“Headaches come with pain, muscle tension, likely elevated heart rate and blood pressure, and distracted mind,” says Andrea Lepcio, Yoga Alliance 200-hour teacher and ACE-certified Personal Trainer with Fyt. “Yoga is designed to encourage the parasympathetic system (that controls our rest and digest functions), to take over this stress response.” It also helps to soothe your vagus nerve. “This long nerve starts in our neck and helps with swallowing and vocalization. Moreover, it links the parasympathetic system from the brain to the heart, lung and abdomen,” says Lepcio. “Calm breathing, chanting and singing make for a happy vagus nerve.” Unfortunately, you’re not always going to be able to prevent headaches on a daily basis. Because—let’s be honest—life itself is anything but zen. But to combat your risk, implementing some yoga moves can help ward them off. “Three common causes of headaches are stress, lack of sleep and bad posture,” says Blake Mason, yoga instructor at ROWDY. “Yoga addresses all three of these issues, not only preventing headaches from taking hold, but also alleviating the symptoms once one has begun.” Another huge cause of headaches? Screen time. “Taming headaches often start with relaxing the muscles of your eyes,” says Jessie Dwiggins, E-RYT, YACEP yoga instructor and trainer on Moxie. “Staring at screens uses the eye muscles that focus your gaze. Jumping from computer screen to phone screen throughout the day leaves your eye muscles locked in focal vision and heightens your stress response.” To combat this, you can thank the circulation (and calm) that yoga creates in the body as a major reason it is great for getting rid of headaches. “Yoga poses can also improve circulation in the body and help to bring a sense of calm and ease to the mind and spirit,” says Ally Maz, yoga instructor from mindfulness studio Open. Adds Alo Moves instructor Briohny Smyth, “Practicing yoga is a great way to bring the mind to the present moment. Being present allows us to be aware and release the anxiety, worries, and overall tension that we keep in our bodies. Focusing on our breath, while practicing these poses, can also help lowering blood pressure which can alleviate tension headaches.” Ready to start implementing yoga into your headache prevention and treatment routine? Here are 15 poses and breathing exercises to help you alleviate your headaches.
Yoga for headaches
Standing forward fold
How to do it:
Start with your feet hips distance apart, bend your knees and gently bend forward until your belly rests on your thighs.Grab a hold of opposite elbows and let your arms and torso hang over your legs. Give your head a little nod “yes” and “no” to relieve tension in your neck and encourage blood flow into your brain. Try this for 5-10 deep breaths.
Why it helps with headaches: “By bringing the head lower than the heart, we are able to increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain,” says Maz.
Child’s pose
How to do it:
Start kneeling and bring your big toes to touch with your knees wide apart. Reach your arms out in front of you and place your forehead on the floor or a pillow.
Why it helps with headaches: “This pose is very soothing to the nervous system and helps the mind relax. Taking deep breaths here can help us shift out of our stress response, known as fight or flight and into a calmer state known as rest and digest. Stay here for 1-4 minutes,” says Maz. Adds Smyth, “Child’s pose is a great way to release tension from your upper body by opening up the shoulders. This can increase blood flow to the head resulting in calming the nervous system and alleviating pain.”
Neck release
How to do it:
Sit up nice and tall and begin to drop your chin down toward your chest. Slowly roll your right ear to your shoulder, hold for a few breaths and then gently roll your left ear toward your left shoulder. Continue to roll the head from side to side, pausing where you feel tension. Do as long as needed till you feel some relief, and note that this can also be done during the day at your desk.
Why it helps with headaches: “Headaches can be caused by tightness and tension in the neck and upper back. By doing this movement with deep breaths, you are able to release tight muscles in the neck and back,” says Maz.
Legs up the wall pose
How to do it:
Lay on your back with your legs up the wall. If you have tight hamstrings, bend the knees gently.
Why it helps with headaches: “This pose improves circulation in the body while helping to calm the nervous system. It provides an easy stretch for the backs of the legs as helps with swelling ankles and knees. This pose can be done anytime and is especially beneficial before sleep. You can stay in this position for 5-15 minutes,” says Maz. Adds Smyth, “This is my favorite pose to increase blood flow and help my body process and release all the stress and tension accumulated in the body.”
