Why is it so difficult to quit smoking?

Most smokers who want to quit consciously know all the reasons for giving up smoking, and may even have a smoking related illness, but something keeps telling them that smoking is fine or that they can give up ‘later’.

This “voice” comes from the unconscious part of the mind, which has been ‘programmed’ at the first experience of smoking when the conscious mind began to believe that there was some kind of benefit to be received from smoking. Your conscious mind may be realising that the ‘in’ crowd these days are the non-smokers and that there is nothing about smoking that you enjoy.

The sub-conscious mind, however, is still working on old programmes and physiological impressions – and unfortunately those are usually stronger than the conscious will. Or, your conscious mind may be telling you that you enjoy it. Perhaps you think it relaxes you, when in fact it has been proved over and over again that smoking increases your stress levels!

It is probably only the inhaling (deep, slow breathing), the ‘time-out’, and having something to do with your hands, that give the impression of relieving tension.

By using a trance state where the sub-conscious mind is fully involved in the process, we can re-frame the habit, at a deep level, changing those earlier beliefs and conditionings with logical and true information about the smoking habit. We replace the stinky stuff with a desire for well-being and provide you with immediate rewards.

The smoker who manages to quit by will-power alone, (and many do, to their credit!) sometimes gets cranky or puts on weight as they replace the habit with something else or feel they are being deprived in some way.

Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation is so successful, because you receive immediate rewards for your efforts; you feel an intense sense of pride and satisfaction; you receive an instant boost to your willpower and gain a huge amount of confidence in your ability to remain a non smoker. Situations that used to make you feel stressed or anxious now just relax you.

Remember, hypnotherapy cannot make you do anything you don’t *want* to do! It is essential that the client’s conscious mind is in agreement with the therapy, otherwise he or she will simply exercise his right to choose and either continue smoking, or start again, instead of choosing to remain a non-smoker!

Therefore, we always make sure that clients really are ready to quit. However, wanting to quit and being able to are not always the same thing! As an ex-smoker myself, I can sympathise with the person who wants to quit on a conscious level, but feels they are fighting something that is beyond their control or understanding.

Despite all their attempts they find themselves lighting up again – “just one last one.” – and again “when I have finished this pack ..” and so it goes. There is no real physical addiction that can be proved – (notice how you can take a twelve hour flight and be quite comfortable with no shakes or withdrawal symptoms, for example). However, the chemicals in cigarettes do affect our brains in various ways, and it is this action that causes us to ‘want more’.

Rather like a choc-o-holic. The chocolate is not, in itself, physically addictive, but the brief rise in blood sugar gives the impression of feeling good – until the blood sugar goes even lower than it was to start with, and, pop! In goes another choccie (or sandwich, or sugary coffee, or whatever) to get the blood sugar up again.

All this is done at a subconscious level, so there seems to be no logical reason for you lighting up another fag, when you know you don’t enjoy it anyway! The whole process just seems to be one big frustration as you battle to take control.

A couple of years ago the largest study ever conducted into stopping smoking was undertaken (in the U.S.A.) It studied everything from will power, nicotine patches, positive thinking, placebos, chewing gum etc – and the conclusion was that ” Hypnosis came out as the most effective anti-smoking technique.” With the powerful Smoking Cessation techniques that I use, 95% of smokers find it easy to quit – in just one session.

The second session is really only to reinforce the message and encourage the new non-smoker. It also give me the opportunity to get a first-hand account of their successful experience after the first session! The other reason for the second session, is that it gives us the opportunity to work on any other issue that may have been the root cause of the smoking – and as the session is so wonderfully relaxing, it is just another reward for choosing to take control and become a healthy non-smoker!

Most new clients are recommended by previous clients, who often have friends commenting that they seem to exude a feeling of well-being!

Ask yourself this: if you received a fantastic sense of well-being, calmness, pride and satisfaction every time you got yourself in a situation where you used to have a cigarette, you would want to remain a non-smoker, wouldn’t you?

TO STOP SMOKING USING ONE SESSION OF COMBINED EFT AND HYPNOTHERAPY IN , contact Gayle