Teaching
Letting go of limiting feelings and concepts so that the mind becomes quiet and what he called Beingness, the unlimited Self one already is, becomes obvious. In his sessions and talks he joins this releasing with the question 'What am I?' and with identifying with one's Beingness rather than with body and mind. 2, 7, 8
Who it is for
For people interested in a practical way of letting go of feelings that leads into non-dual self-enquiry, through his written sessions and recorded talks, or through the courses of the two organisations that teach his method today.
Life and places
- According to Sedona Training Associates, he was a physicist and entrepreneur in New York who in 1952, at 42, was sent home by his doctors after a second heart attack. In his own account he then began to ask: 'What am I? What is this world?' 1, 5
- Sedona Training Associates says he did not want to be anyone's guru, and that in 1973 his teaching was formalised into a system others could teach, now called the Sedona Method. 1
- His student Hale Dwoskin writes that Levenson moved to Arizona in the late 1970s, that trainings and week-long or longer retreats called Intensives were held there, and that Levenson had a non-profit organisation, the Sedona Institute. 4
- He died on 18 January 1994. 1, 13
Where to start
- Session 1 of Happiness Is Free, The Basic Goal and Ways to Attainment, which Sedona Training Associates publishes free on its website. 1, 2
- Two recordings of his talks at a nine-day intensive in 1984 (about 36 and 43 minutes), free on the page About Lester Levenson of Sedona Training Associates. 1, 7, 8
- Keys to the Ultimate Freedom (1993), his collected thoughts and talks; its teachings were taken into Happiness Is Free. 3, 12
Public context
- Sedona Training Associates, founded in 1996 by his student Hale Dwoskin, to whom he had turned over the copyrights of his teachings, teaches his method as the Sedona Method and publishes Happiness Is Free with Levenson and Dwoskin as authors. 3, 4
- The Release Technique, started in 1998 by his student Larry Crane and led by Lance Crane since 2014, teaches his method under that name and sells his autobiography and recordings of his talks. 10, 11
- Both organisations also offer their courses for goals such as finances, health and relationships; the results they name are their own claims. 6, 9
Works
-
Keys to the Ultimate Freedom: Thoughts and Talks on Personal Transformation
Book · 1993 · Sedona Institute, Phoenix, Arizona
His collected thoughts and talks on personal transformation, edited with a foreword by George Cappannelli; its teachings were later taken into Happiness Is Free.
-
Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think!
Book · 2002 · Sedona Training Associates (Sedona Press)
Levenson's sessions from Keys to the Ultimate Freedom, published with commentary, introductions and releasing exercises by his student Hale Dwoskin, in five books on spiritual growth, the ego and the mind, the body, relationships and karma, and meditation and the Self.
-
Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tapes 1 and 2
Video · 1984 · Sedona Training Associates (sedona.com)
Two talks he gave at a nine-day intensive in 1984, on identifying with one's Beingness rather than with body and mind, feelings as the motivators of thought, desire, effort and the simplicity of being.
-
No Attachments, No Aversions: The Autobiography of a Master
Book · 2003 · Lawrence Crane Enterprises
His autobiography, published by Lawrence Crane Enterprises and sold by the Release Technique as Lester's autobiography.
-
The Ultimate Truth (About Love & Happiness): A Handbook to Life
Book · 2003 · Lawrence Crane Enterprises
A short book in which, according to the Release Technique, he discusses happiness, love, truth, peace, the ego, the mind, the world, health and yardsticks of growth.
The short summaries are ours.
In their own words
Short passages in the words of Lester Levenson, each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.
-
There is no growing into the natural Being that you are. That Being is whole and perfect, here and now. There is only letting go of the concepts to the contrary—that you have limitations, that you have troubles.
Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think! · Session 1, The Basic Goal and Ways to Attainment, paragraph 8 (as published on sedona.com) · sedona.com Recorded: Published by Sedona Training Associates, which holds the copyrights of his teachings, as Session 1 'by Lester Levenson'; it also opens Keys to the Ultimate Freedom (1993, 'thoughts and talks', ed. George Cappannelli). A talk ('Are there any questions on what I've said so far?'); recorder not named. Allowed as a widely read work: published in 1993 in Keys to the Ultimate Freedom and in Happiness Is Free since 2002. -
“What am I?” is the final question that everyone answers, so why not begin with the final question?
Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think! · Session 1, The Basic Goal and Ways to Attainment, paragraph 15 (as published on sedona.com) · sedona.com Recorded: Published by Sedona Training Associates, which holds the copyrights of his teachings, as Session 1 'by Lester Levenson'; it also opens Keys to the Ultimate Freedom (1993, 'thoughts and talks', ed. George Cappannelli). A talk; recorder not named. Allowed as a widely read work: published in 1993 in Keys to the Ultimate Freedom and in Happiness Is Free since 2002. -
It's the simplest thing in the universe to be. You are. That's how simple it is.
Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tapes 1 and 2 · Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tape 2 (Vimeo video 459521817, played on the page), 34:38–34:49 · sedona.com Recorded: His own voice in a talk of 1984, published by Sedona Training Associates. Our full transcription and two further runs on windows around the passage agree word for word; there are no published subtitles or transcript, so the punctuation is ours. -
Stop the thought by ridding yourself of the motivators of all the thoughts called feelings. No feelings when you're there.
Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tapes 1 and 2 · Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tape 2 (Vimeo video 459521817, played on the page), 36:40–36:57 · sedona.com Recorded: His own voice in a talk of 1984, published by Sedona Training Associates. Our full transcription and two further runs on windows around the passage agree word for word; there are no published subtitles or transcript, so the punctuation is ours.
Documented teaching relationships
-
Personal teacher of Laura Lucille
Laura describes meeting him in the late 1970s and a close spiritual connection until 1994.
Self-reported · lauralucille.org
-
Acknowledges a work by Paramahansa Yogananda
In a talk of 1984 published by Sedona Training Associates, Lester Levenson asks his listeners whether they have read Autobiography of a Yogi and says he can use that book to illustrate what he describes, retelling an episode from Paramahansa Yogananda's life.
Self-reported · sedona.com
Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.
Sources
- About Lester Levenson · The Sedona Method Page of Sedona Training Associates, the company founded by his student Hale Dwoskin: his biography, short quotations from him and two free recordings of his talks of 1984. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Happiness Is Free, Session 1: The Basic Goal and Ways to Attainment · The Sedona Method The first session of Happiness Is Free, published free by Sedona Training Associates under his name ('by Lester Levenson'); read in full. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Happiness Is Free: And It's Easier Than You Think · The Sedona Method Book page of Sedona Training Associates for the edition of books 1 to 5, with the table of contents and an excerpt of Rhonda Byrne's foreword. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Hale Dwoskin's Bio and Story · The Sedona Method His student Hale Dwoskin's own account of meeting him in 1976 and working with him until his death, from Dwoskin's book The Sedona Method (2003). accessed 19 Oct 2026
- What Lester Discovered…In His Own Words · The Sedona Method (archived 8 July 2017) Archived page of Sedona Training Associates presenting his own account of 1952 and the months after it; no longer on the live site. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- About The Sedona Method Self-description of Sedona Training Associates and the results it names for its programs; the company's own claims. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tape 1 Recording of a talk he gave at a nine-day intensive in 1984 (35:37), published free by Sedona Training Associates on its page About Lester Levenson (the video plays embedded there); heard in full through our transcript. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Talks With Lester – Volume 1, Tape 2 Recording of a talk he gave at a nine-day intensive in 1984 (43:28), published free by Sedona Training Associates on its page About Lester Levenson (the video plays embedded there); heard in full through our transcript. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Release Technique Home page of the Release Technique, the company founded by his student Larry Crane: its story of Levenson and Crane, its courses and the results it names for them; the company's own claims. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- The Origin of the Release Technique · Release Technique The Release Technique's account of Levenson, of Larry Crane and of Lance Crane, who leads the company today. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Lester Levenson Products · Release Technique Store page of the Release Technique listing his books and recordings of his talks from the 1950s to the 1990s. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Keys to the ultimate freedom (1993) · Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog record (LCCN 93087498): Sedona Institute, Phoenix, 1993, thoughts and talks on personal transformation, edited with a foreword by George Cappannelli. accessed 19 Oct 2026
- Levenson, Lester, 1909-1994 · Library of Congress Name Authority File Name authority record of the Library of Congress, with birth and death dates and the books they are taken from. accessed 19 Oct 2026
Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 19 Oct 2026.