Allen Carr - Allen Carrs Easy Way to Stop Smoking

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The common thread running through Allen Carrs work is the removal of fear. Indeed, his genius lies in eliminating the phobias and anxieties which prevent people from being able to enjoy life to the full, as his bestselling books Allen Carrs Easy Way to Stop Smoking, The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently, Allen Carrs Easyweigh to Lose Weight, Allen Carrs Easyway To Control Alcohol, How to Stop Your Child Smoking, and The Easy Way to Enjoy Flying, vividly demonstrate.

A successful accountant, Allen Carrs hundred-cigarettes-a-day addiction was driving him to despair until, in 1983, after countless failed attempts to quit, he finally discovered what the world had been waiting for: an Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Together with Robin Hayley, whom he appointed as Managing Director of Allen Carrs Easyway Worldwide, he went on to build a network of clinics that span the globe and have a phenomenal reputation for success in helping smokers to quit and a global publishing programme. His books have been published in over thirty-six different languages in over fifty different countries and DVD, audio, CD-ROM, video game and webcast versions of his method are also available. Allen also nominated Robin as his successor and gave him responsibility for his lasting legacy.

Hundreds of thousands of people have attended Allen Carrs Easyway clinics where, with a success rate of over 90 per cent, they guarantee that you will find it easy to quit smoking or your money back. A full list of clinics appears in the back of this book. Should you require any assistance do not hesitate to contact your nearest clinic.

Weight-control and alcohol sessions are now offered at a selection of these clinics. A full corporate service is also available enabling companies to implement stop smoking programmes in the workplace simply and effectively.

All correspondence and enquiries about Allen Carrs EASY-WAY books, DVDs, audios, CD-ROMs, video games and webcasts should be addressed to the London Head Office and Clinic listed at the back of this book.

Perhaps I should begin by describing my competence for writing this book. No, I am not a doctor or a psychiatrist; my qualifications are far more appropriate. I spent thirty-three years of my life as a confirmed smoker. In the later years I smoked a hundred a day on a bad day, and never less than sixty.

I made dozens of attempts to stop. I once stopped for six months, and I was still climbing the wall, still standing near smokers trying to get a whiff of the tobacco.

With most smokers, on the health side, its a question of Ill stop before it happens to me. I had reached the stage where I knew it was killing me. I had a permanent headache with the pressure of the constant coughing. I could feel the continuous throbbing in the vein that runs vertically down the centre of my forehead, and I honestly believed that any moment there would be an explosion in my head and I would die from a brain haemorrhage. It bothered me, but it still didnt stop me.

I had reached the stage where I gave up even trying to stop. It was not so much that I enjoyed smoking. At some time in their lives most smokers have suffered from the illusion that they enjoy the odd cigarette; but I never suffered from that illusion. I have always detested the taste and smell, but I thought a cigarette helped me to relax. It gave me courage and confidence, and I was always miserable when I tried to stop, never being able to visualize an enjoyable life without a cigarette.

Eventually my wife sent me to a hypnotherapist. I must confess that I was completely sceptical, knowing nothing about hypnosis in those days and having visions of a Svengalitype figure with piercing eyes and a waving pendulum. I suffered many of the usual illusions that smokers have about smoking except one I knew that I wasnt a weak-willed person. I was in control of all other aspects of my life but cigarettes controlled me. I thought that hypnosis involved the forcing of wills, and although I was not obstructive (like most smokers, I dearly wanted to stop), I thought no one was going to kid me that I didnt need a smoke.

The whole session appeared to be a waste of time. The hypnotherapist tried to make me lift my arms and do various other things. Nothing appeared to be working properly. I didnt lose consciousness. I didnt go into a trance, or at least I didnt think I did, and yet after that session not only did I stop smoking but I actually enjoyed the process even during the withdrawal period.

Now, before you go rushing off to see a hypnotherapist, let me make something quite clear. Hypnotherapy is a means of communication. If the wrong message is communicated, you wont stop smoking. Im loath to criticize the man whom I consulted because I would be dead by now if I hadnt seen him. But it was in spite of him, not because of him. Neither do I wish to appear to be knocking hypnotherapy; on the contrary, we use it as part of our programme at our clinics. It is the power of suggestion and a powerful force that can be used for good or evil. Dont ever consult a hypnotherapist unless he or she has been personally recommended by someone you respect and trust.

During those awful years as a smoker I thought that my life depended on cigarettes, and I was prepared to die rather than be without them. Today people ask me whether I ever have the odd pang. The answer is, Never, never, never just the reverse. Ive had a marvellous life. If I had died through smoking, I couldnt have complained. I have been a very lucky man, but the most marvellous thing that has ever happened to me is being freed from that nightmare, that slavery of having to go through life systematically destroying my own body and paying through the nose for the privilege.

Let me make it quite clear from the beginning: I am not a mystical figure. I do not believe in magicians or fairies. I have a scientific brain, and I couldnt understand what appeared to me like magic. I started reading up on hypnosis and on smoking. Nothing I read seemed to explain the miracle that had happened. Why had it been so ridiculously easy to stop, whereas previously it had been weeks of black depression?

It took me a long time to work it all out, basically because I was going about it back to front. I was trying to work out why it had been so easy to stop, whereas the real problem is trying to explain why smokers usually find it so difficult . Smokers talk about the terrible withdrawal pangs, but when I looked back and tried to remember those awful pangs, they didnt exist for me. There was no physical pain. It was all in the mind.

My full-time profession is now helping other smokers to get free. Im very, very successful and my clinics and books have helped to cure millions of smokers. Let me emphasize from the start: there is no such thing as a confirmed smoker. I have still not met anybody who was as badly hooked (or, rather, thought he was as badly hooked) as myself. Anybody can not only stop smoking but also find it easy. It is basically fear that keeps us smoking: the fear that life will never be quite as enjoyable without cigarettes and the fear of feeling deprived. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only is life just as enjoyable without them but it is infinitely more so in so many ways and extra health, energy and wealth are the least of the advantages.

All smokers can find it easy to stop even you! All you have to do is read the rest of the book with an open mind. The more you can understand, the easier you will find it. Even if you do not understand every word, provided you follow the instructions you will find it easy. Most important of all, you will not go through life moping for cigarettes or feeling deprived. The only mystery will be why you did it for so long.