Locate the urge in your body

Describe where and how the craving shows up physically instead of arguing with it in your head.

Why it works

Cravings have physical signatures — tightness, restlessness, a pull in the gut. Turning attention to the bodily sensation moves you out of the bargaining story ("just this once") and into present observation, which both defuses the mental urgency and makes the wave easier to track.

How to do it

1. When the urge hits, scan for where you feel it in your body.
2. Describe the sensation: location, quality (buzzing, tight, hollow), and intensity.
3. Stay with the physical experience, breathing, rather than the thoughts about it.

Evidence

Body-focused, interoceptive attention is a standard element of mindfulness-based approaches to cravings, used to anchor awareness away from rumination. It is well integrated into established clinical practice. (clinical)

The somatic focus is a documented component of the broader protocol rather than a separately validated standalone tactic.

Common mistake

Staying entirely in the mental debate about whether to give in, which keeps the urge alive, instead of dropping into the body where it can be observed and ridden.