+ What happens to your body if you stop smoking right now?

One of the main reasons it seems so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

• In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal. In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal. In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
• In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
• In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
• In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
• In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
• In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
• In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
• In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke.

+ Will I gain weight?

Actually, many people who have used hypnosis actually end up reducing weight after becoming nonsmokers! In our experience, the people afraid of gaining weight are those who gain the weight. You see, here is the predicament that most smokers often find themselves in who have tried to quit "cold turkey" (i.e., without any help or preparation): it is called a psychological "double bind". They hear over and over from others who have tried the cold turkey method that quitting smoking causes weight gain, so when they stop smoking they are scared of weight gain and so they either continue skipping meals like a smoker does or substitute junk food for cigarettes. The hitch is this: skipping meals or eating fatty junk foods with too many refined carbohydrates in products made from white sugar or white flour causes weight gain! So, without adequate planning, if you expect to gain weight you probably will. But it is not a cosmic law, you do have a choice. As an energetic non-smoker healthy food and moderate exercise are the best ways to boost your metabolism and keep your weight in check. You will look and feel better right away.

+ Am I really addicted?

I can't stop because I'm addicted. This is simply untrue. The word "can't" is the problem here. The "Addiction Mindset" defeats the will, not the substance itself. What is the addictive substance in gambling or shopping? We have helped 2 pack a day smokers of 40 years walk out of our studio feeling like they have never smoked before in their lives. In fact, in 1997, secret tobacco industry documents revealed that the amount of nicotine found in most brands was not addictive enough, people were still able to stop smoking. So research was conducted at a lab in Oakland, CA on how to genetically alter the tobacco plant to produce even more nicotine! That did not work, so now additives are used to make nicotine become more rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream instead.

+ Is the smoking habit is more difficult to quit than heroin?

Do not fool yourself. It is not because nicotine is more addictive than heroin! Cigarettes are cheap, legal, readily available, glamorized in movies, not debilitating, and easy to use. Heroin is illegal, expensive, not very glamorous, very debilitating, and you have to stick a needle in your arm to use it. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand why some junkies find it is easier to stop using heroin than cigarettes. The fact is, when the price of heroin goes down, the rate of heroin addiction goes up. So now that the price of cigarettes is rising, more and more smokers are quitting!

+ Do I have to go through withdrawal?

As the body comes back to normal, often-new nonsmokers mistake both the natural fluctuations in their blood sugar levels and unfamiliar cravings for "withdrawal symptoms". Low blood sugar can cause irritability, nervousness, nausea, headaches, stomachaches, dizziness and cravings. They experience these symptoms because for quite some time they have substituted nicotine (an appetite suppressant and stimulant) for the normal craving for food! Ask a diabetic what it is like to have low blood sugar; for them the symptoms are quite severe. (75 years ago diabetics were locked up in mental institutions.) So the people who stop smoking suddenly, unprepared for the blood sugar issue, will relapse when their blood sugar dives because they rationalize that they are "addicted". The fact is, it takes 3 full days for the body to remove the nicotine; it does not happen all at once. Managing your blood sugar with 3 sensible meals a day and healthy snacks in between makes the process a whole lot smoother than you ever thought possible. The TRUTH is, you already know all you need to know about the dangers of smoking. It all depends on what you value in your life and what your priorities are. To become a nonsmoker, getting your subconscious mind involved is the key! It contains your emotions and habit center, your intellect does not. Why do you think cigarette advertising is now so restricted? Advertising works on the subconscious mind! You need to get the message to your subconscious mind in a way that it can help you, not sabotage your efforts. Hypnosis is the royal road to your powerful subconscious mind! With the help of hypnosis you can successfully become a nonsmoker, focus on eating right, start exercising again, improving your overall health, begin managing your blood sugar like every other nonsmoker does, and thus actually end up releasing weight as many of our clients do!

+ Pre-Session Instructions

Preparing for Change
Preparing for Success

Setting your intention

Before you arrive for your first session it is important that you have confirmed with yourself that this is a change your really want to make. Setting your intention to change and succeed is essential. Close your eyes and say to yourself, “I am ready to be free of cigarettes, to live my life fully free as a non-smoker.”

Congratulate yourself for taking this very important first step. You have made up your mind and can continue looking forward to your healthy, confident and relaxed success.

Having set your intention, follow the pre-session instructions listed below:

Before your session:

• Please be conscious of each cigarette you smoke until your session. Smoking is a very subconscious behavior, so bringing awareness to your smoking is an important part of your success.

• Time how long it takes you to smoke a cigarette, how many drags you take smoking a cigarette. Really pay attention to how it feels to smoke, what it looks like, smells like, what emotions you are feeling that make you reach for a cigarette, and how do you feel after you smoke, both emotionally and physically.

• If you have any cigarettes left bring them with you to your session. Clear out all the areas where you used to smoke, put away or throw away ashtrays, cigarette butts, make your environment a non-smoker's environment. Spend some time imagining yourself, to the best of your ability, as a confident, relaxed, natural non-smoker, at all times and in all circumstances. Remember, what the mind can conceive, you can achieve, so use those imagination powers! And please take some time to briefly write out your goals and expected benefits for hypnotherapy and email them to us before your session.

• Please try not to smoke just prior to your session. It will be useful for you to come to your session with some fresh feelings of having quit or, with what some may describe as cravings. We will teach you powerful methods right away to work with those feelings so your first days smoke-free are easy and comfortable.