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Zyban: Yoga Made Me See the Light

by Joe Mahoney

Providence, Rhode Island
United States

I am 37, and have not had a ciggarette since October 20, 2000. Since 1977, with only a one year break ('84-'85), I smoked on the average 4-5 ciggs a day. During 17 or so of those years, I ran marathons (including Pike's Peak in CO and Mt. Washington in NH) and worked out religously. I just couldn't quit. I started taking Wellbutrin for mild depression in the summer of 2000. While it worked slowly and surely on helping me overcome my "blues", I noticed that each time I smoked I felt lousy physically. It just increased and increased like that until It was just a royal pain to light up, but because smokes are so incredibly addictive, I continued despite the physical discomfort. I decided to take a Yoga class last fall, and learned that it is all based on rythmic, steady breathing and balance. I loved Yoga almost right away (this coming from someone who had to be doing something all the time), and felt even more like crap physically when I would have a butt after a class on the drive home. But something else happened - the meditation techniques subtley taught in Yoga enabled me to see things in my life clearly, and simply as they are. I now felt MENTALLY uncomfortable smoking, and as we all know, smoking sucks (life) and does not have 1 socially redeeming quality. I was able to clearly see that after all that time as a "light" smoker (doesn't matter people, 2 smokes or 40 a day, its a bitch to quit). I quit October 20, 2000. The combination of wanting to quit, Wellbutrin & Yoga finally did it. I highly recommend this method to anyone who is not blocked medically from doing so -Wellbutrin is also known as Zyban which is used directly to help quit. Good luck! Joe