Gift Certificates Available - Give that special someone the
gift of becoming a nonsmoker!
"Quitting smoking is easy....I've done it hundreds of times!"
- Mark Twain
It's time to stop cigarette smoking once and for all. Hypnotherapy
is a safe, easy, drug-free way of quitting smoking—for
life. It works! According to a study by the University
of Washington's School of Medicine, the success rate for smoking
cessation when using hypnosis is 90.6%. This means hypnosis is
more effective than methods such as nicotine gum or “the
patch.” Why? Because hypnotherapy recognises that smoking
behaviour isn't merely a chemical addiction—it stems from
thoughts and beliefs deeply rooted in your subconscious. Hypnotherapy
helps you get to the root of your desire to smoke and eliminate
it.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy: It's a road-to-nowhere that many desperate smokers have tried. Gum that tastes terrible and makes you gag. Patches that fall off or leave a sticky mess. You've probably experienced the physical side effects such as mood swings, severe nightmares and heart palpitations. Nicotine replacement therapies are slow, lengthy procedures—continuously pumping your body full of the very poison that you are trying to escape—and can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And they don't work! Independent studies have repeatedly shown that, because the physical addiction is often weak and isn't what prevents most smokers from quitting successfully, nicotine replacement is not effective.
“Weaning”: This means gradually reducing your cigarette intake each day until you become smoke-free. This kind of controlled decrement is extremely difficult to maintain, even for the strongest-willed individuals. As a result, this option for quitting smoking has the highest failure rate.
Cold Turkey: This is arguably the ideal choice of the most commonly used methods because it is completely nicotine-free from the start. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the powerful cravings and overwhelming void left once cigarettes have been removed from your life. Going cold turkey is hard at the best of times—when high volumes of stress or environmental temptation is added to the situation, it becomes nearly impossible.
All your thoughts and actions are governed by two aspects of
your brain: your conscious and your subconscious. Consciously,
you don't want to be a smoker. That's why you're
reading this. You know it can cause health problems and
premature death. You hate the stained teeth and fingernails, the
bad breath, the dulled sense of smell and taste, and the perpetual
odour that comes along with the habit—not to mention that its
costing you a lot of money.
We are of "two minds", our conscious mind and our subconscious
mind. The relationship between the conscious mind and the subconscious
mind can be likened to that of a horse and rider.
The rider thinks he's in control, because he's sitting in the
saddle and holding the reins. That's true—as long as
the horse follows his directions.
What happens when the horse is startled and bolts off in a different direction? It's the rider who's going along for the ride. His control is now only an illusion. If your thoughts, feelings or habits are out of control, it's because your subconscious mind is "bolting off" in a direction that's different from where you consciously want to go. Our subconscious holds ideas and beliefs that are in conflict with our conscious desires. It is these ideas—which you may not even be aware of—that perpetuate your desire to smoke. The way to tame your subconscious mind is through hypnotherapy.
It has been scientifically proven that smokers' chemical addiction to nicotine is relatively mild. Physical withdrawal symptoms last on average seven days. It follows that if you are able to go without a cigarette for a week, your cravings should be gone forever. Of course, the reality is that it doesn't usually work like that. That's where nicotine replacement therapy fails: it operates on the principle that the solution is “outside” of you and therefore you can be cured with a “magic pill”-type treatment. However, hypnotherapy acknowledges the fact that your smoking is due to thoughts and experiences deeply rooted in your subconscious and acts accordingly to free you from your dependence. You have the innate ability to become a non-smoker who's free of cravings.
Each session begins with the hypnotherapist inducing a state of deep relaxation. This opens your mind to beneficial suggestions and allows access to your subconscious, preparing you to receive suggestions for a new, smoke-free life. The hypnotherapist will be able to identify deeper reasons why you smoke and the experiences and beliefs linked to them. Some of this information may come as a surprise to you. The hypnotherapist will address these subconscious motives and, through the use of positive, motivational suggestions, invoke new ideas that support a healthy, smoke-free lifestyle. You were born a non-smoker, and as you reconnect with your former mindset, you will discover that your desire for cigarettes fades into the past—just as though you had never been a smoker in the first place. You are now a non-smoker.
Many people are afraid to stop smoking because of the side effects. With hypnotherapy, these side effects are minimized or directly addressed. If any of these reasons are stopping you from becoming a non-smoker, hypnosis can help:
“Won't I gain weight?”
This only happens if you've been smoking for comfort or as a coping
mechanism. We'll examine these deeper reasons for your habit,
which means that you won't be left with a “void” that
could be potentially filled with food.
“How will I cope in social situations when I'm surrounded
by smokers?”
Like any non-smoker, your first instinctive response will be "no,
thank you." Hypnotherapy can't take away your decision to smoke,
but it can open up the choice to reject cigarettes, a choice that
had not been easy before.
“How will I combat stress and anxiety without cigarettes?”
Your hypnotherapist will show you easy relaxation methods that
can allow you to confront any situation calmly and rationally.
No matter your specific concerns, we can address them directly with hypnotherapy.
Call or email to learn more about our Stop Smoking Program.
Gift Certificates Available - Give that special someone the gift of change!
Call or email to schedule a free initial consultation
Halifax Hypnosis
(902) 225 6527
mike@halifaxhypnosis.ca
Week days Mon - Fri 09:00 - 16:00 By Appointment