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Share your quitting journey

Crave Busting Meditation

Thomas3.20.2010
0 10 22

Find yourself in a comfortable position, allowing yourself to sink into the surface below you. Gradually allow your eyes to relax and close.

Turn your attention to your breathing. Breathe in, allowing the breath to go all the way down to your belly for 4 counts. Hold your breath for 7 counts and breathe out ever so slowly to a count of 8. Repeat this 4/7/8 pattern of breathing two more times. Let your breath return to a slow calm pattern.

Now imagine yourself in a safe, comfortable place outside. You walk along a path among the trees. Feel the rhythm of your footsteps, the swing of your arms as they brush your sides. Smell the flowers in bloom along the side of your pathway. Listen to the birds singing in the tree branches. Notice the squirrels playing around the base of this tree, the branches of that one.

As you walk a little further you notice a small lake. There’s a bench where you can sit down. As you settle onto the bench, take a nice refreshing deep breath and smell the water. Watch the shimmer of the waves on the surface of the lake.

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Now that you are getting the oxygen you need, realize that your only job right now is to keep yourself as comfortable as possible while the craving passes. Fighting against the craving only makes it stronger, so right now, accept that you are feeling anxious and you want a cigarette but you can choose to focus on calming your thoughts to relieve the anxiety of the crave and the compulsion to smoke.

Repeat the following phrases:

I am feeling a craving right now, but I am okay. This feeling will pass, and no harm will come to me. I am safe, even though I feel anxious. I will soon be calm, even though I want a cigarette right now. I will get through this. I am making myself as comfortable as possible while I wait for the craving to cease. I can help myself to become gradually more calm and relaxed until this feeling passes.

Continue with even breathing and calm thoughts.

On the inhale tell yourself "I am becoming more and more calm,"

On the exhale tell yourself "I am feeling more and more relaxed."

Inhale "Calm"

Exhale "Relaxed"

Notice how your muscles are relaxing. As you drink in fresh air, allow it to spread throughout your body. If there are some particular muscles that feel tense, gently direct your focused breathing to that muscle group allowing the oxygen to relieve the stress there….And then exhale any remaining stress and tension…

Now sit quietly enjoying the beauty of the lake and the trees around you. Feel the warmth of the Sun and a cool breeze gently touching your skin. Take yourself back in time. Try recalling what it was like before getting hooked, the beauty of going days, weeks, and months without once wanting to smoke. Can you remember the calm and quiet mind you once called home? If not, you are not alone! But you can imagine it now!

How will you feel 2 Years from now….or 5?

 Imagine looking in a mirror and seeing fewer wrinkles as your Collagen repairs. Your complexion is clear and rosy. The whites of your eyes have ceased to be bloodshot. Your teeth and tongue feel and taste clean. Take a close look at your fingernails, all pink and healthy again – not stained and yellow. Your hair is shiny and soft.

Feel your regular strong heartbeat, your deep, clean breath, even your bloodflow is more regular and natural as it carries vitamins and minerals to every cell of your body. Your whole body is working in harmony as it is meant to be.

And your mind is FREE of the stress of wanting, needing a cigarette. You rarely even think of them and when you do, it’s in celebration of your conquest over addiction. Your whole environment becomes cleaner, healthier, more life affirming!

Bring in as many details of your smoke FREE World as you can….

Now, as the meditation comes to a close, slowly bring your awareness back into the room. Bring with you whatever sensations of relaxation…comfort…peace…calm, whatever’s there…knowing that you can repeat this exercise at any appropriate time and place of your choosing…

And when you’re ready, open your eyes.

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About the Author
63 years old. 20 year smoker. 11 Years FREE! Diagnosed with COPD. Choosing a Quality LIFE! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. -Galatians 5:1