Steps To Stop Smoking

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How to Quit Smoking at Home

Stage 1 PREPARATION: CONSCIOUS SMOKING

Push Cigarettes as far as Possible Away From You. Create Distance.

  1. If you smoke inside your house start smoking outside. Clean your house from all the ash trays, butts and smoking energy. Wash your house thoroughly. Wash the walls with a vinegar solution. Standing vinegar (in flat, shallow bowls) will help to absorb the smoke odor from your home. Burn some cedar or sage to clean the walls and purify your house. Create a smoking temple outside of your house and only smoke there.
  2. Or, if you do not smoke inside the house but only outside in a special place clean that place in the same way described above. Smoke further away, taking a walk around the block or in nature if you can.

Pick a Quitting Date

There may be a special date soon when you would like to honor your true self: Christmas, New Year, your birthday, an anniversary or the 1st of the month. Any day will do. You have two or three weeks to get ready. You need to bury this old self and celebrate the coming of a new self. You are birthing yourself. To make the transition easier it would be good to decrease the amount of tobacco you smoke, have a healthy diet, add dietary supplements, meditate and exercise.

You Already Are a Non-Smoker

Remember who you really are: a non-smoker. Smoking is an acquired habit. At night you do not smoke. When you wake up you break this natural habit of breathing air and only air. So it is only a matter of extending this natural state a bit longer into the morning. Wake up and keep feeding your soul. If you usually take your 1st cigarette at 9 o’clock, add an extra hour to your non smoking time and do the breathing meditation following below instead of smoking.

Smoke Consciously

Every cigarette you smoke only do one thing: Smoke. Watch any feelings, body sensations or thoughts that come up when you think about having a cigarette, when you look for the cigarette, when you touch it, when you light it and when you inhale the smoke. Observe all the feelings, body sensations and thoughts associated around the smoking habit. Look at yourself in the mirror and look at the person you see. Be full of compassion for this person.

What Other Cigarettes Could You Eliminate?

Now or next ask yourself, what are the cigarettes you can eliminate easily and those you have to absolutely have. If you are not smoking until 10am then you can extend this period to 11am and then 12pm and have your first cigarette after lunch. When you have this first cigarette make sure to be consciously smoking.

Enjoy Creating Your New Life!

Accept whatever feelings are created by the separation from your best friend – the cigarette. You are already missing her/him, missing the burning sensation in your chest, missing the heaviness, the oral stimulation. Keep breathing, crying, laughing, and coughing. Shake your chest and your lungs. Say goodbye and grieve the loss of your old habit.

Substitute New Healthy Habits

Let’s say you like to smoke and have a coffee while you read the paper in the morning and this habit feels comfortable safe and nurturing. Something you have done for a long time. Or you like to have a break from your job and go out and have a cigarette. OK. Let’s substitute a new habit. You pick your new habit something fun that you always wanted to do or that you used to do. Have a piece of fruit or a glass of water or take a short walk around the block or go to the gym or go for a swim.

Breathing Meditation

At the moment when you want to smoke stop! Do not move! Keep your hands where they are, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths stretch and watch your breath for a few minutes. Watch your belly rise and fall. Then stay active. You will see the desire is now gone. This is the nature of desire it comes and goes. If you get obsessed with the idea of wanting a cigarette stop again and breathe deeply let the emotions come. Take as many walks as you need to and get yourself out of breath. If you can be in nature visualize the gas exchange between the tree and yourself. You give out carbon dioxide to the plant and the plant give out oxygen to you.

Activity

It is rare to see someone smoking while exercising. Smoking is done sitting most of the time. So this habit needs to be broken. You need to move around more, do things with your hands, walk or bike instead of driving for short distance. You can learn dancing, yoga, karate, kung fu, tai chi, jogging there are so many possibilities and classes. Do not worry about being out of shape. Being part of such a class will reinforce your non smoking habit

Diet

It is important that your diet would be a vegetable based diet. Take many green juices, carrot juices, and eat plenty of salads and raw foods. Make sure to have cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, radish, garlic and onion. Use the time that was spent on the smoking habit to prepare your food. Communicate with the vegetable kingdom as a part of nature, with respect and love. Get a recipe book, renew your kitchen, have food preparation parties with friends. Make it fun and enjoyable. Eliminate progressively salt, sugar, coffee, bread, pasta, grains, meat, soft drinks, packaged and processed food, and processed oils. You may have some fresh ocean or river fish during this period (not farmed).

