7 Yoga Poses For Migraine Relief

Practicing yoga regularly can aid in reducing stress levels by activating the body’s relaxation response, which in turn can assist in alleviating symptoms related to migraines, anxiety, and even depression.

The combination of physical movement, controlled breathing, and meditation in yoga helps in improving overall mental resilience and reducing the impact of stress on the body.

Furthermore, yoga’s focus on mindfulness can assist individuals in being more in tune with their bodies, allowing them to better recognize and respond to physical and emotional signals. This heightened self-awareness can be particularly beneficial in managing chronic pain or discomfort, fostering a more mindful approach to dealing with such conditions.

Yoga And Migraine

Yoga’s impact on the body involves a complex interplay of various systems, and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is a key player in this process. When you engage in yoga, particularly practices that involve deep breathing, relaxation, and specific postures, it can stimulate the PNS.

The PNS is responsible for the body’s rest-and-digest response, essentially counterbalancing the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). By activating the PNS, yoga helps induce a relaxation response. This can lead to reduced heart rate, lowered blood pressure, and a sense of calmness and relaxation.

The deep, mindful breathing techniques in yoga, such as pranayama, can directly influence the PNS. These breathing exercises help stimulate the vagus nerve, a major component of the PNS, which in turn triggers the body’s relaxation response.

Yoga Poses For Migraine Relief

The study’s findings support the idea that yoga’s impact extends beyond physical postures, potentially affecting the body’s autonomic nervous system and offering a complementary approach to managing certain health conditions, like headaches and migraines, in conjunction with standard treatments.

Poses you can try–

Yoga’s diverse range of poses can target tension and stress, factors that often contribute to migraines. Specific yoga poses can help alleviate the discomfort associated with migraines by promoting relaxation, improving circulation, and reducing stress levels.

Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

The process of doing this yoga asana is very easy and any person who has already started practicing yoga can make it easy. This yoga asana is very beneficial and it must be added to daily yoga practice.

Steps To Do–

• Lie on your stomach on a yoga mat. After this, while stretching the breath, lift the body with your feet and hands and make a table-like shape.
• Slowly raise the hips upwards. Keep your elbows and knees tight. Make sure that the body is inverted in the shape of ‘V’.
• During the practice of this asana, the shoulders and hands remain in a straight line. While the feet will remain in line with the hips.
• Now press your hands down towards the ground and try to pull the neck longer. Keep your ears touching the inner part of your hands and try to focus your eyes on the navel.
• Now you need to firm your outer arms and then press the index fingers’ bases, actively into the surface of the floor. From these two particular points, lift along the inner arms from your wrists to the shoulders’ top.
• Keep your ears touching the inner part of your hands and try to focus your eyes on the navel.
• Stay in this position for a few seconds and after that, the knees rest on the ground.

Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

It is one of basic yoga poses, and in English, it is called Standing Forward Bend. The pose can potentially enhance blood circulation to the brain, thereby reducing the intensity of migraines by promoting better oxygenation and blood flow.

Steps To Do-

• First of all, stand in Tadasana. Place your legs slightly apart and keep the shoulders straight.
• When you stand, you stand powerfully. Control your weight on the paws of your feet.
• Now, Exhale while bending forward slightly at a 90-degree angle, lengthening your torso.
• To move forward, bend your elbows down the ground and touch your feet with your hands.
• You have to bend your chest in such a way that your knees touch it.
• In this position, your knees should be straight.
• Stretch your body a little bit and try to have your chest and belly stick to the thighs of your leg.
• Keep breathing deeply and remain in this position according to your comfort. Do for 30-60 seconds in the beginning. For health benefits 3 – 5 minutes every day is good enough. Though practitioners can go up to 15 minutes for spiritual benefits.

Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)

Paschimottanasana is a seated forward bending yoga posture with the upper body folded forward. This asana is part of the Ashtanga primary series. and also mentioned in the “Shiva Samhita” as one of the accomplished asanas, along with Padmasana, Vajrasana and Siddhasana.

