Urge surfing, explained in ninety seconds
What urge surfing asks of you
An urge is a strong pull to do the thing you decided not to. Urge surfing is the idea that an urge behaves like a wave, building, peaking and falling away, and that you can stay with it instead of acting on it. In practice that means breathing slowly and seeing whether it changes before you decide anything.
What is known, and what isn’t
Urge surfing comes from Marlatt and Gordon’s work on relapse (1985). One randomised trial tested a short version: 123 students who smoked and wanted to change that were shown cues meant to make them want a cigarette, and one group was given brief urge-surfing instructions (Bowen & Marlatt, 2009). Their urges did not differ from the other group’s, but over the next seven days they smoked fewer cigarettes. That is one small study of one habit: it suggests the technique changes what people do with an urge rather than the urge itself, and it is not proof that it works for everyone. Forvel offers urge surfing as a tool, not a proven fix, and claims nothing about how long an urge lasts.
There is more evidence for a related tool: deciding in advance what you will do. In the largest review of if-then plans, 642 tests, plans cued by feeling tempted averaged d = .28 (Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer, 2025). The review’s overall effect was d = .36, or .15 once publication bias is allowed for. One study of plans aimed at strong existing habits found that plans saying only what not to do could backfire, and that plans saying what to do instead did better (Adriaanse and colleagues, 2011). Neither tests urge surfing, but both are about having something to do when the moment comes.
How to try it this week
The next time a slip feels close, give it ninety seconds. Breathe slowly, and ask at the end: did it pass? Ninety seconds is the length of Forvel’s exercise, not a claim about how long an urge lasts. If it didn’t pass, you can talk it through with the coach or leave it for tonight.
The urge ride keeps the time for you: a ring runs for ninety seconds while you breathe, then asks the one question. It is there when your plan is one to stop something.
One exception
Heavy daily drinking is the exception to all of this. Withdrawal is medical, not motivational. The seizures are real. Get supervision, not willpower. Forvel is a coach, not a doctor.
Sources
- Bowen & Marlatt (2009). Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23(4), 666–671.
- Marlatt & Gordon (1985).
- Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer (2025). European Review of Social Psychology, 36(1), 162–194.
- Adriaanse, van Oosten, de Ridder, de Wit & Evers (2011). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(1), 69–81.