Surf The Urge: A Mindfulness-Based Psychological Technique For Coping With Food Cravings

Welcome to your Earth Surfing practice.

Maybe you are listening to this audio because you are experiencing an urge right now.

If this is not the case,

But you would like to learn this technique,

To use it when you need to,

It could be helpful to think back to a recent time when you had a craving and relief,

What that experience felt like at the time.

If you are concerned about thinking about the particular instance when you had an urge,

Could trigger a behaviour you would rather not do,

You could pick a situation where the craving was less strong,

Or you successfully prevented yourself from giving in to the urge.

Picture the situation as clearly as you can in your imagination.

Let's begin by pausing here and committing to stay with this feeling of an urge for a few moments without reacting to it,

Seeing what it's like to have an urge and to choose to fully experience it and really get to know it.

Sometimes it might seem to us that we have to do what our craving is telling us to do,

And that we can't behave independently of it,

Because if we don't give in to the craving,

It will surely last forever or destroy us.

In reality however,

Cravings rather than being never-ending or threatening unless we satisfy them,

Come,

Peak,

And they can be very intense,

But if we do not give in to them,

They eventually break and disappear.

Therefore,

It might be useful to think about them as waves in the ocean,

Where just like urges start to fall,

Peak,

And no matter how high the peak is,

Sooner or later they crash and disappear.

Have you ever craved your preferred craving food or other drug of your choice,

But didn't have an access to it?

Maybe you were at work,

School,

On medical treatment in nature.

The craving was clearly there,

But it's likely that your hands and mouth were able to do things other than eating that food.

Did that unsatisfied urge last forever?

Did not being able to make your craving go away by giving in to it destroy you physically?

Did the world end?

No matter how distressing your craving was for you,

If you are still listening to my voice,

Chances are that you have survived it.

The worst thing the cravings can do to us is to make us feel them,

And even though they might be quite uncomfortable,

Usually these feelings themselves are nowhere as harmful as our reactions,

Either mental or physical,

To the urge.

It is not our food craving that is moving us away from our long-term wellbeing,

But eating the food we have craving for,

Or spending mental energy on thinking how unacceptable it is to have this food craving,

On planning how to satisfy it,

Or how to get rid of it,

Might well be what is moving us away from our health goals.

Step number one.

Make your body ready to start surfing.

Get into comfortable and breathing-friendly position.

First,

Make yourself comfortable in your body,

Trying your best to relax any tension you might be holding in your jaw,

Belly,

Shoulders,

Or elsewhere in your body.

You can do a few stretches or tense and relax certain muscles,

So that breath can easily come and go in and out of the body.

And then come into comfortable position,

Whatever that means for you,

Seated,

Lying,

Standing,

Maybe even relaxed walking.

Step number two.

Grab your surfboard,

Bringing your attention to the breath.

Now bring your attention to your breath,

And let's make the next few breaths a little bit more conscious,

Nourishing it,

And helpful in dealing with the earth.

First just see where in your body can you observe your breathing most clearly.

Maybe you can feel it most clearly in your nose,

Sensing how is the air gently stroking your nostrils when you inhale,

And then your upper lip as you exhale.

Maybe you can observe your breath most clearly in your rib cage,

Feeling how your ribs expand to the sides,

To the back,

And to the front as you inhale,

As you want to take a corset,

And how they come back together as you exhale.

Maybe you prefer to explore your breathing by paying attention to the expanding and emptying of your belly with each inhale and exhale.

Maybe you can connect most strongly with the sensation of your whole body breathing,

Becoming lighter and longer with each inhale,

And feeling the pull of gravity with each exhale.

Or maybe you resonate more with an image of the breath moving from your toes to your head,

Through the entire body as you inhale,

And from your head to your toes as you exhale.

Maybe you choose a different bodily sensation,

But no matter which sensation related to your breath you decide to observe,

Just see how much attention can you bring to this sensation,

And start getting really curious about your breathing,

As if you were breathing for the first time ever.

And if you think about it,

You have never taken this particular breath before.

So let's explore how it feels,

And maybe even try noticing something you have never noticed about your breath in the past,

Cultivating curiosity about our anchor,

The object we choose to focus on,

In this case the breath,

Naturally helps us to keep paying attention to it,

As we have all experienced when concentrating effortlessly on a book about which we are curious,

But struggling to pay attention to a book which we don't find interesting.

What is the temperature of the air when it comes in and then it goes out of the body?

Does the air have any particular smell?

How long is the breath?

Does it massage my spine?

Does it travel all the way to my head?

See how much attention can you bring to the inhalation.

Can you follow it from the moment it begins to the moment it ends?

