I had a couple of sessions the other day for smoking and some stuff that came up during them that gave me an idea for a post. When I work with people for smoking I have certain steps that I like to follow. Before I even work with a client I like to just talk to them for a while. Similar to a pre-talk, but it is designed to educate the person about the habit they are trying to quit.

I like to think that most of the stuff I talk about is important, but there is one part of the talk that is the most important. This is the real reason for becoming a non-smoker. Everyone has different motivations and reasons for quitting. I have heard all types of reasons such as better health, getting a doctor off of their backs, for the children, save money and the list goes on and on. All of these are important and valid reasons for becoming a non-smoker now, but if you think about it, none of these reasons will help you to quit smoking in my opinion.

It’s true that hypnosis works great for helping people to quit smoking. Is it 100 percent successful in helping people to quit smoking? I would love to tell you yes, but than I would be lying. Yet, clinical studies are now starting to pop up claiming that hypnosis is one of the best methods to become a non-smoker. Even though hypnosis is stepping out into the forefront there has yet to be a method of quitting that is 100 percent successful.

There are tons of hypnotists out there and everyone one of them has a different method of using hypnosis to help people quit smoking. Every hypnotist has different views on this subject and most of them are successful. So how can all these different methods be to some degree, successful? Well, its because at its purest form hypnosis has the ability to alter habits. Many clinical studies have backed up this statement. Hypnosis allows people to alter their perception or in other words, reprogram their organic computer to view the habit differently or eliminate it all together.

So even though different methods are used success can still be reached because of this one common factor, yet is there a way to make what you do even more powerful? Is there something you can do to increase your overall session with clients? There is and it’s the real reason needed to quit smoking or at least the real issue that is at the base of the problem in my opinion. You can always disagree with me, but it’s so easy to just go with me and learn now.

In my own opinion and experience there is only one real reason that will get the majority of your clients to stop smoking for good and increase your clients success. The reason is a simple one and one most smokers never even thing about. Your client must be able to pick up a smoke stick, look at it and say to it ‘they want to take back control of your life and that it will never control them again’. I am dead serious here people. You have to get down to the truth of the matter and the truth is that this little leaf wrapped in paper has been controlling your life. You have been nothing more than a slave to it and the people who produce it.

Most of the time when I tell people this they just laugh and say that’s funny. I don’t laugh and tell them I’m not kidding, I’m serious as a heart attack. If you find being a slave funny than I don’t think we should work together. If you really think about it, than why don’t you just stop smoking? If it isn’t controlling you than just stop. Go ahead, prove me wrong right now and just stop smoking…. forever. Yes, a very small part of the population who can do this, but most people won’t be able to quit smoking in an instant.

I don’t want to hear excurses about the nicotine in your system and all that jive. Now, I’m not saying nicotine doesn’t play some part and that it isn’t bad for you. Yet, clinical studies have shown that this nasty stuff leaves your body within just a couple of days. In fact, your entire body begins to get better just within a couple days. So if this is the case, just stop, smoking, now.

So lets get honest with people this little leaf is controlling your life and this the only real reason that will help you to truly kick the habit in my opinion. All of the other reasons are great and provide benefits, but the real issue is you are being controlled. Once you realize this it can give you more personal power than you know.

Now, have other people quit smoking for different reasons? I’m pretty sure they have, but what is the ratio of people who have quit for a period of 3 to 5 years and a person who starts up again within a couple of months. Have you ever wondered why some of your clients seem to take up the habit again when you know you did everything you could? I know I have and I’m sure some of you out there have as well.

See this is the one thing that I find interesting about hypnosis. Hypnosis works in conjunction with many different factors and we are working with a person on a personal level. Each and every person in this world is built different. Each and every person has his or her own motivations and beliefs. Yet, in my experience and the experiences of many other hypnotists who are very successful dealing with Smoking Cessation this is the real issue that needs to be addressed………..Control.

