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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 25 2007 : 10:12:55 PM
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Does anyone suffer from migraines? I mean the non-kundalini kind. If so, I've got a simple thing to try...can't hurt, might help! 
Any lurkers out there? Any migraine-suffering friends of regulars? |
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LittleTurtle
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Dec 25 2007 : 11:41:25 PM
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| My son gets flat out migraines. Only MJ helps. Like to hear your thing to try please. |
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Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Dec 25 2007 : 11:45:52 PM
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Hiya Jim,
As a young kid I got migraines on a monthly and often weekly basis. Lot's of stress, and an inability to release that stress properly. I started getting them when I was around 6 or 7, and I think my body grew from that point in a way that kept my body tight and full of blocks. I still get them occasionally, but the moment I was able to feel the inner body I instantly found a way to deal with them. But best of all, after doing yoga for the past few years the frequency and intensity have decreased considerably!
In light of all that, I am still eager to hear your advice. As you said, can't hurt. Maybe we can compare methods, here. I recall thinking it was a godsend to have discovered how to manage migraines.
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Edited by - Kyman on Dec 26 2007 12:22:08 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2007 : 06:19:06 AM
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Little Turtle, what is MJ?
Kyman, I'm curious what your trick is. I'm not sure my method would be well tested by you, since you're so hair-triggered on self-cure, but it's worth a try.
Anyway, the idea is from something I worked out (and mentioned in another thread) for kundalini overload/grounding problems/front channel block. I'm thinking it might help migraine.
I'd prefer to have only yoga people (or friends with a yoga person close by) try it out for now. I can't imagine there'd be ill effects, but it does involve altering energy pathways (powerfully so, even though it's a very simple move), and I'd like to go gingerly before suggesting it to people completely new to energetic stuff. So let's keep it among us for now.
Here goes, and please do report back (lurkers, if you really don't want to post, please email me your experiences...just click on my nametag and you'll see a link reading "Click to send an E-Mail "):
Consider how you dilate your ear canals on an airplane to equalize pressure. Take time to examine that action quite closely. And apply that exact sort of dilation to the front portion of the base of your throat, near the collar bone (concentrating on the back of the throat will increase energy flow up and into the head, which is the opposite of what we're aiming for, though a good action to engage in pranayama for those without front channel block symptoms). Make the dilation feel warm and yawn-ish. If possible, invest the action with loving bhakti. And learn to hold the dilation for longer and longer (but follow AYP self-pacing directions, especially if you're kundalini awakened or in any way over-energized).
You should feel (if not immediately, then soon) a flow of energy waves down the front of the chest and abdomen, down to the perineum. If it doesn't make it to the perineum, move the dilation down to just beneath wherever you perceive the flow to stop.
Get to the point where you can easily do this action at any time. It should come to feel like you're easily stretching outward a tight rubber band that otherwise constricts your throat. Again, don't forget to self-pace.
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Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Dec 26 2007 06:20:07 AM |
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LittleTurtle
USA
342 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2007 : 08:52:02 AM
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| Jim, MJ is marijuana. My son is disabled so perhaps your method may not be for him, but I would like to know the method anyway. Thank you. |
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Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2007 : 10:49:21 AM
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Hey Jim,
Hair-triggered on self-cure? Can you expound on this for me? Never heard of a doctor who cured anyone. People who don't depend on others to heal their own biology might even be better suited to achieve results with your method, however, if your interest is to see how successful your method is when other people experiment with it, the results you are looking for might be skewed.
I discovered my method or way after having a pounding migraine, which as a youth, would turn into terrible episodes of heaving and a few days of disorientation and rest. One could say, discovering this method while doing yoga was inevitable. An effect of careful discernment and a strong opposition to the debilitating pain of a migraine headache.
You just relax the nervous system towards and even into the yogic sleep. You turn off the nervous system so the pain cannot be felt, yet you are awake. After a couple minutes of relaxation the pain sort of vanished, suddenly. I eventually found myself laughing at some comedy show on TV as I lay there. I thought to myself, what instant and profound relief. To be able to have laughter rise up through this body while having a severe migraine. Seriously, wow. But as soon as I moved or got up the pain came flooding back in. It was almost instant, like flicking a switch.
