The smoking trance: How you keep on smoking

Recently, I came across a question on the website Quora in which the person was seeking answers for why they went into a deep thinking trance when they smoked a cigarette. I was intrigued that the person described their experience as a trance for indeed, the qualities of a trance are very much present when a person smokes. 

What is a trance? 

The use of the word ‘trance’ can often be disturbing for a person who might associate it with not being in control of oneself. Sometimes the fear has been exacerbated by the way trance has been depicted in old films or stage shows where hypnosis has been used. 

In fact, trance is an altered state of consciousness which is very natural and which, given the right conditions, we access very readily in our day-to-day lives. Its characteristics include:

• a narrowing down of the focus of attention
• a state of absorption
• less awareness of our surroundings
• less awareness of one’s body
• less awareness of time passing

Sound familiar? You will undoubtedly recognise that you have been in this kind of a state very frequently; when you’re deeply engrossed in a good film, book, or piece of music for example. When you’re engaging in a piece of work or a hobby. And many other times.

How smokers create trances

Most people when they start smoking, often do so in quite limited ways. Usually, it starts in your teenage years; a quick smoke behind the bike sheds or in your friend’s bedroom. Later, when you have more freedom to do what you want, you might start to buy cigarettes regularly and smoke them at certain times. Then you start to smoke repeatedly at these times, say when you have an alcoholic drink in your hand, when speaking on the phone, with your first coffee of the day, after a meal, when you need to take a break during work, and so on.

The repetition of these creates the habit; certain activities and times of day trigger smoking. Through repetition, you have taught your unconscious mind to prompt you at these times that this is when you normally smoke.

At this point, it feels like an activity you have to carry out. Your focus of attention has become narrowed down. You go through your usual smoking routine; finding your cigarettes, your lighter or matches and going to the place you usually go to smoke. You light up. At that moment, your focus is completely absorbed in smoking the cigarette.

Whilst smoking, you may indeed have an experience very much like our friend from Quora where you go into some kind of thinking state. Or you may experience increased relaxation or a sense of well-being, even. And, if you are smoking with others, you may believe your social enjoyment is heightened. Now, certain experiences that feel good have been attached to the smoking. All desire not to smoke or knowledge of its effects on health fly out of the window. This is the smoking trance.

On finishing the smoking and returning to other activities, you come out of the trance in order to be present to other things. It will usually be at this point (if you actually don’t like that you smoke or indeed want to give it up) that you start to berate yourself. “Why did I do that?”, “I didn’t need that cigarette”, and so on. The smoking trances you have created for yourself no longer have their power over you at this point.

The strength of these smoking trances, however, often cause people to think they can’t give up, that they are addicted or that smoking is part of their identity. “I am a smoker”, “I’ll always be a smoker”, “I’m too weak to give up”, and “I don’t have any willpower”, are common statements.

It is worth remembering that there were indeed times when you did not smoke and did not need to smoke in order to be in the world and to operate in it perfectly effectively. Indeed, when I have helped someone who wants to quit through hypnotherapy access a time early in their life that was powerful for them back then, it has played a large part in enabling that person to give up smoking.

How hypnotherapy can break the smoking trance 

Research shows that hypnotherapy is still one of the best means by which to stop smoking. Hypnotherapy will not, however, make a person quit. The desire to stop smoking must be very present. Indeed, hypnotherapy works best with those who are very much on the brink of stopping and need that bit of help to make it a reality. What’s more, research also shows that those who respond best to quitting using hypnotherapy have often given up more than once before for a period of time. If this is you, do not despair.

When working with someone to help them stop smoking, we are concerned with breaking these smoking trances so that the compulsion to smoke at those times is dissipated. There are many tools hypnotherapy has at its disposal to do just that. What is more, it uses the trance state and is, therefore, a powerful tool to help you make this change, creating new trances of internalised awareness and belief that you can go about your life without the help of cigarettes.

We can identify the resources you have to make this successful change both from your current life and earlier times. We can tap into your specific reasons for wanting to stop and enhance them; mentally rehearsing being in situations which might be challenging for you with these resources in place. We can reframe your perception of yourself as a smoker and remove smoking from your identity, together creating a powerful formula to enable you to stop.

The smoking trance can be strong but millions of people before you have broken out of it and have gone on to remain non-smokers with relative ease. With a well-constructed, personalised approach, hypnotherapy can make the transition from smoker to non-smoker possible for you too.