What to do if you have a Splitting Headache.

You’ve had a full day. Too much coffee, not enough food. No breaks, you’re behind, there’s drama you haven’t been able to pacify. You’ve created your own drama.

You have a headache, and it’s ruining even the most beautiful happy sunny peaceful moment you could ask for.

You can do these, or this:

1. Don’t miss yoga class, as I did, this week. Over the next three or four days (I work a lot on the computer), my shoulders tightened and my neck tightened until, finally, yesterday, my head started hurting. Badly. Didn’t sleep barely at all last night, I was in such rough shape. This happens to me three or four times a year—always and only when I’ve missed yoga for a week or more.

2. Aspirin. Boom. My grandma was a Christian Scientist, so I generally still stay away from drugs of any kind. Symptoms (like headaches) are helpful, grounding reminders that we’re off, somehow. I don’t like to dull them—I prefer to deal with the root cause. In this case, however, I woke and could barely move. So I dragged myself, or rather my dog dragged me, to the neighborhood corner store and bought my 1 buck 46 cent of succor. Solace? I can barely think, right now, let alone right.

3. Meditation. Now that I have my aspirin, I’ll meditate. Somehow it relieves a lot of the mental bullshiiite that circles around pain, and naturally relaxes the body—particularly, I find, the back of the neck, the position of the head, and the natural relaxing of my shoulders.

4. Bath. Hot. Epsom salts are cheap, and supposedly help relax muscles. Just don’t use the water afterward to water your plants, as I did once (Bush League eco boy move).

5. Massage. In my case, unless my dog wants to jump in, self-massage. Here’s a few popular videos from youtube. But first! Put on some cheesy New Agey music. Seems to be key. Turn on fountain, hang crystals, and spray aromatic oils in the air. Visualize rainbows and my little pony flitting about. Okay, go:

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EC: anything else? Please leave recommendations in comments, below, and share your hard-won wisdom with other readers.