If you or someone you know is a smoker who has struggled to quit in the past, and you’ve had short-term success but succumbed to a trigger and now feel fed up, you’re not alone!
Like others, you have probably tried patches and other nicotine replacement therapies. Perhaps once, maybe even twice, you gave up cold turkey and had a brief period of success only to relapse again?
Perhaps you’ve tried medications like Zyban or others, suffered side effects like anxiety or severe nightmares? Yet here you are still smoking, and you don’t really understand why.
- You’re well aware of the health warnings, there’s no way to avoid how bad these little carcinogenic chimney sticks are anymore…
- You have been warned, challenged, goaded, or perhaps even nagged by doctors and loved ones to ‘just stop’ or ‘get on with it.’ Easier said than done, right?
- You’ve felt like a pariah, sent off isolated and alone to smelly, dingy ‘smoking’ zones
- Perhaps you even hide the fact now, do some people not know you still smoke?
- By now you really do accept that cigarettes are smelly, dangerous, dirty and bloody expensive… yet…
- You still find yourself funding the next pack… and the next…
Many smokers today even say that the majority of the cigarettes they smoke, they don’t even enjoy anymore.
You may have heard of hypnosis, perhaps even tossed up whether or not it is worth the investment. You may have known of someone who has quit with hypnosis, but you may also know someone who tried, and it didn’t work. You may be skeptical and not a “believer” but almost desperate enough to consider it anyway? For some people it’s that they have a concern that they can’t be hypnotised or are scared of failing again!
The reason why hypnosis is so effective to quit smoking is because it is the only method that addresses the underlying beliefs and habits that keep a person addicted to the habit of smoking, despite how much they think they want to quit.
Hypnosis reaches the deep-seated habits, the connections in the unconscious mind that silently trigger the urges and cravings, the impulses to continue smoking. It is this deep-seated programming that can make the smoker feel like it’s too hard to quit.
Hypnosis is the only method that breaks the habit and urge at both the conscious and the unconscious levels of the mind
The impulse to smoke and the ongoing habit is an unconscious behavior. Most often smokers find that they automatically have the urge to light up when they do certain things or at specific times of the day or when in specific moods.
- For some it’s become the first impulse when they wake up
- Perhaps a ciggie with the first coffee of the day
- Others associate the habit with socializing, friends and even alcohol
- Yet others it’s an emotional crutch, they impulsively reach for a cigarette when they’re stressed or lonely, perhaps even bored.
If you try to avoid smoking when you’re triggered, you may feel uncomfortable or experience a craving that nags at you until it becomes unbearable. And often people confuse that with withdrawals to nicotine and nicotine addiction. When people try to quit with methods such as cold turkey or patches, the deep-seated habit is still running therefore cravings and discomfort still persists. It becomes so uncomfortable on a mental, emotional and physical level that the only relief is to eventually cave in and have that cigarette (even though you promised yourself you wouldn’t.)
Quit smoking hypnosis is highly effective because we speak directly with the unconscious mind, we break the habit, disconnect the triggers and take away the cravings.
The smoker becomes aware almost immediately that as they go through their daily routine, even at times when they were normally triggered, it’s now easy not to have a cigarette. The smoker no longer experiences the anticipated cravings and discomfort. A different mindset is programmed automatically, and the smoker feels like they have taken back control, they’re finally free.
Hypnosis is safe, natural and healthy. In fact, it is a modality that has helped people for centuries transform, heal and feel motivated in any area of life!
Some people hold a fear that they can’t be hypnotised, however everyone can be. In fact, hypnosis is a natural state that your brainwaves go into and out of many times throughout the day. When you drive, daydream, read, focus on a task or sport, even while watching TV. Whenever you lose track of time and focus intently on something internally or externally, it means your brainwaves have entered various levels of a trance. Even just before you fall asleep and as you wake, while you’re in that dreamy half-awake state, you’re in a hypnotic trance.
The key to remember: If you can fall asleep then you can be hypnotised.
The only requirement needed to become smoke free with hypnosis is the desire to quit.
No hypnotherapist can treat a client against their unconscious will. If someone truly wants to quit and they find hypnosis is not effective, it is likely that they are being treated with a standardized approach. A hypnotherapist specialising in quit smoking will tailor a program to your specific triggers, beliefs and past programming. If you are considering hypnosis as your ‘first’ or ‘last’ resort to quit, then please do a little research to find a Quit Smoking Specialist, someone who has a proven high success rate, someone who is working regularly with many clients specifically for smoking. Make sure you also ask to see reviews and comments from past happy clients too.
To your success,
Juanita Smith x
Author and Clinical Hypnotherapist
Her book: Is It a Habit or Is It an Addiction?
The Step by Step System to Take Back Control and Gain Freedom
www.activatehypnotherapy.com.au
Juanita Smith is a clinical hypnotherapist and author. She specialises in helping people conquer debilitating habits and addictions. Juanita operates three busy hypnotherapy clinics in Sydney, Australia specialising in addiction and trauma. Her passion and compassion for helping clients achieve freedom is inspired by personal experience of generational addiction. Juanita has personally helped thousands of clients with her proven techniques. She is an author and Fast Track Hypnotherapy trainer for the Sydney-based Academy of Therapeutic Hypnosis. She is passionate about how powerful hypnosis is to overcome addiction and trauma.
1Kroger, W. S. (1977). Clinical and experimental hypnosis: in medicine, dentistry, and psychology. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.