Meditation(mukti from time and space)

Meditation(mukti from time and space)

Meditation is simply being in the present moment.The present moment frees the individual to change, explore new patterns, pleasures, and possibilities. It is a power way to heal isolation.

There are many ways to meditate. No one way is best for everyone. One thing common to all forms of meditation is the art of paying attention. We do a lot of different things at the same time.In order to meditate first pay attention breathing. Breathing is central to every aspect of meditation training. It is wonderful place to focus the mind. Breath is a rich experience. It connects us with the whole universe. When you try to pay attention to breathing, you notice that the mind starts wandering. The wandering of the mind is a normal state of mind.From the meditative perspective the normal state of mind is severely suboptimal. It is more asleep than awake.Its energy is frittered away in thoughts of past and future.It is rarely in the present moment. Human beings have a capacity of shifting their awareness wherever they wish. Normally individuals who have not been trained to meditate keep their awareness on the mind which has the habit of wandering.Cultivating and developing a capacity to keep the awareness in the present moment instead of the wandering mind is all what meditation is about. When you start focusing your awareness in the present moment instead of the wandering mind is all what meditation is about. When you start focusing your awareness on breathing, you begin to ride the waves of breath, in and out. At this moment, the awareness begins to wander to the thoughts. Willingly, gently and kindly bring it back to the breath.If it wanders a million times, just lasso it back to breath a million times.This will train the mind to settle at one place.When the mind is thus cultivated, you begin to feel that you are in the present moment-time slows down and might even seem to stop.You are in a Now, that is continually unfolding.The moment you are in touch with the present moment, almost everything will become more vivid and alive. The calm experienced in meditation brings about penetrative insight(into our experience in the present moment). From this insight comes greater understanding, and therefore greater freedom to conduct our lives. The way we feel would lead to greater wisdom and happiness. The deep physiological relaxation which occurs in meditation is in itself healing. There is an access to deep inner resources for healing,, the mind, operating more effectively and helping to develop strategies, making sensible adaptive choices under pressure while coping with stress. One feels more engaged in life.

Meditation is a way of living which introduces us to that other part of our consciousness which is the common ground of all humanity. There we are not individuals; we are not separate entities with psychological content; where each one of us is actually the rest of humanity.As Guru of Dalai Lama explained, "anger, jealousy, hatred and aggression" thrive on concept of our inherent separate existence. Now all the recent researches in physics reveal that our separate existence is an illusion even if it is a stubborn one.In meditation we experience the emptiness of the concept of separate existence. This frees us from the qualities that separate us, and it generates in us compassion, love and altruism which unite us.

Brahmacharya (the actions to attain Brahman(divine))

Bramacharya is not only sexual continence but it is actually actions to attain Brahman(divine).
"To live and move in Brahman (God) is the real brahmacharya. Continence is very helpful to achieve that end. But so long as you identify yourself with the body you can never escape sex-thought and distinction. It is only when you realizethat you are the formless, Pure Consciousness that sex-distinctiondisappears for good and there is brahmacharya - effortless, spontaneous.
One of the Main path to attain Brahman(divine) is kriya yoga. Kriya yoga has direct connection wiht the sadhana of Raja yoga which is concentration and meditation just as Karma yoga has with the yoga of spiritualising all actons. Every activity becomes directed towards the divine and every activity, instead standing on the way as obstacle towads God, actually becomes a means of linking a devotee with God and becomes a process of worship. This is Karma yoga, the yoga of spiritualising activities.
Power of enquiry
Jnana yoga is the yoga which makes use of the rational power through intellect to cleave through the illusion of appearances which takes one to the reality which is hidden beyond appearances. thus it at a way of utilising the power of investigation, observance, enquiry and analysis.
Here reasoning becomes the means of liberating oneself from illusion which is the result of non-discrimination and making proper enquiry regarding the nature of things we perceive. We blindly take them for granted and get ourselves involved in them.
This evokes in the seeker the active power of enquiry and out of this philosophical enquiry, right discrimination dawns. Suddenly, one begines to see that things are not just things. Some thing is eternal and others are non-eternal. So one begins to discriminate, between the permanent and the impermanent, appearance and the reality, eternal and the non-eternal, the self and non self.
Right enquiry leads to right discrmination and from discrimination comes out right knowlege. Then , one begins to realize that some are just appearance and changeeable. It is a folly to run after shadows. Thus discrimination leads to dispassion which tends to being towards the quest after reality, quest after the eternal . This is Jnana yoga.

