Mindfulness is "the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something, a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations."[1]
Simply put, it's the ongoing monitoring of our present-moment experience.
An example? Don't swallow. You'll want to swallow but for now, don't. Like noticing an urge or crave, mindfulness has you focusing on a normal bodily sensation, the urge to swallow.
Can you see the possibilities? Okay, swallow.
A 2011 study found that participants who received 8 mindfulness training sessions over 4 weeks were five times more likely to not be smoking at 4-month follow-up than participants who received no mindfulness training (31% vs. 6%).[2]
An interesting aside in the study, 91% of successful mindfulness participants succeeded by ending nicotine use cold turkey.
Practicing mindfulness in a cravings context involves:
(1) Awareness: continuously monitoring one’s craving experiences in an impartial way so as to refrain from battling or trying to avoid them;
(2) Acceptance: letting feelings, tensions, thoughts and sensations associated with cravings come and go on their own without judging them; and
(3) Disidentification: by seeing and distinguishing one's self as being separate from cravings.[3]
While crave awareness is clearly a prerequisite to accepting or disidentifying from it, awareness alone is insufficient to effectively manage it. For example, researchers found that awareness alone doesn't alter crave intensity.[4]
The mindfulness factor believed to have the greatest impact on success is disidentification, the ability to put and see ourselves above the fray; the awareness that cravings reflect healing and where we've been, not who we are, or where we're going.
To quote American psychologist Ken Wilber, "I have a body, but I am not my body. I can see and feel my body, and what can be seen and felt is not the true Seer. My body may be tired or excited, sick or healthy, heavy or light, but that has nothing to do with my inward I. I have a body, but I am not my body."
"I have desires, but I am not my desires. I can know my desires, and what can be known is not the true Knower. Desires come and go, floating through my awareness, but they do not affect my inward I. I have desires but I am not desires."
"I have emotions, but I am not my emotions. I can feel and sense my emotions, and what can be felt and sensed is not the true Feeler. Emotions pass through me, but they do not affect my inward I. I have emotions but I am not emotions."
"I have thoughts, but I am not my thoughts. I can know and intuit my thoughts, and what can be known is not the true Knower. Thoughts come to me and thoughts leave me, but they do not affect my inward I. I have thoughts but I am not my thoughts."[5]
What if moments of crave episode challenge were devoted to focusing upon the feelings, tensions, thoughts, judgments, and sensations associated with it? Not distraction or attraction but heightened awareness of here and now.
Mindfulness Exercises and Training
Most mindfulness training begins by using meditation, breathing and focus as a means to foster inner peace and tranquility. Research confirms the ability of mindfulness to calm anxieties.[5]
Allow yourself at least 10 minutes to complete this mindfulness meditation exercise:
1. Find a comfortable stable position, either seated, lying down, or even standing (because cravings come to us in all postures) and observe the next several breaths.
2. Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, the cool air entering your nostrils and its warmth as you slowly exhale, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
3. Allow your breathing to slow and deepen. Calm and settle your mind by focusing exclusively upon the feelings and sensations of breathing.
4. Once you've narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of thoughts, ideas, and sensations.
5. Acknowledge to yourself, "I'm having the thought that [insert desirous thought]." This will help you step back and watch the craving. Imagine the craving as the voice of your addiction as it tells you that a use-cue has been encountered. Remember, you're the boss and you never have to go in that direction. Simply note what your addiction is saying as you sit back and watch. This is very different than arguing with the craving, fearing it, or trying to force it away.
6. Can you see what cue might have triggered the craving? If so, reflect on the time, place, activity, person, or emotion you'll be rewarded once the use cue is extinguished.
7. Take another breath and mentally try to picture and see your craving. Vividly imagine the shape, color, size, movement, and sounds of your craving. For a single, full, deep breath, just watch and listen to your craving. No need to debate it. It’s just there. . . . information being delivered to you, but only a portion of your full reality.
8. Be totally honest about your craving. You are the boss, not this craving. I am having a craving but it's not who I am. I have thoughts about this craving but I am not those thoughts. I have feelings about this craving but I am not those feelings. This craving is creating sensations but I am not those sensations. While this craving has fostered desire, that desire is not who I am. The inner me is infinitely greater than the thoughts, feelings, and sensations associated with this craving.
9. Cravings begin and cravings end. A quest for the full truth, reflect on each thought, emotion, or sensation associated with it, without judging it good or bad. If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing and breathe it away. Then expand your awareness again.
10. Continue until challenge, if any, subsides. Then allow yourself to become increasingly aware of your surroundings as this mindfulness meditation exercise ends.[7],
Give yourself 19 minutes to complete this mindfulness audio exercise:
- Mindfulness and Meditation by Kathleen Darchuk, Ph.D., ABPP [8].
An excellent 8 minute YouTube video by Dr. Jennifer May describing mindfulness urge surfing. As you'll see, the swallowing exercise above was Dr. May's idea:
- Mindfulness Urge Surfing [9].
Allow 19 minutes to complete this mindfulness audio exercise:
- Breath, sounds, body, thoughts, emotions [10].
References:
2. Brewer JA et al, Mindfulness training for smoking cessation: results from a randomized controlled trial, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Dec. 2011, Volume 119(1-2), Pages 72-80.
3.Lacaille J et al, The effects of three mindfulness skills on chocolate cravings Appetite, May 2014, Volume 76, Pages 101-112.
4. May J et al, Less food for thought. Impact of attentional instructions on intrusive thoughts about snack foods. Appetite, 2010, Volume 55(2), Pages 279–287.
5. Ken Wilber, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, 1979.
6. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research, Evidence Report/Technology Assessment Number 155, AHRQ Publication No. 07-E010, June 2007.
7. Four sources were relied upon in creating this mindfulness exercise. I combined my personal crave coping insights with (1) Harvard Medical School, Two mindfulness meditation exercises to try, https://www.health.harvard.edu/alternative-and-complementary-medicine/two-mindfulness-meditation-exercises-to-try Accessed 07/04/20, mixed with (2) an article by Mitch Abblett entitled, How to Be Mindful With Your Cravings, https://www.mindful.org/how-to-be-mindful-with-your-cravings/ Accessed 07/09/20, with (3) the quotes from Ken Wilber (footnoted above).
8. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital, Relaxation Recordings by Kathleen Darchuk, Ph.D., ABPP, https://www.columbiamo.va.gov/services/Relaxation_Recordings.asp - Accessed 07/04/20
9. May J, DBT - Mindfulness - Urge Surfing, May 31 2020, https://youtu.be/RIA2ewXayTc - Accessed 07/09/20
10. Mindful Awareness Research Centre, UCLA, Breath, sounds, body, thoughts, emotions, http://www.freemindfulness.org/download - Accessed 07/09/20
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