I started The Mindful Migraine Blog in January 2024 as a New Year’s Resolution. In my mind it was a stand-alone endeavor. Feel pain – write about it. Encounter a trick that helps reduce that pain – write about it. Keep writing, and keep waiting for people to “find you” and your message.
After a few months of this approach, it became obvious that the notion of “if you build it, they will come” is no longer (if ever) true on the internet.
The internet is just too wide and deep and dark and full of voices – and that’s OK – in fact, that’s a great thing when it comes to advice on how to help with migraines – the more voices the better! The downside, however, is that new voices, soft voices, peripheral voices, “un-boosted” voices, all get a little lost in the ruckus.
That’s why I started to branch out. I set up an Instagram account and joined LinkedIn.
The extra sites helped send some traffic back to the blog, but more importantly, I developed a wider network of people who I liked and listened to.
It was while I was on LinkedIn that I crossed digital paths with the lovely Julie Mavros who is a chronic pain coach (specializing in migraines). In her younger years she was a jockey who fell from her horse and suffered broken bones, a brain injury… and chronic migraines. After she healed herself through her body-mind approach she went on to help others.
On her website there is a free resource:
FREE Download – Your Pathway Through Pain Workbook
Truth bomb: I tend to suffer not only from chronic migraines (although I am getting better all the time), but I also suffer from chronic “I’ve tried everything-itis”. Even before I open a free resource, there is a small voice in my head that whispers, “been there – done that – didn’t work”… which is absurd! How can I say that mindfulness has been key to my improved health AND keep leaning into such a closed-minded laziness… even arrogance. I suffer from migraines. It makes me an expert in living with migraines – NOT an expert in healing migraines.
Julie is an expert in healing migraines, having both lived experience and qualifications – she has plenty of help to offer.
Remember – whether it’s Julie or other helpers and healers – listen – learn – and take from them what you can: always try be open-minded to new advice.
Now, going back to Julie’s free download, I don’t want to present it all here (it’s not my content to give away) – but I do want to show you one snippet of a bigger picture:
As I read the text in the circle, my mind replied: “I feel some level of icky – as always – thanks for asking”. BUT THEN, my mind went on, “honor? What do you mean, how do I get to honor my body today? Does she mean will I run myself a hot bath? Or be mindful when I drink a cup of tea? My body is just my body… working against me most of the time… what is this honor-my-body-business?”
And then my mind slowly went: “Ah ha… OK… THIS might be something I need to look into.”
More than that – I realized this was a fundamental, underlying attitude for my whole life. I had always thought of my body as the stick that held my brain up off the floor. Cringey but true. My body is just, my body… and not a very special one at that.
When I was younger, I was bullied a bit at school because of the way my body looked, so I tend to have low self-esteem about my appearance. I was successful academically, but hopeless at sport, so again: “brain good / body bad”. Some of the more traumatic things that have happened in my life involved accidents that related to my body. Again. Nothing to honor there. More recently, my body has been an itinerary of aches and pains, doom and gloom, slowing me down, holding me back…
AND YET.
That’s not really the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
My body has also brought me great joy.
My body has made two humans and delivered them into the world.
My body has allowed me to comfort others.
My body has worked hard for hours and hours, year after year.
My body is NOT “all bad”.
My body IS GOOD.
My body is glitchy, but also strong, purposeful, capable.
My body DESERVES to be honored!
Huh.
Who knew.
It sounds a little obvious in hindsight, and you may well be rolling your eyes in disbelief that I could legitimately consider myself to be nothing but a brain on an invisible, unworthy stick… but there you have it. At 50+ years old, I discovered I have a body, and that my body deserves my respect.
Following this revelation, plenty of good things have happened.
I not only use mindfulness to listen to the signals my body sends me, but I also respect those signals – I don’t wait for the whispers to become screams. I also don’t demote the messages or ignore them by telling myself “maybe the tingle in my cheeks and fingers has nothing to do with low blood sugar levels or dehydration… I’m sure I’ll be fine… better to keep walking, keep working… forget about it…”
Now I notice the tingle – say “thank you body for the message” – and move out of the humid air, sit down, eat or rehydrate. And then, at the end of the day, as I wait to fall asleep, I try to remember to thank my body again for all its hard work getting me through each day.
As for “how do I get to honor my body today?” – I’m still working on it, but heat packs as a treat rather than a cure, stretching, massage, EFT tapping accompanied with affirmations, warm showers, deliberately putting my feet up at the end of the day, drinking herbal teas, and making the decision to take the time to prepare and eat healthy meals are all ideas I’m experimenting with.
So then – over to you.
Consider visiting Julie’s website with an open-mind and see if there isn’t an AH-HA moment for you too.
Take care taking care of your body, Linda x
The Mindful Migraine 
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