Headache Relief

Hi,

I'm Joni and I'd like to offer you some headache relief today.

Let's get started.

I invite you to sit comfortably or to lie down.

If you choose to lie down,

Make sure that you roll up a thin blanket or a towel underneath your neck right behind the place where it curves for a little bit of support.

Once you're settled into the position that feels most comfortable,

Take a deep breath.

We're going to start with just a little bit of movement and then we'll just move into some breathing and visualization.

So the movement as we take another breath in,

I invite you to tense up your body.

So take a deep breath in and squeeze your fists,

Squeeze your shoulders up toward the ears.

Open your jaw,

Open your mouth really wide.

Clench everything,

Clench and tighten everything.

And then as you exhale,

Let it all go.

Let's do that twice more.

So inhale,

Create tension,

Hold,

Hold,

Exhale and release.

Let's do that again.

Inhale,

Tense,

Tighten.

Squeeze the shoulders,

Open the mouth really wide to stretch the jaw.

Squeeze your eyes shut and then exhale and relax.

Just turn your head slowly from shoulder to shoulder.

If you are lying down on your back,

Interlace your fingers behind your head and draw your chin in toward the chest.

If you're seated,

You can just let your chin drop toward the chest.

Take breaths,

Release your head back to neutral.

One more time,

We're going to take a deep inhale,

Relaxing the face.

And now when we exhale,

We'll exhale through the mouth and we're going to stretch the jaw open wide,

Stick out the tongue,

Open your eyes really wide.

So we're again creating a little tension in the face as we exhale.

Do that on the exhale.

Inhale and relax the face.

And then as you exhale,

Open the mouth and jaw really wide,

Stick your tongue out.

One more time.

And now relax.

If you need to adjust your position to get comfortable again,

Please do so.

Then you might have a blanket roll or a towel rolled up and placed just behind the neck,

Just behind that curve of the neck for some support here.

Relax your breathing.

Try to let your body be heavy.

Imagine that you could just melt,

Melting into the floor.

See if you could soften even more,

Smoothing out the forehead,

Softening the space between the eyebrows and all around the eyes.

Letting the jaw be slack and relaxed.

Imagine any points of tension in the jaw just melting away.

Each moment that passes,

More relaxation like a wave sweeps over your whole head,

Your whole face,

Your whole body.

As you continue to melt away,

Try to draw your awareness to the rise and fall of your belly with each breath.

Natural breathing,

No need to change the breath anymore.

Let it be soft.

Let it be subtle.

Notice just that gentle rise and fall.

Can you relax all around your face,

All around your head even more?

Can you feel the scalp relaxing?

A slackening of the muscles at the back of the neck.

A softening.

If the mind wanders,

Come back to feel the rise and fall of the belly with each breath.

If your mind continues to wander,

You're welcome to add the mantra,

I am light and well.

Reciting that to yourself silently,

I am light and well.

I am light and well.

I am light and well.

I am light and well.

I am light and well.

When you're ready to bring this practice to a close,

I invite you to take a deep breath and take a deep inhale and exhale with a sigh.