Headaches
Please consult your medical practitioner for any condition you may have before doing Reiki. Reiki is not a substitute for medical treatment when it is needed.
Information on the National Health Service (NHS United Kingdom) website
A tension-type headache is the most common type of headache and the one we think of as a normal everyday headache.
Symptoms of tension-type headaches
– It may feel like a constant ache that affects both sides of the head.
– You may also feel the neck muscles tighten and a feeling of pressure behind the eyes.
– It usually lasts for 30 minutes to several hours, but can last for several days.
What causes tension-type headaches?
The exact cause of tension-type headaches is not clear, but certain things have been known to trigger them.
These include:
– stress and anxiety
– squinting
– poor posture
– tiredness
– dehydration
– missing meals
– lack of physical activity
– bright sunlight
– noise
– certain smells
Tension-type headaches are known as primary headaches, which means they are not caused by an underlying condition.
Treating tension-type headaches
Tension-type headaches are not life threatening and are usually relieved by painkillers or lifestyle changes.
Lifestyle changes
Relaxation techniques can often help with stress-related headaches.
This may include:
– yoga
– massage
– exercise
– applying a cool flannel to your forehead or a warm flannel to the back of your neck
Preventing tension-type headaches
– If you experience frequent tension-type headaches, you may wish to keep a diary to try to identify what could be triggering them.
– It may then be possible to alter your diet or lifestyle to prevent them occurring as often.
– Regular exercise and relaxation are also important measures to help reduce stress and tension that may be causing headaches.
– Maintaining good posture and ensuring you’re well rested and hydrated can also help.
– Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) state that a course of up to 10 sessions of acupuncture over a 5- to 8-week period may be beneficial in preventing chronic tension-type headaches.
ORIGINAL PAGE – Page last reviewed: 09 February 2021
Headaches are listed on the NHS website as an example of medically unexplained symptoms, which are persistent medical complaints that don’t appear to be symptoms of a medical condition. These are symptoms that last for more than a few weeks, but doctors can’t find a problem with the body that may be the cause.
METAPHYSICS
Headaches can have metaphysical explanations, they can reveal an imbalance in your spiritual energy.
The following are some phenomenon that point to the spiritual root of headaches:
– Self-criticism, internal conflict. I keep repeating to myself ‘I am stupid‘, ‘I am not able to do it‘, ‘I am slow‘, ‘It is not for me’.
– I do not accept thoughts, feelings and ideas that bother or distract me.
– I feel upset or depressed in my family or professional world.
– I am an intelligent person but I tend to boycott myself. ‘I think whatever you think.‘
– Pain is in the forehead: future overwhelming worries, we want to control everything, little concentration and indifference to learn, grow, change;
– Pain is at the top of the head: self-punishment when I am angry with myself.
– Pain is in the neck or nape: I am unable to manifest our desires, ideas, concepts. I have many difficulties transforming them into action. I find myself living in a situation where I feel under severe pressure.
– The crown chakra , or the brow chakra, may become congested or blocked if they are unbalanced.
– Energetic negative cords and other negative energy.
– Past Lives.
Self-reflection
Every time you experience headaches, you can analyse what the pain from it is preventing you from doing in your life.
Ask yourself the following questions:
– When did the headaches start?
– What was happening in my life when the headaches started?
– What does the headache prevent me from seeing, hearing, smelling, etc. ?
– Does it prevent me to do something related to my work, studies, reading, meditating, attending somewhere, enjoying something or someone?
Understand the message, reflect upon it and I take action accordingly.
Reiki
We have put together different Reiki treatments . They can be integrated in Reiki self-healing treatments and when working with others.
Dr. Mikao Usui Treatments
– The head area—mainly the temples. (Follow Dr. Usui’s treatment tips by resting your hands on the head until the pain is gone. If you have learned Second Degree Reiki, use the power symbol as well.
– Headaches can have many different causes. Frequently, the cause is simply dehydration: Immediately drink one or two glasses of water. The caffeine in a cup of coffee can also work wonders.
– When the pain comes from the neck: Lay down on your bed so that your head hangs down from the edge of the bed. Relax for a few minutes.
– Headaches often are often caused by chronically bad posture.
Dr. Usui recommends treating the affected body area until the pain has disappeared for all types of pain. For headaches, for example, treat the head; for backaches, treat the back.
Excerpt from The Original Reiki Handbook of Dr. Mikao Usui – Frank Arjava Petter and Dr. Milao Usui
Chujiro Hayashi
Treatment for the Head – Headaches, Brain Disease.
1. Front of jaw.
2. Temples.
3. Back of the head and back of the neck.
4. Top of the head.
(NOTE) With any disease you can include head treatment as part of the disease treatment. In the case of headache, you should treat very thoroughly the place of the head that is aching.
Hawayo Takata
Healing migraine headaches – they are often caused by wrong nutrition, and thus the stomach and kidneys require treatment. Treat feet also.
At times, Takata started a treatment in the area where the cause was located. Haberly relates that a man came to Takata with the complaint that he suffered from headaches every morning. Takata began treating his abdomen in the area of his gall bladder.
When he protested that he had a headache, not a stomachache, she explained that she felt ‘much vibration in my hands’ when she reached the area of his gall bladder and felt the cause of his discomfort was there. She followed this by working on his head and his back, giving a full treatment.
The client reported that by the time she came to his head, the pain was gone.
Excerpt from How Hawayo Takata Practiced and Taught Reiki – Marianne Streich
Diane Stein
Reiki energy heals the whole person. In healing a headache, for example, Reiki may also heal other organs and levels. Though the healer’s hands are on the person’s pain area, her head, many headaches have their source in the digestive system.
If the headache is caused by intestinal disturbance, the energy goes to the intestines, as well as to the head pain. These are both physical-level areas.
If the headache has emotional causes, stress for example, Reiki also heals on that level. Likewise if the source of pain is at the mental or spiritual body levels.
If the person receiving the healing also has another dis-ease, perhaps allergies, Reiki will act there too, whether she has mentioned it to the healer or not.
According to Diane Stein, the emotional Source of headaches is the Invalidating the self.
In the self-healing treatments, the first three positions are on the head. In the first, place your slightly cupped hands gently over (but not pressing on) your eyes.
Hold the position until the energy sensations that develop stop, usually in about five minutes. This first position balances the left and right sides of the brain, and is wonderful for headaches and eyestrain. It also covers the Brow or Third Eye chakra.
Excerpt from Essential Reiki, A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art – Diane Stein
Giancarlo Serra works with Esoteric Healing and Spiritual Alchemy to help people move forward on their spiritual path in order to create positive and lasting change. Consultations work successfully both in person and online. Giancarlo is a College of Psychic Studies accredited spiritual healer, Usui/Holy Fire®, Karuna Reiki® Master Teacher, Regression Therapist and Spiritual Counsellor. He offers consultations in both English and Italian.