How to give up smoking with homeopathy and pranayama

I started smoking when I was in high school. As it usually happens, at 15 years boys are desperate to become men. So they try building their bodies to look larger and try other things like alcohol and smoking. They masturbate because the girls are not willing and hormones have started raging. So, I kind of did all this. Coming back to smoking I guess I felt more like a man smoking. But soon like all addictions smoking took over my life. I started smoking 20 cigarettes a day. I did this for the next 25 years and paid the price with a chronic chest ailment. I quit 9 years ago but still have to live with a weakened respiratory system.

Anyway, this is how I quit smoking. Against all suggestions telling me to cut it down and eventually stop, I decided one day in April of 2004 that I am going to give it up. I did not throw the pack of cigarettes away, but simply stopped smoking, in fact I still have that pack of cigarettes with 16 cigarettes in it. It was difficult for about a month, first because of the body wanting the nicotine “fix”, which was quiet difficult to overcome. Then there is the social issue to deal with, the informal chats one has with fellow smokers, which often leads to more business or career opportunities. Then there are friends one has grown up with, and have smoked together, for many a years. They will often want you to not leave the “club”.

To get over the nicotine “fix” issue, one I tried to avoid situations which triggered a craving or where I would usually smoke. I would often go for an evening walk and smoke, so I cut down on walking and started going to the sports club where smoking was not allowed. I altered my social situation. I tried to associate and mix with friends who did not smoke. However, for the first 4 days I did not go out of the house at all. Smoking at home was not possible because my mother is allergic to tobacco smoke.

I had been studying homeopathy for a while and found some remedies which could help lessen nicotine craving. I do not remember all, but one of them was Nux Vomica (potency 30c) which helped lessen the craving for me. Also, tabacum, helped deal with the backache, very common in smokers as well as diminished eyesight. Long term use of Tabacum can also help in muscular weakness caused by tobacco use. Tobacco does not only have an effect on the repertory system, it also affects your sex drive and may lead to Impotence, and it affects the muscular systems, weakening it, has an effect on the eyesight and affects the appetite. It does give you temporary relief from stress, but there is a long term price to be paid.

I also found that Yoga, especially “Pranayam”or breathing exercises, help relieve the craving. Cigrette smoke affects the body in two ways. One it gives you a nicotine “fix” and two it opens up the respiratory pathways and you absorb more Oxygen. So doing “Pranayam” helps by opening up the respiratory pathways naturally. One may think that any other type of aerobic exercise should have the same effect, but it does not. “Pranayam” not only opens up the respiratory pathways but also triggers the release of natural nicotine like hormones in the body.

In about a month from the point I gave up smoking, I stopped having the craving. However, I kept falling back into the trap of addiction repeatedly. It took me several years of conscious effort, and many lifestyle and social changes to completely give it up.

I recently started smoking again, I really do not know why. Nothing much has changed in my life to trigger this. I am smoking about half a cigarette every morning, before I start Yoga, which I do for 2 years. It has been 7 days since I started again. Addiction to smoking usually starts in this manner. Initially you feel that I am just doing it to relax a little, but soon the body is trapped by the craving for Nicotine. I am hoping that I will stop. So I guess even after stopping for over 9 years, an addict is at the risk of falling back into the trap. The good news is that I am really not getting any kick out of it at all, and think every morning whether I should or should not smoke this cigarette.