Smoking has been called "dirty breathing." Conscious breathing will stimulate your nerves in the exact same way that breathing does but, of course, its a healthier choice. When you have the desire to smoke, inhale and hold the breath, feel the desire intensely, and slowly exhale letting the desire go. We also recommend, while trying to quit, that you carry around almonds and raisins and eat a few of each when needed. Almonds have protein and raisons have iron to help transfer oxygen into the blood. This will keep you blood sugar levels stabilized. When your blood sugar levels are low, you are far more susceptible to wanting to smoke. In the macrobiotic tradition they recommend eating a pickled umbeoshi plum to curve the momentary desire to smoke.

We suggest the breath meditation on the PM portion of our AM/PM Yoga DVD: Hands in lap, eyes 1/10th open, inhale 4 sniffs, hold 16 slow counts, exhale 2 sniffs. Think Sa Ta Na Ma once on the inhale, and 4 times on the held breath. Think Wah Hay Guru on the 2 part exhale. Do this 11-31 minutes before bed as preparation for quitting.

We do suggest that you persevere with the addiction alternative techniques in Yoga Quick Fixes, especially the one where you interlace the fingers over the solar plexus and inhale through puckered lips and exhale through the nose.

We also suggest you do as much yoga as possible while preparing for, and throughout the quitting process. A regular Kundalini Yoga practice will keep your anxiety level way down.