be small gains to be had from such a program, but the more involved you get with it and the more you buy into the method's ultimate goal of "hootlessness" or imperturbability, the more you start to lose touch with reality.

I am really glad this thread has continued and that, for inquiring minds, there is another side to the story of the Sedona Method, Release Technique, etc.

QE