i was glad to find out that my yoga instructor is a fellow migraine-sufferer (did i already write something extremely similar to this?) anyway, last week she showed me how you could lay on a rolled-up yoga matt and relax with your back totally supported. she then suggested i repeat a prayer, or a poem, or a mantra of some sort (to which i replied sweetly, um, i'm agnostic) while relaxing.

i couldn't think of something right on the spot, but after a while it came to me.

i was reminded of times where i have really needed to relax because i had nothing else to do so being unable to relax would drive me crazy - in other words, i remembered what i sometimes do on a plane if there's turbulence or i'm nervous for some other reason.

i would close my eyes and visualize myself dancing. we used to do a lot of visualization when i was a runner (visualizing ourselves passing up the runners ahead of us). i'm not sure whether that helped us win meets, but it was a good relaxing break from our interval schedule. so one flight (i don't remember if it was in 2001, 2002, or 2003 but i know i was returning from buenos aires on this flight) i was a bit nervous because it was a little bumpy. after gasping more than the appropriate number of times (two) and grasping the armrests harder than is appropriate, i realized that it made absolutely no difference what i did. i was not in charge of the plane's trajectory and if something went wrong, there was nothing i could do about it. so i might as well close my eyes, relax, and enjoy the turbulence (it's a bit reminiscent of those summer afternoons at six flags). and visualizing myself dancing gave me something that i enjoy to focus on, so that relaxed me.

anyway. i know a migraine is a bit different from a bumpy flight, but i'll try it.

i had something else, but i lost it. i'm exhausted and still have a bunch of work to do. so.. ciao for now.