Officially, there is no cure for migraines—but yoga instructor Brianna Stahl begs to differ. She attributes a “secret recipe” to warding off these brutal headaches.
This anti-migraine cocktail isn’t the usual recipe you hear about: staying hydrated, lying in a dark room and taking pain relievers. While these actions can certainly help relieve symptoms, for Stahl, they were temporary fixes. What’s the secret? Stahl says it starts with yoga.
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“If I follow the formula, I am cured,” she says. “[And to to be clear], if I step away from it, they crop back up.” Since Stahl started following her yoga-centric plan, her migraines have not returned, and she’s now ready to share her secret with the rest of the world.
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The Quiet Power of Yoga and Breathwork
Stahl is a yoga instructor for YogaSix, but she wasn’t always so active. Like 25.3% of Americans, she accidentally adopted a sedentary lifestyle due to an office job that had her sitting for hours at a desk. Eventually, she shifted to retail, but the demands and hours of the job kept her chronically stressed.
“I really did a number on my body, and then after I got laid off, I went through all the stages of grief, which was not fair to my physical body or my mental health,” Stahl recalls. Instead of returning to corporate America, she pivoted toward higher education certifications that would get her moving more regularly, including yoga teacher training.
At the time of her training, Stahl was dealing with four to five migraine episodes a week. The pain would creep up from the back of her head and into her right temple. The eye pain and sensitivity to light and sound were usually debilitating enough to keep her in bed for hours as she willed her body to fall asleep.
As Stahl learned about breathwork for chants and mantras, she noticed that her migraines paused. “I started to wake up in the morning and be able to function again as a human,” she tells Parade.
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The Science Behind Yoga and Migraine Relief
There is scientific evidence that breathing exercises reduce the intensity and frequency of migraines. Performing slow, deep breathing increases oxygen flow to the brain and prompts a relaxed response. The relaxed response is activated by the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows down the heart rate, improves blood circulation and relaxes the muscles. It counteracts the “fight or flight” response that raises stress and inflammatory levels, all of which raise the risk of a migraine attack.
Yoga also gave Stahl the cardio and strength training combination she needed to keep her body active. “I’ve been very into biomechanics and physiology since I went through my yoga teacher training as I explore how to improve my body,” she says.
According to the American Migraine Foundation, getting active movement in helps migraines because it releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Exercise also helps prevent common migraine triggers such as poor sleep, stress and anxiety. Research on yoga specifically found that performing the exercise three days a week led to a 48% reduction in migraine frequency.
Another benefit is reduced muscle tension, as yoga helped Stahl become more flexible. “Giving my body what it needed helped build strength and stability, which helped to change my physique and allowed me to focus more on the meditative quality of the practice, which organically helped my migraines as I improved my physique,” she recalls.
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The Secret Recipe for ‘Curing’ Migraines
5 hours of yoga every week
Stahl has been doing yoga for four years. During her yoga teaching certification, Stahl averaged 10 to 15 hours a week. Now, she does at least five hours of yoga a week. For someone looking to prevent migraines, she recommends starting with one hour of yoga and then increasing it as needed.
Stahl’s studio centers on tantric yoga, a practice she believes offers an accessible way to build strength, stability and inner energy through meditation. Tantric yoga uses breathwork to visualize energy flow as you move and hold various poses.
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“It’s about improving my physical practice and strengthening my body, and I know that helps with the type of migraines I get,” Stahl tells Parade. “It helps my brain enter a meditative state more quickly and focus on my breath. By building my body strength and [doing more] cardio, I can avoid rapid breathing and achieve that meditative state to help my migraines.”
On days when she felt a migraine could appear, she mentioned drinking a bit of coffee, sugar and ibuprofen before her yoga class. She also encourages people, if they feel a migraine possibly coming, to use blocks and other props to support them during the class.
Monthly massage
Along with yoga, Stahl’s migraine management recipe includes a full body massage to ease muscle tension, which is certainly helpful, as having chronic neck and shoulder pain is linked to increased monthly migraines. In her case, the pain in her lower back and knots in her shoulders stemmed from the tension in her glutes and hamstrings. She recommends a general massage once a month to counteract the physical demands yoga and other stressors can place on the body.
“Since getting a massage once a month and at least five hours of yoga a week, I haven’t had a migraine,” Stahl says.
Lifetime management
Stahl stresses, however, that this isn’t a one-time cure for migraines. It requires lifetime management. This also includes staying hydrated and being mindful of what food to eat. Common food triggers for migraines include meat containing sulfites, aspartame sweeteners and alcohol.
“It’s very much a lifetime practice, but I also have no desire to stop, because when I do, I notice my anxiety creeps up,” Stahl says. “I know I get depressed when I’m not practicing regularly and getting the meditation and the body flow. With yoga, my body is stronger and my migraines aren’t flaring up.”
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Sources
- Brianna Stahl, CPCC, MBA, is a yoga instructor for YogaSix.
- Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Relaxation And Paced Breathing Exercises For Migraine. American Migraine Foundation.
- Exercise And Migraine. American Migraine Foundation.
- Effect of yoga as add-on therapy in migraine (CONTAIN). Neurology.
- Impact of the Neck and/or Shoulder Pain on Self-reported Headache Treatment Responses – Results From a Pharmacy-Based Patient Survey. Frontiers in Neurology.
- Diet and Headache Control. American Migraine Foundation.
