Iyengar Yoga Head Wrap For Migraine, Anxiety, & More

Want Iyengar yoga for migraine? Or for anxiety, poor sleep or a busy mind? Here is a simple tool that many of our students find helpful, and how to use it safely.

Iyengar yoga for migraine: the short answer

Iyengar yoga for migraine uses quiet, supported poses, slow breathing and, sometimes, the Iyengar head wrap to settle the nervous system between attacks. Research on yoga for migraine is small but encouraging: a 2024 review of 28 exercise studies found yoga reduced how often migraines came and how strong they were, compared with medication alone. Below, Chris explains the head wrap she has used for decades, then the research, the safe way to practise, and how to try it in Darwin or online.

Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is sometimes called modern classical yoga, and it’s the style we teach at Flametree. This page sits in our props notes, because the head wrap is one of Mr Iyengar’s props. For the bigger picture on props, see using props in yoga.

This note in short form

• Head wrap: a simple bandage, one of Mr Iyengar’s props, to quieten the mind.
• How to wrap: a crisscross over the ears and forehead, firm but never tight.
• Research: 2022 to 2025 reviews found fewer, milder migraines with yoga added.
• Honest limit: the studies are small, and the head wrap itself has not been tested.
• Best used: between attacks, alongside your usual migraine care.
• Safety: skip inversions and strong breathing during or near an attack.
• Next step: a restorative class, in Darwin or LIVE online.

From time to time, Chris teaches an Iyengar yoga head wrap technique. Students use it in yoga for migraine and headache routines, and for feeling calmer, sleeping and settling a busy mind. Read on, or look at the captions on the pictures, and then try a head wrap for pranayama (breath meditation). You can read more about how Iyengar yoga is taught.

What is in this post?

1. Chris’s own story of how she has used the head wrap.
2. How to put it on, and how it feels in pranayama and restorative poses.
3. What the research says about yoga and migraine.
4. How the head wrap came from Mr BKS Iyengar, and how to practise it safely.

The head wrap can be used in relaxation pose (Savasana), in many restorative poses, and in pranayama. The pictures show some of them.

Discovering the power of the Iyengar head wrap technique

Chris has used this technique in her own yoga and breath meditation for many decades.

She has not talked about it a lot, because some people think it is odd. The practice involves wrapping the forehead or eyes, or both, with a bandage. Then you do the yoga or meditation with the bandage on.

You do lift the edge of the bandage a little, so you can see enough to get into and out of each pose.

Finding some peace through grief

Many years ago, when Chris’s partner Peter died, she used the head wrap as part of how she moved through her grief. It helped her reflect quietly, find some peace and begin to re-order her life.

The head wrap seemed to work because it quietens the endless chatter of the mind. Grief is something we all meet from time to time. A practice like this can be one support among others, alongside whatever your doctor and the people close to you suggest. Talk to your doctor before changing any medication.

Is the head wrap for total beginners?

No. This practice is not the first thing a brand new student should try. Chris already had a steady yoga practice when she first used the wrap, and she could quieten her mind a little.

If you are just starting yoga, begin with regular beginner classes. After a while, come to a Restorative Yoga class, where the head wrap is sometimes taught. If you would like one-to-one guidance first, a private class is an option.

If you have any trauma in your background that involves bandages, please skip the head wrap, and you may prefer not to read on. Leave out the pictures too if they bother you. If a bandage or pressure on your head feels unsettling at any time, take it off.

What do students use an Iyengar yoga head wrap for?

In our experience, students use the head wrap in these ways:

• Settling anxious thoughts, and finding some inner peace
• Resting quietly when a headache or migraine is near
• Winding down for sleep
• Feeling calmer, and managing stress
• Feeling secure and nurtured
• Cutting the distraction of wind, light or heat during practice
• Quietening the mind, so the breath is easier to follow in pranayama

These come from practice and from what students tell us. Research has not yet tested the head wrap itself. Chris also finds it a good travel companion, and takes one with her when she travels, to help her rest in a new place.

How do you put on an Iyengar head wrap?

You wrap a light crepe bandage in a crisscross over your ears and forehead, and over your eyes if you wish. Firm enough to stay put, never tight.

1. Choose a bandage. Use a light crepe bandage about one to two metres long, with a little elastic or none. You can buy one at a chemist or many supermarkets.
2. Start at the back. Hold the loose end at the back of your head, with the rest of the roll in your other hand.
3. Wrap in a crisscross. Cover at least the ears. One style covers just the ears and forehead. The other also covers the eyes.
4. If you have a headache, start the wrap from the side that hurts and wrap gently over the temple, forehead, eyes, eyebrows and ear.
5. Tuck the end in at the front.
6. Check the feel. It should not fall off, and it should not press. Lift the edge so you can see out as you move into and out of a pose.
7. Take it off slowly at the end, so your scalp lets go, then come back gently to your day.