As my ability to move energy increased, I would merge my attention with the pain, thereby causing it to either cover up the pain or relax the nervous system until pain signals stopped firing off in the brain. The ability to cultivate energy and apply it helped me to stay up and on my feet more during an attack. You are still disoriented, somewhat dazed and confused, but without the extreme sensation of pain pulsating in your head.
The method or way I am using might be better suited for an attack, while a person is in sever anguish. My opinion is that yoga practice, done over time, will decrease migraine intensity and frequency. So you have a direct and indirect approach to treating it. It sounds like, to me, that your method would be good for treating an attack as well as helping to cleanse the nervous system, shortening the time of the attack and acting as a preventative.
I found that any manipulation of the head during an attack either affects the pain or ceases it. The affect is usually good, but there have been a few times where it didn't help and the pain became a level 10 migraine. Don't know if I caused it or helped it, as the 10's do happen now and again. So if you do get migraines, and you try any method, take very careful mental notes of what you do.
I'll be sure to try your method out next time I get a migraine, to give you some feedback.
Sparkle,
Most of my life, the pain would be so bad that I would just pass out. This is what most people do. They darken a room, lay still, and go unconscious. So I'm still doing the same deal as most people, just remaining conscious when doing so. If you aren't a yogi, use an ice pack in that dark room. Vibrations help, and so does a tight band around the head. Apply pressure mainly from the sides, if the pain warrants.
It may be hard for your son to relax himself, but if you can come up with a clever way to lead him through some deep breaths, you might help him move into a space where he can drift comfortably to sleep until the episode passes. If it is a really bad one, he most likely will just pass right out.
I recall a strange experience, when I was 6 or 7. I was in the nurses office, and the headache pain was so bad. It hurt so terribly, and inside I felt like a trapped or cornered animal, in severe pain. I had no way out, no prayer seemed to help. And then my mind focused on the pain, and a voice started speaking in my head, saying what is this. Where is this thing that hurts me? Where is it touching me? Then the pain stopped hurting me. And for only a few moments I sat there, feeling the sensations, but not interpreting them as pain. I thought, this cannot hurt me. I gasped to myself, shocked at this discovery. I forgot all about those few moments until decades later, after learning yoga. Yoga became a context for understanding this old momentary blip of intuition and concentration. |
Edited by - Kyman on Dec 26 2007 11:24:29 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2007 : 12:19:07 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Kyman
Hey Jim,
Hair-triggered on self-cure? Can you expound on this for me?
you said "I still get them occasionally, but the moment I was able to feel the inner body I instantly found a way to deal with them," and I took that to mean that you had an instant self-cure for them. If that were the case, you'd be a poor tester of my trick, because if it appeared to work, it might just be due to a subconscious application of your's.
Please do let me know if my trick provides relief. Sounds awful. |
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Kyman
530 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2007 : 12:40:01 PM
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Well, with luck it will be a very long time before that happens. heh heh But I'll report my experiences the next go round, for certain.
I can tell you now that most of my life upon getting a migraine my alignment and posture would become distorted. My shoulders would rise up slightly, my neck would sort of hang a bit, and my head would sag down. This was before I learned anything about yoga, so I think it speaks to the nature of your method. You might be onto something, because what you are suggesting would affect the body in a similar way.
Maybe my body was trying to ease its structural flaws by so drastically changing its posture during the time of attack (A CLUE!). Had I the wisdom earlier in life, I might have saved myself hundreds of migraines if I did yoga sooner, along with some of the other techniques we practice here. The chin tuck and chin pump specifically, I think, might have nearly cured me of my old condition. They have absolutely transformed the condition I grew up in into a new, less frightening beast.
Very intriguing, hopefully we will get some reports over time.
