I've found meditation to be extremely useful whenever I'm having an urge. The only technique I use is the one in which you concentrate on your breathing. I'd like to learn some more from you all.
When I'm having an urge, as much as I understand how focusing on the breath can help (I meditate for 15 to 30 minutes twice daily morning and night, seems to reduce urges substantially), the only thing that helps me in the midst of an urge is physical conditioning. The beast inside me doesn't get tamed any other way, a couple inspiring videos to get an idea of how I deal with my urges:
Hey bro sorry if that was too intense I do realize physical conditioning is not for everyone here. Ask @atak though the urges are not coming from a rational or logical place. So here are some videos more relevant to your question,
Observe the breathing in your diaphragm(belly), inhale through your nose for 7 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, exhale out of your mouth for 7 seconds, hold your breath for 7 more seconds, then repeat the process.
No-Self ('Dzogchen') Meditation. Instead of sustaining your attention on a single mind object (e.g. your breath), you let your awareness go "wide open". You become the space in which the entire flow of conscious activity operates. That includes sounds, sensations, feeling-tones, moods, and even thoughts themselves. The gist of it is: "Notice what you notice in each moment." The benefits of this form of meditation, in my view, extend far beyond those of focused attention meditation. It provides a potential source of some immensely spiritual and transcendent experiences that you will not forget anytime soon. I remember one time when I had not slept for over 36 hours. I was walking home, and it was sunset. I started to do this form of meditation while walking on the side of the road. For the first two hours I did not get very far with it. But, then, for the last half hour, my sense of being a self behind the eyes looking out at the world completely disappeared. All conscious experience unified into a single field. Completely present, complete stillness. All that existed was Now. Amazing stuff. I wish I could achieve that state again. You can find a guided track here if you're interested. Also, if you want to read more about this stuff in a secular context, I'd highly recommend Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
Nice one. I have found mindfulness meditation to be useful (concentrating on the breath and also seeking to eradicate thought from the forefront of your consciousness). I have also found chakra meditation to be quite interesting. I listen to music for both of these techniques. For mindfulness, I listen to calm, ambient music. And for chakra meditation you have to listen to specific sound frequencies. The basics of mindfulness meditation that I use are outlined in this video: