For many navigating addiction recovery, every day is a new battle.
Sometimes, fighting off cravings takes all the strength you have. Other days, you find yourself seeking alternatives to activities that put you in risky situations.
But what if the key to preventing relapse wasn’t fighting your cravings, but learning to ride the moment like a surfer through the waves?
A counterintuitive approach to relapse prevention is growing in popularity. Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) has been showing incredible results for those looking to maintain long-term sobriety.
Combining mindfulness meditation with traditional, proven relapse prevention strategies, MBRP is giving many a fresh outlook on lasting recovery. So, what is MBRP, and is it right for you?
What is Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP)?
As the name implies, Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention is an 8-week aftercare program that fully integrates many top mindfulness practices with cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention techniques.
But unlike other traditional approaches (which often focus on avoiding triggers and fighting cravings), MBRP instead guides individuals on how to observe their emotions and physical sensations without judgment.
The goal? To slow down and create space between the urge to use and the automatic response.
MBRP leans on mindfulness-based stress reduction and cognitive therapy and focuses primarily on addressing the challenges that come with addiction recovery.
How Does MBRP Work?
MBRP acknowledges that the effort of suppressing or avoiding difficult feelings often leads to an intensification of the symptoms. This, in turn, increases the relapse risk rather than lowering it.
The treatment method helps participants develop a new relationship with discomfort, encouraging them to approach it with curiosity and acceptance rather than resistance.
It may sound counterintuitive, but it’s this shift in focus from external triggers to internal experiences – in combination with key mindfulness techniques – that begins to rewire the brain toward a new relationship with triggers.
The result? A greater ability to navigate triggers and environments where triggers may arise – giving you more freedom to engage with your world without fear.
Why is Mindfulness Important in Addiction Recovery?
You may think that addiction recovery simply requires removing external triggers from your life. But addiction thrives on automatic behaviors and emotional avoidance – and even full disconnection from environments that may trigger you can’t remove your emotions.
Those in recovery still feel the cravings and emotions that once drew them to addiction. And that habitual response is powerful.
The desire to “feed” a substance use disorder is strong. Mindfulness works to interrupt this automatic cycle and create what MBRP practitioners call a “pause” between urge and action.
Research shows that mindfulness practice can actually rewire and reform brain regions involved in emotion regulation and impulse control. When one repeatedly practices awareness of thoughts and sensations without reacting, they slowly strengthen neural pathways that support thoughtful responses over impulsive reactions.
This neuroplasticity offers hope for lasting change that goes beyond just “more willpower”. It sets the stage for a stronger, more mindful response in the face of cravings and triggers.
What are the Core Practices in MBRP?
Meditation & Mindfulness
As the name implies, meditation and mindfulness form the foundation of MBRP.
A typical session includes a 20 or 30-minute guided practice in which participants learn breathing exercises, body scans, and other meditative practices that help develop present-moment awareness.
Urge Surfing
Urge surfing is MBRP’s signature technique for managing cravings. In MBRP sessions, participants will learn how to observe their cravings and see them as temporary experiences that rise, peak, and then naturally subside – much like ocean waves.
Like a surfer “riding out” the wave, participants learn how to ride out the craving sensation. IN doing so, they maintain their balance and awareness as the moment passes.
MBRP research shows this approach can reduce craving intensity by up to 31% compared to standard treatment.
Acceptance Strategies
MBRP sessions also include training on acceptance strategies to help participants relate differently to their experiences.
For example, rather than seeing cravings or negative emotions as enemies that they must defeat, MBRP instead calls on participants to see them as they would any other unique emotion – with gentle curiosity.
It doesn’t mean liking or desiring these experiences, but instead starting with acknowledgment. When you can expect and view emotions as temporary visitors to your mind, you can better urge surf them.
Awareness Training
Like acceptance, MBRP also trains individuals in stronger awareness. This training goes beyond awareness of addiction-related experiences and brings mindfulness into all aspects of life.
A sense of heightened awareness can reveal previously unconscious connections between emotions or thoughts and the substance use urges that come with them.
Does MBRP Work for Addiction Recovery?
As with any addiction recovery method, many wonder if MBRP works to improve long-term sobriety. The evidence in recent years suggests that it does.
A randomized controlled trial found that MBRP participants showed far fewer days of substance use at 12-month follow-up compared to those involved in a standard relapse prevention and treatment plan.
Interestingly, participants in the study experienced a 54% decreased risk of relapse to drug use and a 59% decreased risk of relapse to heavy drinking in just the first six months.
The benefits of this enhanced mindfulness also improved overall emotional regulation. A stronger sense of resiliency and the ability to identify and “ride out” urges are shown to reduce relapse rates and enhance other areas of life.
Participants also show increased self-compassion, reducing the shame spiral that can turn a single lapse into full relapse.
MBRP in Professional Treatment Programs
The success shown in recent years has led to MBRP programs being added to many addiction treatment centers.
Many now integrate MBRP into their aftercare programs, particularly alongside cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy.
A structured 8-week format also makes MBRP great for group settings. By going through the treatment together, recovery and aftercare participants can benefit from shared experiences and mutual support.
How United Recovery Project Supports Mindful Recovery
At United Recovery Project, we know that lasting and successful recovery must go beyond abstinence and avoidance. It requires a shift in mindset and lifestyle that gives you the strength to identify and relate to your thoughts and experiences in new, stronger ways.
Our dedicated MBRP program integrates directly into our addiction recovery treatment approach. We combine MBRP techniques with proven methods such as meditation, yoga, and breathwork.
Plus, our trained facilitators are there to guide participants through the 8-week MBRP curriculum and provide individualized support at each step.
We emphasize practical application, which helps each individual build a personalized mindfulness practice that fits their lifestyle.
Learn More with United Recovery Project
Recovery requires more than avoiding substances. You must begin to build a life where you can face each challenge with confidence and ride out the difficult moments with strength.
MBRP offers unique tools to help you remain present and empowered, no matter what life may bring your way. The result is a long-term recovery plan built on the ability to experience challenges without being controlled by them.
Want to learn more about relapse-prevention strategies that last? United Recovery Project integrates mindfulness and evidence-based care to help you build lasting sobriety. Contact us today to learn more.
Research
- Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Substance Use Disorders: A Pilot Efficacy Trial – PMC
- MBRP Overview | Centers for Integrative Health
- The consequences of effortful emotion regulation when processing distressing material: A comparison of suppression and acceptance – PMC
- Mindfulness and Behavior Change – PMC
- Neurobiological Changes Induced by Mindfulness and Meditation: A Systematic Review – PMC
- Urge Surfing | Dartmouth-Hitchcock
- Neurobiology of Addiction – StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf
- Relative Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention, Standard Relapse Prevention, and Treatment as Usual for Substance Use Disorders: A Randomized Clinical Trial – PMC
