How Buteyko Works

Konstantin Buteyko recognized that people who had asthma, snoring and other problems with their breathing, had an automatic breathing pattern that was not best-suited for the life they were leading at the altitude they were living. In fact, he noticed that these people were breathing more air than is actually required for their level of activity, and so technically are hyperventilating.

Because it has been known for a long time that the breathing center in the brain is adaptable to different situations, he used this knowledge to develop a way for the automatic breathing pattern re-set itself to a level that is appropriate for each person.

Buteyko used strategies to help reduce the automatic breathing pattern, a series of exercises to recalibrate the carbon dioxide receptors that usually drive the automatic normalise the breathing.

The Buteyko method is usually taught in a classroom situation where the person attends a minimum of five sessions within a ten-day period. At each session you learn new material that builds upon the one before.

It is necessary to practise these breathing exercises and to follow the strategies for a length of time so that bit-by-bit, the brain becomes attuned to breathing correctly for longer periods of the day and night, until it is breathing correctly almost all of the time.