Having been involved in training Aromatherapists and Reflexology Practitioners over many years at and also running the Scottish Group of the Guild of Complementary Practitioners, I have become very aware of the power of what many people term Alternative Medicine. (I prefer “complementary”)



However, the medical profession in general tend to ignore the natural remedies that have proved effective over thousands of years and they persist in poisoning our systems with Drug Therapy, which often exacerbates many conditions or in fact triggers other conditions and at the very least creates nasty side effects.

So it's entirely understandable that people are turning away from traditional allopathic medicine and seeking “Alternative” forms of headache pain relief and information of natural headache remedies and prevention methods.

It's incredible that our highly trained medical professionals lean towards the modern drug therapy (toxic chemicals) and completely ignore the more natural and effective remedies that have been tried and tested over many thousands of years.

Many common and annoying ailments can be alleviated and often prevented by the use of these natural products.

For example, probably the most common type of headache is caused by tension or stress and a build up of toxins in the brain, and is generally treated with "over-the-counter" drugs from the pharmacy, like Paracetomol or Nurofen or similar pain killers, which can cause stomach problems and as mention, often cause further problems due to a build up of toxins in the body.

Our modern day lifestyle tends to be very stressful and so the stress / tension headache is extremely prevalent in modern society. Wouldn't it therefore be more sensible to alleviate the stress and thus prevent the headache pain, which in turn then does away with the need for pain killers.

Let's just take a look a few simple ideas for relieving stress and general tension...

One of the simplest and best ways of easing stress and tension and also eliminating toxins from the body is to simply "Breathe" properly.

Every breath we take fills our lungs with oxygen, which is then carried by the haemoglobin in the red blood cells to every cell in the body. Every cell must receive this life-giving oxygen to remain alive and healthy and so you can see how very important proper breathing is for maintaining health in general and not just for relieving stress and eliminating toxins.

Of course, it is essential that the air we breathe is as fresh and pure as possible, which can be difficult in the highly polluted atmosphere of our inner cities and once again if we constantly breathe in toxic and polluted air we can actually bring on toxic headache pain. So first make sure that you breathe in "fresh air".

Try this simple breathing exercise... Simply sit in a relaxed position, preferably with the eyes closed and take a deep breath, drawing the air deep into the lungs as if trying to fill the stomach. Hold the breath for a count of four and imagine the oxygen flowing through your body and filling every cell with clean, fresh life-giving energy.

Next breathe out slowly through your mouth imagining your whole body relaxing as if deflating as the toxins pour out. Just picture every cell in your body releasing all the toxins and impurities that cause the problems and exchanging them for that oxygen and feel the tension just flow from you whole body.

Pause for a few seconds and repeat the process, each time trying to fill the lungs even more. Hold the breath for four or five seconds once again and then slowly allow the body to relax as you breathe out all the toxins that are causing the problem. Repeat this breathing exercise at least ten times and you'll find that you are much more relaxed and less tense.

This simple exercise is very powerful and not only helps you relax and get rid of any stress and tension, but also rids the brain of the toxins, which can be the chief cause of common headache pain.

I hope this brings some relief without having to reach for the usual drugs.

However, for more severe headache pain there are numerous natural remedies that have been used with great effect for thousands of years and I'll try to bring you some tried and tested pain relief methods in future articles.