How Does Buteyko Work?

Professor Buteyko's discovery:

The Method was developed by Professor Konstantin Pavlovitch Buteyko in the 1950's.
The Buteyko Method (as it has become known) was controversial as it used lesser known scientific principles to increase oxygen delivery, instead of the usual customary deep breathing practices. Buteyko's method used no yoga, deep breathing, or meditation techniques and had high success rates although it seemed as if participants were not "doing" very much.
Buteyko's Discovery - The Disease of Deep Breathing - was not well received, yet the understanding that the body depends on CO2 as a "governor" for breathing control (and many other important functions) is now generally accepted.
The Buteyko program was developed to normalize stressed breathing patterns that could be a cause of or due to illness, and to assist with reversal of metabolic symptoms created due to imbalance in homeostatic controls. Patients who were encouraged to do the breathing retraining exercises had great results for all manner of chronic illnesses.

Professor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko's method was widely used in communist countries that could not access or afford the usual pharmaceutical health care, and only became known in the West in the early 1990s.

Professor Buteyko's interest in respiration and it's effects on overall health stemmed from observations of terminally ill patients and measuring their respiratory functions as a young medic.
He noted that people who are ill generally hyperventilate - or breathe more air - than people who are well, and hypothesized that if they could return the breathing pattern to normal this may have a beneficial effect.

His system of calming and normalizing the breathing had astounding results. In most cases he found that symptoms would greatly reduce or even disappear altogether due to the restored (and sustained) balances in oxygen and energy supply to the tissues - which can only occur when a healthy, adaptive and functional breathing pattern is restored.

Is there a test I can do to see if Buteyko will help me?

Click here to download a PDF symptom checklist to help determine whether you need to restore your normal breathing patterns. It sometimes helps to have someone else do the test for you - as many of us aren't always aware of how we breathe. If you scored higher than 3 points for six or more of the questions, then you can be certain that you need to address your breathing.
The Buteyko method is offered as a program that is tailored to suit the client's health history.

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