Many people know it by other names: yoga head wrap, Iyengar wrap, eye bandage or Pune head wrap. Pune is the Indian city where Mr Iyengar taught.

If you already use a yoga eye pillow, you know how much a covered face quietens things. The head wrap does something similar over a wider area, with gentle contact around the head.

How does the head wrap feel in pranayama and restorative poses?

For many students, it gives the head a quiet feeling of containment. Chris describes it as the senses softening and drawing inward, almost as though a door is closing on the busyness outside.

In pranayama and in long holds in restorative poses, the smallest support often shows the most. Here is what Chris and her students notice.

• The eyes soften. Even closed eyes search and strain. With the forehead, temples and eyes supported, they can begin to rest back.
• The face can release. You may notice tension in the forehead, or a gripping around the jaw, and let it go.
• The breath can ease. In pranayama the wrap shows you when you are overdoing it: the skin tightens, the face hardens and the breath sounds forced. The breath may then become more even and less ambitious.

Chris often puts it as a question: not only “does a head wrap work?” but “what does this support invite?” Does it quieten the eyes? Does it soften the face? Does it help the breath become less ambitious and more receptive?

What if the head wrap feels too enclosing?

Then it may not suit you, and that is fine. Try a folded cloth over your eyes, kept light and soft and never pressing hard. If that is still too much, take it off. That is not a failure. It just means another support suits you better.

Where did the head wrap come from?

It comes from Mr BKS Iyengar. Yoga teacher and author Richard Rosen, in his book The Yoga of Breath, describes the wrap as a variation of the Six-Openings Seal (Shanmukhi Mudra), a traditional practice of closing the eyes, ears, nose and mouth to turn attention inward.

Rosen explains that it helps seal awareness in, so it does not leak out into the world, and it softens the eyes and the skin of the forehead. In other words, Mr Iyengar took a simple bandage and made another useful prop from it.

Chris and many of her students have found, in practice, that the wrap helps them settle and sleep. Research has not yet tested the head wrap itself, and not yet tested is not the same as not working.

Does yoga help migraine? What the research says

Yoga may reduce how often migraines come and how bad they are, as an addition to usual care. Here is the research, with the year and what yoga was compared with.

• 2022 review, American Journal of Emergency Medicine: 6 randomised trials (studies where people are allocated to groups by chance). Compared with control groups, yoga reduced headache frequency, intensity and duration, and migraine disability. The authors said to recommend it with caution because the trials differed a lot.
• 2023 clinical guideline, Journal of Headache and Pain: a panel of headache and exercise researchers gave yoga a grade B recommendation for migraine, the same grade as moderate aerobic exercise.
• 2024 review, Headache: 28 studies, 1,501 people. Yoga did better than medication alone for reducing how often migraines came and how intense they were. The evidence was rated very low quality.
• 2025 review, PeerJ: 27 trials, 1,611 people. Yoga gave a small benefit (Hedges’ g minus 0.35), with 8 to 10 weeks of regular practice looking most useful. Certainty was very low to low.
• 2025 trial, Complementary Therapies in Medicine: 90 adults with chronic migraine. Adding 12 weeks of daily yoga breathing and relaxation to standard medical care cut headache days by about 7 a month, against about 5 with medical care alone.

In plain terms: the direction is consistent and encouraging, but the studies are small and cannot be blinded. Yoga is best thought of as something you add to your migraine care, not a replacement for it. The head wrap itself has not yet been tested in research. What we know about it comes from long practice in the Iyengar tradition.

For more on how yoga and the brain handle pain, see yoga and chronic pain. For headaches that start in the neck, see yoga for neck pain. If anxiety is part of your picture, read yoga for anxiety. Our benefits of yoga page has the wider view.

Practising safely with migraine

• Practise between attacks, not during one. When a migraine is building, rest in a dark, quiet room.
• Leave out inversions such as headstand and shoulderstand on days your head is sensitive, and avoid strong or fast breathing.
• Keep cool and drink water. Heat, dehydration and holding the breath are common triggers, which matters in the Darwin build-up.
• Keep the wrap comfortable. Firm enough to stay on, never tight. Take it off if it brings on any pressure or discomfort.
• Talk to your doctor about any new, sudden or changed headache, and keep taking your prescribed treatment. A sudden, severe headache, or one after a knock to the head, needs a doctor straight away.

Can you try the head wrap at Flametree?

