Archive for the ‘Health and Lifestyle’ Category

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Back to school. Why our younger generation is so unhealthy?

Friday, September 3rd, 2010
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According to the statistics, we are currently raising the first generation of babies who will not outlive their parents.
Despite a multi-million-dollar medical research and having handful of drugs for each and every condition imaginable, despite living in the wealthiest country in the world. We have infants who have severe asthma and are given nebulizers and steroid based drugs. We have 2-4 year old developing cancer and heart disease. My cousin’s 15 year old son recently had a series of strokes!

Respiratory and food allergies, recurrent ear and sinus infections, low immunity, poor dental health, misaligned teeth, eczema and other skin conditions are now considered to be typical components of childhood. Exercise-induced asthma is found in more than one-third of college athletes. Over the past two decades, the obesity rate for children has doubled, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. For adolescents, the picture is worse: More than three times as many are now obese.

What about mental and emotional health? In 1990, 900,000 American kids were on Ritalin. Today some estimate the total number of children on Ritalin has increased to 4 – 5 million or more per year. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has warned about a record six-fold increase in Ritalin production between 1990 & 1995. America now uses 90% of the world’s Ritalin – more than five times the rest of the world combined.

More than 500,000 children and adolescents in America are now taking antipsychotic drugs, according to a September 2009 report by the FDA. Their use is growing not only among older teenagers, when schizophrenia is believed to emerge, but also among tens of thousands of preschoolers. A Columbia University study recently found a doubling of the rate of prescribing antipsychotic drugs for privately insured 2- to 5-year-olds from 2000 to 2007. (NY Times Child’s Ordeal Shows Risks of Psychosis Drugs for Young )

In 2007 it was reported that the suicide rate for 10- to-24-year-olds increased by 8 percent, the largest single-year rise in 15 years, according to a report released in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Teen suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young adults and adolescents 15 to 24 years of age.

We have to understand that development of all chronic diseases, including neurological, brain and mental disorders, has few things in common: tissues starvation of oxygen, metabolic imbalances, excessive excitability of nerve cells, under- or over- production of important hormones, deficiency in vital nutrients and malfunctions of the immune system. The majority of those disturbances, either directly or indirectly, could be the result of chronic hyperventilation.

Why such young kids are affected? Starting with pregnant mothers, women hyperventilate during pregnancy, and that is as dangerous for the baby as lack of nutrients, smoking or alcohol. Lack of education on healthy breathing and dangers of hyperventilation, plus deep breathing that is often taught to pregnant women, add to the problem.

Then, when a child is born, many practices in modern hospitals and neonatal care encourage over-breathing. Swaddling infants is unfortunately a lost tradition. Newborns with signs of respiratory distress are given supplemental oxygen. Later infants and young children are introduced to unnatural diets like most formulas, sugars, white breads, deep fried food, hydrogenated oils, food dyes etc. Children are overfed, overdressed, lack essential physical activity and inevitably start mouth breathing. On top of that, modern society’s stresses enter child’s mind very early and are not properly addressed.

In conclusion, below is a quote from Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS, who, working in traditional health care system, nevertheless understood the vital connection between breathing and health and tried to educate doctors and patients on the importance of breathing awareness and dangers of hyperventilation.
I am a nurse and I can honestly say we were never properly trained in this area, nor are the doctors. I have given many a talk on teaching breathing around the world and have never had a doctor not totally appreciate my information. I have read the respiratory text books doctors are trained with in medical school. It is more likely that you have unlearned very early the good breathing you were born with if you were an average kid. In the United States most children by three years old are over-breathing. Awareness is the only key we have to staying ‘as best we can’ on target with proper breathing. With awareness, we need the knowledge of what to do, and then how to change our habitual breathing response to that situation in that moment.
Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS

Buteyko therapy addresses all the root causes of chronic diseases. We, as parents, always want the best for our children. It is essential to teach them Buteyko, even if they are not sick or have what seems to be a very minor health problem.


Wishing you a healthy school year!

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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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You’ve asked

Friday, August 27th, 2010
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I live at a high elevation (5000+’) and I am having a hard time getting my cp over 30. When I go to sea level it comes right up and conversely when I go higher it goes down. Can anyone explain this to me and maybe at 5000′ my cp is right where it should be? Also, I am experiencing pretty severe cleaning responses. Lots of anxiety, insomnia, upper respiratory events (colds etc). I am 65 years old and my cp to begin was about 7. My symptom was chronic throat clearing which has significantly improved. Thank you  A.

