How To Lose The Smoking Cravings

Many people want to quit smoking and most of those who smoke say they enjoy it a bit, sometimes.  Like there’s a favorite time, it seems most likely, after a meal or with a drink at the weekend.  And it’s quite likely that those few cigarettes are the ones that keep them stuck in a smoking habit that they have wanted to quit years ago.  Unfortunately, the rest of the cigarettes that go along for the ride are still doing the damage, even if we don’t notice them.

Some of my past clients even tell me that they hated every cigarette they ever smoked and it did absolutely nothing for them.  They couldn’t understand why they kept smoking at all.

Knowing this, it does seem surprising, then, why we continue with a habit that we don’t even like that much.

In the past, smoking may have been seen as the cool thing to do, perhaps our friends were experimenting and it felt good to be part of the crowd.  Maybe we felt rebellious or just copied the grown-ups that we knew.  It seemed sophisticated and we didn’t know any better.

The fact is that times change, and we change too.  Would you wear the clothes you wore as a teenager?  Would you enjoy the same pastimes or behave in the same way?  Most people would say, definitely not!

We outgrow our toys and our old clothes and there’s always a point in time when we outgrow smoking too.

It’s reassuring, then, to know that hypnotherapy is a fantastic and effective way to help people to quit smoking.

That repetitive boring motion of reaching a hand to the face, breathing in, puffing on a cigarette, breathing out, flicking the ash…  it’s just a hypnotic ritual, a very monotonous routine that we do over and over again, almost like smoking robots.  Our minds aren’t really thinking clearly, we are just automatically engaged in smoking for the sake of it.

Hypnotherapy can help to replace that old mindset with new positive direction and focus.  The hypnotherapist can guide us into a relaxing trance state so that the subconscious mind becomes receptive to new ideas and positive suggestions.

While relaxing in this state of hypnosis, our minds can mentally rehearse a future without cigarettes.  The hypnotherapist can lead us down an internal pathway in our minds where we can explore all the benefits of being a non-smoker.  Internally we can notice how fresh and healthy we feel, smelling great and feeling full of energy, aware of our bodies healing at a very profound level.

During our hypnotherapy session, we can also mentally rehearse being a non-smoker during those times and in those places where we would normally smoke.  This is a very powerful technique that can really help to fasten this new reality in place.  The brain itself does not differentiate between what is real and imagined, so practicing these scenarios whilst under hypnosis is a wonderfully effective way to train our minds to believe we are now non-smokers.

Shortly after the hypnotherapy session, most clients notice how good they feel and how those old cravings don’t even seem to be there anymore.  It’s always something they wish they had done sooner, rather than later.  So, my only question is:  what are you waiting for?