How Does Hypnosis Help Quit Smoking?

Hypnosis

Hypnosis, also known as trance, is a highly focused state of mind in which the unconscious part of perception is free to act without disruption from the critical faculties. It is actually a very natural condition that people experience daily. However, the hypnotic state can also be put into service deliberately as a tool for gaining influence over methods of reason that normally fall outside of awareness.

Any habit, like smoking, is a behavior that has been relegated to the subconscious mind, thereby becoming seemingly "automatic" and outside of intention. Through hypnosis, you can realign your efforts with the inner workings of your mind, illuminating hidden aspects of behavior and creating change at the source of conduct.

Conscious Versus Unconscious

Human beings think on at least two levels. The conscious mind, or intellect, contains whatever is in awareness at any given moment. It is from this plane that daily activities are planned, logical conclusions are formed and truth is calculated from a linear course of cause and effect. However, the conscious mind can only attend to a small amount of information at any time. The unconscious, or subconscious, mind monitors everything outside of awareness. It is the storehouse of all emotions, memories and associations.

The subconscious also takes on the duty of automating complex tasks, so that the conscious mind is left free to execute choice over daily operations. Unwanted habits persist when the conscious and unconscious hold separate ambitions. Intellectually, the person may want to stop doing what his deeper mind has previously installed as an automatic behavior. Hypnosis is useful in these circumstances because it serves to realign the two minds, bringing action and objective into agreement.

The Power of Suggestion

Hypnosis works through suggestion. Suggestion is merely an idea, presented to the mind, that is accepted in a way that elicits an automatic response. These ideas may be offered by a trained hypnotherapist, or you can lead yourself into hypnosis through autosuggestion (self-hypnosis). When in trance, unconscious associations tied to cigarettes can, through suggestion, be rearranged in a way that allows the individual to perceive smoking differently. By creating new associations, the thought of having a cigarette can be made to evoke a new and more desirable response.

Going into Trance

Moving from your normal sate of awareness into an altered state of consciousness is achieved through what is known as an induction. An induction is a process by which your focus is drawn to different levels of your experience to the exclusion of others. This is performed in a way that gradually puts you in a heightened state of suggestibility, where change work can take place on the deepest levels.

Breaking Habits

Once in trance, suggestions can be seeded directly, or through metaphors, analogies and stories. While the linear mind often thinks in words, the unconscious conceives in images, symbols and feelings. Through seemingly innocuous language, smoking is represented in a way that allows you to recognize the true results that cigarettes are producing in your life. A this new understanding embeds within the deepest reaches of your mind, it continues to grow as the days, weeks and months go on. As a result, changes seem to occur automatically and naturally, and the habit of smoking is soon left behind.