See if you can spot the pause between the inhalation and the exhalation.

Now see if you can cover the entire exhalation with your awareness.

How does the pause between the exhalation and the new cycle of breath feel?

Step number three.

Let's have a good look at the wave.

Recognize,

Allow,

Investigate your urge.

Name it to tame it.

Giving your urge a label.

Naming that behavior you desire to do.

Saying to yourself,

I'm having an urge too,

Helps us to look at the craving from outside rather than being caught up in it.

It also invites us to pause and to start realizing that the craving is just one of my temporary internal experiences.

Which sooner or later will disappear by pausing.

Do you notice that there's a space and time between the trigger,

Seeing,

Smelling,

Hearing about the food or feeling certain emotions such as loneliness,

Anger and our response to it.

We can take an advantage of this space to choose which behavior is going to satisfy the part of us interested in our higher values and goals.

If we use a metaphor where what triggers our craving is like pushing a button on a detonator and eating the food we crave for compares to an explosion of a bomb.

Then labeling the craving is giving us an opportunity to detach the detonator from the bomb.

Understanding that I can choose how to respond to the craving is a powerful way to prevent an automatic reaction to the trigger with behavior which we later regret.

It might be useful to ask yourself,

Who is it that I actually need?

Quite often it's not really the food,

The alcohol,

The drugs,

The shopping,

The Netflix,

What we are really craving for,

But rather a satisfaction of a deeper need such as lack of energy,

Boredom,

Stress,

Loneliness,

Desire to learn,

To feel blencher,

To be adventurous,

Call rebellious and so on.

Therefore,

It might be worth investigating.

Is the behavior that I have an urge to do right now going to provide me with a long term solution to this problem?

Maybe this behavior used to help you satisfy a need in the past.

Many people start drinking alcohol to feel grown up and independent or smoking to be a part of a certain group and feel a sense of belonging.

But if you think about it,

Does this behavior still satisfy your need?

What else that would have less harmful consequences could I do to meet my need?

Play,

Learning,

Connecting with others in supportive environments have all been shown to dramatically reduce addictive behaviors and even to turn both fat and human heroin addicts into drug free beings.

Play,

Learning,

Connecting with others in supportive environments have all been shown to dramatically reduce addictive behaviors and even to turn both rat and human heroin addicts into drug free beings.

Play,

Learning,

Connecting with others in supportive environments have all been shown to dramatically reduce addictive behaviors and even to turn both rat and human heroin addicts into drug free beings.

Many people find it useful to ask questions such as if I'm lonely,

Could I call a friend?

If I have an urge to stress eat,

How would a walk outdoors change my stress levels?

However,

Maybe you can't identify a deeper need behind your urge right now other than a desire to spend some time with the food you're craving for.

Maybe at this very moment your environment might not allow you to respond with a non-harmful behavior that would satisfy your need.

Maybe you're at work and won't be able to go for a walk outside for a while.

Even if we make a great effort to control what we can in our environment,

It is not uncommon to find ourselves stuck in the proximity of food that lights up our mind-to-mind without the possibility to distance ourselves from it.

Even if we try our best to control our social support by letting those close to us know that the best way to show us some love right now is by supporting us in making healthier choices.

And even if we prepare our body to be as urge-resistant as possible with quality sleep,

Time spent outdoors,

Nutritious movement,

Intelligent nutrition,

Breath-back,

Meditation.

Or other mind-sharpening practices.

Some uncomfortable experiences,

Some urges are very likely to appear from time to time.

Scientific evidence suggests that especially in the occasions when we are unable to use perfect distractions,

As well as at times when the cravings are quite intense,

Fighting our urges by thinking how unacceptable they are and how much we would like them to end.

Only multiplies our discomfort and the likelihood of us giving in to the urge.

The metaphor of two arrows is often used to illustrate this effect.

When we experience this comfort,

Two arrows fly our way.

We cannot control the first arrow,

The physical sensations that come with the craving.

But the second arrow,

Our interpretation of what is going on as unbearable,

Our apprehensive reaction to the first arrow is optional.

So how can we choose not to be hit by the second arrow?

By being willing to accept the experiences which come with the first arrow as they are,

Researchers say,

Bringing our awareness and attention closer to the craving and observing with acceptance and curiosity.

How not giving in to it feels in the body helps us to respond to the craving in less impulsive and more intelligent and empowered way.

After naming and recognizing our urge,

Let's therefore explore now how to get more skillful at accepting it.

Allow the craving for whatever you realize you are craving for,

To just be there and in self trying to control it,

To get rid of it and pretending it's not there if it clearly is there.