Savasana
How to do it:
Lay on your back with your arms 45 degrees away from your body and your legs separated hips distance apart or wider. Place an eye mask over your eyes to soothe eye strain. Lay and rest as long as you need to here.
Why it helps with headaches: “This is the ultimate relaxation. By taking a few minutes here in a quiet place with your eyes covered, you can give yourself a break from screens and external noise. Taking some time to draw the senses in so the mind can relax can be a really helpful way to release stress and tension,” says Maz. Adds Smyth, “This pose is a great way to help your entire body feel completely relaxed. The combination of deep breaths and the feeling of relaxation can help increase oxygen to the brain, reducing headaches.”
Bridge pose
How to do it:
Lie on your back with feet hip-distance, knees pointing up. Press your feet down to lift your hips up. Keep your thighs parallel to each other to maintain the pose. Keep breathing. Hold the posture for a minute, inhaling and exhaling through your nose.
Why it helps with headaches: “It releases stress in the upper body and boosts circulation to the brain,” says Mason. Adds Lepcio, “In yoga, we call the deliberate breath work pranayama. We breathe unconsciously all day long, typically shallowly in our chest. When we practice yoga, we are inviting a deeper diaphragmatic breath, which is calming for our body. The undulation of the spine also helps to unkink your muscles. The pose requires the mind to focus on the movement allowing other stresses to move out of focus.”
Downward facing dog
How to do it:
Begin in all fours position, on hands and knees (otherwise known as tabletop position). Tuck toes under and lift your hips up, sinking your heels down towards your mat and press your thighbones back to broaden the hips. Let your head and neck relax and rotate your elbow creases forward to broaden your collar bones. Hold the pose for a minute, inhaling and exhaling through your nose.
Why it helps with headaches: “The inversion (where the head is below the heart) creates reverse blood flow. Some studies have even shown improved academic test performance with individuals that practiced yoga inversions beforehand,” says Mason.
Seated fold
How to do it:
Sit on your butt, straight with legs or knees slightly bent. Reach up and then hinge forward from your hips. Lengthen with inhales, then exhale drawing your sternum towards your toes. Hold for a minute as you deeply inhale and exhale through your nose.
Why it helps with headaches: “It stretches the spine and opens up shoulders, relaxes back and neck fully, giving head relief!” says Mason.
Cat-cow
How to do it:
Begin in a neutral tabletop position with shoulders stacked directly over your wrists and your hips over your knees. Drop stomach down towards your mat pulling your heart forward and drawing your shoulders back, gaze up towards the ceiling. On exhale, press into your hands and let the shoulder blades separate tucking your chin towards your thighs.
Why it helps with headaches: “It relieves tension in the upper body, and boosts blood flow and circulation,” says Mason.
Alternate nostril breathing
How to do it:
Turn your right palm to face up, fold your index and middle fingers into your palm, and raise your right hand to your face with your palm facing you. Frame your nose with the thumb and ring finger of your right hand. Close your eyes. Close your left nostril with your ring finger, this will allow you to breathe through the right nostril. Inhale through your right nostril for a count of four. Hold both nostrils closed and hold your breath until you need to exhale. Open your left nostril and breathe out for a count of eight. Pause for one count at the end of your exhale. Breathe in through your left nostril for a count of four. Hold both nostrils closed and hold your breath. Open your right nostril and exhale for a count of eight. That’s one round. Continue for a total of five rounds. When you’re finished, relax your right hand, breathe deeply through both sides of your nose and notice how you feel.
Why it helps with headaches: “Deep breathing, specifically lengthening your exhale so it’s longer than your inhale, brings about a relaxation response which soothes stress and slows your heart rate," says Dwiggins. “This relaxation response may change how you perceive the pain of your tension headache. You may also feel yourself breathing diaphragmatically, which lightens the load of the respiratory muscles around your chest, upper back, and neck.”
Lion’s breath
How to do it:
Sit in a chair or on the floor in any position you can comfortably sit up straight in. Set your hands, palm down, on your knees. Splay your fingers like a cat stretching its claws. Close your eyes. Breathe in until your lungs feel pleasantly full. Hold your breath and simultaneously open your eyes and gaze toward the tip of your nose, open your mouth, and stick out your tongue and reach its tip towards your chin. Contract the muscles on the front of your neck just under your jaw. Exhale and make a ‘ha’ sound until your lungs feel comfortably empty. Relax your face and close your eyes as you inhale. Repeat two more times.