Discipling mind(controling mind)
Similarly, Raja yoga makes use of the powers of the mind and the will. They purposedfully overcome the basic tendency of the mind to go outward and then control and overcome it fully and divert the flow of thoughts within. They make it turn inward, arrest the restless mind and direct comcentrated mind towards the ideal that is to be realised.
Then the mind is directed towards the ideal through continous practise, is made to flow in an unbroken steam of concentrated thought upon a single idea. When it reaches the state, it is characterised by the state of meditation and the meditation becomes deep and intense.

Thus last trace of non-discriminating knowledge of oneself gets erased and one attains the state o pure discriminating knowledge when one knows of oneself as being truly distinct and different and apart from all the objects of perception, all that is prakriti, all that is non-self.
We do have knowledge but it is not precise. When one reaches the state of highest concentration and meditation knowlege becomes clear. And then one develops discrimination-discrimination between the supreme seer and all that is seen including one's own body, senses, thughts and all intellectual process. One becomes sure of oneself by discriminating oneself as apart from those that go to make the prakriti, in one's own personality. This is the ultimate result of Raja yogic practice.
It is the path of concentration and mediation. But the prerequisite for concentraion and mediation is changing the flow of the mind inward.As long as it is outgoing, it is not possible to concentrate at all. There fore , absorbtion, withdrawing the mind within, is an essential aspect of yoga and with this absorptiion of the mid commences of the inner yoga and it is called pratyahara.

Withdrawal
Pratyahara is withdrawal. We have already seen how Raja yoga helps in concentration and control of the mind. Tapas aids in concentration, by eliminating rajas and tapas.Tapas aids in concentration, by eliminating rajas and tapas.Tapas forcefully restrains the senses.As long as the mind is a slave of senses and is bound up with them, tendency is to flow alng with them.Senses are always active as that is their dharma. It is the natural tendency of the eye to open and see.IF there is some sound, it immediately wants to see what is happening there. Similarly, it is the invertrate tendency of the ear to hear. All the senses follow their dharma. Each one follows its tendency, and the mind also flows along wiht the senses.It does not want to remain without chage. It does like monotony.
One has tow options here: Either he has to stop the outer movemnt of the senses by forcibly restraining them, or he has to talk to the mind and make it understand that its close connection and realtionship with the senses is not good for it, that it is not going to bring it happiness and that it will only take it into more trouble.
Two options
Tapas does the first thing. It forcefully curbs the senses; depriving the senses from fulfilling their urges. Svadhyaya does the second thing it goes on talking to the mind. It puts wisdom innto the mind and the attracts it to the higher ideal. It places before it in glowing and thrillig terms the inspiring examples of lives of saints, the lives of spiritula seekers, those who have gone before on the path and the wonderful result of such turning away from the senses and moving towars the spiritual. So, in glowing terms, the beauty, the grandeur and the glory of the attainment are put before the mind and thus within the mind is created a new desire for higher things.
Thus a strong aspiration is created in the mind by putting before it the grandeur and the glory of the supreme attainment before which all sense experience pales into insignificance, so much so that the mind feels to give them up as of no consequnce. In this way, the mind is presented with tremendous attraction of the glorious goal and is made to turn away from its alliance with the senses. This is done through svadhyaya.
Constant conflict
Tapas puts the axe to the senses and svadhyaya does the work of persuading the mind, holding before it the grandeur, glory and beauty of the attainment, putting wisdom into it. These are higher processes. Gradually the senses can be discplined to give up their inverterate habit of going towards ojects and follow this new nature that the mind has developed.At this tage there is a constant conflict going on. The mind has desire for the goal but the senses continue to have their old inverterate tendencies and habits.
It would be advisable for devotees to make the senses their friend. Make the senses also take on to new habits. And this training and discipline take upon themselves a new habit following the awakened mind.The mind which has now acquired discrimination and accepted to turn its direction from the world of objects to the world of God, and if the senses also begin to follow the mind, then one is rewarded .
This state is brought about by the discipline of Pratipakshabhavan. A happy analogy is given by the commentator of the sutras to bring home this new relationship between the mind and the senses. So far the senses were dragging the mind out but here we have a new situation when the mind drags the senses in. Mind now begins to put its influence upon the senses. And the senses are prepared, readily and willingly to follow the mind.
Controlling Rajas
Asan is a technique. You sit and try to train the body into a state of perfect stillness, motionlessness and this is powerful method of gaining complete control over the rajas in your system. Because, already by yama and niyama, the tamas has been well-controlled.It has been overcome and the entire nature of the aspirant has become purified. He follows strictly the path of good conduct and noble character and his daily life is spiritualises by saucha, santosha, tapas and isvarapranidhana.
Rajas is the next formidable 'foe' to overcome. Asana and Pranayama effectively overcome rajas.Asan, especially, is made to overcome rajas and then facilitate and taking up of steading and arresting of the prana. Hatha yoga is also a valauble means to support the practice of Raja yoga. Because it has orecisely this effect of eliminating tamas, controlling rajas and increasing sattva. But in Raja yoga, the asana is intended to maintain single meditative pose steadily and the same time fully relaxed and easy. It should not be a strain upon the one who is sitting. There should be not tension. It should not impose any type of strain.
Steadiness and comfort are brought into the aphorism that refers to asana-sthiram-sukham-asanam. Sthiram mean steady and sukham means easy and comfortable. The main thing is to observe to keep the spinal column straight, head, trunk and the neck in a straight line. If this is done properly, then the asana becomes very light and easy. Ther comes a perfect balancing of the centre of gravity of the whole body and the spinal column rests upon its base. Also by sitting straight your ches is expanded. If you bend forward the ches becomes contracted. So by sitting straight, the ches expansion takes away your mind from breath. Other wise there is difficulty in breathing.
There is and interesting relation between pose and mental condition. In different mental conditions, unconsciously the body assumes different poses. A condition of positive emotion and joy is always expressed with a particular pose, whereas the negative expression of sorrow is always expressed in contracting the body and bending down of the body.
Prana and Mind
There are several kinds of Pranayama in Hatha yoga, where as in Raja yoga, pranyama is mainly concerned with the retention of breath. This , ofcourse happens to have an option of the three different modes. You can inhale and retain breaht; you can exhale and retain; and you can suddenly retain the breath without any reference to inhalation and exhalation. These are the three modes. Patanjali has written briefly on all the three essential points in the retention of brath. Prana and mind have a direct connection and all mental activity is supported by cetain pranic activity. If the mind is very active , Prana also vibrates intensely and if Prana vibrates very intensely, mind is put into a state of excitement. Therefore, the bringing Into the prana a certain harmony and balance and stability as also the same effect upon the mind, can be done through Pranayama. (Special pranayama of Kriya yoga taught in achutha yoga).