And most importantly,

In self reacting to it with a behavior that is not helping you to flourish in long term,

Give it some space and start getting curious about it.

What does the craving feel like in my body right now?

Is there any physical discomfort?

Scan your body and notice where you experience the urge most strongly.

If you don't notice the urge anywhere in your body,

That's great.

Simply direct your attention to whatever physical sensation you feel most intensely.

Do I feel the urge in one part of my body or in various parts?

More to the right side or the left side of my body?

Front or back?

Does it have a temperature?

Is it heat or coldness?

If it has a temperature,

Is it hotter or cooler in some sports more than in others?

Do I feel it as a pressure,

Tingling sensation?

Maybe my brain is even playing with synesthesia and experiences the urge as a color.

How would you describe the urge in words non-judgmentally?

Just as it feels right now,

Not how you want it to feel or think it should or should not feel?

Just like an objective scientist would describe it.

For example,

I feel the urge as thirst and dry mouth or as my mouth watering.

Or I feel the urge as butterflies in my belly,

As fever in my hand,

As a clenched jaw,

As tightness and coolness in shoulders,

As fire in my chest,

As shaking in my hands,

As crawling skin.

I feel paralyzed,

Locked in,

Lightheaded.

These are just examples.

There is no right or wrong way of experiencing your urges in your body.

On a scale from 1 to 10,

Where 1 is I'm not feeling the urge at all and 10 I feel like I need to get in it right now,

How intensely do you feel the urge?

Does it stay in one area or is it moving?

How much space does it occupy?

Check in and try to draw an outline around a place or places where you feel the urge.

See what are its boundaries.

Bear with the craving sensation end and the neutral sensations begin.

Now let's turn the attention to what's present in your mind right now.

What are you feeling emotionally?

Are you happy,

Angry,

Sad?

And what thoughts are on your mind?

Are any of the emotions or thoughts that are present familiar to you in these situations?

Just acknowledging what's going on and feeling what it is like to simply stay with what's happening right now without need to control it,

Without need to suppress it,

Change it,

Escape it.

And without reacting to it with the behavior that would not help me in long term and would only reinforce my cravings,

Making them more likely to return in future.

Step number four.

Catch the wave and get up on your board,

Bringing your attention as best as you can back to the breath and feeling the full duration of the breath coming into your body.

And the full duration of the breath leaving your body breath by breath.

Noticing again there in your body can you feel your breath most vividly.

Maybe the same part of your body as before,

Maybe different.

Let's take three slow breaths together,

Counting five to inhale,

One to pause,

And five to exhale,

One to pause.

Inhale through your nose,

Expanding the parts of your body between your nipples and your hips.

Five,

Keep inhaling,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Pause.

Exhale through your nose,

Relaxing the parts of your body between your nipples and your hips.

Five,

Keep exhaling,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Pause.

Inhale,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Pause.

Exhale,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Pause.

Inhale,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Pause.

Exhale,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Pause.

See if this time you can bring a little bit more joy to your breathing.

You can imagine that you are smelling something really enjoyable.

A salty sea air,

Your favorite massage,

As you inhale,

And that you are letting go of any tension as you exhale.

Inevitably,

Sooner or later,

You will notice that your attention is not on your breath anymore.

Perhaps it is good having feeling an intense sensation in your body,

In multiplying its intensity by thinking how unacceptable,

Intense,

Or fantastic this sensation is.

Or in thinking about the past or planning for the future.

And all these abilities of our mind,

Thinking about the past,

Future,

Evaluating our inner experiences,

Are necessary for our survival and an absolutely normal features of our mind.

But so is being able to focus the attention on the present moment,

The only one in which we actually live,

And in which we can influence the past or the future.

Moreover,

It is also liberating to be able to turn to our breath for refuge when thinking about our past turns into distressing illumination,

When future planning shifts into constant worrying,

Anxiety,

And obsessing,

Or whenever inner experiences,

Our urges seem unbearable and we wish they were different.

Whenever you discover that your attention is not on your breath anymore,

Simply notice where is it,

What appeared on your mind.

So that they are less likely to have our attention completely captured by whatever took our focus away from breathing,

It might be helpful to give a name to what has appeared.

Is it the fault,

Emotion,

Physical sensation,

Or something else?

Simply naming the inner experiences that appear and disappear in our consciousness without favouring one or the other or judging them,

Just like a meteorologist labelling the clouds passing in the sky,

This is Cyrus and here comes Stratus,

Humongous now,

Or a marine biologist naming the sea creatures that are passing under the surface of the ocean,

Acknowledging,

Recognizing,

And maybe even welcoming whatever comes up,

Because it is already here anyway.

