Saturday, August 02, 2008

Quitting Smoking with Zensight

I recently had the pleasure of working with someone who wanted to quit smoking.

He had been approximately a pack a day smoker for a few decades, and had initially come to see me in relation to another personal concern. When that concern resolved mostly in the first session and then completely in the second session, he was pretty surprised (having come to me looking for "therapy" and not expecting or familiar with energy psychology approaches) and asked me if I thought I could help him to quit smoking.

I said I was game to try! Haven't recently interviewed John Diepold during the monthly ACEP teleclass, I had learned more about applying EP to addictions and was excited for a chance to help someone with smoking cessation.

If you have not heard about John Diepold previously, he is the creator of the Touch and Breathe (TAB) approach to tapping modalities such as EFT. This is the method I prefer to use myself when I tap (yes, sometimes I still use EFT for myself or with clients - it all depends on what feels right in the moment!) as I find it more restful and contemplative, and often insights are gained in a way that I find is not always the case with "tapping"....though is typical with Zensight. :)

John said that often when treating addictions - which includes any behaviour that someone wants to stop or change such as overeating, working too much, etc... - that it is often helpful rather than (or in addition to) processing away their upset, to target the enjoyment they get from the behaviour until it no longer feels enjoyable to them.

With my client this is exactly what I did. We focused on processing away the enjoyment he got from smoking, as well as processing a number of related concerns that were specific to his situation, and some that are typical of most people who smoke or have similar addictions.

I am happy to say that he is now a non smoker!

Best of all, we worked on the smoking for a grand total of two sessions!

After our first session targetting smoking cessation, there was a three week gap when we next met. At that time he told me he was down to three cigarrettes a day (this from a pack a day....), and he had had NO difficulty or discomfort in cutting back.

We did the second session, noticing the odd slight cravings he was having and any other relation concerns or perceived enjoyment of smoking and processed that. He noted that while it hadn't been difficult to cut back he was perceiving each cigarrette he had to be a "reward" for having done so well.

He told me that while he was still, according to his own self developed plan still "allowed" to have one more cigarette that day, he felt he could now skip it, and that he was going to cut back to just two cigarettes the following day and "by Saturday" (we were meeting on a Monday) he was going to be smoke free.

He felt so confident and at peace with all of it and such a sense of excitement that he did not feel he needed to book another appointment as quitting smoking was just feeling so easy that he didn't think he needed any more help with it.

I asked him to keep in touch and let me know how it went and I have heard from him a few times now, saying that he is fully smoke free, he feels great, and he can NOT imagine every going back to smoking, there is just nothing he misses about it and his lungs and breathing just feel more and more clear every day.

While individual responses may certainly vary, This is the power of energy pyschology...to help smooth out the bumps; the mental, emotional and spiritual blocks; and to allow making healthier choices to become easier, faster, and...almost effortless!