QUITTING SMOKING EASILY WITH HYPNOSIS THERAPY
By David Quigley
Hypnotherapy is the therapy of choice for helping smokers to be free of this dangerous and destructive habit. Alchemical Hypnotists utilize specific processes to help people quit easily and permanently:
Much smoking behavior is learned in the preteen and teenage years. In this time of identity crisis many teenagers find in cigarettes a chance to feel grown up, in control and "cool" in front of their peers. Many teens also use smoking as a way of challenging parental authority, of being "independent". Long after the smoker reaches adulthood the inner teenager can still be driving us to smoke if these feelings remain unresolved. Many clients are astonished to discover the power that these adolescent urges still have within their subconscious mind. The feelings and needs of the inner teenager are easy to access in hypnosis and can be easily dealt with as well. In the trance state the client returns to the memory of the teenager who is first learning to smoke. We ask that teenager, "What is smoking going to do for you?" Maybe he’ll say, "I want to be a real man!" We then use a technique called ‘rescue mission’ to have the client’s adult self assure the teen that they are a real man, and a good and worthwhile person.
Then direct hypnotic suggestion is used to change the teenager’s perspective on smoking. Here’s how to enroll the teenager in saying NO to cigarettes, utilizing a technique developed by smoking cessation specialist John Daughters: The inner teenager is encouraged to understand that they have been duped by the rich tobacco companies and the lies of media and advertising that promised romance and excitement, but delivered disease and death. They promised manhood, but they delivered impotence and addiction. We suggest that every time the teenager craves a cigarette, they will make a fist with one hand and swear to never give another dime to those evil tycoons. This style of suggestion is especially potent for teenagers, whose anti-establishment attitudes are well documented.
Another powerful method developed by John Daughters is an inner journey to the future smoker. The subject in trance journeys forward 10 to 30 years to their future self who is still smoking. The client and therapist both notice the pale skin, ragged breathing, coughing, etc. of this future self. Then we listen for the future self’s message: "Stop smoking now!" Then the client promises their future self, out loud if possible, that they are quitting now, and they explain why. Then we watch with delight as the future self is transformed. Their cheeks become rosy, their skin clear, their breathing suddenly easier. Then the future self thanks the client for their help. In trance, this technique is quite powerful.
A similar technique borrowed from NLP training is called, "Say goodbye to your old friend cigarettes." This process may seem absurd to many. After all, how is a toxic habit like this a "friend"? But every true addict knows that sometimes you hold on to that cigarette during a crisis like a child holds on to their mother’s hand. As a former smoker myself, I remember sometimes having the strange feeling that cigarettes were my best friend. At least they were always there. Saying goodbye to an old friend like this can be painful. So we lead the client through a gentle communication out loud with this old friend. We remember and acknowledge the good times. We review all the painful times when cigarettes were there…and maybe no one else was. Then we explain to our old friend why we can’t be friends anymore. "Frankly, you are killing me," we say with true sadness.
Then the client listens to the cigarette’s response. In most cases the cigarette has nothing to say and the client is surprised or hurt by this silence. The silence of their old friend often provides the client with an even stronger incentive to quit. This ritual is then completed by helping the client to connect with a new inner friend. This new friend could be a spirit guide, an inner mother, a guardian angel, or even a beloved external friend who can be called upon when the client needs unconditional love. “This new friend will talk to you, and you can learn to listen to their wisdom and guidance.” This technique is the essence of Alchemical Hypnosis.
Quitting smoking is complicated by the fact that most smokers crave cigarettes when their body needs oxygen, because most smokers only breathe deeply when they are inhaling a cigarette and the rapid inhalation through the mouth is especially effective at delivering oxygen to the body. Many smokers experience a rush of energy and relaxation and mental clarity when they first inhale that smoke, not realizing that the effects they notice are a result of oxygen entering their body. Test this now. Take several very deep breaths while inhaling through the mouth. Release each breath slowly and deliberately and notice how you now feel energized, calm, relaxed and have increased mental acuity. (Cigarettes didn’t do that for you, oxygen did.) Smoking cessation clients are encouraged to breathe just like this several times every time they crave a cigarette. This can trigger a bout of coughing, which is good since it shows the lungs are starting to clear themselves. Cough, but keep breathing deeply. This extra breathing not only helps control cravings, but helps the lungs open wide and recover more quickly. An important extra here is to require clients to drink a glass of water every time they complete this breathing. This provides something else to do with the hands and mouth. And water helps the blood clean itself of the nicotine and other toxins that are causing these cravings, helping the lungs to cleanse themselves. Since most smokers suffer chronic dehydration as a result of their habit, water is a critical medicine for their body’s recovery. Using these activities is endorsed with hypnotic suggestion to make them even more compelling.
