Shifting Energy.

How to cope with headaches?

We all get them. Some more than others and some more severe than others, but I’m sure at some point everyone has had a headache. They can be caused by lots of different things but generally those random small headaches we get are due to stress, anxiety or maybe you just didn’t get enough of that H2O the day before.

Moving the body can help to shift energy and so of course, we can use yoga to help alleviate the discomfort that a headache can bring. So, roll out your mat, and let’s shift some energy!

How breath can help your energy levels?

So firstly, let’s find our breath, just noticing our inhales and exhales - what’s the quality of your breath here, can we make the inhales a little richer and exhales a little longer. Maybe use a count, inhale 6, exhale 6 find that equal quality breath - close the eyes or soften the gaze. Nadi Shodhana - Alternate Nostril Breathing is a fantastic way to balance energy - see our blog ‘Just Keep Breathing’ posted on the 4th of June for some other Pranayama exercises that you might enjoy. For Nadi Shodhana:Method: Sit it a comfortable position with the spine neutral. Place the index and middle finger of your most dominant hand between the eyebrows or curl them into the palm and rest your thumb and ring finger just above the nostrils. Place your other hand on to your lap, or on your knee with your palm facing up or down, or you can take a mudra of your choice.Take a full inhalation through both nostrils and a full exhalation. Close the right nostril, inhale through the left, pause at the top of the inhale. Close the left, pause, open the right and exhale, pause at the bottom of the exhale. Inhale through the right, pause at the top of the inhale, close the right, pause, open the left, exhale. This completes one round. For beginners we would recommend 3-5 rounds, building on this over time.

Physical practice flow for recreating energy

For the physical practice let’s begin on all fours to prepare us for Childs Pose. Bring the knees as wide as the mat and allow the big toes to touch. Slowly lower the chest and forehead down to the mat and allow the arms to reach forewords to the top of the mat. The forehead can rest on the mat, or a block/bolster. Stay here for as long as feel comfortable. up to five minutes. Rolling the forehead gently from side to side can also feel quite nice and relaxing here. Another option for Childs Pose is to have the knees together, rest the torso onto the thighs, forehead to the mat or a block/bolster and let the arms rest behind. From Childs Pose, gently bring the hands under the shoulders a lift yourself back to an all-fours position, ensuring the knees are under the hips, shoulders over the wrists and gaze between the hands. From here gently start to press through the hands, tuck the chin gently towards the chest and the tailbone under and you round through the shoulder blades drawing the navel inwards - this is Cat Pose, taking 3 - 5 breaths here. From Cat Pose, gently bring the spine back to a neutral position, tuck the toes under, press the sitting bones back towards the heels, then lift the sitting bones upwards as the chest comes through the arms towards the thighs, creating a triangle shape - this is Downward Facing Dog. Grounding through all five knuckles of the hands here, decompressing the shoulders, relaxing the head and neck so the ears and biceps are in line, finding length in the spine by lifting with the tailbone, knees soft or bend, weight pressing into the heels. Taking 5 breaths here. From Downward Facing Dog walk the feet up to the hands, so the hands now frame the feet. Keep the knees, soft and tailbone lifted, head and neck stay relaxed, the gaze is inwards, and the hips stack over the ankles. Option to hold opposite elbows or rest the hands-on blocks - this is Deep Forward Fold, taking 3 - 5 breaths here. From Deep Forward Fold, step the feet back and lower the knees to the mat, coming back into a Tabletop position. Childs Pose can calm the nervous system and therefore the body and mind. Cat Pose, Downward Facing Dog and Deep Forward Fold all improve blood circulation which relaxes the mind and can therefore relive headaches.This 5-6 min sequence can be repeated for as many rounds as you would like, but up to 3 times should hopefully help to reduce symptoms of a headache or alleviate completely!

Want to know more about our yoga teacher training courses?

If you’d like to know more about the benefits of different postures, we have modules within our 200hr and 300hr training courses and the combined 500hr. You can view full course syllabuses on our website www.yogacourse.com.