Quit Smoking With Hypnosis- What Exactly Happens in Your Mind

By Susanna Sweeney, MSC, MBACP, CHT

Many clients ask me what exactly happens when you quit smoking with hypnosis. Like you, they have heard this and that, but it was all a bit vague. You are left with a lot of questions because hypnosis as a smoking cessation technique is still shrouded in mystery.

quit smoking with hypnosisGet inspired to quit smoking with hypnosis.

In this article:

  • Find out why stop smoking hypnosis is a powerful smoking cessation method.
  • Find out how stop smoking hypnosis works.

Hopefully, by the time you reach the end of this page you will understand that hypnotherapy to quit smoking has many benefits to offer.

So now allow me to talk you through what happens exactly when you quit smoking with hypnosis. But for that to make sense, let me start from the beginning and first answer another question: What is so special when you quit smoking with hypnosis?


When You Quit Smoking With Hypnosis, the Focus of the Treatment is on Your Mind

Stop smoking hypnosis proposes to resolve your smoking addiction by working on your mind.

Why?
The basic underlying idea here is that smoking addiction is not overwhelmingly a physical addiction. You see, once you stop smoking, the residual nicotine will have left your body within a week. So, if it’s not a physical addiction then, really, quitting should be easy.

But that is not your experience. And it isn’t the experience of the vast majority of smokers. They try to quit time and again, and end up relapsing time and again.

Why?
What is making quitting difficult is the psychological addiction to smoking.
This psychological addiction to smoking has come about by how you originally conditioned yourself to become a smoker.

I can hear you thinking: Wait...what do you mean, I conditioned myself?


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How your Psychological Addiction to Smoking Developed

When you started smoking first, there was a settling in period. Think back to when you started smoking. Think back to your very first smoke.

What age were you? What were the circumstances?

No matter what exact image arises in your mind about having that first cigarette, I am pretty sure you didn’t enjoy inhaling those fumes. Am I right?

Back then, your body responded in a natural way, with stomach cramps, nausea, or shortness of breath. Because your body still knew back then that it was smoking poison.

But then, you may have enjoyed the label that came along with smoking. Maybe it made you a ‘rebel’. Maybe smoking made you belong. Maybe it made you feel more grown up than you were at the time. You may have liked the company you were in when smoking. Or maybe smoking was just what everybody did, and you probably didn’t want to be the odd one out.

And because there were these social pay-offs you continued to smoke. You told yourself you liked smoking. You taught your mind to override the natural response of your body to tobacco. Eventually your body got used to regular exposure to toxins and you stopped feeling so sick every time you lit up.

A little while later, a rhythm of regular nicotine cravings set in. You had to top up the toxins at regular intervals or you would feel very unsettled. You told yourself that you needed to smoke in order to stay calm. Of course you would never feel as calm as a non-smoker.

Meanwhile, you started to interpret certain situations as triggers for smoking. Your first cup of tea or coffee in the day. When you sat down to take a break.  Before going to sleep. You put in place smoking habits.


Quit smoking with hypnosisQuit smoking with hypnosis- Find out what exactly happens in your mind when you use hypnosis to quit.

Eventually these ways of thinking about tobacco and these smoking habits you developed, combined into a powerful psychological addiction to smoking:

  • Set off by your personal situational smoking triggers (e.g. with a cup of coffee)
  • Possibly fed by underlying emotional smoking triggers (e.g. desire for tobacco when feeling embarrassed, or suppressing anger by smoking)
  • Supported by your body’s expectation to carry out certain actions in response to those triggers (finger packet, light up cigarette etc.)
  • And held in place by underlying belief systems (e.g. tobacco helps me avoid weight gain)

And that is how you conditioned yourself to be a smoker.


Why you Cannot Just Stop Smoking

So if smoking addiction is not really a physical addiction, why can’t you just stop?

You have probably tried, maybe more than once.

In your conscious mind you know smoking is bad for you, right? The health hazards of smoking are taught as part of the school curriculum now, so you will have heard at least once or twice about what tobacco does to your body.

You will have heard that smokers have a high risk of developing lung cancer and emphysema, for example.  Every time you buy cigarettes or tobacco you will see the graphic images on the packets of destroyed lungs and amputations as a result of smoking. If your decision making involved the conscious mind and the conscious mind only, would you continue to smoke?

It wouldn’t make sense, would it?

So, what is the reason you do continue to smoke?

The reason you do continue to smoke is that by now this psychological addiction to smoking is handled by the subconscious mind.

The conscious mind, our day time waking mind, has only so much capacity to process information. So when your system deems conscious awareness is no longer necessary to carry out a task successfully, the sequence is then handed over to the subconscious.

After some time in the conditioning process, you stopped being consciously aware of your smoking triggers, physical responses and belief systems. The entire process became automated. Most of the decision making around smoking then happens at a subconscious level. In other words, it happens in realms of thought you hardly notice.