Why it helps with headaches: “Jaw clenching when stressed creates tension in your face muscles including the masseter and temporalis muscles," says Dwiggins. “Your masseter muscles are located on the sides of your jaw between your cheekbones and the sloping curves of your jaw just below the ears. Your temporalis muscles lie at the temples and attach to your jaw joints on either side of your head. Lion’s breath stretches both muscles along with other head and neck muscles that contribute to tension headaches.”
Eagle pose
How to do it:
Sit on a chair or on the floor in a cross-legged position. If you’re on the floor and you’d like more support, you could sit on a bolster or folded blanket. Raise your arms to shoulder height in front of you. Turn your palms to face one another. Breathe in and spread your shoulder blades wide across your upper back. Draw your right arm over your left arm until your upper arms cross. Bend your elbows and tuck your right elbow into the fold of the left. Bring your forearms perpendicular to the floor with the back of your hands facing one another. Wrap your forearms around one another so your palms press together. Breathe deeply and feel for widening your ribs toward the sides of your body. Stay in the position for 3-5 breaths. To come out, unwind and lower your arms. Repeat on your other side.
Why it helps with headaches: “Eagle pose stretches another set of upper back and shoulder muscles that feel the strain of forwarding head posture. These muscles also play a role in respiration and can be overused when chest breathing, which is associated with a heightened stress response. Stretching these muscles limits their role in shallow breathing, thus making diaphragmatic breath, or belly breathing, more accessible,” says Dwiggins.
Supported fish pose
How to do it:
Roll up a blanket or towel so that it’s five inches thick in diameter and the width of your yoga mat. Sit on your yoga mat and set the roll behind you so it lays the width of your mat. Lie down over the roll with the lower tips of your shoulder blades resting on the blanket. If the roll is too thick, you can unroll it until you find a diameter that works for you. Rest your head on your mat or place a small folded towel under your head. Reach your arms out to your sides, in line with your shoulders, like the letter ‘T’. Straighten your legs and let them relax towards the floor. Close your eyes and sink into the shape. Breathe deeply and rest in the pose for 3-5 minutes. To come out of the pose, bend your knees, roll towards your left side, and press yourself up to a seated position.
Why it helps with headaches: “Lying over the rolled-up blanket is a subtle stretch for your chest muscles. The compression of the blanket on your upper back muscles provides gentle myofascial release, which releases tension and improves blood, oxygen, and lymphatic circulation. Lying down also allows you to completely rest the muscles surrounding your neck and head,” says Dwiggins.
Cow face pose
How to do it:
Sit on the ground. Cross your right leg over your left leg. If this is uncomfortable, you may sit cross-legged with your right leg in front. Sit up tall, breathing comfortably. The crown of your head reaches to the sky as your sitz bones connect to the mat. If you have tight shoulders, have a belt or strap in your hand. Lift your right arm into the air, reaching back behind your head, bending your elbow, resting your hand on the back of your neck or between your shoulder blades. If you have the belt, drop it down behind your back, holding it in your right hand. Bring your left arm behind your back and reach your left hand toward your right hand or the belt. Relax your ribs, engage your core, and sit tall. Try to stay even in your seat and not lean to one side or the other. Feel the stretch and any tightness you feel. Breathe into the pose, then switch sides. You can return to each side one more time if you enjoy the feeling.
Why it helps with headaches: “This pose helps us to open our tired shoulders and use our arms in an unusual way. This is distracting to the mind, bringing us into the moment, and drawing our attention from our other stresses and worries," says Lepico. “As you breathe into the pose, your parasympathetic system will allow you to relax.” Next up, Can yoga really help with weight loss? Here’s what to know.
Sources
Andrea Lepcio, Yoga Alliance 200-hour teacher and ACE-certified Personal Trainer with FytBlake Mason, yoga instructor at ROWDYJessie Dwiggins, E-RYT, YACEP yoga instructor and trainer on MoxieAlly Maz, yoga instructor from mindfulness studio OpeBriohny Smyth, Alo Moves instructor
