Frequently Asked Questions

If you really want something, it’s not willpower you use to get it. It’s desire! That is a hugely powerful force. The problem we have as smokers is whether we really want to stop smoking or not. This is no joke – it’s one of the main reasons why it’s hard to stop. Clarifying what you really want is the first thing that happens in the program. It doesn’t happen all of a sudden, it’s a step-by-step gradual process.

It means that you still have live triggers operating. This is what the Smokenders process handles, so that you just have no urge left to smoke. It becomes as undesirable as – well, cold cabbage.

What many of us have used before is “won’t power:” I won’t smoke, I won’t smoke….”

If I say to you, “DO NOT think of a red Volkswagen,” what will you think of? Yes, right. That’s because the mind doesn’t hear DO NOT. It also doesn’t hear don’t, won’t , shouldn’t, can’t. So the instruction you are giving yourself is – guess what – SMOKE.

What you resist, persists! Learn to dismantle the triggers so you’re just indifferent to cigarettes. See Testimonials.

Truth is, almost every smoker would stop if they knew how. We have asked thousands of smokers this question (also asked in a large British survey):

“If you could go back to the first cigarette you ever smoked, knowing what you know now, would you light it?”

How many do you think said “NO?” The survey says 80%. We had the same result, and most smokers said: “…and that last 20% were lying!”

The rebel behaviour often hides fear...

• I can’t do it
• I don’t know how
• I’ll fail as I have so often before
• I won’t be able to cope with my life
• I’ll lose it
• Stress will take over

See Testimonials.

Most stop-smoking methods focus on addiction. The Smokenders method goes to the cause of your smoking. We took up smoking because it served a purpose – whatever the reason, it worked! That’s why we kept on doing it.

The next stage then took over: the double parasite of physical dependence on the drug, and emotional dependence on its effects. A smoker is caught in the iron grip of a parasite that digs ever deeper into body, mind and emotion.

If you are well and truly hooked, to be free is no instant-coffee method: it’s a step-by-step process, slowly pulling out the roots of the parasite until you are finally, completely free. There is no craving because the cause and the effect have been eliminated. See Testimonials.

How do you feel when somebody tells you what to do? Irritated? Resentful? Non-smokers seem to think it’s open season on telling smokers to stop. We remember how annoying it was, so we won’t tell you to do anything! Some parts of you really want to be free, if you’re like most smokers. They want to be free of the stink, the worry, the secret fears. More than that, they want quality of life, the clean, light energy of the youngster they once were. And can be again.

It’s seldom a clear choice to stop smoking, but if you’ve got this far you’re probably 70% convinced – and that’s plenty!

Smoking is a two-armed monster.

Arm Number One is the nicotine that causes addiction. With the first few cigarettes your brain learns to rely on the nicotine (carried to it by the bloodstream) to stimulate the “feel good” chemicals. If you don’t smoke the brain sends out signals, “Hey, we’re uncomfortable up here, have a smoke.” If you don’t listen, it sends more messages – you twitch, can’t concentrate, get jumpy, irritable. The messages get worse until you give in and have a smoke, then aaaaaah! The body is flooded with relief that we interpret as “pleasure.” Now there’s one arm around your neck.

Arm Number Two: your mind remembers “pleasure.” Next time you feel “bad” it will remind you how to “feel good” – have a smoke. Now the mind trans-contextualises – it adds all “bad” feelings to the list one by one, and pretty soon, all good feelings as well. Who would smoke after winning a jackpot? Or when you party? Have a look what situations and feelings “make” you smoke and you’ll see it’s many. The other Arm is now wrapped around your neck as well.

The course shows you how to peel off those arms, weed out the tentacles of this parasite, one by one, so that you are completely, finally free. See Testimonials.

With some people smoking is so deeply ingrained that it can take longer to weed it out of their lives. Part of it is a lack of faith that the program can work, so they skimp on the tasks, decide to pick & choose, not do some. Each task is a vital piece of the puzzle, so the second time around they become deadly serious about it, still longing to be free.

So if you’ve failed, you may repeat the program for half price. I know you have the lessons, but it’s the interaction, the knowledge that your Personal Coach is with you, ready to talk to you, write to you, that makes all the difference.