It’s like learning to drive a car. Initially you had to think about every single move you made. Then you became more and more comfortable driving. Driving was handed over to the subconscious mind. Nowadays, you’d find it hard to explain how exactly to switch gears. Your subconscious knows how to. You don’t have to think about it anymore.

With smoking, that is exactly where the problem is. The habit is now out of conscious awareness. There are emotions driving it. And, like it or not, emotions will usually win out over rational thought. So you continue to smoke.

As a result, you don’t know where to start to dismantle this complex psychological addiction to smoking now that the ‘habit’ has become automatic.

That’s why you can’t just stop smoking.

And that’s where stop smoking hypnosis comes in.


But Wait, Does Stop Smoking Hypnosis Really Work?


So what Happens Exactly When You Quit Smoking With Hypnosis?

So what exactly happens when you quit smoking with hypnosis?

I have talked about how the smoking addiction becomes ingrained and ultimately handed over to the subconscious mind.

Hypnosis is the ideal tool for working with the subconscious mind.

When you quit smoking with hypnosis, the quit smoking hypnotist will first have a consultation with you to establish your personal emotional  and situational triggers to smoking and your underlying belief systems about smoking. Your personal program of hypnosis for smoking will be built around those.

In order to get access to the subconscious mind the quit smoking hypnotist will guide you into a slightly altered state of consciousness characteristic of hypnosis. You can reach this relaxed state through self hypnosis for smoking also.

In this state you will be very relaxed both physically and mentally, but you will be more alert than usual. In this state, your subconscious mind will be very receptive.

The quit smoking hypnotist will then re-educate your subconscious mind with the appropriate messaging.  This messaging, also called suggestions, can come in various forms:

At different stages the hypnotist may just be talking to you about smoking.

At other stages, they may ask you to imagine certain things. This is because the subconscious mind loves and often thinks in images. Images help the suggestions to sink right in.

And, at various points during a session, the hypnotist is likely to ask you to imagine how something feels. This is because the subconscious mind controls emotions. Here, the hypnotist is working directly at the source to instill the correct emotional responses to smoking versus quitting.

When you quit smoking with hypnosis, it’s all about reprogramming your subconscious mind. When working with you in hypnosis, your quit smoking hypnotist can guide you to:

  • Remove the underlying belief systems, emotional and situational triggers to smoking.
  • Replace the psychological addiction to smoking with habits that are healthy and productive for you.
  • Create readiness and motivation to quit smoking.

And in this way, you can easily quit smoking with hypnosis.

Breaking down the psychological addiction to smoking could take some time. Think about how long you have been smoking. Give yourself a month for every year that you have been smoking. Expect that it will take work until you can finally stay quit.


More About Stop Smoking Hypnosis

Stop Smoking Hypnosis Science

Stop Smoking Hypnosis Science

Is hypnosis just a bunch of mumbo jumbo, or is there is any science behind it at all?


Is Hypnosis the Right Quit Method for You?

Hypnotherapy to Quit Smoking- 12 Ways to Know if it is Right for You
Find out how you could benefit from hypnotherapy to quit smoking. Twelve qualities of stop smoking hypnosis that make hypnosis probably the best method to quit smoking.


How You can get the Very Best out of Your Treatment When You Quit Smoking With Hypnosis


Quit Smoking Hypnotist- 9 Things you Should Consider Before You Book
Read this if you want to be in a position to make informed choices about which quit smoking hypnotist to chose. Some of these tips are likely to surprise you.



Hypnosis for Smoking Programs- 10 Things You Should Know
What exactly is a program of hypnosis for smoking? Most people don't know. Find out what to look out for in a program and what to expect from your hypnosis sessions.



Quit Smoking by Hypnosis- 11 Tips to get the Best Out of Your Treatment
Clear up some common misconceptions and misunderstandings some people have around stop smoking hypnosis so that you won’t make the same mistakes and can be empowered to get the very best out of your treatment.


How You Can Benefit From Quit Smoking Hypnosis Without Ever Visiting a Hypnotist

Self Hypnosis to Stop Smoking  - 13 Benefits You can Expect

Why use self-hypnosis over attending a quit smoking hypnotist? Find out the benefits of self hypnosis.



Self Hypnosis for Smoking- Your Questions Answered

What exactly is self hypnosis for smoking and what is involved? Your questions answered.


Best Free Stop Smoking Hypnosis

Benefit from our FREE stop smoking hypnosis session!



Want to Quit Smoking, but Concerns About Weight Gain are Holding You Back?

Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight- Yes You Can


This article explains the connection between smoking cessation and weight gain, and guides you how to overcome the challenge of with ease.


I was never a heavy smoker. Yet it took me three attempts to quit until I was finally ready to stay quit. So, I know it isn’t easy. But I also know it can be done. And having worked with clients who quit smoking with hypnosis, I have come to value hypnosis as a powerful tool in this process.

In the comments underneath, let our community know if you will give hypnotherapy a go to help you change your life and leave the old 'habit' behind.

In the meantime, here is to your health and well being.

Regards,

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