How To Begin to
Address Your Headaches

 

I just discovered your you tube channel and loving your videos. I am looking for relief from tension headaches but I couldn’t see any specific videos on this in your playlist. Do you have any? -N.

Greetings N,
With my method, we are trying to address the upstream root of the headache problem. The headache is the boiling over of a deeper tension problem.
There are different types of headaches. For my method, in a general way, the most important question is: Is the headache sensation symmetrical, mostly symmetrical, or asymmetrical?
The quality of the asymmetry becomes a valuable clue as to the strategy of what to focus on with the movements.
The headache is the boiling over.

Headaches relate to tension in the neck.The neck is called upon to save the day from the situation below.
The neck is tyrannized and over-burdened by the shoulders.
The shoulders are thrown into tension by the un-unsuppleness of the torso.
The hidden tensions of the torso are the changeable roots (in my observation) of most headache situations.

The basics are perfect for conduction your own experiment.
Each movement is the key to unlocking a specific line or space of the body.
Mostly we are trapped by the deep habit of specific constricted breathing spaces.
Hunched postures are the constrict breathing space of the front. The breathing space constrictions feel normal.
We are not forcing it. We are not stretching it.
We are trying to teach the brain that the silent constricted areas are Easy Breathing Space.

I suggest you start at the top my Begin Here Playlist.

This is how to go upstream to address the roots of the headache problem.
Learn my Gentle Breathing Assessment Method.
Then, practice often to change the course of your ship.
Navigate to safe waters.
Address the roots:

The Begin Here Playlist

I encourage you to simply start at the top of this playlist. Try the first 3 movements. They give you an decent view of the type of focus involved.
If you really want to put the process to the test, work through the first 20 videos.
The movements for tension asymmetry, for asymmetrical discomfort expressions, start a about #13.

Some quick fix shortcuts that may give quick relief without completely addressing the most upstream roots:

Standing Neck Help, Standing Neck Sequence 2023
Standing Strategies of Gentle Movement for an Achy Neck | Somatics for Neck Pain
The shoulders tyrannize the neck. The shoulders are unhappy when they are not adequately supported and moved by the ribs.
Consider your neck pain as the boiling over of hidden tensions in the torso. Address root holdings to take the burden off the neck.

Standing, Forward Paddling Kayak Elbows (forward and back), Back Rib Breathing
On Lake Superior 2023 5m:18s

Almost everyone with headaches needs these:

A slow and un-cluttered teaching of Elbows to the Sky Unravel Hidden Tension of Stress, Worry, and Depression.
Begin to address the tensions that hunch you over. 9m:18s

Elbows to the Sky – Worry Off, Fear Off, Sadness Off
Practice sequence with explanation, 6m:56s

As you get more skilled, you can apply this to all the movements:

What Your Brain Really Wants: Easy Breathing Space On Demand, a seated Sequence. 5m:51s
You can apply this technique to almost all of the Eric Cooper Somatics Method Movements.
Comment on YouTube: “This one, is a golden key 💫❤️”

The key is to learn to know where you are stuck, where your breathing space is stuck.
Learn how to teach your nervous system to Acquire Easy Breathing Space.
Then to have a personal practice that keeps you unstuck.
The Begin Here Playlist is the perfect place to begin. The basics are very powerful.

Breathe and Love,
-Eric