Official Buteyko Thread

[j-lo]

@djf I used to have terrible problems with trapped air. I felt very uncomfortable, and I would force myself to burp frequently. For me there were a few things that I suspect lead to improvements. One major thing I credit with helping was eating enough and eating often enough and eating the right things that work for me.

Secondly, in my case, I found that consciously releasing or softening physical tension throughout the day, particularly under emotional or psychological stress was very helpful. As you probably know, stress of all kinds can interfere quite a lot with digestion quite dramatically both directly by altering digestion and indirectly by lowering metabolism. So modifying the physical response by releasing tension helped me tremendously. I noticed that I had a tendency to tense my jaw, neck, shoulders, chests, abdomen, hands, and feet – pretty much my whole body – in response to life. So I started to modify that habit, and I found it to be very helpful.

Thirdly, noticing my breathing habits throughout the day – not just as part of a practice – was very helpful. I noticed that I tended to hold my breath, breathe rapidly, use forceful exhalations, and breathe an excessively large volume of air much of the time. So instead of trying to do a dedicated practice, I found more benefit from noticing and relaxing my breathing habits throughout the day. For me releasing the habit of forceful exhales has been particularly beneficial in regard to digestion.

My digestion has improved dramatically. A few years ago I couldn’t eat more than 1000 calories in a day and I still experienced digestive discomfort, sometimes so extreme that I wouldn’t eat for a day or more at a time. Now I am frequently impressed by the dramatic improvements. I simply don’t have problems with eating or digestion.

So I cannot say for sure what your experiences will be, but in my case improvements in metabolic markers have corresponded to improvements in digestion. I believe that the things I have mentioned all work together synergistically.

[djf]

@j-lo, that sounds just like me, it’s just a vicious circle that thankfully I am now starting to de-construct. Trapped air – not wanting to eat much – low metabolism – more stress on the body – worse digestion…

I am so glad to hear that you managed to conquer this with mainly improving your eating.

I have been working a while on noticing my breathing habits, hence the Buteyko, as I too was overbreathing most of the time.

I find light exercise has been working well for me and have realised one of my main stressors is sitting for hours at my desk job. It really messes my breathing up!

So I am now working out what I need to change for the future. I will certainly look at general stress relief, releasing tension and relaxation as another layer to this.

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate your advice as somebody who has been there and got through it.

[j-lo]

@djf I’d love to hear how you get on with it all and what you find that works for you. It’s good to hear people’s stories because it gives us all a better view into what might help.

[dongordon]

j-lo, your post about the Buteyko CP is spot on. As a Buteyko educator, I use the CP as a diagnostic tool for me, not a goal for my clients. At the end of the day, the only thing important is how you feel. I have seen clients with high CP’s that were still not feeling well. I’ve seen clients after a few week’s of breathing exercises who fell much better and who’s CP did not move. The “type a” clients often focus so much on the CP, they loose track of what is important and interestingly, their CP usually does not improve much.

This is why a good Buteyko educator will use a “symptom tracker” to manage/monitor a client’s progress. For me, each time the client comes in for a coaching session, I give them their symptom tracker and ask them to rate their symptom severity. I will do a CP test with them during each session along with some other diagnostic checks, but the symptom tracker is the most important one for determining their progress. It is not unusual to see symptom reduction of 15%-20% in the first week and 80% plus over the 4-6 weeks of breath retraining.

You are also correct that Buteyko is not perfect and is not for everyone. However, for most who follow their educator’s directions, do the breathing exercises (mechanics) correctly and put the time into it come out feeling better. I and many other Buteyko educators offer clients a money back guarantee if they are not satisfied with the results. I’ve not had to give anyone their money back yet.

Again you are correct, how you feel is all that’s important. The CP is just a tool.

All the best and health,
Don Gordon
Registered Buteyko Breathing Educator
http://www.TheBreathingGuy.com

[sophie]

Well, it’s been a year since I first did Buteyko breathing for my ME/CFS (self-diagnosed) and I feel very positive about it. I definitely think it had a large benefit to me. I used Maximum Pauses* to stop my flare-ups, until I stopped having flare-ups (around Christmas).

I was supposed to be doing Reduced Breathing regularly, but I found it difficult to get into the groove. I think I am going to try again, to make that a part of my routine. I also found it discouraging to take my CP measurement so I didn’t really do that much either.

I am currently in a kind of transitional stage where I don’t feel like I have any active illness, but I am kind of low metabolism, low energy, basically like I was prior to the onset of acute ME/CFS. So I am looking at some different options to continue making progress, raise metabolism, re-condition my body, continue being low stress, playful, joyful – I find that the attitude is really, really important. More than I ever would have imagined.

But yes, I would recommend Buteyko breathing to anyone who is dealing with ME/CFS.

*Maximum Pauses are not taught by all Buteyko practitioners, and there could be a safety concern with certain patients? I’m not sure. My practitioners were Christopher Drake and the Learn Buteyko Ltd. group, and they use Maximum Pauses along with Reduced Breathing. Please be safe.

[walker1852]

Hi, I have been doing Buteyko on and off as time permits and am convinced of its value. I find it helps if I put a hanky over my nose with the end bit round the ears like glasses and this helps me feel that “desire for more air” that we try to find.

There are it seems two types of Buteyko teacher, one hard core that does maximum pauses although that has to be built up to and others which just concentrate on the CP. However if you use the maximum pause this has to be done under the guidance of a professional as it could be harmful, especially if you have certain medical conditions such as high bp, migraines etc.

I have never been to a practitioner just practise on my own, but do use a sort of half maximum pause but I could not recommend that for anyone else because of the dangers.

Those who use the hard core Buteyko would be Christopher Drake and Martha Roe who have had considerable success in treating serious diseases. You can do a Skype course with them if you could afford it.

[Author]

Posts