In 1987 after a vacation spent at the Pritikin Center, Sheila relocated from New York City to work at their Santa Monica flagship center full time. At once she noticed an astonishing occurrence in her classes - most quitters, no matter how long or how much they smoked, experienced an unusually mild physical withdrawal from nicotine. It seems that those withdrawing from caffeine had a much more uncomfortable withdrawal! Because of the protected environment of Pritikin, away from home and work related stresses, an easy psychological withdrawal was to be expected but during the 72 hours it takes for nicotine to fade from the system, most quitters felt little discomfort, if any. Researching the reasons for this phenomenon, she found it was due to Pritikin's recommendations of a low fat diet, daily progressive exercise and use of stress reduction techniques. These components provide an ideal foundation for easier quitting. She brought this approach to her private, hospital and corporate classes and the effect on those who were willing to make even minor temporary lifestyle changes was not unlike the Pritikin quitters. Moreover, her outside clients had the added benefit of working on their daily life stresses as they prepared to quit enabling them to rehearse their quit behavior while they still smoked in their familiar environment.

Any smoker who has the desire to quit and is willing to adjust his/her lifestyle even moderately and replace smoking with these activities - if only during the early recovery period - will be successful. With this "re-education" approach the prognosis for long term abstinence is excellent. The LAST STOP is designed for smokers who are willing to go beyond the cold-turkey, weight-gain will-power method of quitting. By putting the focus on specific application of behavior modification techniques and completing simple assignments that determine the smoker's personal addiction awareness - the much dreaded nicotine withdrawal can be a minor factor of the quitter's discomfort. The first smoke-free days are a concentration of energy on specific behavior changes. These are planned in advance. Even the heaviest smokers can come to realize that nicotine doesn't have to be a major problem unless he is unwilling to release his fear of withdrawal or refuses to focus his attention to establishing alternative behaviors.

An inhaling smoker from her fourteenth birthday, Sheila quit a three pack a day habit more than 17 years ago in New York City. While a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, her teachers asked her to join the faculty in an American Cancer Society smoking cessation class because her constant coughing had been so disruptive in the classroom that other students had complained. Convinced it was impossible for her to quit, she nevertheless attended every class and completed every assignment, treating it as just another college course, still convinced she couldn't do it. But remarkably, and without planning it, a week before the appointed quit day she put aside her cigarettes, first for a few hours then the full day, then she tacked another day on to that, then a day at a time until - she smoked no more. It stayed that simple for 17 years. This was accomplished with surprising ease and determination despite severe withdrawal symptoms. Sheila credits this ease to having completed all her assignments and attending every class-which translates to: You don't have to want to quit to quit - just finish the course! In most cessation classes of that time quitters were counseled not to make any other lifestyle changes and to focus on quitting alone. The consequence of that approach was suffering the agonies of long term physical and discomfort and psychological distraction hindered by substitute addictions, such as Sheila's to Haagen Dazs vanilla ice-cream! A sedentary lifestyle and a rapid weight gain only added to a her anxiety yet picking up a cigarette was not an option. She no longer defined cigarettes as her friends or smoking as a relief and a pleasure. Smoking began to mean only one thing - a return to addiction slavery. She knew her withdrawal symptoms would pass and she would never have to go through it again. She redefined this period as her recovery from a major terminal disease and as that, it was s small price to pay. She uses this negative experience of physical withdrawal along with her observations of the relatively ease Pritikin quitters encounter to emphasize that proper attention to all aspects of general health with exercise can prevent others from similarly suffering. The duration of her detoxification she ascribes not to nicotine withdrawal, but to her ignorance about substituting her cigarettes with healthy lifestyle practices to counteract the destruction. With twenty-two years of research and non-theoretical experience in addiction behavior, Sheila - a highly motivating lecturer, an empathic mentor and an inspired teacher - is ably qualified to bring all aspects of smoking recovery issues into her classes. Some of the main issues of The LAST STOP experience are motivation, decision making, codependency, assertiveness, behavior modification, control issues, anger, stress management, and the three main fears of quitting: fear of failure, weight gain and withdrawal These are all addressed. Substitute addiction and obsessive/ compulsive behavior are emphasized and explored as well, for they too feed the pool of addiction no matter what the substance of abuse happens to be. Certified by the American Lung Association as well as Master Trainer for A.L.A.'s Los Angeles student counselors, Sheila was a member of their C.O.P.D., Tobacco Control, Worksite, and Communication Committees and has conducted FREEDOM FROM SMOKING at worksites and hospitals for the A.L.A. as well as The LAST STOP to corporate Los Angeles. In addition to her ten year commitment to The Pritikin Longevity Center, Sheila conducted regular classes at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica and was affiliated with Santa Monica Hospital/U.C.L.A.

She is also a poet and writer, has recently completed her second novel and has currently updated The LAST STOP workbook which focuses on the more compelling aspects of smoking, quitting and recovery. Along with private client consultation, she ran classes for families and executives in their office as well as regularly scheduled seminars...

Sheila also guides regular progressive relaxation stress management classes for recent quitters. She has recently returned to New York City and is concentrating on Internet classes and writing fiction.

Sheila Savage is a skilled communicator who is eminently qualified to facilitate any variety of smoking cessation programs which do not involve shortcuts, tricks, gimmicks or drugs. Her unique ability to direct this experience is demonstrated by her success in numbers and her ongoing support of quitters in their efforts to stop smoking comfortably and to stay quit happily.