TL;DR – Maybe you want to try another way to stop the cigarette life from destroying your health – ever considered using yoga to help quit smoking? Well, in studies yoga has shown promise as a complementary aid to quit cigarettes.
Want to use yoga to help quit smoking?
Quitting smoking is indeed a tough decision because sometimes, just stopping smoking is not enough. Most smokers suffer from nicotine withdrawal symptoms after stopping. Craving for nicotine? No, that’s not the only thing. Headache, anxiety, depression, insomnia, etc. smoking withdrawal symptoms drive people crazy. That’s the reason why people seek help to quit smoking.
- Where Next? NHS Guide to Yoga?
First up, what’s Yoga?
According to Wiki, yoga is described as:
Yoga in the Western world often denotes a modern form of hatha yoga and yoga as exercise, consisting largely of the postures or asanas.
Wikipedia.org
Now, if we talk about yoga and asana, it’s not as hard as it looks. If you can start yoga every day at a particular point in time, you can easily replace your smoking habits with meditation. According to a few studies, yoga not only helps to quit smoking but also any other bad habits.
A few ways Yoga helps to cope up with bad habits
- Most people recommend practicing yoga or asanas in the morning because yoga helps to reduce stress, and it works perfectly when it is done in a beautiful morning vibe.
- Have you heard of endorphin and dopamine? These horrors help humans to feel good. Yoga triggers these two and does the job.
- You will see while practicing yoga in the right way; positive circumstances automatically create all around you. It helps a lot to eliminate toxins.
- Yoga gives people the clarity of mind and increases prefrontal levels in the brain. It helps to make decisions correctly.
- Yoga is indeed a fresh start of a new day. It provides you with energy and stamina that stays with you for the rest of the day.
Yoga is a long term process. You can’t feel changes from the first day, but if you do yoga every day, you will be able to witness the transformation. You will feel so good that thoughts of smoking will not even come to your mind.
Nicotine craving and yoga
A smoker is habituated to inhaling nicotine more than one time in a day. That is why their body is habituated to this behavior which means nicotine dependency. The nicotine craving is your body’s reaction when you stop taking nicotine suddenly. And these cravings are responsible for why a smoker cannot stop themselves from having another cigarette. Thus dealing with nicotine craving is the hardest part of a quit smoking journey.
Yoga helps to subtle your emotions, calm your mind, and provides you with the ability to control your actions. With the help of regular yoga, you will be able to listen to your body and make decisions accordingly. For example, when the nicotine craving becomes strong, deep breathing exercises can help you to cope up.
The decision to quit smoking requires a lot of mind control. If you cannot keep your mind calm and control nicotine cravings, you cannot quit smoking. So you see, quitting smoking is not only your physical fight but also an emotion. This is exactly where yoga needs to enter the picture. Regular yoga practice helps to cope with emotional stress and thus helps you with anxiety, depression, etc. after effects.
Smoking is injurious to health; you may have heard these warnings thousands of times but anyhow ignored it. But now, when you have decided to quit smoking, you need to concentrate on the harms that smoking brings to your body—for example, lung health. Due to smoking, your lungs are seriously affected. Practising yoga not only helps you with the nicotine craving but also improves your lungs’ functioning capacity.
Tips for quitting smoking with yoga
Do more breathing exercises or pranayama. It will not only improve your lungs but also reduce your mental stress and toxins from your body.
Meditate whenever you crave nicotine. It will calm your brain down, and your bad habit will be replaced with a new one.
Come up with a new motto for your life, in the language of yoga that is called a mantra. This will help you to stick your focus on the positive things, and along with that, it will continuously provide you with a positive vibe.
Do not only concentrate on your lungs and mind. Choose your asanas according to your lifestyle. Choose the postures that can improve your daily habits and routine. Yoga is a long term process. You need to be patient.
For some people, yoga may not be the only solution. In order to make nicotine history, it’s okay if you feel the need for something more. Try to consult a psychologist, try nicotine replacement therapies; do whatever you feel is right for you.
But here’s the catch, nothing will work if it is not done perfectly. For example, you can not just pick one yoga posture or one NRT product. Always consult with your doctor or physiotherapist before making any decision.
Give it up for the Yogi Life
There are absolutely no side effects of yoga. No matter what posture you choose for yourself, in what way or another it will improve your health. But quitting smoking is an arduous journey. This is not the time for any experimentation. That’s why, in this situation, choosing the perfect yoga asanas is very crucial. But it’s not that hard too. Just be patient and go ahead.