You’ve probably heard that using hypnosis to quit smoking is a very popular method to kick the habit, but you may be having your doubts about its authenticity. You may think that hypnosis is just an entertaining way of making someone do something funny in front of an audience, like impersonating Mick Jagger or pretending to be a chicken laying an egg. Let me show you how powerful it really is.

Hypnosis is used to help millions of people to reduce their stress and learn to relax, overcome fears and phobias and rid themselves of unwanted habits like smoking. In a hypnotic state (or trance) a person is deeply relaxed while they focus on a particular problem or issue. During hypnosis the whole mind and body can relax so deeply that the gates to the unconscious mind are opened and positive suggestions can be placed deep into the subconscious.

The subconscious mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality. This means that if you can see yourself in the future as a non-smoker, then your subconscious mind will accept that as real and will act accordingly. You can change your actual behaviour by re-programming your thoughts and beliefs in your subconscious mind, that’s how powerful hypnosis really is.

The success rate for using hypnosis to quit smoking is much higher than with other methods due to the long term effects of changing belief and habits. But there’s nothing to say you need to use it exclusively. There is no reason why you can’t use hypnosis along side other quit smoking methods, it will only serve to enhance the experience and the only side effects you get from hypnosis are positive relaxing ones. So by using a multi-method approach you would actually be giving yourself a better chance of success.

So, how do you go about using hypnosis to stop smoking? There are three ways of doing this:

Firstly you can use self-hypnosis, the advantages of this are that you can do it in the comfort of your own home at your leisure and there won’t be expensive therapy sessions to pay for.

Secondly you could visit a hypnotherapist who will take you through the whole process in one or two sessions.

Or there is a third alternative. You could purchase a quit smoking CD or MP3 produced by a professional hypnotherapist that you can then use in the comfort of your own home whenever you wish. This third option gives you most flexibility, is less time consuming than doing it yourself and gives you a greater chance of success.

So, you’re considering using hypnosis to quit smoking, but you’re not sure that it’s going to work for you. I guess the real question you’re asking is: “Can I be hypnotised?” The short answer is yes! Hypnosis isn’t some magical, mystical spell that someone places on you by swinging a watch back and forth. Instead, it is a natural state of mind, a state we naturally move in and out of all day long.

When we first awaken, we can sometimes drift off again into a dream-like state. We can have conversations that make total sense yet can’t remember later. This is an altered state of awareness. Another name for altered state of awareness is a trance. These trance-like states happen naturally all the time: when we are day-dreaming, when we are transfixed by a TV show and know that someone is talking to us but we can’t pull ourselves away from the screen. Another very common altered state is when we are driving a car and begin to relax; our mind wanders off and we start to think about something other than the road in front of us.

Think back to a time this may have happened to you. You arrive at your destination and suddenly realize you are there, but have no conscious memory of the last 10 minutes of the journey. It’s as if the previous ten minutes were a blank. Like you were driving on auto-pilot and that’s probably the best way to describe it. Because we drive so much, we often just do it automatically without thinking about it. But if on our journey, a hazard appeared in the road, we would immediately become alert and take steps to keep ourselves safe.

Hypnosis, or trance states like these are natural states that we enter repeatedly throughout the course of our day. They are relaxing and enjoyable and we can also use them to access our subconscious mind, to give ourselves suggestions and change habits like smoking. There are a couple of ways that you can use hypnosis to stop smoking: either use self-hypnosis or find a qualified hypnotherapist. Self-hypnosis involves using techniques to relax yourself and change your beliefs about smoking. This technique can take practice and time to master.

A hypnotherapist has special training and expertise to help you relax and guide you through the process of re-programming your sub-conscious mind. Your therapist will explain the process fully and tell you what to expect and what is expected of you. They will also assure you that while anyone can be hypnotised, it only works if you really want it to.