Relapse is a scary concept for anyone recovering from addiction, affecting nearly every addict at one time or another. The smoker often feels that simply smoking one cigarette in a weak moment is the proof of total failure. So in despair they buy another pack. John Daughters’ protocols show us a different way to experience relapse: "And if by some accident, you find yourself smoking a cigarette,…you notice that it tastes ugly and foul, because you are a non-smoker. It tastes foul so you put it out right away and wash your mouth out with fresh clean water because you are a non-smoker now." With a collection of this and similar phrases the client learns that another cigarette smoked simply proves by its bitter taste that you are a non-smoker after all.
One of the most addicting things about cigarettes is the habit of getting out a cigarette or rolling one, lighting it and holding it. All these pleasurable sensations are what I call the "orodigital” experience. It was one of my greatest pleasures when I was a smoker. Clients are told in the frankest terms how to find a new orodigital ritual that can give them a similar experience of soothing comfort. Options include: gum chewing, carrots in a bag brought to work, or chewing on a pen.
While crunching on carrots at work can border on the bizarre, it is not as bizarre as poisoning yourself with deadly chemicals. Finding a new orodigital ritual is FAR easier than stopping your current ritual cold turkey, which could lead to anxiety, twitching, overeating or a relapse into smoking. Hypnotic suggestion can be used to heighten the pleasure of this new ritual, helping the client to find even greater comfort than smoking once provided.
Alchemical Hypnosis therapy offers a broad range of techniques to help people quit more easily than they can imagine. While for many people just one session is enough to quit smoking, others may benefit from a follow-up session.
Hypnotherapy is the therapy of choice for helping smokers to be free of this dangerous and destructive habit. Alchemical Hypnotists utilize specific processes to help people quit easily and permanently:
- Addictive Personality Technique to address the unresolved and unconscious emotional needs behind the habit of smoking
- Healing the inner teenager who began smoking as a kind of initiation into adulthood and continues to keep you addicted because of unresolved adolescent issues
- Seeing your future self as a diseased smoker, then restoring her to health by promising to quit now
- Saying goodbye to your old friend cigarettes
- Learning to breathe properly to reduce cravings
- Alternative ways to use mouth and hands, new soothing rituals for your nerves
- Learn to experience relapses as keys to success rather than proof of failure
- Discover a hypnotic self-hypnosis recording that really works
Much smoking behavior is learned in the preteen and teenage years. In this time of identity crisis many teenagers find in cigarettes a chance to feel grown up, in control and "cool" in front of their peers. Many teens also use smoking as a way of challenging parental authority, of being "independent". Long after the smoker reaches adulthood the inner teenager can still be driving us to smoke if these feelings remain unresolved. Many clients are astonished to discover the power that these adolescent urges still have within their subconscious mind. The feelings and needs of the inner teenager are easy to access in hypnosis and can be easily dealt with as well. In the trance state the client returns to the memory of the teenager who is first learning to smoke. We ask that teenager, "What is smoking going to do for you?" Maybe he’ll say, "I want to be a real man!" We then use a technique called ‘rescue mission’ to have the client’s adult self assure the teen that they are a real man, and a good and worthwhile person.
Then direct hypnotic suggestion is used to change the teenager’s perspective on smoking. Here’s how to enroll the teenager in saying NO to cigarettes, utilizing a technique developed by smoking cessation specialist John Daughters: The inner teenager is encouraged to understand that they have been duped by the rich tobacco companies and the lies of media and advertising that promised romance and excitement, but delivered disease and death. They promised manhood, but they delivered impotence and addiction. We suggest that every time the teenager craves a cigarette, they will make a fist with one hand and swear to never give another dime to those evil tycoons. This style of suggestion is especially potent for teenagers, whose anti-establishment attitudes are well documented.