We may also investigate if the inner experiences,

Just like clouds,

Appear all of sudden or if they appear at the great valley,

What is the speed with which they move and pass?

When,

Instead of starting a mental monologue about how awful it is that your mind keeps wandering away from your breath,

Because we already know that it will keep doing so,

Just like all the other minds do,

Congratulate yourself for being a diligent meteorologist able to see that cloud or for being a thorough marine biologist able to spot that sea creature or a great mind detective being able to realize that your attention drifted away from your breathing.

In the words of John Kabat-Zinn,

There is as much mindfulness in noticing that our attention has wandered away from the breath as there is in paying attention to the breath.

After you have congratulated yourself,

Escort your attention from whatever captured it back to the physical sensations of your breath.

After looking at those passing clouds and sea creatures,

Let's grab your surfboard firmly again.

When the mind wanders away from the breath again,

As it will,

Just repeat the process.

Notice what appeared on your mind,

Give yourself a high five for noticing that it wandered away,

And bring the attention back to your breath.

From time to time,

When we do get caught up,

Maybe in thought related to the urge,

It might be worthwhile to add one more step,

A reflection on what did I get from that fantasy,

Worry,

Whatever it was.

Did the fantasizing create more or less wanting than there was already?

Did thinking for the 101st time about the argument I had last week with somebody change anything about it?

How does paying attention to whatever called it compare to aiming my focus on breath,

Which feels more liberating,

Which feels more constricting?

And if we conclude that getting lost in the thoughts,

Emotions,

And stories was not useful in any way,

It might help us to wake up sooner and with more ease next time we start to ruminate.

And to direct our attention and energy more constructively,

Be it to the present moment or to more helpful thoughts.

It might very well happen that when the sensations in our body or thoughts or emotions get very intense,

We start to feel that we are unable to pay attention to the breath at all,

Not even for a second.

If this is the case,

To be able to work with these intense sensations,

It might be helpful to try the following strategy.

See,

Even if some other area of your body is screaming for attention,

If you can get in touch just with one inhalation,

And if you see that you were able to stay with this one inhalation,

Observe if you can stay with your attention on the following exhalation.

If so,

Say if you can keep your attention on the following in-breath,

Which is going to come regardless of whether you feel some other part of your body pulling your attention away from this in-breath or not.

In this way,

Focusing on half-breath at a time,

We are doing our best to aim and sustain our attention on the breath,

Even in presence of intense sensations,

Discovering what is possible if we focus on taking small steps moment by moment.

Step number five,

Riding out the wave,

Bringing the attention back to the urge and coupling it with attention on breathing.

Just as we did when we brought our attention to the urge before,

Scan your body again to see what is it that's present in your body right now.

Do you feel the urge as the same sensation in the same areas,

Or has it changed or moved to different parts of the body?

Again,

On a scale from one to ten,

Where one is not feeling the urge at all,

And ten,

I feel like I need to give in right now,

How intensely do you feel the urge?

As we did before,

Non-judgmentally,

As an objective scientist,

Describe what do you feel right now,

And how does it compare to the sensations of the urge noted in the first body scan?

For example,

The fever in my head is less intense and I can only feel it in my forehead now,

Or the pounding of my heart has turned into contraction in my chest,

And so on.

If it becomes overwhelming to notice these sensations,

If your attention is hijacked by repetitions to stop the discomfort,

Gently return your attention back to your breath for a few moments,

And go back to noticing the bodily sensations,

Thoughts and emotions connected to the urge.

Only when you feel ready.

You may find it helpful to imagine sending your breath to the parts of your body that are associated with the urge,

Or that are experiencing the greatest discomfort.

Slowly,

Through your nose,

Breathe right into that body part which is grabbing your attention the most,

And let your breath to fill it up.

Hold the breath in this body part for a while if you find it helpful.

Let the breath massage it,

Bathe it,

And as you exhale,

You can imagine exhaling the tension or any other uncomfortable physical sensation,

Letting the breath to wash it out.

What do the sensations of the urge feel like now,

If they changed?

How?

And just continue to explore if and how the sensations of the urge change as you watch them one breath at a time.

Surfing and using.

What have you learned in today's session?

Why are you interested in getting better at surfing?

Why is it important to you to respond more skillfully to your cravings?

Take a moment to reflect on your experience.

What does your body and mind feel like right now?

What did you notice about the sensations you call urge?

What happens when you bring kind and curious attention to your craving?

Now take a moment to think about the bigger picture and how not giving into this urge would help you to make steps in a direction you want your life to go so that it feels fulfilling and meaningful to you.

