The Buteyko Method is a set of breathing exercises developed over 40 years by Prof. Konstantin Buteyko to develop healthy breathing patterns to maintain the correct oxygen:carbon dioxide ratio in the bloodstream.
Many asthmatics, and others with breathing difficulties, have experienced remarkable improvement in their conditions with this amazing method, allowing them to significantly reduce their dependency on medication, and enjoy a quality of life they had previously thought impossible.
It all revolves around increasing your oxygen supply. Doing regular breath-holds and periods of very little breathing, your blood becomes more effective at distributing oxygen so your cells will get much more oxygen than before. This leads to:
Dr Buteyko made the connection between his worsening hypertension and his poor breathing patterns during a routine clinic in October 1952. He realised that over-breathing might be causing his blood pressure to increase. He described his findings in an interview on Russian television, saying: “I decided to check right away whether that was the case. How? By reducing and slowing down my breathing. I already had a headache, my heart and right kidney were in pain, so I began cutting down on my breathing. My headache disappeared, pain in my right kidney ceased, and heartache discontinued within less than a minute after I reduced my breathing. To prove it was a true discovery, I inhaled deeply five times and pain pierced my head, heart and kidney. I tried my method again and everything returned to normal.”
