Urge surfing is a mindfulness technique that encourages you to “ride out” an urge or craving without acting on it. It can help prevent you from acting on an urge to binge, reduce reactivity to food cues, build resilience, build distress tolerance, allow you to witness the transient nature of your thoughts, and experience how an urge peaks and wanes in intensity. Urge surfing can help you build the necessary skills to stop reinforcing compulsive cycles in the long run.

Urge surfing is a tool for stopping compulsion based on the principle that urges—just like waves—rise, peak, and eventually fade away. The idea behind urge surfing is that when you observe your urges without judgment and without trying to suppress or act on them, you can learn to tolerate the discomfort they bring. By practicing urge surfing, you can develop greater self-awareness and emotional resilience.

Recognize the Urge: Acknowledge that you’re experiencing an urge to binge. If you can, say it out loud: “I am aware I am having the sensation of an urge to binge.”

Observe the Physical Sensations: Pay attention to the physical sensations associated with the urge. Where do you feel it in your body? Is it a tightness, a warmth? Is there a shape, a texture?

Visualize the Urge as a Wave & Stay Present: Imagine the urge as a wave in the ocean. It builds, peaks, and eventually dissipates. Remind yourself that the urge will pass. Continue to observe the urge without acting on it. If your mind wanders, gently bring your attention back to your breath and physical sensations.

Here is where I add my Kristina/Beyond Binge Eating special sauce, the “urge surfing, supercharged” element: sensory support. If someone is experiencing an urge to binge and it feels super intense, are they just supposed to sit there and ride the waves? Sounds tough, eh? I tried to do that many times and failed many times, and always felt like something was wrong with me or I was doing it wrong. It wasn’t until I incorporated body-based strategies that I was able to help support myself to weather those urges. So here I will add the supercharged element:

Add Sensory Strategies: Incorporate body-based strategies to help you self-regulate so you can remain present as the urge/wave may rise or fall. Use the strategies until the end. Pay attention to the end.

Reflect and Be Grateful: Consider what it was like to ride the wave all the way until the end, instead of cutting it off with a binge. It may have been challenging, but know you are rewiring your brain every time you make a different choice. Give yourself gratitude for your resilience, strength, and courage.