Image credit: Nicholas_T

According to the 5 element system in Chinese Medicine, Migraines are a result of a disruption in the Wood element. The Wood element is responsible for smooth flow and for maintaining all of the cycles in nature. In humans, the Wood element’s flow management system is disrupted by a lack of exercise, poor diet, and, on an emotional level, by anger, frustration, and suppression of feelings.

Learn to flow like a river and your Wood element will be happy. But going with the flow is not necessarily what people think it is. Rivers are powerful: Sometimes they go around obstacles and sometimes they overcome them, but they always get where they are going.

Here are 5 techniques to overcome your migraine by going with the flow:

• The first one is essential for the others. Learn to just feel. Feel sensations in your body. Feel emotions come and go. Notice how everything flows. When we try to damn up our feelings, both physical and emotional, we create stress in our bodies.

For 5 minutes, 4 or 5 times a day, close your eyes and practice just feeling what ever is happening in your body. Continually soften and let go. Let everything be. Sometimes this exercise is helpful during a migraine, but sometimes it only intensifies the pain, so be gentle in your exploration.

• Become aware of the effects of food on your body. As you practice the above exercise you will become more aware of subtle changes in your body. Start paying attention to how you feel after eating. You will find that there are certain foods that your body does not like. Avoiding them will help reduce your migraines.

I have a few foods that my body doesn’t like, but I have found that the level of intolerance changes all the time. Generally, if my stress level is low and I haven’t eaten any offending foods for a while, I can get away with eating one without bringing on a migraine or other uncomfortable reaction. For the most offensive foods I always eat a small bite then check in with my body to see how it is reacting. If my body is not happy, I don’t eat any more.

• Practice abdominal breathing. When the breath is restricted, everything is restricted. A good time to practice is at the beginning of the first exercise. Spend about two minutes breathing deeply. As you inhale allow your belly to rise more than your chest. I also like to practice before getting out of bed, after getting into bed, and during mindless chores like dish washing.

• Try acupressure on yourself. Search for tender points between the bones of the hand and foot. Massage or hold them for a minute or two each.

The two points in the pictures are particularly good. The first one, SJ 5, is between the two bones on the arm, about two inches from the wrist. The second one is between the last two bones of the foot, outside of the tendon that goes to the baby toe.

Also check out my acupressure First Aid post and this one on headaches.

• Do the inner smile meditation. At the end of it, imagine breathing emerald green light into your liver. As you exhale imagine smoke coming out of your liver. The liver is the main organ of the wood element, and green is its color.

This meditation can do wonders for lowering your stress and improving flow in the Wood element. And that will reduce the severity and frequency of migraines. Do all of the above and you may eliminate migraines all together.

One of those methods, EFT, is great for dealing with post traumatic stress, allergies, phobias, and many stress related symptoms. You can learn the self-help basics of EFT here. If you are interested in EFT and find that you need more than self-help, contact me. I am happy to provide consultations, by phone or email. See my About page for my email address.

Beating Heaven’s Drum is a traditional technique for relieving headaches, dizziness, and waking up the brain. Cover your ears with your palms and tap the muscles at the base of the skull. Tap gently for about one minute.

Knocking at the Gate of Life is another traditional Chinese technique. The gate of life is the area where, according to Chinese Medicine, our basic vital energy is stored. Tapping the points associated with it helps to increase the flow of energy and gives a feeling of vitality. There are two points. The first one is about two inches below the navel and the other is on the spine, directly opposite the navel.
Stand with your feet a little wider than the width of your shoulders and place one fist just below the other and the other on your back opposite your navel. Then begin to turn your body, at the waist from side to side. As you turn, let your arms swing around. As you turn left your left hand should tap your back and your right hand should tap your belly. As you turn right your right hand should tap your back and your left hand should tap your belly. The arms should be very relaxed. Let the turning of the waist swing them around, without using any arm strength to tap your body. Do this exercise for a couple of minutes, every day.

Taping to boost the immune system. This is a modern technique, as far as I know. There are three points to tap. The first point is the last point on the Kidney channel. The Kidney channel is also associated with the Gate of Life. The point is just under the collar bone, in the depression just outside of where the collar bone meets the breast bone. The second point is on the breast bone, about two inches below the top. The thymus gland, an important immune system organ, is directly below this point. The last point is near the bottom of the rib cage. It is about level with the bottom of the little bone that sticks down from the bottom of the breast bone and about three inches from the midline. You will notice a little dip in the rib cage in that area. Tap between the ribs. These points stimulate the Spleen and the Liver, both of which influence the Immune system.

Tap each point, in order, about twelve times. The first and last points can be tapped on both sides at the same time. Breathe slowly and deeply while tapping the points. You can do this once or twice a day.

One simple and safe way to cleanse the digestive tract is to do a short juice fast. Three days is safe and effective. Only drink juice of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Drink them immediately after juicing them, as they lose their goodness, and start to oxidize very quickly. Besides drinking fresh juice, you can drink herbal teas, ginger is particularly good. Also, first thing every morning, mix one teaspoon of psyllium husk in a glass of water or juice. It does not have a pleasant flavor, so you probably want juice. Psyllium husk is known as intestinal broom because is sweeps out the old debris that lines the intestinal walls. You may want to continue the psyllium for a few days after the fast is over.

While generally regarded as safe, a small minority of individuals do not tolerate psyllium well. Those experiencing discomfort should discontinue use, or start with a very small amount to allow the body to adjust. However a feeling of bloating, especially the first time you take it, is normal.

Use of psyllium can reduce the effectiveness of prescribed lithium.

Use of psyllium can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics.

Do not use psyllium within two hours of any medicinal substances. Use at least 30 minutes prior to eating.

Psyllium is generally safe and helpful for people with irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulosis, and colitis.

Should that fail, try acupressure. Look for tender points in the webs between the fingers and the toes. Between the thumb and first finger it’s in the meaty area just above the web. I have a picture in a previous post. When you find a tender spot hold it hard enough that it feels sore, but not too painful. As the soreness subsides hold it harder. When it is no longer sore move to another point. Carry on until the headache is gone. That should take two or three points.

While you are doing the acupressure, it is also helpful to practice, deep relaxed, abdominal breathing. However, for some people with migraines, that can be counter-productive, so if the headache is getting worse, ignore the breathing. Instead, you could imagine you are standing barefoot, on a nice warm beach. Feel the heat of the sand warming your feet.

If you try all of those techniques and it doesn’t work, let me know. Tell me exactly what your experience is, and I can fine tune the self treatment for you.

There are several things you can try, to allow the symptom in.

• Close your eyes and bring your awareness to the area that has pain or another symptom. As you breathe in imagine the breath going to that area. As you breathe out allow that area to soften. On the inhale you can also try breathing in light or warmth.

• Imagine that your resistance is a fist held tightly around the symptom. Feel the fist and slowly let go. This can be combined with the previous point.

• Just explore the sensations. When you get curious about pain, it’s quality changes dramatically.

• Practice surrender. I am not sure how else to put it, but sometimes, when in intense pain, I just keep surrendering to it.

I have a food allergy, and one of my reactions is that my esophagus goes into spasm. It is incredibly painful and I can’t swallow for about half an hour. I have never felt pain as bad as that. One time when that happened I practice surrender and exploring the sensations, together. It was an almost ecstatic experience. The pain went away very quickly, but I almost wished it didn’t because I was enjoying it so much. I have never had that pain, so intensely, since that experience.