therapeutic yoga can help with headaches, this isn’ t a do-two-sun-salutationsand-call-me-in-the-morning situation.“ Every once in a while as a healer, I’ m thrilled by an immediate positive response,” Dr. Bell says.“ But I’ m also pleasantly surprised. Yoga is an unfolding process, not a new thing to take.” McCord agrees that yoga usually yields the most benefits to those who practice it patiently over time.“ It depends on the person actually doing the practice regularly,” he says.“ That takes more commitment |
work you do, your partnerships, your family.”
Another benefit of yoga is that it can be added to your ongoing pain management regimen. When patients come in for acupuncture related to migraines and headaches, Dr. Bell often sends them on their way with a short series of yoga postures and breathing practices to try at home.“ Sometimes they come back and say the yoga was more effective than the acupuncture,” he says. Others report that yoga helped the pain relief of acupuncture last
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aware of your headache problems, may be the best place to start. However, many general yoga classes will be too vigorous for beginners, particularly those suffering from frequent headaches.
McCord suggests working privately with a teacher who can tailor a practice to your needs and abilities. You can then do this personalized therapeutic regimen at home on your own. Dr. Bell has a few patients who used a book on therapeutic yoga as their guide, but he still recommends starting with a
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for easing an active headache or migraine.“ You are lying down in a position that requires no effort at all, with a great deal of support from cushions, and you stay there quite a while— five minutes, 10 minutes, maybe even more,” he says.“ We’ re talking about complete relaxation in a very comfortable position, always with the head above the heart.”
Yoga can be even more effective as preventive care for frequent headaches, although these results may manifest slowly.“ It can take time for [ yoga ] to
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than swallowing a pill.”
But sometimes that commitment is surprisingly easy to generate.“ Even little changes feel huge for someone who has not been seeing any change at all,” Dr. Bell says.“ With yoga, you’ re engaging more than just the body, so you deal with all the circumstances of your life— from your role in your family to the physical position of your body during the day. Asanas [ poses ] get in and open you up from the patterns of musculoskeletal tension in your life. Yoga provides an antidote to the stress associated with the
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longer. Some of Dr. Bell’ s yoga students who take Imitrex ® and other medications for their head pain even say they find the drugs work more effectively after practicing yoga.“ It kicks in faster, and the pain resolves more quickly,” Dr. Bell says.“ There’ s definitely a synergy.”
PRIVATE PRACTICE Despite the wide array of potential benefits, it’ s important to proceed with caution. For those in otherwise good health, a series of beginner yoga classes, particularly with an instructor who’ s
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teacher to get familiar with yoga techniques.
Although yoga can provide some relief to a headache in progress, movement may not be an option during a severe migraine. If the headache doesn’ t preclude all activity, Dr. Bell says to avoid inverted yoga poses and be sure not to hold challenging poses for more than a few breaths.“ It’ s often a better starting practice to move in and out of poses dynamically so these are more easeful, restorative practices,” he explains.
McCord says restorative poses are your best option
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make changes at the level of the body-energy-mind dynamic,” McCord says.“ The good news about that, however, is that such deep changes will tend to be long-lasting, whereas superficial changes might not be.” Like Dr. Bell, McCord recommends a slow, gentle approach to yoga postures.
“[ Yoga ] is certainly worth a try,” McCord says.“ Chances are, something good will happen in the headache / migraine arena for you. And the chances are even better that you’ ll get a whole lot more out of it than headache relief.” HW
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