All those who try to quit smoking, experience at least one or more of these symptoms: craving to smoke, difficulty concentrating, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, anxiety, cognitive impairment, increased appetite and eventually, weight gain. So much so that it becomes a constant struggle to overcome nicotine addiction. Many times, people shift their addiction from one substance to another. A tried and tested way to reduce all these symptoms is to practice Sanatan Kriya.
The habitual use of tobacco in any form constricts the arteries to such an extent that the blood flow gets affected. To unclog the arteries, you need to ensure that the prana (life force) is appropriately distributed in your body. Yogic breathing is a potent tool for the same.
For this, sit in vajrasana. That is, with your knees placed together and legs folded such that your buttocks rest on your heels. The big toes overlap, right over the left. As you inhale, fill breath in the abdominal region, move it to your thoracic and then to your clavicular region. Exhalation takes place first from clavicular, then thoracic and then from the abdominal regions. At the time of inhalation, internally chant the mantra ‘so’ and ‘hum’ while exhaling. As you inhale move your eyeballs to look from the tip of the nose to the center of forehead, and while exhaling return from the forehead to the tip of the nose.
Along with this eye movement, move your awareness between the seven chakras in your body, taking the Mooladhar (base of your spine) to correspond with the nose tip, a little above that Swadishthan (pelvic), followed by Manipoorak (navel), Anahad (chest), Vishuddhi (throat), Agya (forehead), and the Sahastrar (top of the head). Keep your eyes closed throughout this kriya. One inhalation and exhalation completes one cycle. Repeat this seven times.
This kriya will ensure redistribution of prana in the body, thereby eliminating all withdrawal symptoms and help the body fight the addiction and nicotine dependence. Those who do this kriya regularly also experience a sense of balance that makes the process of de-addiction, smooth and permanent.
During this time, include a lot of liquids and fresh juices in your diet. You can also chew on sugarcane sticks every time you feel a craving for smoking.
It is recommended that you visit a Dhyan Foundation Centre near you to learn the correct way to practice Yogic breathing.
Puff Alert:
Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable cancers. tobacco consumption alone accounts for nearly 5.4 million deaths per year and one billion people may die in this century if global tobacco consumption remained at the current levels.
How bad can one puff of smoke really be?
When a smoker takes a puff, more than 7,000 chemicals, , including hundreds that are toxic and at least 70 that cause cancer, rapidly spread through the body and cause cellular damage in nearly every organ.
The smoke does immediate harm by inflaming the lining of the lungs, potentially leading to serious diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your dna, which can lead to cancer.
It can also damage blood vessels and make it more difficult for blood to clot, increasing the risk for heart attacks, strokes, and aneurysms.
Smoking makes it harder for diabetics to control their blood sugar and harder for women to get pregnant, and it increases the risk for miscarriages, premature births, and babies being born underweight and with damaged lungs and brains.
There is no evidence that adding filters to cigarettes has made them safer or that “low-tar” and “light” cigarettes are any less dangerous. in fact, modern cigarettes are designed to be addictive, delivering nicotine more quickly and efficiently than ever, the reason why so many people get hooked so quickly and have such a hard time quitting.