Archives
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
Simple Qigong Exercises For Pain And Headache
Chigong, Chikung, or Qigong, are all the same activity and are all pronounced chee gung. It is a Chinese exercise and health system that goes back 4000 years into the past.
In the most primitive forms of Qigong, practitioners would teach laborers basic rudimentary exercises to help them better deal with their difficult lives. Later on, Qigong became an indispensable component of Chinese medicine in Winter Park. Herbal medicine and acupuncture are the two other components of Chinese medicine. A regular part of Chinese medicine practice is in using Qigong to manage headaches.
The Qigong practiced today is composed of three activities, visualization, movement, and breathing. Qigong was divided up into various schools in the early part of last century. These include Martial Arts Qigong developed to enhance stamina and power, Exercise Qigong with activities to strengthen and to improve flexibility and mobility and to strengthen the muscles and medical Qigong that comes with specific exercises for treatment of specific illnesses.
Medical Qigong was developed to alleviate and/or prevent headaches via gentle relaxing movements and special breathing techniques.
Since most headaches are due to muscle tension and stress, it is quite easy to alleviate the pain and even simpler to prevent the headache from occurring again.
Qigong is similar to Tai Chi, and if you’ve ever seen how this practice (Qigong) is done, you will have an idea of the fluid and slow movements of Tai Chi.
Method One – Lying down
Make sure your shoulders and neck are comfortable while lying flat on your back. Shut your eyes and count ten slow long breaths. Visualize the word relax on each breath. With each breath feel yourself relaxing more and more. Visualize your shoulder and neck muscles becoming as soft as gelatin and that you’re sinking lower and lower into your bed.
If you want to lie down, make sure you use a pillow to support your neck. This is a good idea when you already have a headache
Method Two – Sitting
Sit comfortably in a soft chair and repeat the same relaxing and breathing as when lying down. If your headache gets worse when you lie down, try sitting. Sitting can also be a good idea when you’re already suffering from a headache.
Method Three – Headache Prevention
While standing, keep your feet shoulder width apart. Inhale through your nose up to the count of three, and exhale out your nose again on the count of three. Begin moving your shoulders, arms, and feet slowly in a comfortable manner.
This exercise is known as spontaneous Qigong and needs no additional instruction apart from the fact that you move in order to identify soreness in your muscle. You then repeat gently the movement slowly once you locate the area of the sore muscles. This is designed to locate the muscles in your back, shoulders and neck, which because they’re tight are partly responsible for the headaches you’re feeling, and then relax and move them whilst breathing deeply into the muscles. Again visualize your muscles softening.
Natural Methods For Treating Anxiety And Panic Attacks
A panic attack is a frightening experience. It often begins with an unexpected, unexplainable feeling of fear, and then intensifies, adding other symptoms along the way, such as feelings of suffocation or choking, , dizziness, chest pain, losing control, lightheadedness, or that you’re having a heart attack or going crazy. Prescription medication treatments are commonly used in addressing anxiety disorders (panic attacks and anxiety attacks are the same thing), but a lot of these drugs can generate symptoms and many of them are addictive; worse, the attacks come back when these drugs are withdrawn. Fortunately, several natural treatments for anxiety disorders are available that are used by psychologists and psychiatrists alike and are sometimes used (and sometimes not) as an adjunct to pharmaceutical drugs to help treat to anxiety disorders.
Methods that are frequently used to control the signs of a panic attack include: deep breathing techniques, avoiding caffeine, and eating a healthier diet. As a stimulant, caffeine can make you irritable, edgy, and anxious. Avoidance of it and consuming highly nutritious meals can help you sleep and feel better. To avoid hyperventilation, performing certain breathing exercises can help calm you down during panic attacks. They are effective ways that can help you control panic attacks, although they still only treat the symptoms and not the source of the condition itself.
A therapy known as “Tapping” works in treating anxieties by bearing pressure to acupoints and tapping then these points in a certain way to free the bad chi (negative energy) generated by negative thoughts. This therapeutic technique is used by some therapists since they believe it works really well and faster than other natural therapies.
In the treatment of panic attacks, hypnosis was recognized by the AMA (American Medical Association) as a valid form of treatment more than 50 years ago. This type of natural therapy can substantially relieve panic attacks but unfortunately cannot cure anxiety disorders.
Interestingly, laughter is considered a natural treatment for panic attacks. Humor removes the adverse emotions related to panic attacks by decreasing the levels of stress hormone in your body. Humor visualization methods make the patient imagine and remember a period when the patient was laughing uncontrollably. He again imagines this memory when he feels the coming of a panic attack. If this memory can make him laugh, it can help stop his anxious feelings and panic attack.
Desensitization is a gradual process that can make victims of panic disorder resistant to situations and things they are afraid of that can set off a panic attack. It has proven to be effective in stopping anxiety disorder and its symptoms. Psychologists or psychiatrists place the patient in a location or situation that usually triggers panic attacks or fear for just a few minutes. The patient is often accompanied by a person he trusts. The support person often accompanies the patient just the first time. The amount of time increases each time the patient repeats the experience, until he can eventually deal with it on his own, without experiencing a panic attack. This technique has proven to work very well for phobias and other anxiety-related conditions.
But the most successful and widely used known natural treatment for panic attacks and anxiety disorders by far is CBT or Cognitive Behavior Therapy. This therapy makes use of tools such as in vivo methods techniques and cognitive restructuring to treat and sometimes totally cure panic attacks and anxiety disorders. Cognitive restructuring instructs the patient on how to modify his thinking in response to panic symptoms. “In real life,” (In vivo), exposure to places and things that sets off a fear reaction makes people learn to face their fears. This technique is quite similar to desensitization therapy. In vivo and cognitive restructuring combined can help treat panic attacks and change the way they behave and think in fearful situations. Professionals admit that CBT may not work for all people but for those who do, it has provided some relief from their panic attacks.
Ling’s Acupuncture, Inc.
120 Gatlin Ave
Orlando, FL 32806-6908
(407) 851-2533
http://www.lingsacupuncture.com