I believe so strongly in this that I will turn down anyone who can’t come to terms with this concept. I will tell them to come back when they are ready or see someone else. The client must be ready for the change, they must have the motivation, and they must want to quit for themselves and nothing else. They must want to take back control of their lives, NOW!!!!! I truly wish I had some magical power with hypnosis because than I could change millions of people’s lives with just a few suggestions, but I don’t have any special power.

Let me give you an example of why you must screen and talk to the client about this situation. I asked a person once I was working with to close their eyes and imagine if the doctor wasn’t on his back, which is very common and if he wasn’t having health problems would he give up the habit. The answer was a very quick, No. So I sent him away and told him when he was ready to come back and see me. I told him I didn’t want to steal his money because that’s what I would be doing if I worked with him.

This guy wasn’t ready to quit. If I would have worked with him we may have ended up with another person who claimed ‘Hypnosis didn’t work for me’. He was just tired of having people on his case. This guy was even sent to me by his doctor, but all he really wanted was a way out, not to become a non-smoker. In the beginning I worked with everyone and I never had any idea of the concept I’m talking about. I just figured if they came to see they must be ready to quit. Let’s just say I didn’t have the best success rate with my clients at the time.

I worked with a total of 7 people during this time frame and out of the 7 people 2 people haven’t smoked in a little over 2 years. The rest of them continued smoking after a period of 3 months. So as you see I didn’t consider that to be good numbers in my opinion. Yes, I helped two people, but what about the rest. I got into this profession to help people and that is what I want to do. Will I ever be able to help every single person to become a non-smoker? No, I won’t be able to help every single person, but I want to help the majority of the people I work with.

Since I have learned the concept I’m talking about my numbers have improved by leaps and bounds. I have seen a total of 22 people for smoking since the results above. 21 of the people have been smoke free for at least a year or more now. 1 of them was smoke free for about 5 months and started to smoke again. So as you see the numbers are much better, but why didn’t the other one quit?

The simple reason is because he wasn’t ready to quit. Here is the reason I know. I stayed in touch with him and discovered that he lied to me. He believed he could quit no matter the reason and didn’t want to wait. I’m a hypnotist, not a lie detector and I have to say that person was a great actor. So, as you see the numbers speak for themselves. Now in some of these cases I did see these people for a second session. Typically if the person has smoked for more than 25 or 30 years I will set up a second session.

When a person has smoked this long the habit has had many years to become seriously planted deep in the person. It can be eliminated using direct suggestion, but in these cases I like to use other techniques that are more powerful. I also like to give clients some tools to help with the management of stress. One of the biggest reasons people start smoking again is because they get stressed out.

They don’t know how to deal with the stress in an effective manner and so the mind looks for a familiar way of dealing with stress. Remember, the mind never forgets anything. It knows you we’re once a smoker, but at the end of your day if you have been smoke free for over 2 years or more and you start smoking again it was your choice. Nobody put a gun to your head and made you do it. This, in my opinion is free will and not the fault of the hypnotist, in some cases. Now that is a different post all together.

What it really comes down to is the desire to change. A person has to have the motivation and desire to change. If you get the desire to change, motivation, expectation and the real reason needed to quit smoking you are going to see a huge jump in your client’s success rates. Yes, the reason is they need to take back control of their life, but the foundation of the habit still has to be the desire for chance, for themselves and no one else.

Hypnosis isn’t mind control and I can’t make you quit. All I do is help you to realize the potential within yourself. The techniques I use are pretty much the same for everyone else. The thing that makes the difference is your motivation and desire to change. All change starts with ‘YOU’

I’m not here to put down any hypnotists or the method they use. If you are getting great results than keep doing what you are doing. Shoot, let me know so I can find a way to incorporate it into my sessions. I’m just addresses what has worked for me.

For those of you wondering I didn’t come up with this concept. I learned it from someone else and just adapted it to work for me. A great Hypnotist by the name of Gerald Kein of The Omni Hypnosis Center is where I learned these concepts. He has a DVD program, which is all about dealing with Smoking Cessation, and it is great. I highly recommend it if you wish to become a better Hypnotist and he goes over a whole lot more than I could cover here. I have to run, but I hope this article can give you some ideas or help you in some way.

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