When a person starts smoking, the first cigarette smoked is an unpleasant experience and to learn to smoke takes practice, however as with riding a bike, the more it is practiced the easier it becomes.
It is now well documented that smoking has a detrimental affect on a person's health and for this reason many smokers are now looking for ways to stop.
It is difficult to give up smoking using willpower or conscious determination alone because the habit doesn't exist in the conscious mind. The need to smoke is driven by the subconscious. If it were driven by the conscious (intellectual) mind then you would make an intellectual decision to stop smoking and quitting would be easy.
Smokers will tell you that they 'enjoy smoking' but may have already given a number of major disadvantages e.g. they hate the smell, cost too much which contradicts this. Studies show that people smoke for many reasons. It is cool, identifies with a peer, as a punishment to parents or it could be as a replacement for affection or food.At Lynn Grace Hypnotherapy, we use the Valerie Austin Harley Street Technique for smoking cessation. Valerie Austin has achieved a success rate above 90% with this technique over the past 13 years at her Harley Street clinic. Using Advanced Structured Hypnotherapy , the link of satisfaction between a part of the subconscious mind and the cigarette will be broken and the desire for a cigarette will be redirected into something more advantageous. Using the mind's natural ability to imagine and visualize clients picture themselves free from the habit, filled with new health, energy and vitality. They can see themselves as looking healthier, more attractive, and being more active. Most stop-smoking programs work at increasing the individual's strength to resist the desire to smoke. They rely on willpower, and willpower fluctuates like moods and emotions, one day it may be strong, the next day it may be weak.
Traditional suggestion therapy has a success rate of between 30% - 60%. ( Click here for a comparison of the success rates of the different methods of smoking cessation, and for evidence this method has the highest success rate.) The reason for this low percentage is because it doesn't approach the problem by accessing the particular part of the subconscious that derives satisfaction from smoking. Using the Valerie Austin method, the 'part' is quickly identified and fixed. If you really WANT to quit, one session could be all you need to do so without the usual side effects.