Another powerful method developed by John Daughters is an inner journey to the future smoker. The subject in trance journeys forward 10 to 30 years to their future self who is still smoking. The client and therapist both notice the pale skin, ragged breathing, coughing, etc. of this future self. Then we listen for the future self’s message: "Stop smoking now!" Then the client promises their future self, out loud if possible, that they are quitting now, and they explain why. Then we watch with delight as the future self is transformed. Their cheeks become rosy, their skin clear, their breathing suddenly easier. Then the future self thanks the client for their help. In trance, this technique is quite powerful.
A similar technique borrowed from NLP training is called, "Say goodbye to your old friend cigarettes." This process may seem absurd to many. After all, how is a toxic habit like this a "friend"? But every true addict knows that sometimes you hold on to that cigarette during a crisis like a child holds on to their mother’s hand. As a former smoker myself, I remember sometimes having the strange feeling that cigarettes were my best friend. At least they were always there. Saying goodbye to an old friend like this can be painful. So we lead the client through a gentle communication out loud with this old friend. We remember and acknowledge the good times. We review all the painful times when cigarettes were there…and maybe no one else was. Then we explain to our old friend why we can’t be friends anymore. "Frankly, you are killing me," we say with true sadness.
Then the client listens to the cigarette’s response. In most cases the cigarette has nothing to say and the client is surprised or hurt by this silence. The silence of their old friend often provides the client with an even stronger incentive to quit. This ritual is then completed by helping the client to connect with a new inner friend. This new friend could be a spirit guide, an inner mother, a guardian angel, or even a beloved external friend who can be called upon when the client needs unconditional love. “This new friend will talk to you, and you can learn to listen to their wisdom and guidance.” This technique is the essence of Alchemical Hypnosis.
Quitting smoking is complicated by the fact that most smokers crave cigarettes when their body needs oxygen, because most smokers only breathe deeply when they are inhaling a cigarette and the rapid inhalation through the mouth is especially effective at delivering oxygen to the body. Many smokers experience a rush of energy and relaxation and mental clarity when they first inhale that smoke, not realizing that the effects they notice are a result of oxygen entering their body. Test this now. Take several very deep breaths while inhaling through the mouth. Release each breath slowly and deliberately and notice how you now feel energized, calm, relaxed and have increased mental acuity. (Cigarettes didn’t do that for you, oxygen did.) Smoking cessation clients are encouraged to breathe just like this several times every time they crave a cigarette. This can trigger a bout of coughing, which is good since it shows the lungs are starting to clear themselves. Cough, but keep breathing deeply. This extra breathing not only helps control cravings, but helps the lungs open wide and recover more quickly. An important extra here is to require clients to drink a glass of water every time they complete this breathing. This provides something else to do with the hands and mouth. And water helps the blood clean itself of the nicotine and other toxins that are causing these cravings, helping the lungs to cleanse themselves. Since most smokers suffer chronic dehydration as a result of their habit, water is a critical medicine for their body’s recovery. Using these activities is endorsed with hypnotic suggestion to make them even more compelling.
Relapse is a scary concept for anyone recovering from addiction, affecting nearly every addict at one time or another. The smoker often feels that simply smoking one cigarette in a weak moment is the proof of total failure. So in despair they buy another pack. John Daughters’ protocols show us a different way to experience relapse: "And if by some accident, you find yourself smoking a cigarette,…you notice that it tastes ugly and foul, because you are a non-smoker. It tastes foul so you put it out right away and wash your mouth out with fresh clean water because you are a non-smoker now." With a collection of this and similar phrases the client learns that another cigarette smoked simply proves by its bitter taste that you are a non-smoker after all.
One of the most addicting things about cigarettes is the habit of getting out a cigarette or rolling one, lighting it and holding it. All these pleasurable sensations are what I call the "orodigital” experience. It was one of my greatest pleasures when I was a smoker. Clients are told in the frankest terms how to find a new orodigital ritual that can give them a similar experience of soothing comfort. Options include: gum chewing, carrots in a bag brought to work, or chewing on a pen.
While crunching on carrots at work can border on the bizarre, it is not as bizarre as poisoning yourself with deadly chemicals. Finding a new orodigital ritual is FAR easier than stopping your current ritual cold turkey, which could lead to anxiety, twitching, overeating or a relapse into smoking. Hypnotic suggestion can be used to heighten the pleasure of this new ritual, helping the client to find even greater comfort than smoking once provided.
Alchemical Hypnosis therapy offers a broad range of techniques to help people quit more easily than they can imagine. While for many people just one session is enough to quit smoking, others may benefit from a follow-up session.
