Hello everyone!  Well, I lived through my horrific 3 or 4 day epic battle with Bronchitis, but I have to say there were moments I didn't think I was going to.  I cannot remember being that sick in many, many years and it was downright scary!  This leads me to confession time:  I'm a smoker, I'm addicted to cigarettes. GASP-I know, here I am blogging about healthy living and alternative therapies and I'm doing something destructive to my body!  I know how bad it is for me (I don't know to many people that have destructive or unhealthy bad habits that don't know this, honestly).  I have even lost two people I cared about to lung cancer at young ages (40 and 52 respectively) and there are two people I'm close to now that have emphysema. Anyway, many smokers are that way because they (we) are SO addicted, not only to the nicotine, but to the ritual and habit of smoking, that it's one of the hardest addictions on the planet to shake. It usually takes something happening to us personally (not those around us), such as illness, to shake us up and motivate us (that is true with many addictions as well).

Well, I don't know whether the smoking was the cause of my bronchitis or not, but it certainly contributed to it being as bad as it was, so I came out of my illness ready to quit!   Finally!   I had planned on just stopping; I was sick through the entire process of nicotine withdrawel (which takes about 72 hours) so it should have been that simple.  I had even thrown all my darn cigarettes away!  But NO, last night (the first night I was feeling mostly back to normal) I had a craving so darn bad that I caved and had like 3 puffs on a cigarette.  That was enough to undo the nicotine withdrawel, it only takes one puff.  Sick or what?  Ironically though, having the cigarettes in my possession (as opposed to throwing them away) is comforting (I guess knowing I CAN have one if I want one because they are there) and I only had a couple of puffs today too, no major cravings at all.  I guess different things work for different people.

So, I'm now back to the drawing board, and at a friends suggestion I'm choosing to quit because I want to, not because illness forced me to that decision.  I'm looking at all the various "quit smoking" websites for tips and tricks (many of which contradict each other!  ARGGHH!), but also looking to alternative medicine-specifically ayurveda, for help.  I opened my copy of "Perfect Health: The Complete Body and Mind Guide" by Deepak Chopra, M.D., an ayurvedic practitioner.  Well, one of the first things he stresses in the battle to quit smoking (or kick any addiction for that matter) is the necessity of meditation.  He sites many studies in his book that say that addicts who incorporate daily meditation into their lives are much more successful when they quit their addiction than those who don't (or something to that effect).  Ok, well that's great and I just did a section in my blog on meditation so I should be an expert and it should come naturally, right?  Umm, confession number two.  No, it's not easy for me, especially the practices most people associate with meditation, such as breath focus or repeating a mantra.   When I was in my 20's, I did become disciplined enough to meditate on my breath for about 5 to 10 minutes a shot (though I didn't do it daily).  As I got older and life got more hectic I found it harder and harder to meditate this way, not to mention hard to find 15-20 minutes of peace and quiet at any time during my day.

My friend and I were talking about this very subject at work today and how hard the "practice of meditation" is, and I was telling her that I used to have success with walking meditation (when I lived in the woods and could go off by myself for a walk and all I did was focus on the walk), which led her to ask if something like playing the piano could be meditative?  She had noted that she entered what she considers a meditative type state while doing just that, getting lost in the music and focusing on nothing else.  I told her that I certainly think it's a form of meditation, why not?  There are literally hundreds of ways to meditate out there. In fact, looking back at the two types of meditation, I would say her example, without question, falls into the category of concentrative meditation.  Here's the definition of that again:  Concentrative meditation involves focusing in on something specific or narrowing our field of vision, if you will.  Well, all this led to my EUREKA! moment tonight!  I had a flash of insight!  There is a way for EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE to meditate in a way that is easy and natural for them, in my opinion.  By that very definition, knitting can be meditative, chopping onions, staring at a fire in the fireplace, etc.  So, I think I will meditate in order to help me succeed in my smoking secession and I will find a way that works for me. 

I will go into the other ways I'm looking to ayurveda for help in this fight tomorrow.  Until then, thanks for letting me ramble and have a great night!