Mindfulness & Migraines

Today I went to a course on mindfulness. Today I also had a migraine.

I meditated on Tara and compassion. It was difficult, because, as I mentioned, I had a migraine. Being in Stage 1, I was (1) detached and (2) able to fall asleep in a single relaxed breath. So, most of the meditation actually was great practice in mindfulness because my conscious brain was already so loosely holding on to the reigns of reality. Compassion - Sleep - Compassion - Sleep. The battle continues.

When I left, I could tell the migraine was entering Stage 2 (the pain stage) so I popped my Very First triptan. As you know, I really abhor medications. Last resort. So let it be said that it's been over four months of non-stop migraines before I broke down and accepted some pills. Not because I can't handle the pain, oh no, but because I want to see if they get rid of the depersonalisation/derealisation. Ironically, I didn't actually have that symptom in full force this migraine. Maybe next time.

The triptan did work as promised, though, including the (quite disturbing) side effects of flushed skin, gripping tightness in my throat/neck, and so on. The migraine went quite quickly into stage three, hovering between the 2-3 for two hours, before transitioning completely to three for 2-3 hours. I am safely out of the danger zone which is a great feeling because if I go to bed in stage three I often wake up in stage 1 again.

I'm not really concerned. But I do reserve the right to smirk louder next time the Buddhist teacher mentions tranquil abiding of pain.

The benefit of the course is that I have discovered I have great mindfulness... and utterly shit concentration. So if anyone knows of a course on concentration, I'm all ears (for a second or two).