Gurudev, I generally smoke every day. If I smoke after leaving the Ashram or after doing the Sudarshan Kriya, will there be any effect? In other words, should I quit smoking?
You absolutely should. Have you not noticed that in all advertisements for cigarettes there is a warning message that says, “Smoking is injurious to health”. So you should leave smoking. It is like diving in the swimming pool. You do not hold on to the rails, you simply dive into the water. In the same way, just take a firm decision that from this moment on I will not touch cigarettes. I am not going to look at it, I am not going to touch it at all. You will feel such an enormous sense of self-empowerment within you. Your lungs will feel so happy. When your lungs are happy, your breath will be happier and joyful. When your breath is happy, your brain will be happy as well. The brain will feel, “Ah! I am getting fresh food (oxygen) today and not stale food”.
We have introduced a Smoking Pranayama technique here as well. I have never smoked in my life. But I have often wondered what makes one get addicted to smoking? Is it the smoke, or something else? Or is it that style of breathing that stimulates something in the brain? It seems to relax the brain. Try keeping the fingers on the lips without having a cigarette and breathe, then see what you feel. Breathe in and out 5 to 10 times, and you will find the same impact that you would have gotten with a cigarette (laughter). You will get the same relaxation but without any harmful impact on your lungs.