Riding The Urge

This is for the moment an urge is loud and you don't want to act on it. A craving, a panic spike, the pull to scroll, drink, eat, message, walk out. You press play partway through the wave, not before. Ten minutes of meeting the urge in the body, watching its anatomy as a wave with a beginning, middle and end, and letting it pass through without feeding it. Based on the principle that any emotion or urge moves through the body in about 90 seconds if we stop adding story to it. Practical, direct, not gentle. Use this one when you need it, not just as a study tool. Keep it bookmarked for the times the noise gets loud.

Transcript

If you've pressed play on this, Maybe something's loud right now. Maybe there's an urge in you to do something, Maybe to eat or drink or scroll, Message someone. Maybe just to escape what you're feeling. You're here, So part of you wants to see if it's possible to not act on it. Not forever, But just for the next 10 minutes. So I invite you to get comfortable enough to stay still. You can sit, You can stand, You can lie down, Whatever works best for you in this moment. And take a breath, A long one in through the nose. I need a longer breath out Again, Breathing in slow. Out slow. And now name what's there. To yourself, Not out loud unless you want to, Just inside. Say what the urge is. I want the ease. I want to dream. I want to leave. I want to look at my phone. I want to message her. Whatever it is, Name it plain. Don't dress it up. Don't shame yourself for it. And now find it in your body, So not in your head, But in your body. Where do you feel the urge? Maybe in your chest, It's tight. Maybe in your throat, A pulling sensation. Maybe in your hands, A restlessness. Maybe in your belly. Maybe everywhere. And just stay with the place where it lives, Where the urge lives in the body. An urge isn't a command, It's a sensation And so it has a beginning, A middle and an end, Like a wave at the beach. Right now, You're probably partway through the wave. It's loud. So your job for the next few minutes is to not run from it. And not act on this. But just to watch it move. Just breathing slow, Staying with sensation. If the urge gets stronger, Just notice that. Don't fight it or fix it, Just see it grow. If it gets quieter, Notice that too. It's the wave moving. The body can hold any sensation for about 90 seconds before the wave starts to break. After that, What keeps it going is the story we tell about it, The I need this or I can't handle this. But without those stories, The sensation just passes through. So for now, Drop the story and stay with the sensation. Let it be uncomfortable, Let it be loud. Let it be however it is without doing anything about it. Breathe. And as you stay with sensation, Notice what's happening now. Is it the same? Take care. Smaller. Whatever you notice in this sensation, You don't have to do anything with it. You're just watching. Your mind has started arguing for the urge, Telling you why this time is different. By this time you should give in. Notice that and come back to the body. Again the body is where the urge actually lives. And the mind is where it gets a microphone. Stay with the body for the last minute or two. Just staying with sensation, Not fixing or changing. You're sensing the body, Sensing the sensation. Now take a slow breath in. And down. Get in. And out. And one more time in. And out. And you might notice the urge has changed since you started. It might still be there, But quieter. Or it might still be loud. But you're still here, You didn't act on it. So either way, That's a win. You watched a wave come and you're still standing. When you come back to the day, Whatever you do next. Do it slowly. Don't make any big decisions in the next few minutes. Just go and pour a glass of water, Sit somewhere, Stretch. You've done the hard bit already. So let the next bit be easy. Thank you for being with me.