Receptors in the brain never sleep: all it takes to get hooked (or hooked again after stopping) is one or two cigarettes.Or one puff of a cigar. The easier way is to know that "you are a puff away from a pack a day" - for ever! There is absolutely no choice at all, no possibility of yielding to temptation. Remember, even if you have an attorney to plead your case of "just one," that SMOKING IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH. Literally. See Testimonials.

The average smoker would have to weigh an extra 75 to 100 pounds to put a strain on her heart equal to the risk of smoking a pack a day. That doesn't take into account lung damage, cancer risks and all the other dangers of smoking.

The danger of extra weight is that many ex-smokers use it as an excuse to go back to smoking. They think that if they smoke again they will lose weight. To their surprise, they go back to smoking and keep on the extra pounds. The body adjusts.

Learning to stop smoking can teach ways to reduce weight, including:

• how to handle wanting something "more" (emotional causes)
• exercising
• raising metabolism
• eating correctly

See Testimonials.

Nicotine is a drug. It is more addictive than heroin. Many smokers are more prone to addiction than others because of the make-up of their body/brain chemistry. They produce less of the "pleasure & relaxation chemicals" (dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline) OR too much of the "mopping up" chemicals.

We need to learn other ways to promote pleasure & relaxation rather than risking disease and early death from the toxins in tobacco smoke. See Testimonials.

Stress is often a state of overload. There are many emotions involved, such as anger, resentment, agitation, worry, anxiety, depression, fear, irritation, even grief. Smoking seems to bring relief, but the relief is momentary, and after the cigarette, we go right back tobeing stressed again.

The worst part is that much of our stress is caused by smoking, as the body goes into a shock reaction to the thousands of poisons in tobacco smoke. Every organ and muscle and cell is pushed to panic levels to clear out the poisons and save the body’s life. This process is explained carefully in the lectures, not just delivered as a bald fact.

“I’m so much calmer,” is a frequent comment from our participants. “I just don’t get so worked up any more.” see Testimonials.

It’s not easy to imagine yourself being indifferent to smoking. And that’s just exactly what happens. If you dislike chillies & your partner loves them, will you suddenly grab his chillies & chomp them?

Read the testimonials and find out how astonished most smokers have been, that people can smoke all around them, and it’s a big “so what.”

There are good reasons for this, and we promise you will understand them and just revel in your freedom! Even more, your freedom from craving. It doesn’t have to hurt. This is one time when it really can be easy. See Testimonials.

Most smokers are. It’s natural to avoid pain – it’s what human beings do. So what we have to do is look beyond the cigarette, to what we really want. We need to focus on the great pleasure to come, a healthy life full of zest and energy, fun and enthusiasm. That is how the course works.

We don’t want to sweep the fear under a carpet, we work with it, and turn it around. One day soon it will be easy to look the monsters in the face and laugh to think they had power over us!

If you find a smoking monster we can’t help you to turn into a mouse, we’ll give you a refund!

See Testimonials.

Many smokers are rebels. They’ve been battered with the ugly facts so often that they don’t even SEE the warnings anymore. Taking risks is considered “cool” – and many a young person has been overhead offered a cigarette saying “have a cancer.” If scaring smokers was going to work, it would have worked already.

We don’t use scare tactics. The whole focus is on how to stop without craving; how to learn the skills, how to overcome the Nico-Demon for ever! See Testimonials.

No Smokenders Coach has ever told a smoker to stop! We never will either. It’s your choice and we respect it. Having said that, thousands of smokers have told us they are not ready. Yet they came. And they stopped, and they are happy about it.

Most smokers will never be ready to stop! Cigarettes are their friends, support systems, means of coping with life, enjoyment, relief, relaxation. Smoking is a strategy and a very useful one too. It’s an instant, effective, handy medication for many problems (only has a few side effects such as illness and, eventuallydeath).

All actions have consequences, however, and at a certain stage all of us chose to find another strategy. We chose a friend that wasn’t going to kill us, a means of coping that didn’t make us stink and require slavery, we found more truly rewarding, enjoyable ways to be relaxed and happy. The realisation finally hit us that smoking had never solved one of our problems – not one, ever. Because all the problems come back right after that smoke, with other problems attached.

