Mindfulness and smoking

[JonW]

Brilliant post, Kath. Beautifully put. Especially this: "I've been meditating while smoking and have realised that it is the thinker who smokes - not the awareness. Awareness doesn't suffer cravings, the thinker does. It's really clear and a fabulous way of really seeing the thinker as separate from awareness."
Could also be applied to binge eating, gorging on TV, wasting too much time on Facebook and a million other things, I suspect.
All best, Jon

[Gareth]

Yes great stuff. It just goes to show that anything can be a mindfulness practice - even this huge file that has just been dumped on my desk at work.

A huge part of mindfulness is attitude and the way that we approach our everyday lives. It seems to me that you have that in spades Kath. Good luck.

[Kath]

Thank you so much for your encouragement

[FeeHutch]

Brilliant post, Kath. Beautifully put. Especially this: "I've been meditating while smoking and have realised that it is the thinker who smokes - not the awareness. Awareness doesn't suffer cravings, the thinker does. It's really clear and a fabulous way of really seeing the thinker as separate from awareness."
Could also be applied to binge eating, gorging on TV, wasting too much time on Facebook and a million other things, I suspect.
All best, Jon

This really resonates with me too. Thank you so much for summing that up Kath

[nnikolic]

Hi all,

I am a former smoker. 29 of October 2010 is my another birthday, the day I stopped smoking after full 24 years.

I did not discover mindfulness at that time so I can not say anything about my experience with smoking and mindfulness.

I can do two things:
1. Recommend a book "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method" by Allen Carr. This book worked for me, I have no idea if it will work for you.
2. I have understood method from that book very well, and it can be somewhat translated into mindfulness practice. This is a good idea for my blog, I will definitely make a post. Here I'll lay out some thoughts

Basic premise of the book is that people know they are stupid because they smoke, but they still do it.

- When you have the urge to smoke do the following:
a) Be mindful of your stupidity. Understand that there is no benefit from smoking. Read the book for proof.
b) Be mindful of the pangs. Look at them and see how small they are. Breathe for a few minutes and contemplate how easy it is not to smoke.
c) Drink a glass of water afterwards.

You have to do this for five days. The pangs are mild, nowhere near the pain serious drug addicts feel. After five days you need just to change habits.

Good luck.

Nenad

[piedwagtail91]

i can see your point . but self criticism by needlessly telling yourself you're stupid is a non starter for me.
it doesn't fit in with self compassion.
surely it's better to encourage yourself, rather than criticise, which could possibly lower your mood and see you end up smoking another.
addiction isn't stupid, least not when you're trying to break it.

[Kath]

I agree piedwagtail - I also have read the book, and to be honest, didn't understand it to claim smokers are stupid. I know books can be interpreted in lots of different ways though. My understanding was that, once you realise that smoking doesn't do anything for you, then you lose the desire to smoke and can stop. It hasn't worked for me - as yet - but maybe I haven't really understood it properly.

Having meditated on my smoking, I am beginning to realise that, for me at least, I need to stop beating myself up and be kind and careful with myself - and with my addiction. I believe that being kind and patient, along with the increasing desire to be healthy and clean that has come from the awareness mindfulness has revealed to me, that in time, my desire to smoke will continue to decrease. Either way really, if it doesn't at least now I mindfully smoke. I am learning to accept it and disassociate from it a little, thereby hopefuylly reducing the 'power and hold' it seems to have had on me thus far.

I don;t know if that makes any sense but all I know is that mindfulness and meditation is teaching me to see all things in a different light - smoking too. And already I smoke far less. I enjoy ironing now too (which is very worrying!!!) because it's a great opportunity to be mindful - so strange things can indeed happen!!!

[piedwagtail91]

"Having meditated on my smoking, I am beginning to realise that, for me at least, I need to stop beating myself up and be kind and careful with myself - and with my addiction. I believe that being kind and patient, along with the increasing desire to be healthy and clean that has come from the awareness mindfulness has revealed to me, that in time, my desire to smoke will continue to decrease. "

thats how i see it, the beating up has to stop or you can end up having another smoke to soothe yourself. or thats what my friend who i helped to stop says.

with self-compassion it's not like you're giving yourself an easy time and saying it's ok to smoke but more that you understand it's difficult to stop and 'supporting' yourself through the difficult time..

[Kath]

Perfectly put piedwagtail

[nnikolic]

i can see your point . but self criticism by needlessly telling yourself you're stupid is a non starter for me.
it doesn't fit in with self compassion.

I must tell you that criticism perfectly fits with self compassion. Criticism is not against self compassion. Try to contemplate on this and you will understand.

I will just give you one example. Say you want to jump off a bridge and into a river. You self-compassionately decide not to proclaim yourself stupid for wanting that - and you jump. That is non starter for me.

The word that is the problem in your sentence is "needlessly".

Mindfulness is not magic. Smoking addiction is very bad and will not vanish just because we meditate and have self compassion and gratitude and whatever. It will just help us to THINK CLEARLY, meaning than we will give ourselves a chance to CLEARLY see that we are stupid because we smoke. This is exactly what I told myself after reading the book, and the book basically provided me with that moment of clarity. I believe it is partly a product of almost hypnotic writing style of Alan Carr, and partly of my already formed decision I want to stop smoking.

Please understand that I have not called you stupid, nor anyone else who is participating in this thread. This is what I have told myself, at exactly the same moment when I put out half-smoked cigarette and dumped half-full pack into the trash bin. It helped me, and it certainly does not mean it is an universal method.

My conclusion is that your brain is rationalizing things, and it is deceiving you. It said to you "I would stop smoking but I do not want to be critical of myself and lose self compassion". That's all. It is a way for humans to stay sane and not be regretful all day long. It would drive us crazy.