Dear A,

There are few separate issues in your question. Higher altitude is a more hypoxic (less oxygen) environment. Few research studies have been done on how such environment is influencing our health, longevity and risk of widespread chronic diseases.  In short, the conclusion is that living long term at higher altitudes, especially being born and consistently living there, is a very positive factor for our health and longevity. However when people move from one environment to another frequently or move to higher altitudes midlife  etc. that can make them feel worse and experience different degrees of unpleasant symptoms or sickness.  It is very individual, and some might adapt relatively quickly. From the Buteyko point of view it is explainable.  When we fully adapt to more hypoxic (less oxygen) environment, especially being born and living significant part of life there, such environment is aiding in maintaining healthier O2 – CO2 balance, thus better health. However, nearly all modern people hyperventilate to a different degree, and for many sick people the degree of hyperventilation is high (very low CPs). Such people are overly sensitive to hypoxic environment, which produces even more over-breathing  when they travel to higher altitudes, which in turn might cause symptoms worsening and more difficulties raising  CP.  That explains  CP going up and down with changing altitude, and you might indeed experience worsening of symptoms when you are at higher altitude. For very healthy people (CP over 40) such changes will unlikely produce noticeable negative effects, so the solution here is again to work on increasing your CP.   Because of being at higher altitude or changing altitudes you might experience more difficulties with your Buteyko training, however, that brings us to the second issue that many people at any altitudes are indeed experiencing difficulties in raising their CPs, and that should be worked out, ideally, with your practitioner. You and he/she have to look at possible reasons, including your lifestyle, to analyze and identify  what is stalling your progress and suggest routines to move your CP up.  Another issue is that if you never worked with a Practitioner, you might not measure your CP correctly. At CP of 30 people usually don’t have frequent viral infections and lots of anxiety.  Remember, your consistent morning CP is most important indicator of your true CP.




 Can either control pause, nasal clearing and mouth taping be used during pregnancy, in the first trimester? 6 weeks pregnant? many thanks for your help, G.

Dear G,

First trimester of pregnancy (even up to 16 weeks) is a very fragile time when risk of miscarriage is highest; for that reason we strongly recommend that pregnant women only work with an experienced Practitioner who can monitor them and adjust routines on continuous basis.  It is difficult to give you a solid advice not knowing your history, e.g. did you have miscarriages or troubled pregnancies in the past, did you do Buteyko before you got pregnant, what is your current CP, what other health conditions do you have, medications, night sleep  etc ?

Below are some general guidelines and considerations but to have a Practitioner to guide and monitor you would be the safest and most effective route to go.
During initial stages of pregnancy, especially when CP is low, the cleansing reactions can be dangerous to the fetus, therefore pregnant women during first three-four months should have a “defensive” course of action aimed at prevention of CO2 losses. That should include watching not to mouth breathe, tape mouth at night, maintain good posture, not to overeat, address night sleep to minimize hyperventilation, walk or do any other physical activities with mouth closed etc.  Practicing relaxed breathing without air hunger and occasionally measure a control pause (COMFORTABLE breath hold, DO NOT OVEREXTEND!) should be safe. When you do a nose clearing exercise, again, DO NOT OVEREXTEND the breath-hold.  After 16 weeks of pregnancy the intensity of the Breathing retraining is very individual, depending on the general condition of the pregnant woman. Still, only an easy or moderate level of intensity is recommended.
It is advisable that women who are planning pregnancy should enroll in Buteyko course and raise their CP before they get pregnant.


——————————————————————————————————-
Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Buteyko Practitioners Training

Friday, August 6th, 2010

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Congratulations to eight newly trained USA Buteyko Educators! The training was completed in July and led by internationally acclaimed Buteyko practitioner and author Patrick McKeown and highly qualified US practitioner Carol Baglia, RRT, in Ohio, USA. They have devised a unique curriculum combining the essence of most developed Buteyko teaching schools in the world and also providing hands-on experience with over 50 patients with a wide range of health conditions. Practitioners-in-training visited cardiopulmonary rehabilitation lab to watch clients practicing Buteyko breathing while doing physical activity. The monitoring devices used in this lab demonstrated the improvements that were occurring.

Designated Buteyko Practitioners Trainers in the US hope to continue to offer top quality certification programs that meet or exceed all the guidelines of the Buteyko Breathing Educators Association governing body.

The next Buteyko Clinic Certification Program is scheduled in October of this year in CA and will be led by Patrick McKeown. The opportunity is to either train as a Practitioner or participate as a student in one of the classes offered at the same time to learn the Buteyko method for your own health improvement. If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please CONTACT US  for more details and course syllabus.

Complete list of Buteyko Educators in North America can be found here.

The interim Buteyko Breathing Educators Association (BBEA) launched a new website.

The BBEA is an association of Buteyko Educators committed to training people in the Buteyko Breathing Method. The members of BBEA are required to comply with rigorous teaching and certification standards as well as commit to on-going professional development. This will ensure that anyone who seeks help from a BBEA certified Educator receives the safest, highest quality service and results possible.

