As a Yoga teacher I often meet students that join my classes and have smoking habit. They usually ask me – “Can you smoke and still practice yoga?”
The ideal situation is to be smoke free, of course! But if you smoke; then it should not stop you from starting a Yoga practice. In fact as you do more yoga; you will find that this habit cease to bother you and you may overcome it!
If you are planning to quit smoking, yoga can provide you a permanent solution. Yoga teaches us that people develop addictions to correct an internal "imbalance". Any smoker can tell how important a cigarette becomes for stress relief, social coolness and to introduce and conclude every day events like meals and going to work. In the depth of the habit, the only way to feel completion after a task or gain emotional balance.
With Yoga practice comes self-awareness. The way a cigarette smells, the amount of seconds it takes to inhale and the thoughts during a craving are all part of a pattern that is subconscious. With self-awareness, one can no longer deny the addiction and cannot enjoy a cigarette without feeling self-betrayal.
Yogic approach to the smoking habit is trying to break this vicious circle and install a virtuous one. This can be done from the moment you learn to breathe and feel the many benefits of good. Thus, the smoker begins to see the contrast between a positive yogic breathing and a superficial polluted breathing of fresh air and the harmful smoke.
We must acknowledge that ‘Health’ is just one of the benefits that you experience through the practice of Yoga. In Yoga, the replacement of addiction occurs with deep cleansing of the lungs, which begin to breathe clean air, rejuvenating your body and giving it more vitality. The goal though, is something deeper. In the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Yoga is defined as ‘Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodhah’ which means ‘Yoga is the cessation of all modifications in the mind’.
Generally Smokers are people with higher stress levels and smoking is their way of dealing with that stress. Now, when you start practicing yoga, your stress levels are significantly reduced, meaning that you don’t really need the habit anymore to feel ‘relaxed’. Trough Yoga you will change for the better in ways that are now unimaginable to you.
Yoga cultivates determination and willpower in a smoker which are the primary strengths needed to quit smoking
After one chooses to give up smoking, yoga helps with the inevitable anger and depression associated with the quitting process by encouraging the individual to deal with these emotions in a peaceful way.
Yoga will provide you the necessary confidence that forms the base for the will which is required to quit smoking cigarettes. It works wonders on the lungs that are smoked by regular puffs and increases the lung capacity. When one starts doing Yoga, one's attention is directed towards one's body. In due course what seemed as an effort to do the Yoga asanas, becomes a natural way of life. One then becomes conscious of his health with regular Yoga practices. Yoga de-stresses one and has a direct impact on one's mind gradually bringing about stability in emotions.
Yoga increases the mental strength and general immunity in person trough different techniques like:
• Pranayama, conscious control of the breath is very effective in handling the withdrawal symptoms owing to nicotine addiction.
• Jala Neti, is an effective cleansing technique helps one to give up smoking. It effectively works on the physical as well as the psychological levels.
• Asanas, specifically, back bending Yoga poses works wonders on giving up the habit. Back bending exercises which expands the lungs and open up the heart area are real boons.
• Savasana or the corpse pose relaxes the body and the mind. This pose prepares one for meditation which can effectively check thought patterns connected to smoking.
Most people who quit smoking worry about gaining weight, Yoga helps one to quit smoking without weight gain, all are advantages! Yoga turns out to be a holistic approach to quit smoking.Whether you are new to yoga and have smoking habit, or if you regularly practice yoga and you are planning to quit smoking, I look forward to meeting you on the mat.
Namaste
Amalia Shakti