Dietary Supplements

Smoking has made your body deficient in many nutrients and toxic with heavy metals. It would be appropriate to do a hair or urine analysis to determine your mineral level and assess toxicity and deficiencies. Some other testing may be appropriate depending on your condition. Nutritional supplements will support this weaning process by decreasing cravings and helping to eliminate nicotine out of your body.

Stage 2: QUITTING TIME HAS COME

Get set up for your ritual. You may have a fire or a candle and burn your last cigarettes, you may have a circle with your friends or a party or you may meditate by yourself. Make this day special. Go to the mountain or to the sea. Make sure you continue your watching meditations throughout the day. When the desire for a cigarette comes, freeze. Keep your hands where they are, take a few deep breaths. Watch your breathing, follow the air from your nostrils to your lungs, watch your belly rise and fall. Just WATCH how you feel, do not act on it. Learn how to be the watcher/observer. Then move around. Just stay very center and focused. You are a non smoker. You are the watcher.

Stage 3: BE VIGILANT FOR THE NEXT 10 DAYS

The next 10 days are critical. You need to be focused on the process and stay awake. Every day that goes by will be easier. You will think less often about tobacco and the thoughts will dissipate faster. You will start feeling different, your energy will increase, and you will feel lighter. it will take a few days for your brain to adjust to the new message and you may not know how to behave for a while. Accept the insecurity of the new experience and welcome the unknown. You are going through an identity crisis. Pretty soon you will feel at home with yourself again once your new habits will be accumulating. You need to continue to practice your walking, intensify your exercise regimen and stay active. Make sure that all cigarettes, smoking objects such as pipes and their memory are gone

Choose Non Smoking Friends and Non Smoking Environment

If you were smoking at the pub or in a cafe avoid these places. Avoid your smoking friends. Tell them you quit smoking and it would be too difficult for you to be with them now. Be prepared to say no, if someone offers a cigarette. Remember you are a non smoker. Continue with your new habits, your breathing exercises. Continue detoxing with your nutritional program. See a counselor if you need help with feelings that are coming up.

Stage 3 ALTERNATIVE OPTION

Choose a residential healing center for this difficult transition. Do a residential deep natural detoxification program to cleanse your lungs, your kidneys and your whole body. A water fast or a green juice fast followed by raw food detox diet and exercise. Use this time to treat yourself to a massage, learn how to prepare food, have fun in the kitchen, learn what you like to accomplish with your life, learn how to deal with stress, address issues from home: relationships, work. This stage will consolidate your will to be free and guarantee that you will be a happy non smoker for the rest of your life. It will also help you to avoid falling into the trap of cross addiction. From cigarette, to sugar, fat, food, sex or work.

Residential Programs

At Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat we offer residential programs that combine mind-body therapies, live food nutrition, stress management, counseling therapies and exercise to achieve a deep detoxification and support you in your identity crisis, making sure that you move to an addictive state to a higher level of consciousness. If you elect to quit smoking at home we will coach you during that period prior to your arrival to our residential Lifestyle Change for Addiction program. If you elect to quit later we invite you to spend some time with us and have your last cigarette at the airport. We will provide an environment conducive to stop smoking to make your transition pain free.

RESOURCES:

Self-Help Book for Weaning off Nicotine Dependance – Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking

allen carr

Stop Smoking! Start Breathing! I Was Addicted To Smoking

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A Personal Story Shared

My personal struggle with tobacco addiction:

I am 62 years old. I smoked two packs of Gauloises per day for 10 years. I remember exactly the first taste of a cigarette. The fear of doing something bad and prohibited, the necessity to hide, the suffocating feeling and the compulsion to cough. Smoking only left a bad taste in my mouth that made me want to throw up.

Why did I continue? The insecurity of being an adolescent wanting to identify with adults? Modeling a cool image? Wanting to rebel against society’s rules? Certainly I did not trust and validate my first hand experience of disgust with smoking!

Today, I wish I did. When I look around me and see the damage created by this suicidal habit; friends dying from esophageal cancer, others struggling with lung, bladder cancer or emphysema ….I wonder: will I be spared? Will these 18 years of regular exercise and pure food clean my lungs and repair my body to spare me the gloomy consequences of smoking?

