Category: Mindfulness
-
Compassion for Overwhelm
Quite by accident, I came across a mindful-meditation teacher called Tara Brach. I found her while searching for information about self-compassion and discovered that she had written a book called ‘Radical Compassion’. I haven’t had a chance to look into it yet, but my attention was caught by a video…
-
Creating a (mental) happy place
When I was a child, I used to suffer from insomnia. I would lie in bed and overanalyze what had happened that day… agonize over whether I could have handled things differently… imagine alternative tomorrows… catastrophize a bit. I’m not a huge fan of the concept of a ‘migraine personality’…
-
Chair Yoga for migraines
One of the first posts I ever made on The Mindful Migraine Blog was about Yin Yoga. My neurologist recommended I do a few lessons as a form of mindful movement to help reverse my chronic pain. I mentioned at the time that I felt “no victory” getting out of…
-
Is there such a thing as over-nurturing?
As I was watering the parsley pot plant on my kitchen windowsill this morning, I tried to figure out why it looked a bit sadder than normal. I realized that the soil was saturated. Someone else – possibly everyone else – in my family was watering the parsley pot plant.…
-
Humming the pain away
The vagus nerve runs from your brain, behind your ears and down to your stomach. It helps your nervous system move between ‘fight and flight’ mode and ‘rest and digest’. In an attempt to reduce chronic pain, anxiety, or even just give yourself a lift on those days when you’re…
-
Wall Pilates for migraines
Wall Pilates is a TikTok trend I heard about in my news feed (I’m not even on TikTok?!). Normally I would be instantly averse to anything that comes to me via ‘recent trends’, but I confess I have been interested in trying Pilates for a while now, and I thought…
-
‘Mindful-lite’ and ‘inchstones’
When I look back on the beginning of my holistic healing journey, I realize that I was a bit ‘intense’. Due to my chronic migraines, I had reached such a low place, and needed to make such drastic changes, that I went into ‘bed-bound bootcamp’ mode. The program that I…
-
Body-shaming
In Australia we have a ‘reality’ television show in which people who have been unlucky in love are paired up by experts, and then ‘married at first sight’. The couples are then expected to get to know each other and fall madly in love, all while the cameras are rolling. …
-
Make your bed
In 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven, gave the formal address to graduating students at the University of Austin in Texas. As a highly decorated Navy Seal it was perhaps no surprise that he advocated the importance of discipline and determination. What was a little more surprising was how he advocated…
The Mindful Migraine 