Beuteyko Breathing Technique

The Beuteyko Breathing Technique is an innovative approach to improving health in the realm of alternative and complementary medicine. The Beuteyko Breathing Association offers excellent information about this approach as well as its founder, Dr Konstantin Buteyko, a Russian physician.

The approach is specific to individuals who have breathing problems. The Beuteyko Breathing Technique helps by providing helpful exercises that help the patient to control his or her breathing patterns in a way that lessens the severity and the frequency that they experience symptoms of the breathing problem.

Elements of the Beuteyko Breathing Technique

The breathing exercises are just part of the technique. In addition to learning how to control breathing patterns, patients are also encouraged to make healthy dietary choices, improve physical exercise routines, and address emotional elements that may come into play.

Many fail to see the deep connection between breathing and emotional states but when you think about it, they are very closely tied. When a person is very upset, he or she usually experiences an onset of physical symptoms that correspond with the emotional state; among the most prominent are breathing problems. Consider what happens during a panic attack.

Emotions and Breathing

Any person who has experienced a panic attack knows all too well about the breathing problems that are associated with the emotional response. The person is unable to breath, feeling faint or dizzy. The inability to breathe feeds into the emotions off fear and panic.

This is a drastic example of how our emotions influence our breathing patterns. In most cases, we fail to notice that our emotions play a role in our breaths. Excess stress and anxiety can lead to breathing disruptions that ripple out into the physical state.

Using the Buteyko Technique

Using the Buteyko Breathing Technique involves learning how to breath naturally. It appears as if people may tend to breathe too repetitively, using shallow breaths. The approach seeks to help people learn how to breathe less rapidly with greater delivery of oxygen into the body. The process involves:

Controlling muscles used for respiration
Relaxing the muscles used for respiration
Relating external influences to breathing problems
Become tolerant to feelings of breathlessness without panicking
Incorporate a holistic approach to treatment

What Conditions are Treated?

The Buteyko Technique may be useful in treating a number of breathing problems and it is best used as an augmentation to orthodox medical approaches. Some patients find that they see marked improvements using this therapy, requiring less medication and fewer doctor visits.

• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• Snoring
• Pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Sinusitis
• Panic attacks
• Rhinitis
• Other breathing problems

The program is commonly used to complement medical interventions with considerable success. However, there are a lack of clinical studies to support this claim, as promising as it is.

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One Response to “Beuteyko Breathing Technique”

• Aloha, Thank you for a wonderful article on the Buteyko Breathing Method. I learned it 7 years ago to help me with severe Asthma and it worked beautifully. I am so appreciative of the method that I just became a trained educator so I can share it with others. If anyone has questions please be welcome to do so at my website, http://www.AsthmaHawaii.com I am teaching in Hawaii as well as California and Oregon.

  In case you are not aware, there has been 6 scientific clinical studies completed in the western world on efficacy of using the Buteyko Breathing Method with Asthma. They all come up with similar results end of 3 months; around 95% efficacy, 50% reduction in symptoms in 2 weeks and 95% in 6 weeks to 3 months, 95-100% reduction in rescue short-term inhalers, 50% reduction in preventer-corticosteroid inhalers. The doctor from the Calgary Trial afterwards could definitely say that Buteyko worked without a doubt. I was quite heartened to hear that. I think it’s important to get clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of the method.

  Please note that the method works for a host of related problems such as; respiratory conditions – Asthma / COPD / Emphysema / Blocked Nose / Rhinitis / Snoring / Sleep Apnea / Hayfever / Allergies, mental health issues – ADHD / Depression / Anxiety, and digestive problems – diabetes. The Buteyko Clinic in Moscow over 55 years has tracked about 150 different reversible health conditions. This is great news for those of us with issues that are difficult to medicate.

  This article makes a key important point that the method increases the overall oxygenation of the body, i.e. getting the oxygen from the blood to the cells / tissue / muscles / organs / brain / heart / etc. By reducing the volume of air breathed the carbon dioxide levels increase in the body. Carbon dioxide is needed to release the oxygen from the blood. When the body is getting a normal amount of oxygen or oxygenation, all of the systems work as they are supposed to, including the immune system.

  I hope this has been helpful to those who are interested.

  Aloha and Take Care,

  Greg Baker, Buteyko Educator
  http://www.AsthmaHawaii.com

  Comment by Greg Baker — November 22, 2009