The Body/Mind Health Corner™

with Steven Rogat

Hi Steven:

I am a 47 yrs old woman diagnosed last Dec. with midlevel emphysema. I have been a smoker for over 30+ yrs. I noticed something wrong in my body system around 2001 and started a medical journey due to unexplained weight loss, which I still have by the way. A heart chakra trauma strongly impacted me prior to feeling the change in body system. I am working on energy healing to get the energy flowing freely through the chakra again. I am finding it difficult to quit the smoking in spite of the medical news that I will need oxygen in 3yrs if I don't quit. What would help to free the smoking habit and what will help to bring healing energy to the heart chakra area governing the lungs on top of Rieke? Simple answers aren't working the smoking habit is embedded in every cell and overrides any conscious understanding of the dangers.

Thank you for your attention,
Tammy, Grand Rapids, MN

Dear Tammy:

Smoking makes us feel ALIVE. Quitting nicotine feels like we are going to die. So we keep smoking because knowing that it will kill us later is nothing compared to the feeling of dying now. Also, over time we tend to identify ourselves as smokers., perpetuating the habit AND the physical consequences. Your heart chakra trauma only accentuates the loss, and the emptiness. The loss has given you one less outlet in which to feel totally alive. Thus, the two combined to effectively shut down your lungs and heart center. The end result of any dis-ease is a further commitment to healing, which brings you to the point of writing

To stop smoking, don't think about quitting. Just thinking about quitting creates the tension that makes you want to smoke more! Do not keep telling yourself that you have to stop. That only affirms that you are a smoker.. Do NOT think, while having a cigarette, that you shouldn't smoke, that it's bad for you, that you have to quit. All this negative thinking only creates more tension, and more health problems.  I know it sounds strange, but follow this logic. Whenever you are not smoking, you are a non-smoker. That applies even when you are holding a cigarette and not smoking it. You are a non-smoker. You are breathing fresh clean, healing energy into your lungs and your life. You are a non-smoker, easily, joyfully, healthfully. Implant this self-image within your conscious and subconscious mind. What we affirm manifests! The non-smoker part of you will become stronger and stronger until it finally manifests. You will find yourself effortlessly deciding NOT to have that one cigarette. You may even put a cigarette out in the middle of smoking it. As this happens more and more, you will discover that it becomes easier and easier to get rid of the urge to smoke.  You know you can get rid of the urge when it arises.

You already know that whatever avenue of quitting you pursue will not work if you are not committed. S, when you finally DO get committed to becoming a permanent non-smoker, you can pursue a medical, physical, and/or psychological avenue of stopping. I cannot recommend one or the other, however, there are many - the patch, the gum, Lobelia to satisfy the same part of the brain that nicotine does, a shot now available that blocks the nicotine receptors so cigarettes just do not have any physically satisfying effect.. There are also the usual psychological avenues to explore: hypnotherapy, Eye Movement Therapy, and even Thought Field Therapy or Emotional Freedom Technique to get rid of the urge each time it comes up.

In the meantime, while you do still smoke, you can still heal the lungs. Release and desensitize to the heart center trauma and loss. Affirm your worthiness, and the support you have for the very special unique person that you are. Affirm what you DO offer to others, whether it is accepted or not. Exercise. Continue with the Reiki or other energy work. Explore herbs that will clear the lungs, and so on. You CAN heal. Do not keep affirming that you cannot heal as long as you are still a smoker. When you are totally willing to heal, the cigarettes may just fall by the wayside.

Positive Thought To Manifest: Right now, this second, I am a non-smoker, easily, joyfully, and healthfully. I breathe freely!

Many blessings on this Holy task,
Steve