prana is subtle and inward. It pervades the body from the top of the head to the tip of your toe. The regulation control and checking of the breath of the nostril is called
Svasa that has been mentioned in pranyama.
The mind affects the body and therfore, it is the mental state they try to treat the mind except in certain cases of extreme impact of the mind upon the body, whre through hysteria vaious physical symptoms are brought about. Then they put the patient in the hands of psychologist or psychiatrist. Otherwise, they take recourse either to sedatives or tranquillisers which for the time being make the mind go into a state of inactivity. Then there is a temporary relief of the physical symptom. But once again when the mind starts activity, it goes back again into the state.
Whatever the doctors say all the physical and mental conditions have the corresponding pranic pattern. Every physical and mental condition is generated and suppoerted by specific pranic state in one or other are. This is hwat is responsible for communicating a mental state of the physical level and for translating it into a praticular manifestation there. Even so, physical state also in some case , have been trasmitted to the mind and it has affected the mind.

Yama and Niyama
If one becomes absolutely established in ahimsa or noninjury, he acquires the power to overcome all enmity. To that person, no one can come wiht anger or hatred.No one can raise the hand of violence. Before him all enmity ceases. If a Person who has become perfectly established in ahimsa goes into the jungle, the moment wild animals come to him, they will become docile. They can not manifest their violent propensity. That is the result or the effect of acquirng perfection of ahimsa.
Perfection in truth is Satya. It Gives one Vak-Siddhi. If one is absolutely established in truthfulness, then after a period of 12 years of such perfect adherence to truth, whatever the person utters will come true. And to explain it, Patanjali gives a very interesting form to the sutras, He says such a one acquires the power of acheiving the fruits of action with out acting. If he curses, the curse turns out true.
Bramacharya brings about super human power in the individual, mental as well as physical. If one completely gives up the desire for anything, that thing follows him, as a shadow follows a person. The yogi who has established himself in the total renunciation of greed, acquires the knowledge of past, present and future. When he is established in absolute cleanliness, both outer and inner, he becomes fit to attain God-vision. Now he is fully qualifiled and confidently carry on his struggle on concentration and meditation.
Supreme Happiness
Indescribable joy and supreme happiness come through the practice of contentment. The above mentioned are all actions to attain Brahman(divine).Through the power of austerity, one's senses become keen and intellect becomes sharp. Through absorbing study of spiritual scriptures, the yogi can have a vision of his aspect of his personal God. When he carries on his studies, deeply and regularly, he can have a vision of god. If Yogi practices asan and pranayama then he becomes fit to enter into the inner aspect of yoga, the withdrawl of the mind from the outer objects which is a dispcipline to be cultivated throughout the walking hours

