How to release tension Headaches
A consistent yoga practice in my opinion will take care of most aches and pains, but a common occurance with practitioners and in people general are tension headaches. In this post I’ll explain how these can occur and what you can do to help alleviate them.
To cover the basics outside of your yoga practice you will always want to check in on the main culprits for pain in general.
Are you getting enough sleep?
How has you diet been lately?
And the main culprit is, how are your stress levels?
Tension from stress has a big effect on pain in the body
Stress, and in particular prolonged stress can cause tension headaches. Our bodily system in my opinion is very good at handling short term stress, even if it can be quite high for a brief period, but when this gets normailsed over a longer period we start to suffer. Prolonged stress is not good for anyone and can have a very negative effect on our immune system and ability to heal and regenerate.
Tensions headaches are different to migraines, and tend to cause the following symptoms:
Moderate to strong pain on both sides of the head.
Tight pressure on the sides of the head and the back of the neck.
This pain will refer down the neck into the trapzius.
The most common place you will feel pain and tension is the upper neck, just below the skull and the sides of the scalp.
Trigger points below the skull
Anatomically we can see the muscles that run down from the skull forming the rear of the neck that support the head.
Muscles of the neck.
Through excessive stress and often improper posture when sitting for long periods, tension builds up in these areas and the musculature becomes tight and can incur trigger points. Marked with an X on the above image.
Massaging these areas of tension will stimulate blood flow and oxygen into the muscles helping to release those tight bands of fibers, and in general a soft touch by another human being with care will enable us to feel softer and calmer.
Aside from this there are three things that work wonders for your immune system and stress levels. They're also some of my favourite things.
Be in the sun.
Be in nature.
Listen to the birds singing.
Stillness
These alone will bring about healing but I also like to add this simple breathing exercise. Sit comfortably and spend 10 to 15 minutes breathing slowly through your nose.
Once you are calm and your breath is steady start rolling your head at its full range in circles. 5 to 8 seconds inhaling around and exhale at the end of a full rotation. Repeat the opposite way.
Then the same breathing pattern up, lengthing your throat. Exhaling back down tucking your chin. Repeat for 10 rounds. No phones, no planning, no thinking, just being. It's enough.
As neck tension is so common I have made a full tutorial on different exercies you can do to help rehab any type of neck tension you have as part of The Asana Guide.
Neck Rehab Tutorial.
For more rehab breakdowns and yoga sequences to restore balance back to your body, click on the button below to become a member of The Asana Guide.
