Four self-massage tools for headaches, sinus pain, and tinnitus

Keep your cranial bones and fluids moving freely

This post is updated from its original.

Headaches, sinus pain, and tinnitus often share roots in congested fluid movement within the skull. Especially if you are healing from Lyme disease or another chronic illness with associated biotoxins, the free and easy movement of fluids inside your head is critical for comfort. (It’s also helpful for brain function.)

Synovial fluid within the joints, including the little joints between cranial bones, lymphatic fluid, blood flow, and craniosacral fluid all need to circulate well in order to keep the structures of the cranium (including the brain) detoxified, hydrated, and mobile. When these fluids are moving well, we are much less likely to suffer from any kind of pain or discomfort in the head.

Keeping fluids flowing inside your head may sound like the work of an expert, but actually, it’s something you can do at home by yourself anytime. Here are four simple tricks that I use for myself and my clients. They’re easy to learn, and they’re useful no matter the cause of your headaches.

Palming your eyes soothes headaches

Palming the eyes is an ancient Buddhist trick to relax the eyes and improve vision. As you get used to it, it can help you improve mobility between the different bones of the skull, and get some of the deeper fluids moving as well.

Lie down and get comfortable. Place a palm over each eye, so that your eye rests in the hollow center of your palm, and you are able to put slight pressure all around the bones of your eye sockets. Let your palms block out all light.

As you rest, imagine that you are looking into a sea of absolute blackness. You will see little sparks and patterns of color as you rest your eyes. As your eyes relax more deeply, the color and patterns may fade into a more complete backness.

Play with subtle movements of your hands, changing pressure, and notice the feelings the movement produces around your eyes and throughout your entire head. Imagine your skull is made of a soft, pliable material that shifts with your touch. Let your eyes feel large, round, warm, and soft, like they’re floating in warm water.

Play with the sensations as long as you like, letting your intuition and your felt pleasure guide you. This practice both loosens the cranial bones and encourages the movement of all fluids inside the head. After a bit, you will most likely feel some pain relief as well.

Self-massage for sinus pain

Sinus pain sometimes comes from tension and stickiness inside the joints between the cheekbones and the skull. With gentle self-massage, you can open these joints and relieve pain.

Place the heels of your hands against your cheekbones, on either side of your nose, so that your fingers are facing out toward your ears. Press in slowly, until it “hurts so good”.

Continue pressing, and imagine you are slowly moving your cheekbones wider, away from each other. Experiment with changing the levels of pressure, the parts of your cheekbone you press into, and the angle you press along. Use the thumb side of your hand’s heel to curve under your cheekbone slightly, and the pinkie side of your hand’s heel to curve over the top of your cheekbone. Alternate pressing first one, then the other.

You should feel a pleasantly painful stretching in your sinuses, and in the joint where your cheekbone meets the bone beneath. Follow this feeling, letting it guide you. When you finish your sinuses may feel clearer and more comfortable.

Cranial bone release eases sinus pressure

This is an exercise to lift the frontal bones, which make up your eyebrows and forehead, up off their connecting joints with the bones below.

Place your fingertips underneath your eyebrows, and gently press upward. Press your eyebrow ridge both up and slightly out, broadening the bridge of your nose. This bone can handle quite a bit of pressure. Slowly increase the pressure until it “hurts so good”.

Explore pressing first one brow and then the next, varying the pressure, and moving along the underside of your brows. Breathe deeply as you go, imagining opening the space within your sinuses. Your body and your sense of pleasure will guide you.

Stretching the ear canal relieves Lyme disease tinnitus

Lyme disease-related tinnitus, and tinnitus from other causes, can be horribly frustrating and distracting. This technique doesn’t address the root cause of tinnitus in most cases, but it may offer short-term relief. If it works for you and you practice it often, it may relax the tissues of your ear canal enough to lessen symptoms of tinnitus loner-term.

Stick your pointer fingers into your ears, with your finger pad facing toward your jaw. Firmly grab behind your ear lobe with your thumbs with a good grip. Gently pull outward, away from your head. You may be surprised how far you can pull your ears! Vary the angle and your hold slightly, until you feel a deep stretch inside your ear canal. Again, look for it to “hurt so good”. The goal is to open and stretch your inner ear canal, increasing mobility and fluid flow.

Twist your ear canals slightly, following your body’s lead. Try pulling each ear in a slightly different direction. Try yawning while you stretch. You may hear some popping and crackling inside your ears. This is a good sign, as long as it feels comfortable. Once the stretching eases, see if your symptoms of tinnitus have lessened a bit.

 To wrap it up

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoy these self-massage tools as much as I do. I find them both effective and meditative – a deeply relaxing self-care ritual.

If you’d like more support, try my Cranial Healing meditation. It uses the Buddhist imagery of visualizing perfect blackness, as well as other images to relieve sinus pressure, headaches, and tinnitus.

Your body is an ever-changing, wild landscape,

Shona