At the age of 28, I quit with my will power and my sister’s help. She was in control of the cigarettes keeping the cigarettes hidden perhaps in her pocket and allowing me to have what we had agreed on. I was weaning myself down. First, one cigarette per hour. then every 2 hours. Then, 3 a day then one, then nothing. As I was becoming a non smoker I also made some radical changes to my life. I quit being an employee and working in an office and started my own business. I matched my work closer to my ideals. I stopped a non-satisfying relationship. I did not touch cigarettes for the next 10 years. Then, while I was in India, being a fervent meditator and working in an ashram, I played with the fire again.

In one of his discourses, my teacher mentioned smoking addiction and described two ways to quit. Through will power and through meditation. Quitting with your will power, was the wrong way because awareness was not being used. Alas! I started smoking again. First, biddies, then of course pretty soon tobacco. This time, I smoked the lighter blond cigarettes from England or the US. For the 10 following years I tried quitting many times but I would start over again fooling myself that I could just have one cigarette or not being able to deal with the empty feeling left when the addiction was not fed. I would stay quit for a week or two then start again. It was a constant struggle with myself. I felt like a victim. I was depressed by the futility of my life revolving around whether to smoke or not to smoke.

However, after each smoking episode I would decrease the tobacco strength. I would smoke consciously. Being very present to the act of smoking. Breathing in the smoke and feeling what it was doing to my lungs. Soon I was afraid to take too much of a deep breath. I would inhale the smoke shallower, only smoking half a cigarette. I was not buying cigarettes to avoid temptation. When I could not separate myself from the desire I was begging for cigarettes, smoking old buts from the ash tray. Choosing to continue with this dependency was choosing to be a slave, belittled, depressed. One day I dreamt that I was eating the content of an ash tray. I still remember the taste of cold ashes in my mouth. Every morning I was coughing yellow sputum. Deep inside, I was ashamed of my dependency.

Finally I decided to get done with the issue. I rallied a close friend of mine to the idea of quitting on New Year’s Eve. We made a good fire and threw our pack of cigarettes in it. The next days, I remained focused on my breath and watch the desire to smoke without acting on it. The first day was a moment to moment work. The second day was not as intense and it was getting easier and easier as the days were going by. By now I had learnt that I could not be a casual smoker and have a cigarette after a meal every once and a while. I know I was not to take another cigarette again for the rest of my life.

This long love and hate story with tobacco has taught me the evils of substance abuse and dependency. Like a phoenix rising from his ashes you too can break through the humiliating feeling of being a slave to a compulsive desire and soar free and light. Today I can barely remember the smoker in me. I know I once was a smoker but nothing of the smoker has remained. I certainly got trapped into coffee and alcohol for a short period of time, but I was able to apply what I learned from my tobacco dependency and quit in the same way, choosing to own all my brain power to fulfill my higher ideals, rather than vegetate.

All addictions stem from the same illusory belief that desire can be fulfilled and this is the very nature of desire to be unfulfilled. Moving from illusion to truth could be the higher spiritual lesson one may learn from getting rid of this grim life style habit.

Acupuncture for Addiction

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We are happy to announce that we offer acupuncture as an elective treatment to control cravings in nicotine, drug and alcohol withdrawal. We suggest that you take 2 sessions a week at the beginning or as needed.

This is what our acupuncturist Laura Powels says about the role of acupuncture in addiction recovery:

    • Acupuncture helps people recover from cigarette smoking, drugs and alcohol problems by reducing withdrawal symptoms, relieving tension, and relaxation.
    • Acupuncture treatments in general, clear the mind, build energy, and give a sense of well being.
    • According to Chinese tradition, placing acupuncture needles in the ear affect specific organs.
    • Western science has confirmed that acupuncture treatments change levels of chemicals in the body and act on the nervous system.
    • Acupuncture itself is not a substitute for therapy but is used in addition to counseling and self-help programs.

* * *

How It All Began

One day in the early 1970′s, H.L. Wen, MD., then the only neurosurgeon in all of South China and Hong Kong, was preparing to use electro-acupuncture as surgical analgesia and the patient, who happened to be experiencing withdrawal symptoms from opium at the time, reported his symptoms had disappeared. Wen canceled the surgery and scouted the hospital for other patients in withdrawal. He gave his pre-op procedure to them and their symptoms also ceased. Acupuncture for substance abuse was born.