I appreciate your insight into this matter, thank you. |
Edited by - Kyman on Dec 26 2007 12:52:35 PM |
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AYPforum
351 Posts |
Posted - Dec 26 2007 : 1:03:18 PM
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| Moderator note: Topic moved for better placement |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 09:58:08 AM
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I had one of my not so severe migraines yesterday.. And this technique really helped. It took about 45 min.. but the pain and nauseousness was almost gone. I felt my head feel lighter and like a cool breeze blowing through it. I did not realize the heat energy associated with the migraine headache, till I felt the cooling energy. I did feel some purification symptoms in my throat area though.. the scratchy throat and feeling very thirsty.. but this was for a short period.
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weaver
832 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 1:22:29 PM
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Shanti,
I'm curious who's method you used and which helped you? |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 1:54:23 PM
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Thanks much, Shanti. I'm wondering if you practice this move to make it happen deeper/faster (almost as a "relaxation response" sort of thing), if it'd effect more rapid relief.
It's possible that a great deal of human malady is caused by throat block. And I'm betting that most, if not just-about-all kundalini syndrome issues are caused by same. So working to clear the head, either in health practices or in spiritual practices, may be counterproductive, as it's all just going to back up at throat anyway. Just a speculation. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Dec 29 2007 2:03:16 PM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 2:05:19 PM
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| Weaver and LittleTurtle, we're talking about the technique I describe in the fourth-down posting in this thread. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 2:33:57 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by weaver
Shanti,
I'm curious who's method you used and which helped you?
The one Jim described:
Consider how you dilate your ear canals on an airplane to equalize pressure. Take time to examine that action quite closely. And apply that exact sort of dilation to the front portion of the base of your throat, near the collar bone (concentrating on the back of the throat will increase energy flow up and into the head, which is the opposite of what we're aiming for, though a good action to engage in pranayama for those without front channel block symptoms). Make the dilation feel warm and yawn-ish. If possible, invest the action with loving bhakti. And learn to hold the dilation for longer and longer (but follow AYP self-pacing directions, especially if you're kundalini awakened or in any way over-energized).
You should feel (if not immediately, then soon) a flow of energy waves down the front of the chest and abdomen, down to the perineum. If it doesn't make it to the perineum, move the dilation down to just beneath wherever you perceive the flow to stop.
Get to the point where you can easily do this action at any time. It should come to feel like you're easily stretching outward a tight rubber band that otherwise constricts your throat. Again, don't forget to self-pace. |
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weaver
832 Posts |
Posted - Dec 29 2007 : 3:20:17 PM
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| Thank you Jim and Shanti! |
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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
Posted - Jan 02 2008 : 8:45:07 PM
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| I read in a book called "Blink" about biofeedback and it explained a study done that trained people to be able to direct bloodflow to their fingertips. This was done as a potential "cure" for migrained as it directed bloodflow away from the head and eased or eliminated their symtoms. |
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david_obsidian
USA
2602 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2008 : 7:00:16 PM
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Jim said:
Make the dilation feel warm and yawn-ish.
Very, very interesting stuff Jim. Have you just begun the elevation of the yawn to a yoga practice?
Do you snore Jim? Interestingly, some problems in the throat can also lead to snoring and sleep apnea; and sleep apnea can in turn exacerbate migraines. These things seem to be linked. Are yogic exercises focussed on the throat area of value for mitigating all of these problems? And maybe many Kundalini symptoms while we are at it.
This brings up another tantalizing question: is a yawn a spontaneous yogic mudra already? You have suggested a yawn-related yoga practice. Could other kinds of deliberate yawning then be a useful yogic exercises? One option might be to just do a series of deep yawns geared to developing the throat muscles.
On the subject of both apnea and migraines, (oh yes, I have had painless migraine, but only occasionally), here is a suggested practice that can help with both sleep apnea and migraines (and presumable snoring, since what helps apnea will probably reduce snoring). It's basically about slanting the bed so the head is higher than the base:
http://www.menopauseatoz.com/sleep-...ng-you.shtml
We tested our theory by having about 100 volunteer migraineurs sleep with the heads of their beds elevated, from 10-30 degrees. Head elevation, we theorized, would improve the brain circulation by providing some gravity assistance to drainage. Interestingly, we found that Space Medicine researchers discovered that brain circulation (and heart pumping) is optimal at a 30-degree head of bed elevation.
