How I cured my headaches

Seven years ago I was stressed out, had chronic pain throughout my body, and terrible headaches that started behind my eye that moved down my neck all the way down my arm.  My jaw was tense, I used the computer way too much, and had little to no tools on how to deal with stress.  After visiting many doctors, having an MRI, meeting with physical therapists and sports therapists, I still had no solution better than pain killers.  One doctor even diagnosed my pain as fibromyalgia and wanted to start me on antidepressants.  Sadly, no one ever asked me about my lifestyle, my diet, looked at subtle physical misalignments or the amount of stress in my life.

It was around this time I started going to donation based yoga classes in a packed studio in New York City.  I would struggle through the one hour class waiting for that brief moment in savasana, the final resting pose, when I could experience peace.  The pain in my body would subside, my busy mind would quiet down, and I could have a glimpse of my true nature aspeaceful.

When I became a yoga teacher three years ago, I vowed to help others heal chronic pain in theirbody, the way my teachers had helped me.  Over the years I have cleared misalignments in mybody through yoga and dramatically changed my lifestyle to eliminate the high stress levels I was experiencing.  I attended workshops and trainings on therapeutic yoga with Sianna Sherman, and really came to have a deeper understanding of my body.  I no longer felt helpless, because when pain arose, I knew how to clear it.

When I moved to Sebastopol, I found fellow Anusara trained teacher, Mark Lundbeck.  Mark has experienced similar profound healing in his own body through yoga, and even spent 12 years in Tahoe incorporating yoga principles of therapeutics into physcial therapy offices in Tahoe.

For the last seven months I have been attending Mark's private therapeutic sessions, diving into the world of biomechanical alignment principles and seeing profound empowerment and physical change in his clients.  Through these sessions I have learned so much about my ownbody and have become a better teacher to my students.

I'm proud to be leading my first therapeutics workshop with Mark this Sunday at Alive Yoga.  If you are interested in clearing pain from your own body (from misalignment or injury), want to deepen your understanding and practice of yoga, or are a teacher and want to gain more knowledge for your students, I highly recommend you attend.

Love, Meredith

P.S. You can also watch my video, 5 yoga poses for headaches  

Natural cures for 5 different kinds of headaches

What if someone told you finding the right cure for your headache was as simple as figuring out what kind of headache you have?  According to Annemarie Colbin of FoodAndHealing.com, this is exactly what you should do.  After listening to her lecture through my school, I was ecstatic to know my regular tension headaches would dissipate after drinking a glass of lemon water with honey!  According to Annemarie, there are 5 kinds of headaches, with 5 specific cures.  If you are unsure of what kind of headache you have, try one of these cures and wait to see the results.  If you don't notice any change, you can always try another.

1. Expansive Headache An expansive headache is from eating too many sugary foods.  To cure this kind of headache you want to eat something from the Contractive side of the spectrum in the diagram below (salty foods.)

2. Contractive Headache A contractive headache is also described as a tension headache.  It can arise from tightness in the jaw, eating too much meat, or not eating enough food in general.  It can be cured by eating healthy sweet foods that are more "expansive."  Some common contractive headache cures are applesauce, juice, lemon water with honey, or italian ice.

You want to eat mostly balanced foods on this spectrum.  You will notice if you eat too many foods on the expansive or contractive end, your body naturally gravitates to eat foods on the opposite end to find balance.  For example, people that eat a lot of meat, generally also drink coffee and are addicted to sugar and/or alcohol.  Lessening meat intake lowers the cravings for these expansive foods.

3. Liver Headache A liver headache is also known as a migraine.  Migraines occur when you eat too much fat on an empty stomach (such as a bag of potato chips).  This puts strain on the liver and causes a migraine.  The liver is connected to the health of our eyes - so that's why you may see spots or have poor vision during a migraine.  Luckily there is a natural cure: - Squeeze 1/2 an organic lemon into a glass then simmer the peel for 10 minutes in 2 cups of pure water.  - Let the boiled lemon peel water cool then add it to the juice and drink.

4. Caffeine Headache This kind of headache arises when you stop drinking caffeine.  The cure for this one is to drink a little caffeine.  In order to stop drinking coffee or black tea, gradually drink a smaller amount at the same time each day to avoid a caffeine headache.

5. Structural Headache A structural headache is the kind of pain that arises from a misalignment in the body.  The cure for a structural headache is yoga and/or chiropractic adjustments.