Urge Surfing Audio.
This is a short meditation for dealing with cravings.
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Urge Surfing Audio Script.
Urge surfing is a method of managing cravings or urges to react in habitual ways. You are not resisting the urge but you are experiencing it and learning that you can overcome the urge.
Make yourself comfortable. You can sit or lie down or even stand if you wish. You will need about five minutes to listen to this guided meditation on urge surfing. Look on this meditation as a support to help you through what might feel like an overwhelming urge. Know that the urge itself cannot hurt you: nor can the emotions or bodily sensations that accompany the urge. By listening to this meditation you are taking a powerful step to overcome the urge you are experiencing.
Once you have made yourself comfortable, tune into your bodily sensations. What is most noticeable for you right now? Do this without judging your feelings. Just focus on where you feel the strongest feelings. You might have sensations in your mouth, your chest or in you abdomen area. Spend a few moments locating the part of your body that is experiencing the most powerful feelings at the moment.
Once you have located where you are experiencing the most intense feelings, now find a word to describe the feeling. You many have physical sensations of restlessness or tightness. You may feel tension or tingling in certain areas of the body. You might have a feeling of your mouth watering.
Now you have located the part of the body sensing the urge and you have described it to yourself, can you describe the intensity of the urge – is it a dull background urge or a full-blown intense craving? Spend a few moments considering the intensity of the urge with an attitude of curiosity and non-judging.
If you do feel overwhelmed by the urge, bring the focus back to the breath. Just watch the rise and fall of the chest. Feel soothed by the gentle rhythm of the breath. Imagine looking out across the ocean and seeing waves rise and rise, then peak and fall. As you breathe in, tune into the sense of a rising wave, be with the peak as you pause with full lungs and then descend with the falling wave, as the breath is released. If, at any time you feel overwhelmed by an urge or craving, return to this image of a wave building, peaking and then falling. Your urges will take this pattern but eventually the build-up will get gentler and gentler until it ceases.
Now, bring your attention to your emotions. What emotions are you experiencing? Perhaps frustration, anxiety, boredom or stress. You might be feeling a jumble of emotions. Whatever you observe in yourself, keep a compassionate and curious attitude. Once you have identified your emotions or emotions, fully experience the emotion and try not to push it away.
Next, move onto your thoughts. Are your thoughts quiet, like a background hum, or are they loud; demanding your attention? Do you perceive them as positive thoughts or negative thoughts?
Remind yourself that no matter how intense your bodily sensations, emotions or thoughts are, they cannot hurt you. By experiencing these feelings, emotions and thoughts you are making room to find out what you really need in this moment. Perhaps you need someone to talk to, to rest, to drink some water, or engage in some activity meaningful to you? Consider what genuine needs are.
Take a deep, refreshing breath and consider where you are on the wave of the urge. Are you building up, has the urge peaked and do you feel yourself coming back down now on the falling wave. You might want to visualise yourself on a surf board, riding the wave. You are not fighting it but you are going with it; up to the peak and then coming back down again. Use this visualisation to remind yourself that the urge will fall, it will decrease in intensity and you will be able to relax and feel calm as the urge subsides.
Stay with the breath and with this image of the wave until the urge is no longer present. By seeing the urge through in this way, you are relating to the experience of the urge or craving in a new way that supports your health, well-being and self-care goals.