How Do We Retrain Breathing

The Buteyko method of breathing retraining was developed by Russian physician and researcher Professor KP Buteyko in the 1950s. It is based on his decades of research and clinical practice. Professor Buteyko put together a package of practices that work synergistically to normalise dysfunctional breathing. Buteyko’s method is succinct, potent and scientifically sound. In the hands of a skilled and experienced teacher it gives a systematic and reliable means of achieving and maintaining healthy breathing. (It is also known as the Buteyko breathing technique).

The Buteyko method was brought to Australia in 1990 and since then has been introduced into many countries.

Brian Firth originally trained in the Buteyko method in 2004. He is one of the most experienced in the world having trained about 6000 people from age 5yrs to 92yrs.

A summary of the method

Step 1:
Learn how breathing really works, how metabolism produces carbon dioxide in the lungs to ‘drive’ the breathing. Learn that modern lifestyles – stress, over eating, ignorance about breathing, our more sedentary habits, and even weekend exercise causes the breathing to become incorrect.

Step 2:
Awareness – Look around at others at rest – sitting, walking, standing or sleeping and notice if their lips are apart or closed if not eating, drinking or speaking.

Awareness – Yourself … posture, involuntary mouth breathing, sighing, yawning. Understand and apply how to correct all these.

Step 3:
The Method – To Retrain breathing driver people need to learn special, gentle breathing exercises – day 1 takes 6 minutes, 2 x 3 mins and practise this 3 times in the next 24 hours. Then 10 mins, 2x 5 increasing slightly for the next 3 days – Also there is extensive re-education and practise particularly as follows – learning and changing breathing while speaking, while sleeping, while eating , while doing aerobic exercise and when experiencing stress, pain, fear nerves or panic.

Step 4:
Consolidation – Like retraining your weight, or like Retraining your fitness, or Retraining your addiction to smoking – you need a method ie Diet, or exercise regime, or Quit programme …. get yourself to Do it ie understand what to do and actually get over the initial changes … THEN – apply what you have learnt to gradually improve to your “goal Breathing” – this is like … keeping at the diet until you have reached your “Goal weight” …. keeping the steady exercise regime until you reach goal fitness … getting completely free of the cigarettes its similar in principle for Breathing Retraining

Step 5:
Maintenance – By adjusting your breathing the aim is to then maintain this good level …. you do need to do enough to maintain and not take breathing for granted. Step 4 & 5 is taught on day 5 of the course.