Home » Benefit » Can meditation help to stop smoking?
For teenagers, they smoke to show self-confidence. For many adults, it help to reduce stress. Many intelligent people smoke to release tension and to have more creativity. Smoking can be considered as a part of human civilization.
Anyway, chemical agent called Nicotine doesn't give only good effect. A lot of people suffer by not be able to be free from smoking. They become addicts. It hurts their health. It costs. It take out their self-confidence. Most important effect is nicotine disturbs our mind quality. People can interpret wrongly situation, especially for spiritual and moral subject. Mind of one who smoke will not clear and bright. That why face of smokers never shows real happiness.
A lot of people who practice meditation regularly can quit smoking. A summer training program in Thailand revealed that a lot of student can be free from drinking and smoking after joining 2 months ordination program. They took Buddhist eight precepts for the first month and follow monk precepts for the second one. Each day they meditate around 3 hours in 4 sessions.
Smoking relates to thinking behavior. When people smoke, they can think easier. Once nicotine in blood vessel diminishes, they feel uncomfortable. Then they try to smoke again. To smoke is to intake a chemical agent which function in our brain. Thinking after smoking was influenced by nicotine. There are many ideas and creativities from people who smoke but this kind of thoughts never guide to do anything to have a brighter mind.
Meditation is an activity we work directly with our mind. It helps to focalize it. Mind will be trained to be pure, clear and bright. With stillness, all function of mind will be sharper and more precise. Stress will go out. Creativity and intuition will be developed. Idea and creativity of meditators is a lot more valuable. It comes from brighter mind. So it will always guide to solve any situation for the benefit of everyone. We call this kind of idea or solution as wisdom.
Thinking happens in our mind. To solve mental problem, we need to solve by mental solution, not chemical. Spirituality is the best way to solve mind solution. Meditation is a mental and spiritual activity that helps protect and develop our mind.
Meditation creates self-confidence for young people. It reduce stress for working people and it can replace cigarette to develop creativity for intellectual people.