Steps to Do-

• Sit with both legs spread straight on the ground. There should be no distance between the two legs and keep the legs straight as much as possible. Also, keep the neck, head, and spine straight.
• Leaving breath and stretch your arms out forward. Hold for a moment. Then, slowly raise your torso up. Do not move your legs.
• After this, keep both your palms on both knees.
• Slowly bend forward and catch the feet of both legs. When this action is taking place, keep both of your legs straight.
• After this take deep breaths and exhale slowly. Try to touch your head and forehead with both knees.
• Keep breathing deeply and remain in this position according to your comfort. Do for 30-60 seconds in the beginning. For health benefits 3 – 5 minutes every day is good enough. Though practitioners can go up to 15 minutes for spiritual benefits.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Bridge Pose is the important supine yoga poses that are helpful in the treatment of thyroid, migraine, back pain, neck pain, problems related to the nervous system and many more.

Steps to Do-

• First, lie on your back.
• After this, bend or bend your knees and pull both your legs towards the hip.
• Now keep a little gap between the two legs and hold the ankles of the feet with hands. Note that your feet should be parallel to each other.
• If you are unable to catch the ankles of the feet, then interlock both palms together. The palms should touch the ground.
• Now try to get up towards the ceiling with your back, hip, and thighs. Here, lift the waist as much as possible and leave the head and shoulders on the ground.
• Note that your chin touches your chest.
• After reaching the final position, keep the breath speed normal, hold it for some time.
• While returning, first bring your back to the ground, then bring the upper part of the waist and finally the waist on the ground.

By doing Sethu Bandhasana, the muscles of the back are flexible and strong. And the person’s brain remains calm and anxiety goes away.

Pregnant women can do Sethu Bandhasana but they should do this asana under the supervision of Yoga expert. This asana should be done when your bowels and stomach are completely empty.

Marjariasana (Cat yoga pose )

Marjariasana is very easy to do. If you have back pain, the pose will be beneficial for you. Back pain can also cause complaints from other parts of the body such as shoulder pain, loss of muscle elasticity, weight loss, neck pain, weakness and sometimes a headache.

• First of all, on flat ground, bend the body forward and sit on your knees.
• Now bend the body forward and attach the palms to the ground.
• At this time, your body should be sitting on knees and palms.
• Make a short distance between the legs so that they come in the shape of the shoulders.
• In this state, hold the body for a while and keep breathing slowly.
• Now move the body forward and backward according to your capacity.
• Keep the neck up and down and exhale slowly.

Balasana (Child Pose)

The name Balasana is derived from Sanskrit words Bala means child and asana means posture. It provides physical, mental and emotional relief. It is useful in relieving back, head, shoulder, neck and hip strain.

Steps To Do-

• To practice this asana, first sit on the mat (Vajrasana) on your knees and keep the waist absolutely straight.
• Now take a deep breath and tilt the upper body towards the front. Place both hands backward and try to have the head touch the ground in front.
• Now try to stay in this state for as long as possible.

Savasana (Corpse Pose)

Savasana is not just exercising or Yogasana or meditation but it is a magical process in itself, by which a person can attain everything by awakening his inner latent powers. By which a person can use his inner power to remove all types of physical and mental diseases.

Steps To Do-

• Lie down on the yoga mat.
• Well, you should start practice from bottom to top in this pose.
• Close your toes and tight them make sure another part of the body should be relaxed.
• Keep your toes tight and move your concertation to knees. Breathe in and breathe out and do tight your knees. Rest body part should be relaxing except your toes and knees.
• Move your conversation to your waist and tight your waist same as toes and knees.  your upper body is relaxing and lower body is tight.
• Move to your shoulder and tight your should as well.
• Now Tight your both hands and touch your palm to your body with tightness.
• Close your eyes and keep in this state for a few minutes your entire body is tight.
• Now we again move to process tight to relax.
• Relax your toes and make sure your entire body is tight except toes.
• Now we will move to shoulder You will feel Relax. Start deep breathing and think that you are like a corpse.
• Come out from your body in relaxing mode. you will see that your body is lying on the floor and move to outside your thought and think about hills, or the best day of your life those will give Relaxation.
• Your Reminder will ring and you will come again to your corpse body. Feel Relax.

Conclusion

Yoga’s multifaceted approach can indeed promote a sense of balance, aiding in both physical recovery and mental relaxation after stressful events or conditions like migraines.

Although you can try these yoga poses during a migraine pain, you may have better results if you add yoga to your daily routine. You can also make Dincharya using 7pranayama yoga app.