For the last 20 years I’ve taught the concept of “riding the crave wave” of food urges. It comes from an addiction model of therapy as a way to work with cravings for a substance (cigarettes, alcohol, drugs etc.) or activity (gambling, compulsive shopping, sex) that’s causing harm in someone’s life. The idea is that “the hormones that accompany a craving (cortisol, adrenaline, oxytocin (OXT), vasopressin, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) axis hormones, sex hormones, thyroid hormones, and nutritional hormones) are probably involved in addiction processes.”* It’s really hard to talk oneself out of a craving when these chemicals have hijacked your brain but learning how to slow down the knee jerk response to “use” can help us make a different choice. A crave wave will often fall away if we don’t focus on its story (the why I want “it” and how I’ll feel when I use “it”). In some instances it only takes about 90 seconds for the chemicals to clear our system. If we can start surfing the crave wave as it begins to swell, we can ride it out as it crests and crashes back into itself. With practice, and alternate supportive resources, we then turn to something skillful (a friend, a walk, a nap etc.) to manage life’s triggers.
Three weeks ago, I had my first surfing lesson. In the ocean. My Airbnb rental in Ireland featured an “experience” 5 minutes away at a beach nearby so I thought, why not? I looked at the UK water temperature and decided that with a wetsuit it wouldn’t be that bad. And I do yoga so how hard can this really be? Fifteen tries later, on gentle swells, I learned. Flexibility and balance aren’t the only thing one needs, it’s also where your feet land on the “pop up” (going from on your belly to the semi-crouch). Mine were in perfect warrior pose, not the parallel position needed to stabilize an eventual upright stance on a wobbly styrofoam surface rocking on the water. Out of 15 tries I got up twice only to topple over again into the cold waters of Cork County. Each time I arose laughing and eager to try again. Time went too quickly. I was hooked.
When I got back home to my Pacific Ocean I took another lesson, this time on swells 10 times higher. Same results but I enjoyed the challenge just as much and am thinking of surfing a lot now. How I love being cradled in water. How boarding creates the sensation of flying on the swell of nature’s wet breaths. How no two attempts will ever be the same. And I feel the desire to return to the beach much like those cravings I used to have when binging on food. Back in those days I had no idea that depression with its lower hormone expression was fueling the need for something to distract me from my woes and lift me out of their gnarly grasp. Much like being tossed under a wave in the ocean where life can feel threatening, those binge eating moments provided the same relief I can now feel while popping up out of the water after falling off the board or gliding gloriously into shore. Had I known those happy endorphins were available by skimming atop the ocean, 17 year old me might have taken the D train to Coney Island instead of raiding the cookie bin.
*https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8824246/
Introduction to Mindful Eating Authentic Living Support
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