Smoking Cessation
Tuesday and Thursday @ East- West Wellness Louisville, CO 303-554-1600 $10/ class
Drop-in’s welcome. Class size is limited to 12 people.
Quitting something as pervasive and addictive as cigarettes is a herculean task. It takes more than willpower. It takes retraining your brain and those automatic habits we’ve done for so long we aren’t even aware of them. My friend’s father would always pat his breast pocket when he was craving a cigarette. If it was empty, he’d immediately get a fresh pack from the carton. The smell of tobacco before it was lit was aromatic and pleasant. Afterwards, not so much. My friend’s mother reinforced our disgust (with cigarettes) by ‘allowing’ me to help my friend wash the ashtrays every week.
Now days, with the awareness on the dangers of second hand smoke, it’s not acceptable to smoke indoors. In all sorts of miserable weather, you’ll see a group of huddled workers desperately puffing outside of an office entrance. Ask any of them, and most will tell you it’s a disgusting habit. It makes everything smell bad; from your hair to the interior of your car. And if you smoke indoors (like my Aunt) it permeates everything, even the freezer. We learned not to use her ice cubes – they were ‘ash’-cubes.
The expenses related to smoking can be subtle – or blatant. My friends aunt was diagnosed with emphysema and started using oxygen tanks and later, a motorized chair. Her medications filled an entire cabinet and her clothes ranged from size 4 to 14 as different medications made her rapidly gain or lose weight. Cigarettes robbed her of her health and crushed her dreams of traveling in her retirement. They’d draw straws to see who got to drive crotchety Auntie wherever she needed to go. The toll on their nerves was high, and when her savings were depleted the rest of the family had to support her. After she died they had to clean her house before it went on the market. They thought the refrigerator was beige. Until a squirt of cleanser revealed it was actually white with a coating of tar and nicotine, inside as well as out. It took two weeks of airing it out for the freezer and refrigerator to smell clean again.
Cigarettes cost about $5.00 a pack currently. Unless you’re in NY and then you’ll fork over almost $20 a pack in some places. That’s a lot of money for someone smoking a pack a day. Can you imagine tossing a $20 down the garbage disposal every morning with your coffee grinds? Can you picture that same daily twenty going into an interest bearing account for the next ten years and then using the nest egg for your retirement, or that perfect vacation? Or, in my case in 1980, after quitting for 6 months my husband (at the time) used our savings to buy our first sailboat (we had half in savings and financed the second half). It was a 23” Gulfcoast that slept 5 people. It was the first of many. It was great basking in the sun on the weekends.
Some of us can quit cigarettes cold turkey, others need a little help, and some of us need a lot of help. That’s where acupuncture can assist your desire to quit smoking. The method is simple; delicate little acupuncture needles are placed on the proper points of the ear (it’s painless). Among the benefits reported by clients and clinicians are a more optimistic and cooperative attitude toward the process of quitting; reduction in cravings, anxiety, and sleep disturbance; and a reduction of the need for pharmaceuticals.
The protocol is known by several names including: NADA protocol, acu detox, acupuncture detoxification, five point ear acupuncture, five point protocol, and 5NP. The needles sit in the ear for 20-50 minutes while the patient sits quietly. The needles are removed and the session is over.
Some people find they only need one session to walk away from cigarettes. Others need several sessions and a few come back for maintenance sessions even though they’ve been smoke free for a week, or even a month, just to reinforce their new habit. Research proves that it takes 28 days to instill a new habit. Whether it’s flossing your teeth, doing your homework or becoming smoke free, it needs to be reinforced daily to make it entrenched.
We encourage attendees to use any and all of the tools we offer to successfully transition from smoking to non-smoking.
Tea – We have samples of a relaxing Detox Tea – an oriental blend that lessens anxiety and insomnia, while it soothes the stomach and reduces inflammation.
Lollies – The “Smoking Sucks” suckers are designed by health professionals to reduce cravings and give the hands something to do. That same company also makes “Queasy Pops” and we carry them (samples as well and packs for sale), for those who feel nauseated by the nicotine withdrawal.
X OUT SMOKE a smelling tincture used like a smelling salt. This is a custom blend of eleven herbs decocted in water and then alcohol to utilize all the aromatic compounds. These compounds have several effects including lung tonifying, endocrine and immune support.
Mantra – Sometimes people need more than a soothing cup of tea, or a sucker to keep their hands busy, or calm their stomach. That’s when we sit down and create a mantra that they can put in their wallet, or tape to the mirror, or in one case, a woman wrote it in ball point pen on her hand every morning.
Infrared Sauna – To help rid your body of toxins, consider a few sessions in the infrared sauna. Unlike conventional saunas, the infrared waves penetrate tissues up to three inches deep, encouraging the release of toxins. Regular sweat-inducing heat just releases toxins from the pores and through the sweat glands. Class attendees get a $5 discount on any sauna session 30 or 60 min. (link to sauna page).
We’re not here just to put pins in your ears. We offer encouragement, support and when you’re successful, applaud and congratulate you. We help you find the most effective tool to help you carve out your successful transition from smoker to smoke-free.
Testimonials:
The combination of acupuncture with the supportive small group atmosphere at East-West Wellness was a big help. Other additional types of support (Voices of Nicotine Recovery Website and lots of chewing gum) to my system and psyche were helpful too, making quitting an easier process than it has been in the past.
Ernie M – Quit after 18 years, 8 acupuncture sessions
It only took one acupuncture session for me to give up the cigs. About three weeks after I quit I had a call from East-West Wellness, worried because they hadn’t seen me. I had to tell them I wasn’t coming back … because I was already cig-free for the past three weeks! They were delighted to hear of my success. What a great place.
Erik S
Before taking the leap I had no expectations about it [acupuncture] working but I was desperate to try. If all else has failed, you owe yourself, your family and your friends, past, present and future to kick the nasty habit. As a bonus, those greedy companies that have poisoned us all for years and killed our families should be put out of business for good!
I smoked for 25 years, on and off. It took 2 months of treatments to stop my addiction.
The best part is not feeling ridiculous while standing outside of buildings and my home in all kinds of weather and no longer having that urgency for a smoke after a long flight.
Thanks,
Joe B
I believe that we all need support when making changes in our lives. This, along with the relaxing aspect of the acupuncture was a great adjunct in my hard won recovery. I was a smoker for 19 years and really wanted to quit, but needed a lot of help to make it happen. I attended two months worth of classes, with the last month of sessions used to reinforce my recent non-smoking status. I used the Detox Tea, the aromatic tincture as well as a mantra along with the acupuncture. It took the combination of all those things to help me to walk away from my cigarettes for good.
Mark K
quitsmokingdenverboulder 