Waiting to Exhale

A vital reminder of the power of mindful breathing in difficult times.

I recently went through a two-week period of migraine headaches that left me concerned. The headaches would come on toward the end of the day and would leave me in debilitating pain, making me extremely sensitive to light and sound. Migraines are not a norm for me, and I was getting them almost daily. Where could they be coming from, I wondered? Was I dehydrated? Did I need to see a neurologist? Was I really that stressed out? Two weeks in, I decided it was time to see my doctor. After he took my blood pressure and ran his tests, he looked at me and asked, simply, “Have you been holding your breath a lot lately?”