Once and a while I’ll see a client that I haven’t seen for a long time. When I ask them how their smoking issue is coming along, surprisingly many times they tell me that their cravings are so diminished that they actually forget to smoke. Many of these clients have smoked for most of their lives and they thought that it would be impossible for them to stop. Often after just the first two sessions my clients come back for their next session saying that it is so much easier to be smoke free, than they suspected.

Hypnosis can help smokers quit by addressing the problem at a subconscious level. You can re-frame your thinking so that you no longer crave cigarettes. In fact, hypnotic suggestions can make cigarettes completely undesirable. Instead of wanting them, you will want to avoid them.

Smoking is like a best friend to those who smoke, it is always there, always available when you need it. Isn’t it interesting that after 30 years of a daily habit that one day you could just stop it, just like that. It amazed me too when I just started my practice!

My feeling is that people are afraid to be without their best friend, they have depended on them for so many years, many since their teen age years when friends are so important. They are not sure they can live without them. It takes some “change work” in their minds, but very quickly they realize that cigarettes were not their friend at all in fact just the opposite. Clients also tell me that it is a way for them to take a break from their day, a way to connect with other smokers on their lunch break. It makes them instantly part of a club. Maybe there is the fear of changing your friends and the places you are used to going, although there is hardly anywhere that you can go and smoke these days.

When I ask people what they really like about smoking it seems those were the two responses I get most. I guess it is important to think about that a little. Are you are depending on a best friend that really isn’t a best friend at all. A friend that won’t be there for you in the hospital to hold your hand or comfort you when you really need them? If it’s a break you need why not just go outside and breathe! Take 3 long deep breaths and remind yourself, when you are doing it, why you are quitting smoking. I have many breathing techniques that I teach my clients, to replace that break with cigarettes that they think they need. Just take your break like you normally would but call it a breathing break instead of a smoking break. We all need a break. We don’t need to fill our lungs with smoke and poisons, just to take a break. Think about it!

For more information try our Stop Smoking Hypnosis MP3:

http://journeysinwardhypnotherapy.com/mp3/addictions/smoking-cessation-hypnotherapy

~Mariah