The other day I received a phone call from a 70-year-old diabetic woman. She had been smoking for the past 50 years with only one 6-month break.

She wanted to quit smoking. A hypnotist she had been using died recently.

In a deep, raspy, phlegm-filled voice, she said I had been recommended.

I told her I had previously had excellent success with helping many people to quit.

We talked f about the advantages of quitting and how her overall health would benefit. Her doctor had advised her that quitting smoking was becoming an essential for her.

After I let her know where my practice was, she said she had other priorities. She would think about coming to see me.

At this point I realized she did not want to quit smoking. She listed excuses why she could not come to see me.

I was reminded of a test about whether the person coming to see me was truly determined to quit smoking. It was a simple question.

“If the only place that you could buy cigarettes was next door, would you quit?”

Generally people say no.

“If the only place that you could buy cigarettes from was eight miles away, and the only way to get there was to walk, would you quit?”

The hardcore smoker would say no. He would walk to buy two or three cartons, reducing the number of visits.

An Easy No

The truly determined smoker who wants to quit would answer, “No. I would not walk that far for anything, let alone cigarettes.”

It should be obvious that the person who would not want to make the walk was going to be successful in quitting smoking.

Many who taking about quitting do not want to deal with the physical withdrawal and the associated side effects of quitting.

Nausea, nervousness, irritation, constipation and in some cases weight gain are among side effects.

Hypnotherapy is a valuable tool in helping a person to quit effortlessly and painlessly. The potential ex-smoker only has to sit in a comfortable chair and allow the hypnotist to make positive suggestions to assist in quitting.

The client also must take some responsibility by following the hypnotist’s instructions.

Who Wants Responsibility?

I remember a client who said after our second session, “I don’t want to have to do anything. I want you to do the work.”

Fair enough. I am willing to make all the suggestions in hypnosis that I know are successful.

But the client must want to do what is asked so that my suggestions are enacted. If they are, he or she soon will be an ex-smoker.

Quitting, for some, is akin to letting an old friend go. For many, their lifestyle is intimately involved with their smoking and the effects that smoking produces for them as well as being associated with friends who smoke. Quitting may affect their social lives.

Some clients realize that if they had a friend or spouse whose behavior negatively affected their health, quitting would rid them of the toxic person.

A client perceiving this generally is able to quit with little or no problem.

Hypnosis works twice as well as replacement therapies such as gum or patches, according to scientific studies. One reason it is not painful to stop smoking with hypnosis is that the hypnotist transfers the pleasure derived from smoking to a healthier habit of your choice.

The result is, generally there is no weight gain. The only side effects are an increase in health, wealth and freedom.

Smoking, a habit as addictive as heroin and cocaine, is controlled by the subconscious mind. Hypnosis works directly with the subconscious, a powerful method that makes sense as you effortlessly transition into the healthy lifestyle of a non-smoker.

When Smokers Quit, What Are the Benefits?

• Twenty minutes after quitting, your heart rate drops.

• Twelve hours after quitting, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

• Three or four days after quitting, the nicotine is out of your system.

• Two weeks to three months after quitting, circulation improves and your lung function increases

• Six to nine months after quitting, coughing and shortness of breath decrease

• One year after quitting, the excess risk of coronary heart disease declines to half that of a smoker's.

• Five years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.

• Ten years after quitting, the lung cancer death rate is about half that of a smoker's.

• Fifteen years after quitting, risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker's.

• (All Statistics are from U.S. Surgeon General's Report, 1990)

Stopping smoking through hypnosis makes is so easy you will leave feeling that you are becoming a happy non-smoker, not feeling deprived, not feeling you have made a sacrifice, and not feeling any pain.

Instead, you will have a huge sense of relief.

A clinical hypnotherapist, handwriting analyst and expert master hypnotist, Nicholas Pollak may be contacted at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net