Follow me the downsides of giving into the urge.

If it leads to any satisfaction at all,

How long does it usually last?

Would giving in to the craving lead me in direction towards or away from what is important to me?

Where would not giving into the urge take me?

If you were able to reduce how often you give into this urge,

How would your life be different?

What would you be able to do?

How would it affect your relationships,

Mood,

Memory,

Attention,

Work,

Your hobbies,

Health,

Satisfaction with life?

What would you be doing right now instead of thinking about this urge?

If you could talk to the version of yourself from future,

Why would your future self thank you for the decisions you are making now?

What sort of person do I want to be?

How would I like to live my life?

To help you to explore your values,

You can imagine that in a year you have a birthday party and all the people you deeply care about share with you one thing they value about you.

Being adventurous or careful,

Acting independently,

Being loving,

Creative,

Great source of knowledge,

Entertaining,

Contemplative and so on.

Which comments would warm your heart in most?

Would hearing that you are hardworking have the same effect on you as hearing thank you for being fun to be around?

Does overcoming challenges bring you fulfillment?

Do you value creating balance in your life?

Is having rewarding and supportive relationships what fills your cup?

How can I be more like the me I want to be right now?

What decisions and steps can I take towards a life more aligned with my values today?

When it comes to nutrition,

We quite often tend to relate what we eat only to our weight,

Athletic performance and physical health.

However,

What we put into our body can dramatically influence our mental health,

Mood,

Decision making and on a larger scale our community,

Economy and planet.

While we contemplate our values around food,

It might be therefore worth asking what impact does consumption of food and drinks that do not nourish me have on unnecessary use of energy,

On the environment,

On the quality of soil and air that we are breathing?

How many forests and emissions can be saved if I start eating enough to be a healthy human being without excesses and without consuming substances which my body does not need?

What about the companies that drive the overconsumption?

Companies that instead of our well-being are interested only in creating craving so that we keep spending more money?

Companies that employ scientists to engineer you can eat just one food.

How does sponsoring these companies by consuming their products fit with my values?

What values do I want to express by what I choose to eat or choose not to eat?

What do I want to vote for with my money?

For food waste or for food that can be a medicine?

For me,

For the society and for the planet?

There is very compelling research which shows how those closest to us are likely to catch our healthy or unhealthy behaviors.

It might be therefore interesting to consider.

Who can I influence and inspire by being a role model when it comes to eating?

Prisoners become less violent when their nutritional deficiencies are fixed and there is even research showing how the food we eat impacts our decision making a few hours later.

Taking into account this evidence,

How could I choose to nourish myself,

To help me to be the person I want to be more often?

Getting better at urge surfing with self compassion.

If you are still listening,

Chances are that you have managed to stay present with the experience of urge without reacting to it.

Consider that you always have this choice when you recognize the urge is arising.

No matter how strong the sensation in your body,

No matter what your mind is telling you,

No matter what emotions,

Sense of desperation or anxiety you feel,

You too have a choice to respond in a way that will nourish you in the long run.

Rather than provide a temporary quick fix.

Hopefully the sheer understanding that having an urge does not necessarily have to lead to impulsive reactions will be very fruitful for you.

If you see that you prefer to keep surfing your urges with guidance,

You can come back to this audio whenever you need to.

However,

If at first you don't surf the entire wave or almost drown and end up feeding the creek,

It might be helpful to remember that just as when we learn to play an instrument or a sport,

We often need time and practice to improve.

When learning to respond more mindfully to our cravings and to surf our urges,

Our old habits perhaps won't disappear overnight.

What would you say to a little five-year-old child learning to surf if it didn't catch the biggest wave?

Quite likely,

We wouldn't beat the kid up and instead we would appreciate that it managed to stay on the board for one more minute than last time.

Or that now it hops back on the board after being swept by the wave faster than it used to.

Maybe we would even ask what the little surfer has learned for the future from this session.

Findings from research on self-compassion suggest they might be worthwhile to treat yourself as you would treat the little surfer.

And acknowledge that this time you managed to observe the craving without reacting to it for a little bit longer than you used to.

Or that you managed to stop after eating five cookies instead of the usual 30 and gave what was left in the packet to a homeless person.

Or even if you ended up eating as much or even more than you usually do when you have a craving,

Recognize that this time you have managed to realize that there was a craving before the empty bag of chips appeared.

And maybe you even managed to reflect on what you have learned from this particular urge surfing practice.

And as you will be getting more skilled at urge surfing,

It might be liberating to remember that even very experienced professional surfers do not catch all the waves they would like to catch.

But they keep trying and when the wave knocks them off the board,

They get up and start surfing again.