To our amazement, we found that the majority of the migraineurs in our study experienced relief by this simple sleep position change! Many had no new migraines, after being migraine sufferers for 30 or more years! The results were very fast, within a few days. And there were very interesting side effects, too. Our volunteers woke up more alert. Morning sinus congestion was significantly reduced for most people. Some reported that they no longer had certain allergies. Could we have discovered the real purpose and cause of migraines?
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Edited by - david_obsidian on Jan 14 2008 7:03:58 PM |
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Scott
USA
969 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2008 : 01:45:32 AM
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| I hope the yawn is pursued more, because I've found it to be a very integral practice...along with cat stretching. |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2008 : 09:34:43 AM
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David, yawn is the deepest conscious dilation one can do without a lot of yoga practice. And yawning needn't just take place where it normally takes place...with practice, the move can be directed just about anywhere. It's a helpful move to direct to achieve a temporarily opening at a block....sort of a foreshadowing of how things will feel after mantra and/or asana has more deeply and enduringly worked on it. When parents teach kids to clear ear pressure via yawning and swallowing, they are, yes, teaching them a yoga move.It's not the yawning that does it, per se...it's the yawning-ness. And that's what I'm suggesting here, as well. Don't just yawn, but dilate the exact spot at the base of the throat, front of the collar bone, with a yawny feeling.
Scientists don't know why we yawn. I'm increasingly convinced that all the things which strangely elude scientists about the human body and its energy, etc, are energetic-body yoga issues. For example, shivering, laughing, and crying - all mysterious to science - are all telltale yogic diaphragmatic contractions which evoke a tiny spray of healing/energizing/consoling kundalini. That's not gonna come up via research! :)
The dilation strategy I wrote about seems to create a strong temporary unblocking at the front of the throat chakra (and, yes, it works on any chakra, but even I, who is way more on the hatha/hacking end of things than I probably should be, refrain from working under the hood unless there's a serious problems). I'm not sure, however, how much enduring help it brings. That remains to be seen. But if you have migraines or TMJ, even temporary help is a godsend.
And yes, energetic throat block is, in my mind, unquestionably the cause of snoring and sleep apnea (neither at all understood by medicine, btw). And it's also, I'm pretty sure, responsibile for a lot of kundalini syndrome issues....hence this posting: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=3296
I do have snoring and sleep apnea, and am doing this practice just before sleep. I'm not sure how far into the night the effect extends at this point. Work in progress! It may also help with tinnitus and glaucoma, I'd imagine. Though tinnitus is touchy....if you open a throat block and more energy coarses thru head, that can increase ringing in ears - a standard kundalini symptom.
The practice you suggest will surely help. People with front channel block at throat tend, posturally, toward jalandara bandha (when watching tv or reading, I slump way down in couch until chin just about hits collarbone). So anything that keeps the head at a greater angle while sleeping is good (I think that's what's happening here,, just via gravity of the body pulling down).
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Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jan 15 2008 09:46:55 AM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2008 : 11:21:59 AM
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I need to hasten to add that once you get the knack of this dilation, there's no semblence of actual yawning. Much like after you learn to clear ear pressure, you don't need to actually swallow or yawn. You refine the action to its essence. It's the sensation of temporarily pulling back on a big rubber band that's been constricting at the base of your neck (I "spread out" the dilation slightly, to just below my collarbone, too).
And once you can do that, first, it's a great move to hold in AYP pranayama (and it's in keeping with Yogani's suggestion to be "open" in the throat in pranayama....this is just a much more specific way of attaining that) and second it's much easier to maintain during the day. Though, once again, the jury's out as to how enduring the effects are. My intuition says it's not doing much to diminish the block, it's just routing around it. But who knows.... |
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yogani
USA
5201 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2008 : 12:02:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Jim and His Karma
I need to hasten to add that once you get the knack of this dilation, there's no semblence of actual yawning. Much like after you learn to clear ear pressure, you don't need to actually swallow or yawn. You refine the action to its essence. It's the sensation of temporarily pulling back on a big rubber band that's been constricting at the base of your neck (I "spread out" the dilation slightly, to just below my collarbone, too).