Why Acupuncture for Detox?
* Reduces the physical symptoms of withdrawal.
* Relieves depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
* Profoundly relieves withdrawal symptoms including cravings, body aches, headache, nausea, sweating, muscle cramping, etc.
The acupuncture detoxification program is an ideal partner with our natural detox program. It alleviates withdrawal symptoms so mental and physical stability are quickly achieved. This gives a new level of comfort allowing for more effective counseling. Participation in a holistic program is considered important to sobriety.

In addition, acupuncture…

* Can be used safely with any other health condition.
* Does not utilize other potentially addictive drugs for treatment
* Can be continued on an outpatient basis.
* Is successfully used as a drug detoxification method at over 100 different drug treatment clinics in the United States and is also successfully used for this purpose in at least 25 other countries.

Acupuncture Treatment

Five tiny needles are placed in each ear, and then the clients rest quietly for 45 minutes. This is a good time to relax, meditate or think about changes to be made in your life. In detoxification treatment, points in the ear correspond to specific organs including the lungs, liver, kidneys and nervous system. One of the points is for relaxation. The treatment triggers the release of natural body chemicals, including endorphins, which help reduce cravings for drugs, ease withdrawal symptoms, and increase relaxation.

How Will I feel During the Treatment?

Once the needles have been placed, your ears may tingle or feel warm. Some people even fall asleep. These are normal responses. Some people say they feel very relaxed when they are having a treatment, other’s don’t feel much at all. Even if you don’t feel much you are getting benefit from treatment. Acupuncture is most effective after a series of treatments over a period of time.

The Detoxification Process

During detoxification, your body filters out the toxins that you have been storing up. Blood circulation begins to improve. Sometimes during the detoxification period you may feel achy, not sleep well, be cranky, or even have drug dreams. Please let the acupuncturist know if you have any of these symptoms so that additional acupuncture points can be added to your treatment.

Acupuncture at our retreat

Detox-acupuncture is done at Hawaii Naturopathic Retreat by appointment that is scheduled for each patient. In Hilo, at Aloha Wellness Center, we refer patients to a trusted acupuncturist within walking distance or our Hilo location.
Once you return home, ideally you should get daily acupuncture treatments for the first two weeks, then three treatments a week for several weeks, then two treatments per week for several additional weeks. Final treatments should be once a week. If relapse occurs or something stressful happens in your life, then additional treatments are recommended. I will be happy to help you find an acupuncturist in your area to continue your progress.

Massage Therapy

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We often recommend massage for physical as well as mental illnesses. It is an optional treatment available at our clinic.

Massage is one of the oldest healing arts: Chinese records dating back 3,000 years document its use; the ancient Hindus, Persians and Egyptians applied forms of massage for many ailments; and Hippocrates wrote papers recommending the use of rubbing and friction for joint and circulatory problems. Massage was however unknown in American society until the 70′s brought it back as a legitimate way to treat physical ailments or just to relax.

Massage therapy has proven beneficial for many chronic conditions, including low back pain, arthritis, bursitis, fatigue, high blood pressure, diabetes, immune suppression and infertility. It has proven beneficial for smoking cessation, depression, negative body image, stress management, and more. Millions will attest to the benefits of massage for the stress and tension of everyday living that can lead to disease and illness.

Massage is particularly useful for the treatment of eating disorders and addiction.

Massage and bulimia

Therapeutic massage can be an effective part of a bulimia treatment plan. In one study, adolescent women with bulimia were assigned at random either to receive massage therapy for 5 weeks or be in a control group who did not receive massage therapy. The 24 women receiving massage improved immediately, while the control group did not improve. Women in the massage group were less anxious and depressed right after their initial massages. They also had better scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory, which helps providers assess psychological and behavioral traits in eating disorders. It appears that massage is instrumental in forming a positive relationship with one’s body.

Massage and addiction

Massage has been shown to be useful in drug rehabilitation.

The Touch Research Institute in Miami, Florida has performed scientific research documenting the physiological effects of massage on the body. Joni Kosakoski’s 2003 findings indicate that massage is beneficial for decreasing pain, reducing autoimmune responses, enhancing healthy immune responses, increasing alertness and enhancing performance. The Touch Research Institute’s studies furthermore document the ability of massage to decrease anxiety, depression, agitation, and cravings. These effects appear to be related to the ability of massage to reduce cortisol, a stress hormone.