Meditation

Meditation in Practise

What is meditation and when and how did it become popular among the masses?

Our sages in ancient times were very much aware of the relations between the mind and body. ' Healthy mind in a healthy body'- they followed this rule. They knew that a peaceful mind was very much needed to maintain good health. So they thought and thought over the problem, did research and ultimately concluded that meditation was stage way out to get rid off the old age sufferings and death the efficacy of meditation was clear to them and they practised it. But the practice of meditation was largely confined to the saints who lived mostly in ashrams where prefect Peace reigned and there were no disturbances. The public in large went about their daily chorus and had nothing to do with meditation.

The popularity of meditation is of recent origin in India and in the Western countries. The west was materialistic in outlook. It went after worldly pleasures. But did that give it peace and tranquility? In their search for mental peace they took refuse in drugs .No doubt those drugs made them forget their problems for sometime and even elevated their spirits but the effect was temporary. Soon they got addicted to them and could not live without them. Besides, the subsequent doses had to be larger in quantity. There were side effects too.

The credit to make meditation popular among the masses goes to the teachers who studied this ancient art, learnt it fully and then taught it to others. Today we find there is hardly a big city in which meditation classes are not held. We will be doing great injustice to Mahesh Yogi if his name is not mentioned here. The Maharshi is one of those who carried this art to the West with his 'transcendental meditation'. Today he attracts thousands of men and women and has made meditation popular among the youth in the West.

Meditation in simple language means Dhyana concentrating on one single object with a single devoted mind. Meditation means control over mind. In raja yoga it is defined as a 'continuous flow of one perception'. Some call it 'freedom from objective thoughts'. Some learned men even say a stage is reached in meditation when mind has no thoughts. Concentration on one object with mind leads to meditation and meditation culminates in samadhi,i.e mind is thought less and one develops intuition and the glory of the spirit is before him. Meditation is a way to go near god as in it one thinks constantly of God and a stage comes when he loses his identity. In fact meditation is in itself an end and not a means as all prayers, rituals,austerities,study of scriptures lead a person to the practice of meditation and through it he communicates with God.

God has offered this human body to realize that he is the ultimate goal to be achieved, but man does not bother to ponder over it, it is too much absorbed in mundane desires and worldly pleasures and ultimately is perished. Therefore it is necessary to free the mind form objective thoughts, form thoughts of sense - objects. Once this has been achieved mind gives inspiration to the yogi to have highest thoughts and eternal peace.

Meditation in common man's perspective.

Just sit and observe your thoughts processes. The mind is eternally restless, compulsively flitting from one object, person to person, and place to place, most of them related to your personal life and problems. If you observe the functioning of your mind, you may notice that your are talking to your self. Most of your self-talk revolves around your personal problems. It could be about your family or profession, your happiness and achievements, your problems and sufferings, etc. Your consciousness which is a stream of thoughts and feelings, will be totally saturated with your personal problems.

As long as the mind is steeped in such thoughts and feelings there can be no real peace and tranquility. Yo experience greater amount of stress on your life. Stress and tension will diminish the power of your brain also. Unless stress is manged properly there is now way to improve the functioning of your brain.

One of the best ways to manage stress is to practise meditation which is a process through which you shift your consciousness form your self to a state of thoughtlessness or "no mind".To put it simply , meditation helps the practitioner forget his self through a variety of techniques and keep his mind blank or free of thoughts. The moment the mind takes itself away from the self, it derives supreme joy and happiness.

