Is it possible to stop smoking in one session of hypnotherapy?

The answer is yes.  But of course, as with all things in life, there are no guarantees.  To improve your chances there is some preparation that you can do before you session.

The most important thing is to be certain that you are ready to give up and spend the rest of your life as a non-smoker.  If the idea to give up is a passing notion or someone else in your life is nagging you to stop smoking, you are less likely to succeed.  You need to be committed and determined to stop smoking – you need to walk into your therapy session with the firm belief that you will walk out of that room as a non-smoker.

So what is smoking?  It is a habit and it is an addiction.

Cigarettes contain nicotine which is the fastest addictive substance known to mankind.  Nicotine is such a powerful poison, that if the amount of nicotine that is contained in one cigarette was injected straight into your veins it would kill you.

The first thing that you need to do if you want to quit smoking is accept that you smoke habitually and are probably addicted to nicotine.

So why is it so important that you give up smoking? If you were looking for something to motivate you to stop, read on!

The most important reason to stop is undoubtedly to improve your health.  Smoking directly contributes to lung cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, emphysema, heart attacks and strokes. Smoking ages your skin and causes discolouration of the fingers and nails and leaves you with low energy levels.  It also gives you bad breath and can promote snoring and sleep apnea.  In terms of reproductive health, smoking lowers sperm count and causes impotence in men and leads to women giving birth prematurely and having low birth weight babies.

Smoking also causes health issues for those around you, as it increases the risks of diseases that smokers suffer from in non-smokers.

Another important reason to give up smoking is to improve your finances. If you are a smoker and think that you could never afford a deposit for a house, that dream holiday or that flash car, think again!  In the UK a 20-a-day habit is costing you on average £5.80 a day or £40.60 a week.  In one year this is £2,111.20, in five years this is £10,556 and if you stick with it and save the money for ten years you would have £21,112.00!

Stopping smoking would also greatly improve your social and working life.  Smoking is now banned in public places and in working places in the UK.  Stopping smoking would mean an end to leaving your friends at the dinner table or in the pub to huddle on a freezing corner with a fag. Stopping smoking would mean that you had control of your working day – no more leaving the building just to have a cigarette.

Stopping smoking would also lead to a rapid improvement in your personal hygiene.  Cigarette smoke smells bad!  The whiff of stale cigarette smoke in your hair, on your breath, or on your clothes is not pleasant for non-smokers.  As more people give up smoking and smoking is acceptable in fewer and fewer places, the smell will become more noticeable.  If you smoke in your home, the smell will hit people when they enter.  The smoke will also coat your walls, ceilings and soft furnishings with yellowy tar (it’s doing the same to your lungs!).

So, when you decide to give up smoking there are some questions that you need to ask yourself.

• How long have you been smoking?
• Have you ever tried to give up?  What happened?
• How many cigarettes do you smoke a day?
• Are there particular times when you want to smoke?
• Are there any particular situations where you smoke?
• Who else in your life smokes?
• What makes you want to stop – what is your motivation?
• What specifically are you giving up?
• Do you take nicotine in any other form?

Take some time out to answer these questions and ask yourself when you smoke and why?  When you stop smoking what are you going to do to fill those gaps?  Think of what you will do instead of smoking; devise strategies to ensure that you do not light up again.   Success tends to come when we think about the things we are going to gain, rather than thinking about what we are losing.  So if you are dwelling on the negatives; what you think you are going to lose by giving up smoking, spend some time and turn them into positives.

Another good tip is to go through your home, car and pockets before your hypnotherapy session and get rid of all your smoking paraphernalia.  Throw out that packet of fags you have at the back of your sock drawer for ‘emergencies’, empty all your ashtrays and put them away, and put all your lighters at the back of a kitchen drawer.  Aim to come home from your hypnotherapy session to a pristine, non-smoking house.

Remember, in the end it will be your determination and will to succeed that turns you into a non-smoker; the hypnotherapy is a very useful tool to help you get there.  So do your preparation, relax into and enjoy your hypnotherapy session and spend the rest of your life as a happy, healthy, prosperous non-smoker.