Advanced clinical hypnotherapist Fiona Lamb shares her thoughts on hypnotherapy for stopping smoking and how to beat the struggle when changing behaviours

Hypnotherapy Directory member Fiona Lamb has previously shared her thoughts on meditation and hypnotherapy for sleeping with I am. I have listeners - and now she’s joining the Happiful team again to discuss how hypnotherapy can help smokers kick their unwanted habit for good.

Fiona explains that she enjoys working with her clients to help them stop smoking. “I love empowering people to make that decision to say no, and find that assertiveness within themselves to say ‘I don’t want to do it and I’m not doing it anymore’.”

Smoking, she says, is often about more than the cigarette. It’s often a crutch, or thought of by the smoker as emotional support or a release, something she tries to unpick through sessions. “I treat it as a habit. Smokers have done it (smoked) so many times that their brains form an automatic response to the old triggers of being stressed, lonely, overwhelmed or needing time out, and then they grab for a cigarette because they think it’s helping them in some way.”

It’s not helping you, it’s not your friend and your body is not an ashtray

Reframing smoking is an important part of this process. “‘It’s not helping you, it’s not your friend and your body is not an ashtray’ is one of the affirmations that I use,” Fiona says, explaining that smoking cannot calm us down, because it is a stimulant. It’s the breathing, she insists, that helps people to relax.

Fiona explains she sees smoking as an annoying cat that keeps coming to the door. “If you don’t feed it, it will go away!” she laughs. “It’s not going to be hard, you just don’t! It’s like the nictotine addiction, just don’t feed it and it will go away and it’s not going to be hard or painful if you look after yourself and appreciate your body.”

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✨Give yourself permission to not struggle.✨ . An affirmation I’ve been using a lot with clients lately. Life was never meant to be a fight. . We make things difficult for ourselves and self sabotage because we have never known any different. . What if you were open to the idea that it was all a lot easier than you have been making it? We weren’t meant to fight with our bodies, with food, with love, with finding our purpose... . We let overthinking, struggle, fears and worries become our normal and this reflects in our decisions and actions. . A client in a session lately realised that she has been in fighting mode her whole life and what a relief it felt to just let it go. Tears and smiles came at the same time and it was so lovely to see. After opening their eyes she said ‘ I think my life has just been changed’ and smiled and said ‘I think so too’. 😌✨✨✨

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You can listen to our podcast, I am. I have now, available to download on Spotify, Anchor and iTunes. Previous guests include Josh Roberts, Rhiannon Lambert and Jamie Windust.

Learn more about Fiona on Hypnotherapy Directory, or download her new Mind Detox app, providing guided meditations for every mood.