Stopping Smoking was a huge turning point in my evolution as a human being.
I had been a hard-core smoker.
I really liked smoking and found it hard to believe that I would ever be able to stop.
I shamefully smoked through four pregnancies.
What I really wanted was to be FREE of the desire to smoke because I had little faith in my own willpower to resist the potent urges that come with nicotene addiction.
My body was giving me many signs that smoking was not right for me.
My chest felt tight in the morning upon awakening and this was usually resolved with moving around and coughing.
Very attractive! I got about three colds per year and with each one, bronchitis would last for several weeks.
Laughing made me cough.
Coughing made me feel short of breath.
I was miserable.
My self-esteem was pretty poor.
And still, I thought I'd never be able to do it.
When all of my own attempts failed, I decided to try hypnosis on a whim.
I saw an ad in the newspaper for group hypnosis that was happening that very evening.
I went to a hotel in King of Prussia.
There were about 75 smokers in attendance.
I had used hypnosis for stress management in the past, so I knew I was hypnotizable.
( Most people are!) I was surprised though, how easily I was able to go into hypnosis, sitting in a straight chair in a crowded room.
The experience was very pleasurable.
I left at the end of the session with a Smoking Cessation audio-tape in my hand.
I lit up a cigarette in the parking lot to prove it didn't work.
(I was very stubborn.
) But then I realized I hadn't even given it a fair chance.
I threw my cigarettes away, drove home and didn't smoke for two weeks.
It was easy! However, I knew I wasn't finished yet.
I went back to smoking for several more months.
Just after turning 32, (I had been smoking since 14) I realized I was more than half, as old as, my father was when he died.
He had been a smoker and died from heart disease at age 63.
I knew that I wanted to live and be healthy enough to continue raising my children.
It was one of those moments of consciousness, an awakening of really wanting LIFE.
I dug out my audio-tape and set a date and started listening.
That was October 1990.
I have been free of the smoking habit ever since, really free as in, no desire to smoke.
Cravings came in that first year but they were so fleeting, there was almost no effort to resist.
In 1995, I took an opportunity to train in the use of therapeutic hypnosis.
I was so impressed with how powerful hypnosis had been for me that I wanted to learn to use it with other people.
One of the first "suggestions" given by my teacher, Pat Trowbridge, during that training was to "keep an open mind.
" I soaked it up and opened my mind to so many more possibilities.
Despite hypnosis working in the subconscious mind, there is always an element of conscious choice.
I opened my mind by choice, another moment of consciousness.
This opening forged me on a path of spiritual seeking.
It led me to my first experiences with energy work, which ultimately led me to my life-work of Core Energetics, (so far.
) I am grateful for remembering my profound desire for LIFE and for the journey since that remembrance.
Perhaps you or someone you know will be inspired to make smoking cessation your turning point.
Check out my Holistic Smoking Cessation program on my website.
( see link below.
) that will include hypnosis, tools and a support system.
Participants may use the Great American Smoke Out as their quit date.