In order to understand the connection between massage therapy and its benefits in addiction treatment, Kosakoski, explains the neurological biochemistry of addiction: “Much attention has been directed to the mesolimbic reward system, the so-called ‘pleasure pathway’ of the brain. The area is activated in part by the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, the chemical messenger responsible for making us feel good when we engage in any pleasurable activity. It is well known that dopamine is significantly involved in addiction and that dopamine levels are lower than average during the withdrawal process and into early recovery until brain chemistry normalizes.”

In 1998, the Touch Research Institute published the findings that a regular massage regimen produced increases in dopamine levels. The fact that massage naturally increases dopamine levels, and decreases cortisol levels makes it a perfect addition to a standard detoxification program.

The neurochemistry of an addict takes time to get back into balance, so massage treatments after the initial detoxification phase is crucial. When a person uses a substance to feel good, his/her body stops manufacturing its own “feel good” chemicals, (endorphins), and the substance takes over that task. Therefore, when a person quits using an abused substance, they lose their source of feeling good. Since it takes time for the body to start manufacturing its own endorphins again, this is a challenging interim to endure. This interim is the recovering addict’s most vulnerable time to relapse.

http://www.integrative-healthcare.org/mt/archives/2005/05/massage_the_mis.html

Bodywork techniques

There are many types of massage techniques. Two examples utilized by our practitioners are Myofacial release and Craniosacral therapy.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial Release, a soft tissue therapy, includes structural assessments and manual massage to stretch the fascia and release bonds between fascia, integument, muscles, and bones. It is applied to eliminate pain, increase range of motion and balance the body. The fascia is manipulated, directly or indirectly, which allows the connective tissue fibers to reorganize themselves in a more flexible, functional fashion. In addition, Myofascial Release may be considered a general manual massage technique any “lay person” can use to eliminate general fascial restrictions on a living mammalian body.

The Myofacial system is composed of muscle and fascia. Fascia is a web of connective tissue that covers muscles, organs, and skeletal structures in our body. It is located between the skin and the underlying muscle and bone. Injuries, stress, inflammation, and poor posture can cause restrictions in fascia. Since fascia is an interconnected web, restriction or tightness at one place, with time can spread to other places in the body like a pull in a sweater. When the restriction is released tissue health is restored.

In medical literature, the term ‘myofascial’ was first used by Janet G. Travell M.D. in the 1940s referring to musculoskeletal pain syndromes and trigger points. In 1976 Dr. Travell began using the term “Myofascial Trigger Point” and in 1983 published the famous reference “Myofascial Pain & Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual”. Some practitioners use the term “Myofascial Therapy” or “Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy” referring to the treatment of trigger points.

The term Myofascial Release has been loosely used for different manual therapy, soft tissue manipulation work (connective tissue massage, soft tissue mobilization, Rolfing, strain-counter strain etc). There are two main schools of myofascial release: the direct and indirect method.

http://www.myofascialrelease.com/

Craniosacral therapy

Craniosacral therapy is a subtle energy method that involving very light touch, whereby the practitioner becomes attuned to the subtle rhythms of the clients body. “At a deep level of our physiological functioning all healthy, living tissues subtly “breathe” with the motion of life – a phenomenon that produces rhythmic impulses which can be palpated by sensitive hands.”

Craniosacral therapy was developed by Dr. William Sutherland, an osteopathic physician who developed methods to understand the restrictions that occur in the energy flow of the body and its relation to the subtle flexiblity that occurs in the bones of the skull.

“Contrary to popular belief Dr Sutherland realized that cranial sutures were, in fact, designed to express small degrees of motion. He undertook many years of research during which he demonstrated the existence of this motion and eventually concluded it is essentially produced by the body’s inherent life force, which he referred to as the “Breath of Life.” Furthermore, Dr Sutherland discovered that the motion of cranial bones he first discovered is closely connected to subtle movements that involve a network of interrelated tissues and fluids at the core of the body; including cerebrospinal fluid (the ‘sap in the tree’), the central nervous system, the membranes that surround the central nervous system and the sacrum.”

www.craniosacraltherapy.org