“Those were also the people I turned to when I was having a tough time.

'I found former smokers to be inspirational when I quit,” she remembers. Relatability. Buko doesn’t always reveal to her clients that she's a former smoker, but says doing so sometimes provides aspiring nonsmokers with a needed role model.Who knows better what you're going through and how hard it is than an ex-smoker? Anecdotal evidence suggests that having a smoking “sponsor” with whom to share your experience, progress and setbacks is more effective than getting support from someone who’s never smoked. 'Is it tension, burning, heat, mouth-watering, tickle in my throat?' Investigate what the craving feels like in your body. Allow/Accept the craving so you can work with it. For former smokers. Brewer uses the acronym RAIN to coach patients through the quit:.'They say, 'How did I not notice this? I've been smoking for 30 years and I’m really not that excited about smoking.' That's a really critical piece.' Pay attention to the taste of the cigarette.' After that exercise, he says many patients begin to question the habit. For active smokers. “Pay attention to what it actually feels like to smoke,” he advises.He uses two mindfulness approaches in his addiction practice: 'We think of mindfulness as opening up the space to respond rather than habitually react,” says Judson Brewer, MD, a psychiatrist, addiction expert and director of research at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Studies suggest that practicing mindfulness reduces smoking at a greater rate than the typical smoking cessation program.

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