Our souls are so much more intricate than we ever could have imagined, our systems are complex and resilient, with a design created for survival, it never ceases to leave me awestruck.

When I began as a hypnotherapist I didn’t see myself or have the desire to truly work with smoking cessation clients. It didn’t leave me feeling inspired, excited, or like I was making a big enough impact on healing with clients as I desired. So for many years I just didn’t. I didn’t seek those clients, I didn’t take any on when asked, I referred out. It wasn’t until someone of significance in my life was resistant to working with anyone else and was starting to want to make the change.

There is something to be said about synchronicity and divine timing. As it were I had just completed certification for Shamanic Journey, Healing, and Soul Retrieval. I had known this client for many years before, he knew I was a hypnotist, he witnessed as I became a certified clinical hypnotherapist and he knew I could help him the whole time to make these big life changes and yet he waited. Within about two weeks of my training for soul retrieval he began to communicate and shift, the desire to release chewing tobacco began to grow.

Reluctantly I agreed to work with him, I made no promises nor guarantees, and yet he felt drawn to do this work with me. We had a small coaching session the day before the session so that I could understand his goals, his motivation, and make the request to modify some of his behaviors. I explained what he could expect and how to prepare for our work together and still he wanted to do the work.

He was a chewing tobacco self-declared “addict” who had been chewing tobacco he said for over 20 years! He described feeling a fullness when he had a dip under his lip.

Like many habit cessation, addiction, and hypnotherapy clients he began to feel anxiety around making the change, could he do it? Did he really want to? Who would he be without chew? All of those questions began to rise and to be clear this is the worst and biggest challenge for most clients, the time before the session when doubts creep in and fear rises. Once the session begins all of these are addressed and resolved, and deep relaxation comes in, it becomes so easy to make the change.


Together we traveled back in time to when he began a relationship with tobacco when the part of him that decided he needed this was formed. He showed me a part of his personal history as a child and how rejection and ridicule from peers sparked the need. What I did not expect was what followed, he talked about a void in his being!

When I asked what this void was, and what filled it previously, we both felt a bit of shock when he answered ‘My soul!’, the sudden realization that part of his essence was taken brought with it slight sadness. We could both feel the impact this loss had made.

With a bit of gentle navigation we relocated when this essence had departed from his being, it was the result of emotional and mental abuse, occasionally even physical abuse from his first marriage. There was a feeling of futility, he felt like he was trapped, trapped by an unplanned pregnancy, trapped into marriage to support the pregnancy, trapped in a relationship where he felt used, abused, and unable to change the dynamic.

The above kinds of relationships and the feelings of being trapped, feeling hopeless, and feelings of futility are exactly the kinds of life occurrences when we lose fragments of our souls. When this happens, it’s an act of self-preservation, believing that we cannot change or escape the current circumstances we find ways to continue through them. Could he have made different choices? Certainly, but in those moments he believed that the only way to be a good person was to take the course he had.

What he was not aware of was how much more this soul loss had in fact changed him. What we know now is that he became a husk or a shell of himself. He devalued himself to the point where he no longer felt he was worthy of self-care, having opinions, or even simple wants and desires. Making a choice and taking action for something he himself wanted came with paralyzing bouts of indecision, followed by procrastination. Things like his personal appearance and presentation no longer mattered, his drive to have a good restful sleep and wake was impacted too!

From what I knew of this man, he was unable to wake in the mornings, he frequently felt lost, disoriented, and groggy, setting the alarm multiple times and still frequently arriving at work late sometimes even unshaven, and disheveled.

When we sleep our consciousness is working, it is working in different realms and planes, healing, connecting, and exploring. When we wake in the morning what’s happening is that our essence and consciousness are returning from their travels. When the gentleman above was waking the fragment of his soul that was not present was being felt every single day but he was unconscious about it. I can’t help but wonder how many of us live and accept poor quality conditions on a regular basis because we don’t know what’s truly beneath them or at play.

I recall hearing a family story about how when this man’s child was coming into the world he nearly slept through it, he was resistant to wake up and be present for the delivery and the expectant mother called other family members to bring her to the hospital. I always found this rather astounding that someone could sleep that hard!

After returning his soul fragment, we explored even more deeply into other influences in life that primed him to keep this chewing tobacco habit.

We did some really deep work, some significant exploring, and healing, like a weaver checking my every thread in a woven tapestry I left no gaps, spaces, nor twists in my work. The session took place in the evening and I gave him suggestions to continue healing, integrating, and resolving conflicts during a restful night’s sleep.

The following morning the client did something he had never done before, he woke up early, fully and completely alert before his alarm! In the more than decade that I have known him, this has never happened before and it was much to his own surprise!

Moreover, since this session in mid-September, the client has continued to heal and change. He wakes regularly, easily, and is fully present now in the morning, he has time before work to practice self-care and better hygiene. He has become an effective employee, a more supportive spouse, more interested in hobbies, and able to easily share his desires. The procrastination that previously plagued him has subsided nearly entirely.

What an astounding transformation! And he remains completely and fully tobacco-free to this day.

What I adore about being a clinical hypnotherapist is that my days are rarely dull! Each client brings their own challenges, realms to explore, and gifts from our work together. The sessions themselves are always a source of excitement for me as I cannot predict how they will unfold, and the messages and connection on how the clients have continued to evolve after the session are as well, sometimes I am just as surprised as they are.

It was an honor and a privilege to facilitate healing, integration, and restore this man’s soul, to witness the relief in his voice and on his face. If I had known that smoking cessation could be this impactful, I would have begun offering them so much sooner! This level of soul work is exactly why I am who I am and what I am here to do.