Yes it’s hard to think of giving up something we enjoy….until the price of that enjoyment becomes more than we are prepared to pay.

Then we ask…”How can I stop?” See Testimonials.

Nicotine replacement (patches, gum, spray)

There are many choices, each with their own consequences. We see no point in replacing nicotine (a deadly poison) with more nicotine when you are trying to come off nicotine. It is the most addictive drug known to man, more addictive than heroine or cocaine (according to many, including some of our participants). With the slow reduction of nicotine intake, there are few withdrawal symptoms, if any.

We find the nicotine replacement therapy only complicates the issue, prolongs the process, and you run the risk of becoming addicted to the replacement itself. Because the other Arm (see Why is it so hard to stop smoking) – the emotional bond – is still active, many people smoke as well as take the replacement, thus overdosing on nicotine - an extremely dangerous process often resulting in frightening symptoms.

Our product Happy Drops 1 provides a herbal “nicotine look-alike” that mimics the effects of nicotine in a safe way, reducing craving and providing a safe boost.

What we really enjoy is relief from the discomfort of needing a "fix" i.e. we smoke because we don’t enjoy NOT smoking. The pain has stopped so that’s interpreted as “good.”

The fear that accompanies early smoking cessation is that the rest of our lives will be as difficult as the first few days without cigarettes. What smoker-enders learn is that EVERY SINGLE TIME the urge is denied, it becomes easier - and easier - and easier,

See Testimonials.

Alcohol is a strong trigger to smoke. It has a similar effect on the “feel good chemicals” and the two added together deliver a triple whammy! And don’t we know it. Alcohol also increases acidity, speeding up nicotine absorption, hence more craving.

Yet there are millions of people who enjoy drinking without wanting a smoke. A lot of them are Smokenders graduates!

The course works intensively on this aspect of smoking, and one day you will forget you ever smoked. That’s a promise – if you do the assignments we recommend. See Testimonials.

We are happy if smokers can be helped by whatever method they try, and for many conditions acupuncture and hypnotism are marvellous and much to be valued. However the success rate in smoking cessation has not been high with these methods. This is judged by reports from our participants who have tried both. The “hard core” cases seem to end up with Smokenders, those that have tried all the so-called easier, quicker methods. Most of the Smokenders Coaches themselves tried every method they could find, before coming to Smokenders and stopping for good. See Testimonials.

Nicotine has de-activated your natural system of producing “feel good” chemicals. It takes a short time before the natural system gets going again. We can offer some emergency herbal drops see Happy Drops 1) that you take on demand, and a natural remedy to boost your “feel good” system while you’re stopping.

Depression is an important subject, and treated as such in the program. Smoking is indeed a medication for depression, however it’s use causes disease and death. It’s a price most people won’t and don’t need to pay. There are other, more effective and constructive methods.

About 80% of psychiatric patients smoke. However we never heard of smoking curing one of them. It’s at best an inadequate aspirin. Of course you can choose to continue. You can also choose to find a permanent cure. That is the route we recommend. No, we don’t’ guarantee to “cure” depression: we show YOU how to do it! See Testimonials.

There are many available. It is a choice the smoker has to make, whether to risk taking allopathic medicines, and suffer the resultant side effects and eventual withdrawal symptoms, which can be most unpleasant to say the least.

Our method is to provide herbal products that stimulate the “feel good” chemicals safely and gently. The main ingredients are Griffonia (herbal 5HTP) and St. John’s Wort.

No remedy on its own can handle the emotional causes of smoking: that is the job of the program.

Anger is a way some of have learned to handle situations. Cigarettes calm us down partly because they adjust our brain chemicals. It’s not unlike medicating ourselves for depression. Anger, agitation, aggression, are all aspects of depression. Most smokers find they are calmer, less angry, when they stop smoking.

Much of our feeling of stress is caused by smoking – this is a major part of the program, and we show you how it works, we don’t just preach at you. Being a smoker, you need to understand how it works, not just accept a collection of new rules. See Testimonials.