Meditation techniques are especially good at balancing the "weather pattern" within the brain that enhances sharp thinking. This , perhaps, happens by enhancing the brain's ability to fire neurons in smooth, coordinated, organised patterns. Meditation improves mental power.

Here are some mechanisms by which this happens:

Meditation slows brain metabolism. This allows brain neurons to function more efficiently and use less energy. It promotes mental power with out side effects.

Meditation can decrease blood levels of lactate. Excess lactate is known to cause anxiety and insomnia.

Meditation increases levels of dehydroepiandrosterone(DHEA)-a marker of brain vitality.

Meditation decreases blood pressure as well as cholesterol levels. This may lessen the risk of arteriosclerosis that might other wise block the arteries and limit blood flow to the brain.

Meditation In Practise

A few meditation practices are

Simple Meditation : Just sit in a meditative posture for about 15 to 20 minutes,making your subconscious believe that your are 'meditation'. The main purpose is to acquaint you with self-discipline to sit quietly for a given length of time. This is a preliminary step for the practise of other types of meditation.

Sabdha Meditation : Sabdha means sound. This meditation can be practised at any time, in any place and in any posture. Just focus your attention on the sounds you are able to hear. This can be practised even in a moving bus or train. Travel confines you to a particular seat. You can consider this an excellent opportunity to meditate. The drone of the moving bus or the chug-chugging of the train itself could be the object of meditation. Concentrate your entire attention on the sounds. When your thought slips off, bring it back and be aware of the sound only and nothing else.

Chitta Meditation : Chitta means consciousness(stream of thoughts and feelings). This can also be practised in any place, at any time and in any posture. In this form your are supposed to observe your thoughts and feelings. Do not attempt to control or direct your thoughts.. You act only as an objective observer of each thought, feeling and perception, etc that is being screened on your mental horizon. When a thought or feeling arises, simply observe it until it passes out of your visual space. Then you may wait for the next thought or feeling and observe it. Don't attempt to explore, follow-up or associate with any of the thoughts or feelings that are passing through your mind.

Trataka Meditation : Keep an object before you, anything of your choice. Visualise it with closed eyes. Your thoughts should be continuously saturated with the object visualised. When it goes away form your consciousness. Apart from arresting the wavering mind, this type of meditation will also improve the power of your brain by developing concentration ,imagination, will power and eye sight.

Zen Meditation : This can be practised in any comfortable and restful posture . Focus on your breathing. When some other thoughts intrudes, push it aside. While being attentive to the breathing process, start counting your breath with every exhalation- one,two,three, etc. Your total attention is gently and firmly fixed on this one action of counting only.

But sequential counting becomes automatic and your thoughts would drift away from the focus on your breathing process. To counteract this, the counting may be varied slightly : count up to fifty and then count backward to one.

In Zen, the trainees are required to be aware of their breathing processes all the time. Since breathing is a continuous unbroken process you can concentrate no-stop on it until the end of the scheduled time.

If the breathing is deep and rhythmic a sort of vibration is created in the body, which will tone up your nervous system and thereby enhance brainpower.

Meditation should be treated as way of life rather that a mere ceremony to be performed piously at an appointed time. Efforts should be made to occupy the mind fully with pure and positive thoughts. The mind should attend to only one thing at a time. Instead of brooding over personal problems, concentrate on some constructive activities that bring some beneficial results to humanity large. The mind should be saturated with theme " Love for all and hatred towards none ". No event , however adverse, should disturb the mind. It should always be peaceful, tranquil and serene. This state without tension and stress is very conductive to maintaining excellent health.

Headaches and its cure by Mudra,Yoga Kriyas,natural herbs and foods

Headaches and its cure by Mudra,Yoga Kriyas,natural herbs and foods

By Dr.VS.Suresh Phd.,   Email: bksureshv@gmail.com

Headache

 Headache is one of the most common of all symptoms afflicting the human race. Most headaches are more or less transient –here today and gone tomorrow. But some seem to recur frequently over periods of months or years. Such headaches may be due to a wide  variety of causes, such as various tumors ,infections ,head injuries , high blood pressure, eye  conditions  , infections of the nose, throat, and ears, and many more. However , most headaches have no organic  cause. Many are due to megrim or some psychological disturbance resulting in a tension headache. One should never assume that his headache is due to some serious disease, for most headaches are functional and not related to any organic changes in the brain. Even eyestrain is a far less common cause of headache than many people suppose.

