Buteyko breathing

[SiennaCate]

Hi, does anyone here use Buteyko breathing to manage their asthma/COPD? Any tips/suggestions about getting the most out of it? Also are there any online support groups for Buteyko practitioners?

[Ergendl]

I haven't used Buteyko breathing because of the singing and drama breathing lessons I've had over the years. But this subject has been mentioned in quite a few posts. If you use the search box to look for 'Buteyko' they should come up.

[knitter]

I went on a Buteyko Breathing course years ago .Two of my asthmatic daughters did too, with different practitioners ….one was not so good and very expensive .

Be very careful, Buteyko seems simple , but do it wrong and can make hyperventilation worse.

I have COPD as well as asthma …Buteyko better for asthma .

It did help, helped with anxiety too, but sadly I have not practiced for ages.

Patrick McKeown has gentle breathing videos based on Buteyko .Books also .

Gentle , gentle low and slow belly breathing , relaxed shoulders and diaphragm . Nose breaths only to warm and filter the air and help prevent hyperventilation . Gentle , gentle low and slow.

If breathless on exertion , stop get control of the breath ….gentle gentle ….then carry on.

[SiennaCate in reply to knitter]

Thanks. I've been using it and find it helpful, I have Patrick's book and have heard him speak online. I'd really love to find an online group to practice with as I feel I'm making limited progress on my own. I've practised and taught yoga for a number of years so understand about the gentle diaphragmatic breathing principles. Nose-breathing is so much better than mouth-breathing. Thanks for your comments!

[yorkie70]

Hi Sienna, If you can give me an e-mail address and I will forward an e-mail that I got from a well respected therapist who answered my enquiry about Buteyko. I would not even think of getting involved with it. Stay well. Breath easy exercise often. Rgds. Dave.

[O2Trees]

Done correctly I believe Buteyko is helpful for asthma, but not copd. You will know that one of its the aims is to increase CO2 as this helps with breathing - in fact we cant breathe without some level of CO2 in the body.

However increasing CO2 is highly problematic for people with copd as we can retain too much of it and the whole balance of our breathing is messed up and you can get shocking headaches, plus it can affect your heart. Gas exchange is not something to be messed around with.

Ive had asthma since my early 20s and in my 50s (76 now) I did a Buteyko course. At first all went well and my "control pause" went from about 10 to 29. That was exciting. However after about three weeks I could no longer achieve anywhere near 29, plus when I took my pulse, I was missing several beats a minute, something which hadnt happened before.

I was working in the NHS at the time and the consultant in my team told me that too much CO2 in the body causes that - the missing of heart beats. Not long after I was diagnosed with moderate copd!

So I abandoned Buteyko but some things stayed with me - the main one being the importance of keeping your mouth shut and trying to nose breath as much as possible. My control pause is now regularly about 15, pretty low but it will have to do as Im not messing around with something I believe is both dangerous and unproven.

As far as I remember Buteyko developed his method after noticing that very sick patients were breathing too heavily from which he deduced that over breathing caused illness. It didnt seem to occur to him that it could have been the illness which was causing the heavy breathing. Since my dabble with Buteyko I have felt this to be a basic flaw in his reasoning.

[SiennaCate in reply to O2Trees]

Thanks, very interesting. I take away the focus on nose breathing also which I'm finding is much more beneficial than mouth-breathing. I have asthma and/or COPD, recent diagnosis, but have had for 30 years if not all my life. I'm finding Buteyko is helpful though obviously not curative. I'm interested in your experience and will factor it in.

[CraftyLego]

i have been practicing the Buteyko clinic method for 6 months. It has helped me tremendously with my asthma although my control pause is still low at 12. I worked with a breathing teacher. The breathing cure book was invaluable when I caught covid.