Introduction to Mindfulness_349810_bookemon_ebook.pdf Coaching and Practising Mindfulness | Page 91

person as it helps them to bear what they regard as unbearable. Marlatt (2002) quotes one client who said: “If things are always changing, my negative moods will also change over time. Meditation helps me to let go and to allow these natural changes to occur, without worrying how I will control them through my drug use. The same goes for feeling high. I cannot stay high all the time, so I get caught in planning where and when I can get high again. The truth is, I’ll never achieve permanent satisfaction. Just knowing that things are always changing is a big load off my mind.” (p.48) 3) The practice of mindfulness enhances the client’s ability to deal with urges and cravings: Marlatt (1985; 1994) teaches his clients to visualise the urge as an ocean wave that begins as a small wavelet and gradually builds up to a large cresting wave. As the urge wave grows in strength, the client’s goal is to surf the urge by allowing it to pass without being “wiped out” by giving into it. He tells clients that urges are simply learned or “conditioned” behaviours triggered by specific cues and high-risk situations. Like a wave, the urge response grows in intensity until it reaches a peak level of craving. Giving in to the urge when it peaks only serves to strengthen or “reinforce” the addictive behaviour. Not acting on the urge, on the other hand, weakens the grip of the addiction and strengthens the experience of freedom and self-confidence. Like any skill, learning how to “urge surf” takes practice and improves