Yes. We teach the head wrap from time to time in restorative and pranayama classes, in the studio and LIVE online. When we show the wrap, we also explain when not to use it, and what to avoid.

In class we check your bandage is on properly, and especially that it is not too tight. Then we do suitable poses so you feel the full effect of the prop. In the studio we have bandages. If you join online, bring a light bandage of a metre or two, with little or no elastic. Chemists and many supermarkets sell them.

Gentle and restorative classes are also a good way to start if you are stiff, tired or anxious. Pranayama is taught step by step.

Practise this at Flametree

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga in the studio at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online.

• New to Flametree? Your first class is free. In the studio, just come along. Online, go to our online class list, click the class time you want and we email you the link to join.
• Beginners: new students, and anyone who has been away three months or more, can get a half price 10 class pass with 2 extra classes free, to use online, in the studio, or both. See the beginner half price pass.
• Already practising yoga? The same half price 10 class pass with 2 extra classes free, for new students and for anyone away three months or more, is also available as the non-beginner half price pass.
• See every class time, including online classes, on the timetable.

Can’t make a class? Practise at home with our video courses.

Yoga, exercise and migraine: questions people ask

Does exercise help migraines?

For a lot of people, regular gentle exercise cuts how often migraines arrive. Regular is the word doing the work there. Hard or sudden exertion is a different story, and for some people it sets one off. That is one reason a slow, supported practice suits many people who get migraines.

Can exercise cause migraines?

It can. Straining, holding the breath, getting too hot and getting dehydrated are the usual triggers. All four are avoidable. Keep the breath easy, keep the room cool, drink water, and stop before you are wrung out.

Can yoga help migraines?

Research suggests it can, as an addition to usual care. Reviews in 2022, 2024 and 2025 found yoga reduced how often migraines came and how strong they were, though the studies were small. The poses most often used are the supported forward bends and the restorative ones, where the head is resting on something rather than held up.

Can yoga trigger a migraine?

Occasionally, and usually for the same reasons any exercise does. Inversions, strong breath work and overheating are the ones to watch. If you get migraines, say so before class rather than pushing through and finding out.

How soon after a migraine can I practise again?

When the headache has gone and you feel steady, start with something restorative rather than something strong. A supported forward bend or lying over a bolster is usually welcome long before a standing sequence is. If you are unsure, talk to your yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and your doctor if you wish.

What is the head wrap for?

In the Iyengar tradition, the head wrap is a prop that gently covers the ears, forehead and sometimes the eyes, to help the senses turn inward and the nervous system settle. It is one of Mr Iyengar’s ideas, and one of the simplest tools in the room. Research has not yet tested it on its own.

How do you put on an Iyengar head wrap?

Hold the loose end of a light crepe bandage at the back of your head, then wrap it in a crisscross over your ears and forehead, and over your eyes if you wish. Tuck the end in at the front. It should stay on without pressing, and you should be able to lift the edge to see. Take it off slowly at the end.

What if the head wrap feels too enclosing?

Then leave it off, or try a folded cloth over the eyes, kept light and soft. Some people find the wrap unsettling, and that is fine. If you have any trauma that involves bandages, skip the head wrap altogether.

Is this suitable for a complete beginner?

The head wrap practice is not the first thing a beginner should try. It asks for a bit of familiarity with lying in supported poses and staying there. Start with the beginner classes, then come to the restorative classes where the wrap is taught.

Where can I try this in Darwin or online?

Flametree teaches Iyengar yoga in the studio at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online. The head wrap is taught from time to time in restorative and pranayama classes, and online students bring a light bandage. Your first class is free if you are new to Flametree: in the studio, if you have lived in the NT for three months or more, and online, for anyone new. See the beginner timetable for current classes.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor about any new, sudden or changed headache. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online.

Sources: Long C and colleagues, Effectiveness of yoga therapy for migraine treatment: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies, American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2022, doi 10.1016/j.ajem.2022.04.050. La Touche R and colleagues, Prescription of therapeutic exercise in migraine, an evidence-based clinical practice guideline, Journal of Headache and Pain, 2023, doi 10.1186/s10194-023-01571-8. Reina-Varona A and colleagues, Efficacy of various exercise interventions for migraine treatment: a systematic review and network meta-analysis, Headache, 2024, doi 10.1111/head.14696. Xie J and colleagues, Efficacy and optimal dosage of various exercises for migraine, PeerJ, 2025, doi 10.7717/peerj.20254. Sujan MU and colleagues, Yoga-based breathing and relaxation as adjunctive therapy for chronic migraine: a randomized controlled trial, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2025, doi 10.1016/j.ctim.2025.103291. Rosen R, The Yoga of Breath.