And once you can do that, first, it's a great move to hold in AYP pranayama (and it's in keeping with Yogani's suggestion to be "open" in the throat in pranayama....this is just a much more specific way of attaining that) and second it's much easier to maintain during the day. Though, once again, the jury's out as to how enduring the effects are. My intuition says it's not doing much to diminish the block, it's just routing around it. But who knows....
Hi Jim:
Yes, this is what we mean by opening the throat on inhalation during spinal breathing pranayama. Nice discussion here on some of the underlying reasons. Similarly, there are underlying reasons why we gently restrict the epiglottis on exhalation (ujjayi) during spinal breathing. And we self-pace as always, of course.
Like the old saying goes: "One pill will cure us, and two pills will make us sicker."
The guru is in you.
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2008 : 3:50:05 PM
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Yogani, I'd thought I was diligently following your throat-opening direction for several years now. I thought my throat was quite open the whole time! But mounting evidence led me to understand that my throat wasn't just failing to be particularly open, but it was, in fact, horribly blocked (in the FRONT....the "down" route...not in the back, where prana runs up smoothly). And I'd had no idea.
So merely trying to "be open in the throat" was, for me, not nearly enough. It's taken me several years to puzzle out my simple-seeming solution (for more details (and a bunch more things to do), people are invited to read the posting I keep linking to, at: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic....OPIC_ID=3296 ). I hope it helps others both in their practices and also in their health.
BTW, the inevitable question is: AYP pranayama happens in the back route, not the front....so why would a block that's stritcly in the front affect it, and why would openness there be critical? I don't pretend to know the answer. And I'm still doing my pranayama in the back, as always. But the diff is huge. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jan 15 2008 3:53:59 PM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Jan 25 2008 : 12:12:03 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Shanti
I did feel some purification symptoms in my throat area though.. the scratchy throat and feeling very thirsty.. but this was for a short period.
Shanti, the sore throat may have been the result of aiming at the wrong spot. It's extremely easy (I do it all the time myself) to accidentally work on the larynx/adam's apple instead of the base of the throat.
One trick is to rest your index finger in the notch of the collar bone and very gently prod forward on the flesh of the throat with the fingertip...just to "mark the spot". |
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Buddy
6 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2008 : 11:25:20 AM
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| Sometimes migraines can be caused by trigger points underneath the occipital lobes. Have someone press under the occipital ridge so see if there is pain there. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2008 : 12:35:09 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Buddy
Sometimes migraines can be caused by trigger points underneath the occipital lobes. Have someone press under the occipital ridge so see if there is pain there.
Welcome to the forum Buddy.
Yes, you have it right.. I do have migraines, and there is considerable pain in that region (on pressing). I actually discovered this through my chiropractor. During really bad migraines, there are points under the occipital ridge that makes me wince in pain when pressed.
Do you have a solution as to how to ease this pain? |
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yogibear
409 Posts |
Posted - Jan 30 2008 : 08:19:33 AM
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Hi all,
Don't rule out chiropractic. I help so many people with headaches it is a yawn most of the time. Let me say that I don't help everybody. But maybe 80%. because I treat the true problem which is the degenerative arthritic process in the neck.
No bragg, just fact. Am I dating myself?
Did you know that chiropractic was discovered by restoring hearing to a deaf man? A friend of mine just restored site to a man who had been blind in one eye for about 12 years.
I asked him what happened. He said the guy came in for neck pain. He said his neck was really stuck and the first 4-5x he only got slight movement of the joint and not a good release. Then on the fateful day, he got a good movement of the joint and the man's bad eye immediately started tearing. Then his good eye started tearing and when he went to wipe his good eye he realized that he had vision in his bad eye.
He says that all he needs is corrective lenses like any one of us for perfect vision now. He said that he was in just before I called him and that he can read the lettering on the side of truck 70 feet away with any difficulty.
Magic? No. When you understand the wiring of the brain stem it makes perfect sense. Here is a link if any one is interested.
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/13718517.html
Back pain?
Just fyi.
Best, yb.
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Anyone Get (non-spiritual) Migraines?
