Hypnosis is a great way to end your habit. In honor of the Great American Smokeout 2009, let's look at how hypnosis works in smoking cessation.

Smoking can be triggered by many things, peer influence, as an avenue for letting out negative emotions resulting from loss due to death, divorce/ separation, exam failure or job etc. The relaxation one thinks one gets at that moment makes them forget about their present problems. What starts as a puff, turns to two, three and before you know it, you are totally hooked to the substance. Your body learns to associate certain occurrences with the need for a smoke. After smoking for sometime, you realize how embarrassing it is, especially when you develop an urge to smoke at your sister’s wedding where you are the best man and they are ready to take their vows, the urge is so strong that you feel like dying, or when dinner is served at your in-laws house or a public place clearly designated as a ‘no smoking zone’ etc. or better still, when your doctor gives you an ultimatum.

This is the point where you desperately try to quit smoking but after going through devastating withdrawal symptoms, irritability, weight gain, anxiety, cravings and stress, you finally end up smoking again and resigning yourself to fate. If you identify with the above and you are reading this, do not give up, this article will show you a very easy way of dealing with your smoking problem. Here, we introduce hypnosis as a ‘quit smoking approach’ which is easy to follow and has absolutely no unwanted side effects.

Hypnosis is used to describe a situation where a person’s body and mind are subjected to total relaxation after exposure to certain hypnotic techniques. Hypnotism provides an avenue where an individual is made to focus on the solution to his or her problems while in such a relaxed mood and this result in the person examining what they are going through and actually coming to terms with the problem and developing a willingness to positively change it.

During hypnotherapy, the ‘working mind’ and body connects with the subconscious mind, beyond rationalization and realities of this world. Hypnotists take people to the ‘ideal world’ if only for a short period of time and feed them with positivity messages and solutions to their problems by reprogramming their subconscious minds and this results in altered behavior.

Hypnosis is highly recommended to smokers because experts assert that it has an almost 70% success rate, there are no chemicals or drugs used and one is able to overcome the withdrawal symptoms more easily and when hypnosis is carried out more regularly, the smoker not only breaks the habit but also learns to lead a more positive life as hypnosis gives an individual the energy and spirit they need to propel them towards possibilities.

There are various ways in which a smoker can use hypnosis to quit smoking. One is through administering self-hypnosis and the other is engaging the help of an expert on hypnotherapy. Self-hypnosis can be achieved through purchasing CDs containing programs which have been designed to take one through the process of relaxation. There are very many audio and video hypnosis programs available in the market, and you want to do your research and ensure that the recorded product you purchase was developed by a clinical hypnotist and is based on years of actual client experience. Whether with the help of a hypnotist or self, the programs allow the the thinking process of the patient change in positive ways to enable them to change their smoking habits.

Hypnotists use Neuro Linguistic Programs (NLP) and other hypnosis methods to take a smoker through the process of breaking habitual associations with certain things or occurrences. For example, if a smoker develops the urge for a smoke when walking, or when stressed, the hypnotherapist makes this actions look unattractive to the smoker such that when there is a recurrence of such actions, the smoker refrains from smoking. The hypnotherapist may take the patient through the risks and embarrassment smoking exposes one to or expose the patient to a smoke free world, the smoker is attracted to this world and purposes to change.

If you are addicted to smoking and you have read this, go ahead and try it out. Look for an expert in this field and start right away and you will never regret your decision.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18199-Minneapolis-Hypnosis-Examiner~y2009m11d19-Hypnosis-for-the-Great-American-Smokeout-2009