Louise - about Buteyko

Body: 

Hello everyone,

I have a great post about coughing/breathing by Louise bookmarked. I had reason to look at it again today as I have a bad cough and need to minimise the damage to my pop.

Louise mentions Buteyko as a useful tool but on researching this I have found that it recommends shallow breathing. Now, I have read over and over on this site 'breathe deeply into your lower belly' and so on - a practice which I am learning to do and find very helpful.

Louise or anyone - can you explain the apparent conflict in these two recommendations? I do realise that Buteyko is a complex, learned method which I know little about, but perhaps there is a way of briefly explaining?

I am especially interested in this subject as I have recently been getting a reprise of my old panic attacks - the full-blown can't breathe, feel sick type - and many sites seem to recommend slow, low, deep breathing into the belly for this, too. Indeed, I have found this type of breathing a lifeline and have even been replaying Christine's calming voice from the cool-down part of the DVD to help me relax!

I'd welcome any advice anyone has to give on this, and thank you all for your continued support and presence.

Forum:

Hi Octaviel

I am so glad you are finding deep abdominal breathing helpful for panic attacks. It is great to have tools you can pull out when you need them. Deep abdominal breathing means you are not pulling up your shoulders, so you can keep your shoulders and neck relaxed. It is harder to panic when you have relaxed shoulders.

Yes, Buteyko breathing sounds contradictory but it is not. The breathing is very deep, but you don't exhale completely. When your lungs are still haalf-full of air you can't breathe in as deeply. There isn't the lung room, but there is room for your belly to expand. It *is* shallow breathing, but with your lungs half inflated. You can keep your lungs half-inflated quite easily with training. It is easy when your chest is lifted in WW posture. It is also harder to empty your lungs completely in WW posture because you need to lower your ribcage into a slouch to do it.

You can learn to breathe less times in a minute. You can learn to breathe very little air in each inspiration. You also need to learn to only breathe in through your nose.

Nose breathing, less volume, less times per minute, minimises the germs, dust, and cold, dry air that goes down your throat and into our lungs. Your nasal passages are convoluted to catch all the irritants in the air and to warm, and possibly moisten the air before it hits your lungs. This is precisely why your nasal passages are twisty and turny.

If I am taking in less oxygen, why don't I pass out? Because I am taking in way too much for my body to use when I breathe deeply and more often. The body needs residual Carbon dioxide in your lungs. CO2 is used by the body to help get the oxygen into the tissues. If you keep breathing deeply and exhaling completely there is little CO2 left in your lungs.

II am just a person who has learned it. I am not a teacher. You really need to learn from a teacher. Apart from anything some of the symptoms of not doing it properly can be very unpleasant and you need a teacher to monitor you while you learn.

Is that clearer?

Louise

Many thanks for explaining all this Louise. You are a star! I am investigating getting a course of lessons. It all seems to make a lot of sense.

Buteyko Breathing is a type of breath retraining. Dr. Buteyko believed that hyperventilation was at the root of a lot of disease. The volume of air that is breathed by asthmatics is 3 times that of a normal rate. To achieve a normal volume of air he created breathing exercises to slowly change the volume and increase the level of carbon dioxide which, in turn, helped release more oxygen into the tissues. Six double blind, randomized studies have been done on the Buteyko Breathing Method with good results in the area of asthma. This method increases the efficiency of oxygen in the body so it affects all systems in the body. A good book is "The Carbon Dioxide Syndrome" by Jennifer and Russell Stark. For a qualified teacher in the Buteyko Method go to www.buteykoeducators.org. Proper breathing has an effect on everything.

Welcome, Vizslamadness

Well put.

Louise

Hi octaviel,I had miserable post natal depression when i was young after having my first baby.I have bought several books on how to conquer your nerves.One very good book i have is called Self Help For Your Nerves by an Australian doctor named Claire Weekes.She is very good and helped me.She is simple in her approach and says just face your nerves,accept them and float,which means keep all negative thoughts out of your mind and let yourself go because you can let the worst happen with nerves and nothing really gets any worse.Face, Accept, and Float is what she writes.I used to breathe into a paper bag for awhile cupped around my mouth so i didn't get the overbreathing which can lead to a tingling feeling in your body and other symtoms.