Strange as it may seem , the brain itself is not sensitive to pain. This means that most headaches are not due to any actual damage within the brain itself. How ever , any stretching or pressure on the coverings of the brain or the large blood-vessels with in the head will most certainly produce a severe pain or headache . Any inflammation within the head, such as occurs in meningitis, will cause extreme pain over the entire head. Such causes are extremely rare today. A tumour growing within the head may press upon the meningeal covering or dura. This causes a severe headache, which is usually felt on the side of the head where the tumour is located.

Megrim Headaches.

Megrim headaches are among the most common forms of headache today. In most cases they come on when a person is either under intense nervous strain or when the tension suddenly subsides and he takes a day off. This type of headache is often preceded by flashes of light which are seen at the sides of one’s  vision. This is most likely to be a one-sided headache, and there may be numbness and tingling on that side of the face or body. Some patients complain of a blind spot in their vision. Megrim is so common that one person in every ten has it at some time or other. It is most common in early adult life, women being more frequently affected. Often there is a history of megrim headache in the family. Fortunately, this type of headache usually begins to subside after the age of fifty.

Megrim attacks are often preceded by short periods of depression, irritability, restlessness, and loss of appetite. These symptoms tend to disappear just before the headache comes on, or they may continue and even increase the pain . This type of headache usually follows a definite pattern. In one attack the right side of the head may be involved , in the next perhaps the left . In many cases there is nausea, vomiting , and the extremities may feel cold, and the patient desires just to be left alone. Careful observation  of the blood vessels on the side of the head will show  that they are prominent and pulsating .

The attack may last for hours or days at a time. Some patients may have it daily, others at odd times, and still others, perhaps only once or twice in several years.  Megrim headaches are usually thought to arise from some reflex spasm or tension in one of the arteries leading to the brain itself. This reduces the normal flow of blood to that area. Just above the spastic portion of the vessel the wall of the artery los e their normal tone an d become greatly dilated. This causes intense pulsations and stretching of the walls of the vessels, producing acute pain and headache. This is the theory. No one knows for sure.

Tension Headache:

Tension headaches are similar to megrim in many respects, although the location of the headache may be somewhat different and the cause is more obvious. Prolonged tension often seems to produce a spasm of the muscles in the back of neck, particularly in certain people. This muscle spasm draws the tissues over the surface of the cranium very tight , so that the pain is felt not only in the back of the neck , but also over the top and front of the head . This is a steady , aching type of pain . Usually there is no nausea, vomiting or flashing lights for the problem does not appear to affect the brain but is due to external causes. The treatment  is similar to that outlined for megrim and sick headaches below of the post. It is most important to avoid emotional stress and be sure to take sufficient rest. Tension headaches are warning signals from nature which one cannot afford to ignore.

Alcoholic Headache:

Many people suffer from a severe headache due to hangover after taking large quantities of alcohol. Alcohol is toxic to the tissues and directly irritates the meninges or coverings of the brain, thus causing the pain in the head. The alcohol also dilates the arteries in the brain and this in turn produces a pain not unlike that of megrim.. Naturally the best treatment for this type of headache is to avoid the excessive e use of alcohol in any form. Other than this, bed rest is advisable until the crisis has passed.

Head ache due to Constipation.

Some people are particularly  susceptible to this type of headache . It appears to arise from absorbing toxic products from the colon. The best treatment is to take sufficient bulk and roughage in the diet , plus at  least six to eight glasses of water per day to provide both bulk and lubrication of the bowel . Some mild laxative may be necessary in some cases but , this should be avoided as a general rule.

Headache Due to High Blood pressure

Many people have a tendency to develop a headache when the blood pressure rises beyond the normal  level. The reason for this is not too clear, but it may be due to the increased pressure within the smaller arteries and other blood vessels within the brain.

Sinus Headache:

Some of the nasal sinuses lie very close to the brain. Any inflammation within these sinuses may produce a rather severe type of headache. Sometimes the headache come s on gradually , at other times rather quickly. There may also be marked postnasal discharge or dripping down into the throat , as well as fever , loss of appetite , dizziness, and loss of the normal  sense of smell. A feeling of toothache might also be present if the maxillary sinuses are involved. During the early phase the temperature may rise to 102 degrees. Anything higher than this suggests further complications, such as otitis media  or inflammation of the middle ear. In chronic sinusitis the headache is less severe and the patient may complain of recurrent colds. Sinusitis and its complications will be discussed in coming posts.

