Healthy Releases (Phonation) are primarily about mastering the onset, but a secondary consideration is mastering the release. In the onset, the vocal cords simply touch and vibrate. To release, or stop the sound, the cords just open, and that simple opening should be the only kind of release.
The common term for the release is cutoff, but again, I don’t like that term because of its violent connotations. People literally cut off the sound by squeezing the cords tighter and stopping the breath. This can be just as abusive as forcing the cords closed in a glottal attack.
We get a healthy release by inhaling to stop phonation. If the vocal cords are vibrating and we simply inhale, the cords will open easily and naturally, without a forced cutoff. The challenge of using inhalation as the release is that breathing in becomes a reaction to hwat we have just done (phonation), and all inhalation should be a preparation for the next word, phrase, or note.
W. Stephen Smith, The Naked Voice: A Wholistic Approach to Singing, 2007 Oxford University Press, Inc.