alexander technique or mindfulness-based stress management

Has anyone tried of either of these with success? Since I have chronic back pain in addition to migraine I think these would be helpful.

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your chronic back pain.

I have used mindfulness meditation (Jon Kabat Zinn) to successfully get rid of 24/7 chronic headache.

My neurologist (who I still see when required as she really got me sorted with meds and being able to manage my migraines) and my GP both said that I would never get rid of that headache.

My GP said that with chronic pain, the brain has rewired to have that pain. My immediate question was how to wire it back. She referred me to Rewire Your Brain.

I found that an interesting read, but the most help was doing JKZ's mindfulness mediation for pain CD over and over and over and over. I also did his 45 minute body scan meditation.

I've never been one for sitting still, and even though I know it helps, meditation just isn't really my thing, but I still do it because it has definitely worked for me.

Hope that you get some relief from your back pain and your migraines.

cheers,
Lynn

Hi Lynn, thanks for your reply. I have tried JKZ'z CDs in the past but his voice just puts me to sleep! Can you tell me where I can find the 45 minute bodyscan meditation? I remember he kept referencing it in the CD but I don't remember ever learning it.
I think if I try it again I will sign up for a class in person. I've been putting it off because the classes are expensive.

I just started learning the Alexander Technique, and I think it will help with the back pain, and maybe the migraines too. I'm not sure how many lessons I will need, but I am going once a week for an hour. I'll update more as I progress.

CG

The name of the CD is "Guided Mindfulness Meditation." There are 4 CDs in the album and one of them (#1) contains the 45 minute "Body Scan Meditation." I use it every morning, and it does help you relax, but a lot of the time I do fall asleep.

Martin

Thanks Martin!

Hi,

Here's a link to the CD that Martin mentioned: http://www.amazon.com/Guided-Mindfulness-Meditation-Complete-Kabat-Zinn/dp/1591793599

There's also a CD specifically for pain management that I found really useful - I listened to it over and over again while I had viral meningitis and still listening to two of the tracks every night as I go to sleep (I took the ending bells out). http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Meditation-Pain-Relief-Kabat-Zinn/dp/1591797403

I know they say to stay awake for the meditations, but for myself, sleep can sometimes be hard to come by and I don't fall asleep easily, so if I fall asleep during a meditation, I figure I must have relaxed from listening to it and I must have been tired enough that I needed the sleep.

cheers,
Lynn