Natural Migraine Relief Via Diaphragmatic Breathing

One of the most valuable and natural migraine relief skills that every migraine sufferer should master is diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing involves breathing deep into the belly rather than breathing shallowly into the chest. Learning to breathe deeply into your belly and engaging your diaphragm muscle more fully will support you in dilating your arteries. Learning to maintain this dilation will help you greatly in achieving natural migraine relief.
With practice, diaphragmatic breathing will become your new normal way of breathing. You will not need to think about it so much because it will become natural and automatic for you.
Diaphragmatic breathing will also ease much of the muscle tension that we create when we practice shallow and thoracic breathing. In thoracic breathing, (which unfortunately is the norm for many of us) we activate our neck, shoulder and back muscles far more than necessary. Thoracic breathing will not support you in keeping your arteries dilated. We create tension this way and this same tension can sabotage your quest to be migraine free. Your neck, back and shoulder muscles are used very little when practicing diaphragmatic breathing.
Diaphragmatic breathing is one of the easiest skills you can master for natural migraine relief. You will likely feel the affects quickly experiencing a warming in the hands and feet, muscle relaxation, and a sense of greater calm.
In the beginning, when you practice diaphragmatic breathing you might notice that your diaphragm feels tight, weak or even tires easily. Remember, if you have been a thoracic breather for a long time your diaphragm will need a little time to adjust to this new way of breathing. That's perfectly normal. Just beginning with 5-10 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing a day is a wonderful way for you to develop this natural migraine relief breathing habit. Give your body time to adjust and practice increasing the amount of time you spend developing this much healthier way of breathing.
Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise for Natural Migraine Relief:
To begin, lie down on your back as this is the easiest way to practice getting the hang of it. Place one hand gently on your chest and the other hand on your belly. Breathe in slowly to the count of five through your nose, and then exhale slowly to the count of five through your nose. Pay attention to your belly as it rises with each inhalation. Focus on the expansion of your belly. Use your diaphragm muscle to support your belly in expanding.
Also pay attention to the hand you have placed on your chest. Is it moving a lot with each inhalation? Is your chest rising more than your belly? Your belly should be doing most of the work as you inhale and your chest should only be expanding slightly. Try to focus on letting your diaphragm do 80% of the work as you breathe. With practice, you will gain greater control over your diaphragm and this way of breathing will become more effortless. In time, this will become an automatic natural migraine relief habit that you won't need to initiate because it will naturally take over for you.
Natural Migraine Relief Breathing Cues:
Throughout your day it can be helpful for you to create cues for yourself to take a few deep diaphragmatic breaths. For example, you could decide that every time your phone rings before you answer the phone you will take one deep diaphragmatic breath. When you are driving in your car you could use every red light you hit as a cue to take one deep diaphragmatic breath.
My favorite cue comes from my dog. Every time he lets out a big sigh, (which he does about 20 times throughout the day when I'm home with him) I follow his lead and I take one deep diaphragmatic breath. Choose cues for yourself that will signal you to breathe deeply into your belly often. I know a gal who uses Facebook as her primary cue for diaphragmatic breathing. Every time she receives a message from someone on Facebook she takes a slow, deep breath into her belly and fully exhales before opening her message.
The point is, make your natural migraine relief cues fun and memorable and make sure you act on these cues frequently. Remember that keeping your arteries dilated with diaphragmatic breathing is one of the most important steps you can take in becoming migraine free.
Download your FREE Diaphragmatic Breathing Audio Training today and let Diana personally guide you through this practice of deep relaxation.
Diana Bertoldo is a Natural Migraine Relief Coach and expert author on taking control of Migraine Disease. She spends her time coaching others to cultivate daily habits for migraine relief. To receive a FREE copy of Diana's 6-part mini-course series Natural Migraine Relief Secrets you can visit her at http://www.naturalmigrainereliefforlife.com