Headache Caused by eyestrain.

This type of headache may be due to the body’s attempt to gain clear vision. Within the eyeball the small ciliary muscles control the shape of the lens of the eye. This enables us  to focus our vision on the object we are looking at. Prolonged  contraction of these tiny muscles can be a cause  of head ache   due to “eyestrain”. Also the muscles that move the eye (extra ocular muscles) may go into tension, particularly if the muscles controlling one eye are not balanced with those on the other side. This imbalance may cause blurring vision, so that the head may have to be held in a certain position in order to focus the vision. This in turn causes chronic contraction of the muscles of the neck , resulting in a headache.

If the eyes are exposed to a very bright light, a headache may develop lasting twenty-four to forty-eight hours, possibly due to irritation of the delicate tissues in the eyes . Such a headache may last form one to two days. Looking at the sun for only a few seconds may actually burn the retina, and cause a severe headaches arising from eyestrain and other disorders of the eye can be prescribed only by a specialist in eye conditions, or in other words , an ophthalmologist.

Treating A sick headache

The best treatment for a sick headache is to prevent it from coming on. Megrim headaches always arise from the stress and strain within the brain, and from there the trouble may spread to the stomach and intestinal organs. Here  are some suggestions for treatment:

1.       Do not be quite so exacting with yourself and with others. Plan your work well, but don’t fret or worry when things go wrong. It  may not always be your fault.

2.       Get plenty of sound sleep each night . Also , take a short nap in the day time if you can. This will help to relieve tension and restore your scene of well-being.

3.       Beware of habit-forming drugs. These may bring quick relief , but they do not remove the cause. It is easy for a person to become addicted to power ful drugs. Better leave them alone.

4.       Avoid things to which you are sensitive, such as bright lights, loud noises , tobacco smoke, strong perfumes, heavy traffic, and perhaps even some of your neighbours. Don’t  allow yourself to exceed your own limits.

5.       A hot foot bath for about twenty minutes will often relieve severe headache . An Ice cod cloth to the head will also bring relief and make the hot foot bath even more effective.

6.       Avoid nervous tension. Get sufficient exercise out of door, especially walking . This will receive tension and help to prevent headaches. Gentle massage to the neck and back will often bring relief.

7.       Keep calm and quiet. You cannot always have your own way, even at home. Remember , a happy attitude toward life is one good way to prevent these tensions from coming on in the first place .

So try to face your problems bravely, without fear or weakness. A  Calm , quiet atmosphere  will bring peace within yourself , and with others , and with God.

Alternative Therapies or Natural herbs and food to cureheadache.

Apples

Apples are highly beneficial in the treatment of all types of headache. A ripe apple, after removing the upper rind and the inner hard portion should be taken with a little salt every morning on empty stomach in such cases. This should be continued for about a week. It will yield .good results even in cases of disgusting chronic headache.

Feverfew - Tanacetum parthenium  :

Can reduce the frequency and severity of migraine headaches. It works effectively only if taken daily. It wont help if taken once you have a migraine.

Passionflower - Passiflora incarnate :

One of natures best tranquilizers, contains at least 3 tranquilizing or sedating compounds, relieves muscle tension, insomnia, mild headache relief.

(Not recommended for pregnant women or children under 2....Do not drive or operate heavy machinery after using passionflower)

Willow Bark - Salix alba :

Relieves headaches.

Peppermint :

Peppermint is a  herb that can create a soothing effect and cure the headaches with its coolness. The other similar herb is Passionflower which has slightly different effects than the peppermint. It comes with certain amount of sedative effect. This can slowly release the pressure on the mind and body and gradually cool the brain to cure headaches.

Cayenne pepper:
Cayenne pepper is another effective option that can cure the headaches because of its heating effect. You might feel an intense pain initially but this will gradually reduce and you will feel better.

These herbs were used to combat this problem in the ancient ages especially in India and China.

Mudra for Headache:

Head ache: Apaan- vaayu mudra, Vaata-naashak mudra , Vaayu-shaamak or Vaayu mudra

Migraine: VAAY-VARDHAK OR GYAN/DNYAAN MUDRA , Aakaash-vardhak or Aakash mudra ,Apaan mudra

Blood-pressure, high : Aakaash-vardhak ,Kapha-Kaarak ,Apaan- vaayu ,Vaata-kaarak