De-hypnotise yourself from
the Tobacco Trance™!
"Being a smoker is a state of mind.
Being a non-smoker is a state of mind." - Angela Jullings
A common request from clients is for Angela to hypnotise them to help them stop smoking. She insists, however, that the primary success of her “Last Packet” session lies in her DE-hypnotising them from smoking! With over 10 years experience of working with stop smoking clients, she believes they have been in a “Tobacco Trance” and it’s her job to assist them in being fully awake and de-hypnotised from cigarettes and tobacco.
When you understand the illusion of smoking, then stopping is easy. Once the illusion is broken, cigarettes and nicotine will be utterly unattractive to you. So, if you don’t wish to stop smoking, don’t book an appointment, as Angela’s breakthrough Last Packet session will certainly ruin cigarettes for you!
Stopping v giving up!
When you understand smoking for what it really is, quitting changes from sacrifice (“I will never be able to smoke ever again”) to freedom ("I will never have to smoke again"). When the Tobacco Trance is broken and you realise there is nothing to “give up”, the feeling of deprivation will vanish along with any imagined cravings. You’ll be able to walk away from tobacco without so much as a backward glance and you’ll be able to keep weight off too.
Smokers who wish to become non-smokers often say how they would love to “give-up” smoking. The words “give-up” betrays their unconscious delusion, their attachment to cigarettes implying something wonderful is being sacrificed. To “give-up” something implies hardship and reluctance. So just what are you “giving-up”? Nothing but an addiction! When the Tobacco Trance is broken you’ll want to “stop” and there’ll be nothing at all to “give-up”, no sacrifice, no reluctance, no fear. What you’ll gain is freedom and control of your life.
Many smokers wish to become free from tobacco and many try each year but fail. Two of the ways in which people try to stop are with NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) and willpower. NRT releases nicotine into the blood stream mainly in the form of patches. The idea is that the dose of nicotine is gradually reduced and eventually stopped, thereby weaning the smoker off nicotine and its addiction. Nicotine replacement can work for some but if the psychological attachment has not be broken, then it's the equivalent of trying to cut down. In Angela’s experience it’s the Tobacco Trance which has a far greater hold on the smoker than the physical addiction. If the smoker isn’t ready to stop smoking psychologically then the chances of staying stopped are limited. It is the psychological attachment of smoking that needs to be addressed, and once that state of mind is in alignment with being a non-smoker, it’s all plain sailing!
Using willpower as a method for stopping smoking can work but usually not for very long. If you’re still in the Tobacco Trance, perpetuating all its myths, using willpower will only make you want a cigarette more. The most successful and permanent way to quit smoking is to understand exactly how the Tobacco Trance works. So, instead of throwing the fag packet away and willing yourself to ignore the slight withdrawal sensation, trying not to think of cigarettes…….the first thing you need to do is dispel all the myths you’ve allowed yourself to believe over the years that keep you in the trance.
The psychology of smoking and why you smoke
All smokers want to quit at some point in their life – they would rather be non-smokers than smokers. Clinical studies have shown that nicotine is addictive. However, after your last cigarette, your body is free from nicotine within 48 to 72 hours! The good news is that, on its own, nicotine addiction is easy to kick. Nicotine is a very short-acting drug.
An expert on the psychology of smoking. Angela’s experience with clients is that many of them will have attempted to stop previously, perhaps with NRT or willpower but have relapsed, despite having been free from tobacco for many months. What took them back to smoking after being free from tobacco for so long? Answer: the illusion of the Tobacco Trance!
The Tobacco Trance and how you deceived yourself
Most smokers started smoking in their teens. Teens are a time when we’re trying to establish our identity and find role models to emulate, especially “cool” role models such as film stars and pop-idols. As children we associate smoking as something that grown-ups do. The film industry depicts coolness and sophistication with cigarettes adding to the myth and illusion. Our young impressionable minds bought into this illusion. Then, behind the bike shed, our mate offers us a cigarette. We don’t want to be the odd one out and we want to look grown-up and cool, so we try one. Our body rejects it. We ignore the awful taste and irritation in the back of our throats and we plough on and try again. Before we know it we are smoking regularly. However, BEFORE you became hooked, you were already in the Tobacco Trance! That’s what allowed you to try cigarettes in the first place. You saw it as something cool, something desireable…….this is the illusion.
The lies you’ve told yourself
If you’ve attempted to stop in the past and failed, or delayed quitting you may find your reasons listed below. Here are the top-ten excuses that kept you in the Tobacco Trance:
• You thought that one cigarette wouldn’t hurt
• You were fearful that life wouldn’t be the same without cigarettes
• You thought you’d miss it
• You worried about the “withdrawal symptoms”
• You thought you’d quit on your 30th birthday and have a good time till then!
• You thought that ill-health wouldn’t happen to you
• You thought you’d be missing out on something
• You thought cigarettes added to the pleasures of life, without them life seemed “less” somehow
• You thought cigarettes helped you relax
• It wasn’t the right time to stop, you were too stressed
And the ONLY reason you failed to stop or stay stopped……
You were in the Tobacco Trance! It’s as simple as that and the only thing keeping you in the illusion, was you!
The Truth v The Tobacco Trance™
Let’s face it, as a smoker you are taking medication several times a day in order to control your addiction. That’s the horrible truth. The horrible truth also includes your awareness of the dangers you have put yourself in, in order to keep this addiction going. However, more frightening than all of that for the smoker in the throes of the Tobacco Trance is the prospect of not smoking for the rest of their life!
Fear has a lot to do with why you continue to smoke against your better judgment. What keeps you smoking is fear of what might happen if you can’t have a cigarette when you “need” one. The more you think about not being able to have one, the more you fear stopping. This creates a sense of deprivation and self-denial. You begin to doubt yourself with thoughts about how you’re going to manage without your familiar “crutch”. But what kind of crutch are we talking about? What exactly does a cigarette do for you? Just what is so frightening about not smoking? The truth is, you don’t know. It’s fear of the unknown that you’re feeling, not fear of stopping.
A lot of smokers believe that smoking helps them relax. However, the truth is that nicotine causes stress to the body and when nicotine withdrawal takes place, lighting another one gives relief to the symptoms of that withdrawal, which in turn is mistaken for relaxation. Relieving the discomfort is then perceived as a pleasure.
The longer you cling to the illusion that smoking helps you relax or handle stress, the deeper the Tobacco Trance. The longer you cling to the illusion that smoking helps you keep weight off, the deeper the Tobacco Trance. The longer you cling to the illusion that smoking makes a good time better, the deeper the Tobacco Trance. To stop smoking whilst in the Tobacco Trance is to fight yourself as you struggle to deny yourself this wonderful thing you’re stopping yourself from doing!
Some smokers have tried to stop and failed because they hadn’t broken the Tobacco Trance. That failure just adds to the trance as you begin to think you’re not in control of your life or your smoking, that cigarettes have a bigger pull than you imagined. The trance continues.
Until you break the Tobacco Trance, you’re in the grip of an illicit love affair. If you’ve ever been in an illicit love affair you’ll know that you become mesmerised by your lover, living for every snatched moment together, blind to their faults, oblivious to the danger of the relationship, consumed with the very thought of them. That’s the Tobacco Trance for you. When the affair is over you’re suddenly faced with the truth and you wonder what you ever saw in them!
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