Phil Benjamin  PDCHyp  FBSCH   FHEA   —   Clinical Hypnotherapist Fellow of the British Society for Clinical Hypnosis Honorary Senior Tutor, St George's Medical School, University of London
	Stop Smoking Now! Stop smoking instantly after just one session of hypnotherapy It takes about an hour and a half, there are no side effects and you will be completely in control throughout the session. What does the session entail? A smoking-cessation session takes around 1½ hours. Time is spent getting to know you and your individual relationship with your smoking habit. There is ample time to discuss any concerns you may have about hypnosis and progress can only be made once you feel totally comfortable and at ease. There will be a period of hypnosis during which you will experience a very relaxing trance, and when you awake you will be able to leave the session feeling relaxed and elated. How does it work? Clinical hypnosis works by eliminating the subconscious triggers which keep you smoking - in other words, by breaking the habit. It does this while helping you to feel calm and relaxed in the situations where you used to smoke. It also boosts your willpower to ensure that you can stop in the most appropriate way for you. Whilst in a hypnotic state, the mind and body can relax deeply yet at the same time you can achieve a very high degree of concentration. As you allow yourself to enter this pleasant state, beneficial suggestions may be received directly and effectively by your mind. The existing pattern of thinking about smoking and having an uncontrollable urge to light up and smoke, can be replaced with a new pattern of not thinking, not wanting, not smoking! Why is hypnosis so successful?   Because you won't have to fight the thought - you simply won't have the thought or desire.   Because it works with your specific triggers - that is, the situations and activities which used to make you reach for a cigarette.   Because it reduces tension and anxieties both of which can be a contributing factor in continuing to smoke.   Because it eliminates negative thoughts and fears such as the (unnecessary) belief that you will put on weight if you stop smoking.   Because it frees the individual from withdrawal symptoms by replacing them with a new sense of self-control, calmness and increased confidence. But what about..? Smokers often believe that if they stop smoking   they will put on weight (because their hands need activity)   they will get irritable and lose their temper   they will have cravings   they will be a different person The surprising fact is that there is no physiological reason for any of these things to happen. Before you smoked, your hands were perfectly happy to rest comfortably when not in use. They didn't have to push extra food in your mouth. The irritability has no cause whatsoever and the cravings - which may exist due to withdrawal symptoms - would be extremely mild, and they would disappear completely in about three days. But the sad fact is that if we believe that they will happen, then they will happen. That's not fair is it? However, if you raise your concerns in the session, these issues can also be addressed so that your mind completely understands that there are no withdrawal symptoms at all, upon stopping smoking. The only lasting effects are beneficial ones. What do I do next? If you want to give up smoking in a single session of hypnotherapy, then first congratulate yourself on making that decision. Then make one call to Phil Benjamin. That is all that it takes to stop smoking for good using the easiest and most successful treatment available. If you want to become a non-smoker - you will become a non-smoker "My colleagues in the office all think you've cast a magic spell on me!" Associate Director of a property company