Visualize your way to Quit Smoking

Visualization is an interesting technique to learn as it will help with the anxiety and stress levels associated with being without cigarettes for a long amount of time. Visualization is intimately linked to meditation and anyone familiar with those techniques (or yoga) will know how they can help to strengthen your mental state. After all, a lot of the stop-smoking process is in the brain as nicotine has strong addictive influence over the mental as well as the physical realms of your body. With a method to strengthen your malleable mental side, you will be better ready to intently fight the urges that manifest themselves physically when you least expect them. If you have ever made the attempt to stop the habit of smoking then you know how hard it can be as relapse and going back to smoking are often the unfortunate result of stop-smoking resolutions. There are certainly several effective aids available for purchase that can help with your goal – some are cheap, others are on the expensive side. Whether or not you have a budget set aside there are definitely elements you can attempt on your own, either before you decide to quit, or during the time you are hopefully stopping for good. By transferring the process that is going on in your body to the visual in your thinking mind, you can picture what you are going though at the moment and this will make the process more manageable. Rather than a sudden and unexpected event where you crave a cigarette, you will begin to feel the impact on your body and mind if you continue to abstain. It won’t be an overall cure for you to stop right away, but it will bolster your defences for a fight that will require any and all help available. When it comes to quitting, you might have to think out of the box to find something that helps. When you feel the desire or perceived need to smoke, take a moment to close your eyes and breathe in controlled but deep breaths as you relax yourself. Slowly lower your hands at your side and rest on your knees, or sit down on your bum, as this will help with blood-flow and circulation. Now in your mind, picture your body as you sit there, visualize a sort of out-of-body perspective, look at yourself and see your centre point which is somewhere below your chest cavity. Imagine the substance of nicotine as a dark cloud of smoke that is concentrated in your body’s core and with each deep breath, think of this cloudy bubble blowing out the smog. See yourself as this murky globe clears and imagine that with each second that slowly goes by, you are actually eliminating nicotine – and ultimately addiction from your overall system. If used in conjunction with nicotine replacement or actual guided counselling with a therapist, you can find ways to limit your cravings in the long run. It’s never easy and there are no simple solutions but keeping at it is the only way.