Yes! Do you get headaches when you get stressed? Me too! I hate stress headaches. If I have a test coming up, if I’m getting in trouble a lot, if I’m worried about something…I’m telling you, I alwaysget headaches! Well, there are several poses that I’ve found that make a big difference and help my headaches either go away or at least not be as bad.
Cow-Cat This is a great pose to release some of the tension in your back and shoulders. Start on the floor, on your hands and knees. Make sure your back is flat. This is called neutral position. As you take a breath in let your tummy drop to the floor and look way up to the ceiling. When your tummy is down toward the floor and you’re looking up, lay the tops of your feet flat on the floor. Hold that for just a second. Then breathe out and bring your tummy up to your spine, making your back super rounded. When you round your back also flex your feet and put your toes on the floor to stretch them too. Hold this one for just a second. Then repeat this cycle of neutral, cow then cat pose for several cycles.
Neck stretches Drop your head toward your chest, really feeling the stretch in the back of your neck. Do some slow neck rotations, to the side, then straight up (don’t let it drop back), to the other side and down again. Do five circles, then go the other way. It’s really important not to let your head drop back since what you’re trying to do is let your neck muscles stretch, and putting your head back might stretch your throat but not your neck.
Child’s Pose Go back to being on your hands and knees. Now sit back on your feet, leaving your hands stretched out in front of you. Lay your body down over your legs and, with your arms stretched out, you’ll feel a little stretch in your back, but mostly you’ll feel pretty relaxed.
Savasana As you know I loveSavasana! This is a really good one to do after all these stretches cause it let’s everything kind of relax for a minute. You lay on the floor on your back, keep your legs straight but relaxed, and your arms next to you and relaxed. You close your eyes and let your body rest into the floor. You will start to feel heavy but that’s good. It means your muscles are relaxing and re-setting is what I call it. Just hang out there for a few and enjoy the relaxed feeling.
After you do these poses I bet your headache feels a little better. Let me know if it works and if you found anything else that works too!