Covid-19 has forced us to re-examine many aspects of our lives. Our focus has changed from being carefree to living in a state of fear, not knowing how or when our health will be affected by this terrible virus. For many people this has meant that they have started looking at various aspects of their lives.

Many are starting to make changes so as to improve the quality of their lives. Some people are rethinking work. Instead of driving into the office every day and being stuck in traffic for hours on end, they have realised that they can actually work from home and be even more productive than before. Others have decided to take advantage of working online and have moved to a more relaxed area from where they continue to work long distance. 

Relationships with family and friends have also come under the spotlight. By being so isolated, some people are realising just how precious these relationships are. They are finding more meaningful connections and re-establishing long-lost connections, perhaps with friends from school or family members they did not connect with as often in the past.

Celebrations are becoming special too. Micro-celebrations are now a thing. This is when someone throws a tiny little party for the smallest reason, such as having baked a great sourdough bread after many tries. Celebrating small moments of success and achievement is a way for people to keep sane in this upside-down world.

Many others are looking at improving their spiritual lives. There seems to be a big awareness of the value of a spiritual life and in order to find deeper meaning, some are finding it by going within themselves and discovering their inner spiritual resources.

Mental and physical health is high on the agenda for the majority of people. Being isolated has created anxiety, depression, and fear in so many. The lockdown has really put mental health under the spotlight. The lockdown has also had the effect that many people have started questioning their dependence on alcohol and cigarettes. When those items were unavailable, there may have been panic at first, with people making desperate attempts to either brew their own concoctions or buying illegal cigarettes at vastly inflated prices. However, it is quite noticeable just from social media how many people have decided to make drastic changes in their lives when it comes to these kinds of social addictions. According to research conducted by UCT, some 9% of smokers have already given up the habit.

Stopping smoking is easy to do when you know how to do it. Unfortunately, the majority of people have no clue how to do it. They rely on their will-power, which does not last very long. They are unaware of the power that habits have over them, especially a habit such as smoking. The problem is that the action of smoking has been repeated so many times that it has become subconscious. Without the necessary changes being made in the subconscious mind, few will have lasting success.

Hypnosis has long been proven to be a very useful tool to help a smoker kick the habit. It is an excellent method with which to facilitate subconscious learning. Combine this with a proven method that educates the smoker and helps them to change habits, and the chances of success are drastically increased.

Hypnotherapist Hendrik Baird has been helping people to successfully stop smoking for the past ten years. He has developed an effective stop smoking with hypnosis program that has helped hundreds of people to change the bad habits into good and healthy ones. And in the majority of cases, they have remained non-smokers. One has to just read the many testimonials received from clients to realise how effective Hendrik's method is.

Here is one example: "Thanks to Hendrik’s hypnotherapy, I’m now smoke-free for three months. I feel no urge to smoke at social gatherings or when I feel stressed or sad. I truly believe Hypnotherapy has helped me free myself from the addiction and the shame I felt from smoking."Hendrik has now decided to present his program to small groups of people. He will still be helping individuals who come to him and is adding group hypnosis sessions so as to help up to 10 people stop smoking at one time, simply because the need has become so much greater.

Observing all Covid-19 safety protocols, Hendrik will be guiding the group through a series of three sessions over four weeks. During the first session the preparation is done and the attendees get their "homework" for the week ahead. During the second session, the actual stop smoking suggestions are made in trance and the participants stop smoking. Two weeks later everything is consolidated with a follow-up session. Hendrik says: " I am really looking forward to assisting even more people to make this positive change in their life. I stopped smoking 18 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made. I happily share my experience and expertise with those who are serious about kicking the habit."

The first of these group hypnosis sessions will be starting on 5 March 2021. The venue is Soul Oasis Urban Retreat in Mnandi in Centurion. Bookings are now open at https://www.quicket.co.za/events/131290-stop-smoking-with-hypnosis-group-session/. 

Hendrik is also here to help with whatever else may be troublesome, as hypnosis is a very effective tool to solve a whole range of issues and problems. There is much more information on his website HendrikBaird.com.