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As a smoker, you know how comforting stepping out for a smoke can be. Smoke breaks are relaxing rituals that can help you cope with stress, keep perspective, and feel good. So why give them up? With The Smoke-Free Smoke Break, you don’t have to. This groundbreaking approach presents a complete plan for quitting smoking safely by helping you transform your smoke breaks into a powerful self-care routine for managing stress and cravings.
The exercises and meditations in this program are designed to make it easy for you to mindfully manage stress, control cravings, and prevent relapse. Long after you’ve quit, you’ll continue to enjoy smoke-free smoke breaks to help you feel calm, relaxed, and in control throughout the day.
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The Smoke-Free Smoke Break is a groundbreaking approach to smoking cessation that helps readers learn to replace smoking with mindfulness, craving control, and cognitive restructuring techniques that help readers reduce tobacco use gradually, at their own pace. Because the ritual and habit of smoking can be as addictive as nicotine itself, this book allows readers to continue taking "smoke-free smoke breaks" using tobacco-free relaxation methods.
Pavel G. Somov, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in private practice.
Publications:
Somov, P. G. (2008) A Psychodrama Group for Substance Use Relapse Prevention Training. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38, 151-161.
Somov, P.G. (2007). Meaning of Life Group: Group Application of Logotherapy for Substance Use Treatment. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 32 (4), 316 - 345.
Somov, P.G. (2000) Time Perception as a Measure of Pain Intensity and Pain Type. Journal of Back & Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, 14 (3), 111-121.
Education:
State University of New York at Buffalo: Ph.D., Counseling Psychology
Professional Affiliations:
Member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Member of the Greater Pittsburgh Psychological Association (GPPA) Member of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA)
Military Service:
Independent Special Purpose Motorized Rifle Brigade (OMSBON) of the Ministry of Interior of the Soviet Union (1987-1989)
Utilizing self-awareness and the skills of mindfulness, Dr. Somov and Dr. Somova have created an unprecedented protocol for quitting the nicotine habit. They have cleverly woven the concept of "smoking meditations" into a gradual smoking cessation program allowing the individual the option to choose when they are ready to quit, rather than instilling a mandatory timeline for all smokers to follow. Somov and Somova recognize the value of the freedom of choice and its impact on the success or failure of an individual's efforts to quit smoking. Through a series of present centered exercises, the smoker is afforded the chance to experience their smoking habit from many perspectives, all of which are designed to interrupt the mindless patterns which are so often developed by smokers. Whether you are ready to take on the challenge of quitting smoking on your own or are a professional counselor looking for an innovative way to reach your clients, "the smoke-free smoke break" will offer you a new view of an old habit, a deeper understanding of the challenges involved in changing embedded patterns of behavior, and the miracle of incorporating choice and acceptance into the process of quitting. Barbara Bourgeois MS, NCC Behavioral Health Clinician
In an age of commercials for patches and gum that focus on how quitting doesn't suck and that celebrate swapping out nicotine gum for a cigarette, this book offers something different--mindfulness. I've known "former" smokers who have been on the patch for years. While they might smell better and spend less time outside, they were still not dealing with the reasons they used nicotine as a coping tool in the first place. They merely swapped one form for another. And, as Samov and Samov point out, smoking is not a disease--why should we treat it with pharmacueticals as if it were?
Samov and Samov take a different pathway here; instead of demonizing the behavior they seek to help the smoker understand the behavior and the actual benefits of smoking that keep them going back for another cigarette. The first portion of the book discusses the actual physical effects of smoking and helps the reader to understand that there is more to smoking than just the selfish desire to smoke. I'd recommend this first chapter to not only smokers wanting to cut back, but also to their significant others who want to better understand the urge to smoke and how smoking truly is a coping tool.
The second section of the book offers a 30 day prep plan--smoking meditations and koans that lead to more mindful smoking. The goal here is to disrupt the patterns we have with smoking and to make it a deliberate act and choice. The koans or thought exercises get the reader to reflect on larger questions like "what is a nonsmoking" and requires that they look beyond habitual actions.
Through focusing on skillpower instead of willpower, the authors provide a daily practice that helps the smoker to refocus and be mindful of their actions and of the potential effects of those actions. In addition to the 30 days of prep work designed to awaken the smoking zombie/sleep smoker, there is also a section of 20 breathing exercises that can help usher in the "wind of change" by teaching practices like "smoking air."
As a former smoker (and the child of a life-long smoker and a former smoker), I appreciate the way in which there are practical steps and exercises to the program and that it is customizable. The book doesn't say that quitting is the only way to go--instead, there are several pathways the reader can choose and the book covers the issue of relapse, as well as craving control. In addition to the mindful smoking approach, the book also covers mindful eating and addresses how to deal with emotional eating that often replaces the smoking behaviors.
I'd recommend this to anyone considering cutting back or attempting to quit smoking; the behavioral exercises in the book not only would be good for smokers but could be applied to any addictive behavior.
