Thank you very much for referring me to John Sherman’s podcasts. I will listen to them. I scanned his posting from 11/24/2006 and must admit my curiousity.

Namaste

Edward

Thanks for your comments.

You said that you find it hard to maintain self-awareness for any length of time. In one of John Sherman’s podcasts he says that maintaining a constant self-awareness is not necessary. What does the work is to “taste” yourself as often as you can, without worring about how long you can sustain it.

He uses a metaphor of self-inquiry being like taking a medicine to cure a disease.

If you haven’t listened to his podcasts yet I highly recommend them.

Thank you,
Jur

I’m quite fond of practicing the Sedona Method, and find it has made an enormous improvement in my life. My suggestion regarding your posts on the combination of Sedona Method or Release Technique and Ho’oponopono, to borrow a quote from Lester Levenson, is “take it for checking”. I did, and I have to agree with Peter’s comments all around.

One of my children gave witness to something I needed to work on in myself that I wasn’t completely aware of. I released on the emotion by first welcoming it, then asking what ‘want’ was associated with the emotion, and finally applying Ho’oponopono to that ‘want’. I encountered a quicker and deeper shift than I’ve been accustomed to up until now. Usually I follow this pattern of welcome and let go, welcome and let go, to jiggle things loose, welcoming the emotion and then the want and releasing in reverse order. This time, when I got around to asking the releasing question on the emotion, I found that it had already completely disappeared. (What will be really interesting is to see over time if this release manifests in a change in my child, since it was the comment they made initially that brought this about in the first place.)

In regard to the question regarding self-inquiry (The Fifth Way, as Hale calls it) and releasing, I’m finding that I cannot maintain that level of self-awareness for any length of time. I believe it’s still a matter of too much “noise of memory” in the sub-conscious mind that is causing this for me. I’m hoping that by combining the two modalities the result will be less chatter and more clarity. And by applying Ho’oponopono in its truest form, using releasing to help identify the topic in me that needs cleaning, I hope to heal my family and everyone I encounter as well.

Namaste

Edward

Yes, John Sherman’s work is great. You probably know that Hale Dwoskin (from Sedona Method) is also lately teaching what he calls the 5th way of releasing, which is pretty much Ramana’s self-inquiry.

Do you think once the self-inquiry kicks in is it really necessary to continue releasing?

Thank you,
Jur

Thanks for sharing your views.

I hear what you’re saying. And, in my experience, if one is striking the “roots”, they don’t need to contend with the millions of thoughts. Most of the thoughts are stimulated by feelings, which in turn are generated by desires. Knocking out the desires knocks out a chunk of everything across the board. If you go at them one-by-one, then yes, it will take you forever.

Also, it is wise to balance active releasing with time in Beingness/Quiet. This is crucial, else we just keep trying to “fix the story” instead of realizing it has nothing to do with who we truly are.

Ho’oponopono is a way to quiet the mind as well, but, by itself, it does not (in my experience) usually address the underlying roots tied into every suppressed negative thought and feeling.

For instance, clearing unforgiveness with one person may not clear it with another if the underlying “wanting approval” or “wanting to control” is still in place. However, dump a good chunk of these “wants” with one person, and you will have gone a long way towards acceptance of both people. Lester devised a massive shortcut here. I’m not sure you’re striking the roots if you feel it is merely “focusing on the noise of memory.” It’s not about focusing on anything for very long, such that it increases it — rather it’s about welcoming it up for a moment, seeing the underlying root, and dropping it right then and there instead of “working on it” or “fixing it.” You just dump it. Then, you can focus on the positive or just simply remain quiet as beingness (i.e “Zero”).

You may just be letting go of some of the general suppressed emotional energy, but not the driver of that energy — the underlying desires — thus the noise continues. The noise in my head used to be unbearable. Now it is almost totally peaceful and silent. It is a delicious quiet. This is from striking these underlying roots.

Combining ho’oponopono with releasing is something I have found to be very effective. Ho’oponopono by itself is effective, and the Release Technique by itself is very effective, but combined, I think it is even more effective.

What letting go of the underlying “wants” really turns out to be, ultimately, is just you “being your beingness” — or your “I-dentity”, as ho’oponopono calls it. When you are free from wanting approval, wanting control and wanting to be safe, what’s left over? You are. Your perfect beingness only. This is just a way to enter the portal of silent being by turning the mind’s tendency to think into a tool for undoing itself — without it even realizing it.

Something else I find very effective is the work of John Sherman who teaches Ramana Maharshi’s self-inquiry work. His teachings are extremely simple, clear and effective.

Even Lester Levenson, who developed the Release Technique said that Ramana’s way is fastest, but most people can’t do it due to the mind being so active — so he devised the Release Technique to use the active mind to undo the mind, like using a splinter to remove another splinter, then both splinters are thrown away. However, John Sherman has truly simplified and clarified Ramana’s teaching such that they may be used by almost anyone, no matter how active their mind.

Go listen to his free podcasts. I think you’ll find his practice extremely helpful. His main website: http://www.riverganga.org and his blog: http://www.johnsherman.org.

As for the iCAP, I still swear by it as a guide to quieting the mind fast — particularly when you are releasing from the underlying desires themselves and letting the audios lead you and the meter guide you in the direction of imperturbability.

Thanks for your great comments.

Much love to you.

Peter

I appreciate Pete’s comments and commitment to The Release Technique. I am intimately familiar with it as well as with the Icap Release Meter.

However, I do not agree with the analogy nor the conclusion. In fact, my experience is exactly the opposite of that described in your post Pete. I found it to be the case that the Release Technique tends to have me focus on the noise of memory rather than experiencing memory so it can be cleared. It sort feels like there is a desparate attempt to make the subconcsious so that it can be ‘measured and released’. In my experience Ho Oponopono skips the unnecessary step of making subconcsious concsious and obviates the needs to ‘measure’ anything. Besides, in most cases there are so many millions of subconcsious memories and beliefs that a person could not possibly grind through the process of bringing them up individually or otherwise so they can be released.

With all due respect to Lester and his gang, it is my considered opinion, having experienced these and many others that Ho Oponopono connects you directly to Divinity – to source – and elimiates the need for tinkering with the toys for the mind.

Then again, this is just my experience of it. I know my neighbor Ray, the inventor of the Icap and a difinitive master of The Release Technique, has exprienced equally if not superior clarity wit the it.

I have a Release Meter and have used it from time to time. Other than out of academic curiosity, I am just not yet sure I see the need to ‘measure’ this process of releasing or clearing. In my opinion, it can actually get the person focused on the wring thing and can hinder the process of releasing.

Peace, Love, and Gratitude to you.

Steve

Love & Gratitude,
POI, Nicky