(an excerpt from the quit smoking guide)

The main thing is to get your mind off cigarettes and for that you have to find a substitute for it. There are many other things that you could practice when you get the urge to smoke. I will list out the things that you could do here. Then you could choose the ideal thing to do according to your life style in order to avoid cigarettes.

Music

Music is a wonderful way of getting your mind off that urge to have a cigarette. If you have fixed times for getting a smoke like after meals or during the coffee break you could try playing something very soothing using a walk man and head phones so that you do not disturb others though you might attract attention. Another thing you could do is that you could play music on your computer if you have a workstation all to your self.

Music is a wonderful stress reliever and can help you avoid smoking.

Meditation

Meditation is also an excellent way of helping you to get better control over your thoughts. It is not a very hard thing to do. Anyone can learn the art with a little bit of practice. Now I hope you will pardon me if I digress a bit from our topic and give you a few essential points on how to meditate because this as I see it is the best method of helping you to gain better control over your mind and there by get over that urge to take in that cigarette.

The simplest method of mediation that you could practice by yourself would be to sit in a very comfortable position with your eyes closed. In the initial stages you may find your mind drifting but gradually you will learn to focus more and more. The idea behind meditation is not to cut out all the forces around you but to become one with them. I have seen people plug their ears with cotton to shut out sounds. But that is not the purpose that we wish to achieve. On the contrary we should focus on the sounds around us.

Be aware of them, listen to them. First listen to the bigger sounds around you like the traffic or machines or even loud music from your neighbor’s apartment. Then listen to the softer sounds like the drone of the refrigerator, or the A/C. And then bring your attention to the sound of your own breathing. If you can actually hear yourself then you have arrived and this is what you have to keep doing.

It would be useful if you could try to focus on some inner picture that you could conjure up in your mind. By inner picture I mean an image that you can concentrate on for example the flame of a lighted candle or a single flower on a plant. Try and see how long you can keep your thoughts focused on such an image. If the image blurs immediately and is replaced by something else, then you need to work on it. Gradually you will see that you can keep focused on the same thing for more than ten minutes.

That means that you have arrived. Once you have reached this stage and have begun to practice it without fail, you will see that it can give you immense mental strength. Then the next time you get an urge to smoke, all you have to do is sit put wherever you are, close your eyes and meditate. The urge will have vanished by the time you open your eyes. Meditation not only drives away the urge for that cigarette but gives you control over your thoughts.

Breathing Exercises

This exercise can prove to be useful in controlling the urge to have a cigarette. It is common knowledge that the human body takes in a lot of toxic substances, both through the air and through food and drink. Apart from this, various toxins are also released as a result of the various processes that are going on. These toxins have to be released on a continuous basis or else they will accumulate with serious results.

One of the best ways of releasing these toxins is by means of exhaling. One funny fact is that most of us do not breathe properly. Just take a look at the picture like this. With each breath that we take, we take in oxygen. This oxygen is carried by the blood to every cell of the body and every cell must indeed get enough oxygen not just to survive but to remain healthy as well.

So it is imperative that we make an honest attempt to breathe properly. But first of course we have to make sure that we are taking in unpolluted air. The best time for this exercise is early in the morning when the air is comparatively unpolluted. Now what you have to do is this. Again, sit comfortably so that there is no strain to any part of you. It is not imperative that you close your eyes, but I have always noticed that it works better when the eyes are closed.

When you are ready, what you have to do is to breathe in deeply and slowly, and feel the fresh air filling up your lungs until it just can’t take any more. Conjure up images of the air encircling throughout your system and reaching every cell, literally bathing it with oxygen. Of course it doesn’t happen that way but the image helps a lot. Then hold your breath for a few seconds and then very slowly exhale letting out all that foul air.

Again conjure up an image of all the toxins being released from your body. Every cell has become free of the burden it was carrying. Now pause for a second or two and again breathe in deeply, slowly letting your lungs fill up with all that good, clean, rejuvenating air. Repeat this exercise at least ten times and take your time for it taking care not to rush through.

When you have done that part of the exercise it is time for the second part. Again sit with your eyes closed, but this time, keep one nostril closed with the help of your index finger. It is best to close the right nostril first and that too with your right index finger. Now breathe in deeply and slowly through your left nostril keeping the right nostril closed. When you have held air for a second or two, release your right nostril and breathe out through it.

While you are breathing out conjure up an image of all the toxins being released form your head and the brain especially. And as you breathe in conjure up images of the clean air circulating though out your brain freeing it of all the worries and trouble and lightening it.

Repeat this with the other nostril closed and in this way alternate between the nostrils at least ten times. The entire exercise need not take more than ten minutes. But you will be surprised at how light hearted and free you will feel afterwards. Once you have practiced it for three or four mornings, you will be in a position to do the exercise each time you get the urge to have a cigarette. This can easily become a substitute for the urge to take in that hourly dose of nicotine.

An Experiment

Now, I want you to try something. It’s a little gory, I admit, so I’ll apologize for that right up front. Here’s what I want you to do next...

While you are doing this breathing exercise and feeling all those cells perk up, just think for a minute about what happens when you’re inhaling the hot, fuming, toxic, carcinogenic smoke from a cigarette. Visualize the smoke circulating through your system and slowly killing all the cells that it comes in contact with. Watch as it slowly but surely pollutes your entire body, and then see yourself finally succumbing to it one day.

I know this experiment is tough to deal with, but it’s important that you understand the hideous crime that you commit against your body each time you smoke a cigarette, compared to the good you do your body by inhaling clean, natural oxygen.

Try Something Else

When you get the urge for a cigarette try using something else like a chewing gum or a toffee. Try things that have strong flavors like menthol, mints. Sunflower seeds have worked wonders for some people; it keeps both mouth and hands busy.

Make a list of all the smokers around you who you know closely. And then what you have to do is STAY AWAY FROM THEM. Unless they too are trying to quit, keep a very safe distance from them. If you had a habit of having a cigarette with them at fixed times, take special care to steer very clear of them at those fixed times.

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