Headaches during Yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I’ve been practicing yoga for a couple of months. I practice at home with whatever videos I can get ahold of. Also I follow along with Namaste Yoga on FITtv.

I’m prone to headaches, I get them whenever low-pressure systems move in. Unfortunately I tend to get them during my yoga practice. Usually I get them after doing forward folds or any posture that places my head below my heart. Sometimes the headache is mildly irritating, I can pause the video and wait for a bit. Other times I have to go lay down for a while.

I was wondering if anyone else has eperienced this problem or knows what could be done about it.

Any help is appreciated

Blessings
Keith

#2

the only suggestion i can think of is, maybe you are holding your breath when doing asanas, keep it flowing, sometimes people tends to pause the breathing when ever they feel the tension from the stretching in poses, don’t force if you can not follow, try to do the poses with each of your breath, relax, keep calm, we have to know our limitation in each asana, try to do it with our own level of awareness, if what i said it’s not your main problem, than maybe you should check your health first before continue doing Yoga, Namaste.

#3

In order for me to answer therapeutics questions I need information regarding the practitioner (age, gender, background, fitness, health) and the practice they are doing (style, sequence, duration et al).

gordon

#4

Well, let’s see

I’m a 24 year old male. I’m 5 foot 10 inches tall, and weigh 106 lbs. I have hyperthyroidism. I tend toward a vegetarian diet but live with a very carnivorous family so that is difficult sometimes. I am trying to quit smoking, I was at 1-1/2 packs a day, but have cut back to between 1/2 and 1 pack a day. I drink on occasion though rarely more than 1 beer or glass of wine. I try to be as active as possible, I do a lot of heavy yard work during the day, and try to do some kind of work out at least 3 days a week.

I’m not entirely sure that I practice a particular style, I basically work along with whatever videos I can get my hands on, Usually for 30-40 minutes at a time.

I think I covered everything.

Blessings
Keith

#5

Well, I am going to give a few hints, not a whole answer.

!. As yogivid posted, be careful how you breathe during asanas. Too much kumbhaka
(retention of breath) can be very damaging.

  1. Yoga and smoking are incompatible.

  2. Do not follow ALL DVD’s you can get hold of. Just stick to a reputed source.
    Otherwise you are bound to make mistakes.

  3. For hypethyroidism ujjayi pramayama is very good.

    Here you have a DVD by Swami Ramdev:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-386913693756370208

    It needs 30 seconds to start. Ujjayi pranayama is the last of the seven pranayamas
    shown, strating after cca 1 hour.

Another DVD with ujjayi pranayama:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-386913693756370208

#6

Another DVD with ujjayi pranayama

#7

Hello Keith,

Thank you for allowing us to know you a bit better. This is incredibly helpful.

While it is not necessary to be “clean” in order to begin a yoga practice, the presence of powerful toxins make assessment very difficult. I can not ascertain if you are having headaches due to withdrawal from nicotine, respiratory issues, nutrition, your constitution, your practice, or your endocrine system.

In Purna Yoga™, the yoga in which I train, practice, and teach, the very essence or beginning of the nutritional path is the avoidance of caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and sugar. These are very important things to get a handle on.

If the student is getting headaches then it is appropriate to modify the postures and make them more mild in nature. This heightens safety while reducing effect - a continuum always balanced carefully by a skilled teacher. For now I would modify all the poses that are producing the headaches while also cleaning out the body. You can begin to move more deeply toward the full expression of those poses later in the life of your practice. That may mandate study with a teacher.

#8

First reduce your dosage in increments to wean yourself off them(say one in the morning ,one before bed) ,then pick a day to stop,commit, and stick to it.

Eat food, go swimming …whatever to keep the cravings at bay and your mind distracted.

But i suggest you just pick a day and just, well… stick to it.Then when you’ve got deepeer in your yoga,all cravings will have dissapeared.

#9

Thanks to every one for their input and advise.

I don’t just watch any video and accept the material as divine. But at the same time, I have no yoga-practicing acquaintances to refer videos and such, so I take what I can get my hands on at the library.

I have been trying modified postures and stretches to work the hamstrings without having to bend forward and it has helped a lot.

after reading the responses on here and looking at a few other resources online, I really feel like the headaches are being caused by my smoking, a habit which I am working on breaking.

Again thanks for your input everyone!

Blessings
Keith

#10

Have an organic diet with lots of fibers, keep well hydrated, and reduce dairy. See if that works, before you totally eliminate smoking.

#11

Seeing the words “headache” and “weather” together, I want to share that my husband has found relief from huge headaches (which are usually concurrent with weather changes) when he eats very spicy foods. We think it’s a sinus thing. Or a hydration thing, since the spicy foods get him to drink more water during the meal.
Might not apply to your situation at all.

Best of luck in quitting smoking! Even if the headaches aren’t caused by it, when you’re a non-smoker you can thank your headaches for inspiring you to break an addiction.

#12

[QUOTE=Hubert;21671]Have an organic diet with lots of fibers, keep well hydrated, and reduce dairy. See if that works, before you totally eliminate smoking.[/QUOTE]

Really? …

#13

Smoking is stygmatized but there is at least one benficial effect of nicotine, it seems to reduce the risk for colon cancer. And Oshawa’s macrobiotic diet studies tried to show how the lungs are able to expel much of smoking related toxins if dairy is avoided.

Now, all these might stand a closer trial or not, I do not try to defend smoking, as I hate even the smell, but to give up smoking is harder than to implement new healthy rutines.

Headaches caused by stagnation of colon content - autointoxication ? Hence the advise for fibers, hydration, and I would add avoidance of meat - it is actually rotten when it arrives to the lower intestinal tract. Paired with lack of fibers, stays there for a long time. Just my two kopeikas.

#14

I would still say stopping is one of the single things you can do to improve your health and quality of life
the most.

.See it for what it is-a revolting habit with adverse, not good, affects to your health.

I did hear someone say that uniquely smokers do get a chance moment unlike t most of us to practice pranayama, albeit with cigarette smoke,measured controlled breathing.

Beyond this, i would not recommend this practice.