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strings all day long (and sometimes all night, too), sometimes with a
fast and furious beat, sometimes slowly and melodically. The mind
doesn t like to rest; it wants action. But round-the-clock mind activ-
ity is stressful, and certain thoughts (those that are angry, frustrated,
or unhappy) can increase your stress levels even more. And, as you
know, the more stressed you are, the more likely you are to suffer
from headaches. So it s a good idea to learn to clear your mind of all
thoughts (happy or sad) for about twenty minutes, twice a day. That
will do much to lower your stress levels and simultaneously reduce
your odds of getting another headache.
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Unfortunately, your mind doesn t come with a Cease Thinking
button, so you ll have to learn and practice some techniques for qui-
eting your mind. The most popular way of doing that is meditation.
Practiced in many forms, meditation is an ancient technique that
helps you ratchet down the speed and volume of the thought flow in
your head, giving your mind a much-needed rest. Typically, medita-
tion is performed by focusing strongly on a word, phrase, or object
while gently ignoring all the other thoughts that may come up. In the
beginning, your mind will seem to be constantly reverting to its
 thinking mode. But with practice, you ll soon notice a decline in
the number of thoughts that pop up, and you ll feel less compelled
to pay attention to them.
Over time, you ll find yourself becoming more and more relaxed
as you meditate. And the peace and relaxation you ll discover while
meditating will carry over into your active life, helping you deal more
calmly and rationally with daily stressors. Eventually you ll find that
you can tap into that well of mental and physical calm no matter what
tempests swirl about you. Just this can be a powerful deterrent to a
headache-in-the-making.
HOW TO MEDITATE
There are numerous schools of meditation, from transcendental med-
itation to qi gong (described in the next chapter). Some are  moving
meditations such as Buddhist mindfulness, yoga, and tai chi. Prayer
can also be used meditatively (rosary beads have long been consid-
ered a form of meditation), and more deliberate form of meditation
is programmed relaxation. One kind of meditation is not necessarily
superior to any other. The best one is the one that works best for you.
Depending on the style of meditation that you choose, you can
begin by standing up, lying down, sitting erect on a mat on the floor,
or assuming a specific pose. Once you re comfortable, you ll begin to
focus on something other than your thoughts. It may be the rhythm
Meditate 69
of your breathing, an image in your mind, an object like a candle
flame or a colored gem, or a word or phrase called a mantra. If you
use a mantra, it may be given to you by your teacher or selected by
you yourself, and may have religious or spiritual significance or be
nonsensical. You may be instructed to repeat the mantra out loud as
you meditate or to repeat it silently, over and over again, in your
mind.
When stray thoughts creep in and threaten to interrupt your con-
centration, don t worry about them. Don t make an effort to stop
them, since that requires activation of your mind. Instead, acknowl-
edge that those thoughts exist and gently bring your attention back
to your focal point. The same goes for any noise or other disruptions
in your environment. Know they re there, then return your focus to
your breath, the image, or the mantra.
There s no set schedule for meditating, but two sessions per day,
fifteen to twenty minutes each, are generally recommended. Find a
place where you can be alone and won t be interrupted, and dedicate
that time to quieting and calming your mind. And don t feel that you
can t meditate unless you have a full twenty minutes to spare. Even
five or ten minutes of meditation is beneficial.
DOES IT WORK?
There s no doubt that meditation works. Numerous studies show that
it greatly increases muscle relaxation, lowers the heart rate, helps
reduce high blood pressure, and decreases the circulating levels of
stress-linked chemicals and hormones. Meditation is also an effective
method of interrupting the stress-headache cycle, calming an overly
stimulated nervous system, and balancing the metabolism of serotonin
(the hormone responsible for a feeling of well-being). In addition,
studies of people suffering from chronic pain, including headaches,
suggest that meditation is very helpful in short-circuiting the stress-
pain cycle that traps so many people.
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12
Qi Gong
According to The Yellow Emperor s Classic on Internal Medicine, an
ancient Chinese text written some four thousand years ago, most peo-
ple survive for only half of their potential life span. Why? According
to the book, the main reason is that they don t cherish and nourish
their internal energy, their qi (pronounced  chee and often spelled
chi). Qi is the life energy, the internal force that animates us and
makes us living beings. We get our  starter kit of qi from our par-
ents a finite amount of life energy that slowly dwindles as the years
pass. We also get qi by eating food and breathing air, both of which
replenish our supply of life energy. According to traditional Chinese
medicine, if we have an ample supply of qi, and if it is circulating
freely throughout our bodies, we won t become ill. Without an ade-
quate supply, illness, disability, and death can be the unhappy results.
In an effort to avoid illness, ancient Chinese healers devised qi
gong, a system of movement, meditation, and breathing designed to
increase and maintain the qi. Gong (pronounced  gung ) means
 work, so qi gong means  working with the life energy. Qi gong was
not designed to treat disease, but to prevent it from occurring in the
first place.
There are two kinds of qi gong: the internal kind, in which you
work to increase your own supply of qi and keep it flowing freely,
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and the external kind, in which qi is transferred to you from another
person. Internal qi gong involves the practice of movements that are
something like tai chi (although less complex), plus meditation and
breathing exercises. External qi gong involves trained healers who use
various techniques, such as passing their hands over your body, to
transfer energy to you and free up any energy blockages in your body.
Styles of qi gong are numerous, and each one has its own interpreta-
tion of body movement, meditation, and breathing. The style you
choose is mostly a matter of personal preference, since no single set
of exercises or form of meditation is more  correct than any other.
What makes it right is that it feels right to you.
BENEFITS OF QI GONG
Although some champions of qi gong claim it can diminish or even
cure just about any disease, the aim of this healing art is to keep the
life energy flowing freely throughout the body. Think of qi as you
would blood. We need a certain minimum amount of blood to be
healthy. If there isn t enough blood circulating through our arteries
and veins, we don t feel good. And even if we do have enough blood,
if an artery becomes blocked and the blood can t flow freely to a cer-
tain part of the body, that part will sicken or even die. Just as we need
blood coursing through our veins, we need qi flowing freely along its
invisible body channels, known as the meridians. Qi gong is designed
to help remove blockages in the qi and restore optimum circulation
of the life force.
Qi gong may also help to ward off or relieve stress-related illnesses.
The simple movements, breathing exercises, and meditation are all
designed to take you out of yourself for at least twenty minutes a day.
Meditation, as explained in Chapter 11, has long been recommended
as a way to decompress and reduce or relieve stress. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]