The Buteyko Breathing Educators Association vision is to make Buteyko Breathing a pillar of good health, accessible to all and integrated into an overall system of wellness.  The goal  is to increase awareness of Buteyko Breathing and its benefits with education, stringent standards of training with certification and additional clinical trials to further confirm its effectiveness.

We are excited to announce an upcoming second annual Conference! The conference is being held at the National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM) located in Portland, Oregon.  NCNM is the oldest Natural Medicine Graduate College in the United States.


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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Journaling your Buteyko practice

Friday, July 30th, 2010

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We like the analogy of the Buteyko therapy to physical or rehabilitation therapy. Buteyko therapy is a rehabilitation therapy for your breathing that you apply to yourself.  You do this patiently, day-by-day, effort-by-effort.  It is often frustrating to not experience prominent results right away. CP is fluctuating, symptoms come and go, some symptoms might decrease, while new ones may appear.  Dozens of lifestyle, environmental and behavioral factors will influence your CP.  It can be confusing, to say the least. 

If you are practicing the Buteyko Method, you are probably asking yourself these questions:  Am I making adequate progress? What are specific factors that influence my CP most? Why am I stuck? Am I doing my Buteyko exercise routine correctly? Is my physical exercise routine beneficial or is it causing more stress?

Journaling your Buteyko experience might prove extremely helpful in answering those questions.

Take a look at the sample journal below.

Date

Time

Pulse

CP

MP

Steps

Comment

Symptoms
05/09 3 pm 70 22     Midday Some cough
05/09 11:00 pm 68-66 25/30     Before bed, CP and pulse before and after Buteyko exercises  
05/10 7 am 72 25     Upon wake up; had good night sleep  
05/10 10:15 am 84 15     After breakfast / coffee Mild chest tightness
05/10 10 pm 70 20/25     Before bed, CP before and after Buteyko exercises  
05/11 7 am 68 20   55-70 Upon wake up Mild chest tightness, mucus
05/11 10:30 am 76 18     After breakfast  
05/11 3:30 pm 74 25     Midday, half hour after walk  
05/11 4:30 pm 66 35 55   Midday Feel good!
05/12 7 am 66 25     Upon wake up Not as much mucus today
05/12 9 am 68 23     Before breakfast  
05/12 10:30 am 78 17 32   After breakfast  / coffee  
05/12 12:30 am 68 28     20 min after 1 h walk  
05/12 11:30 pm 64 30 50   Before bed  
05/13 8 am 66 22 41 72-84 Upon wake up Some sneezing and partially blocked nose, felt much better after steps
05/13 10:30 am 66 20     After breakfast and coffee. My “after breakfast” CP is going up!  
05/13 3:30 68/90/70 20/25     Long stair walk with nasal breathing. Difficult. CP before and half hour after Some mild chest tightness and mucus still present
05/24 7am   25   84 Upon wake up Chest tightness is gone, but some mornings have a partially blocked nose.
05/24 2:30 pm 70 18 32   Midday, half hour after meal  
05/24 4 pm   30     Midday, empty stomach  
05/24 11 pm 70/58 28/35     Before bed, CP/pulse before and after Buteyko exercises. First time reached 35! Overall feel much better than last week

 

You can get as detailed as you’d like with the description of symptoms, routines, additional measures (e.g. taping mouth at night etc), and even your meal content.  Adjust the chart according to your condition, routines and measurements that you usually do (e.g. some people are not recommended to do steps or MPs, even as measurement). Add medications and their daily dosage to the chart, if you take any.

Once you see all your efforts and results in plain view like this, it will make it so much easier for you to find what is working best for you or to identify possible sources for your lack of progress.


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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Buteyko for anxiety (part 2)

Friday, July 23rd, 2010
<Like this article? Visit our website www.asthmacare.us>
 
In this two-part article we are introducing Patrick McKeown’s new book Anxiety free: stop worrying and quieten your mind. Two hundred and forty pages of beautifully written and illustrated self help book is a must-read for everybody! Below we randomly selected a few chapters for you. The Anxiety free e-book is available for purchase on our website.  
   What is the fat file syndrome?

 
Louise’s personal account:
“ For example, because I am prone to worry and overthink things, I get myself worked up into a right state about my symptoms. At different times, I was convinced that I had a brain tumour, MS, a heart problem, bowel cancer, etc. I had blood test after blood test, an ECG test, a scan, and nothing was found to be wrong. My whole family and my doctor, and probably most of my friends, think I’m a hypochondriac… but I knew that something was not right. I just didn’t make the connection to my breathing, so my symptoms went on and on and I felt like I was going mad. For lots of people, reading your book will be a real epiphany… and they might need some reassurance early on that they’re not alone and not mad after all, and that a lot of their symptoms will go away. Not worrying about the symptoms immediately reduces stress levels and hence breathing.”
Stress, anxiety and anger causes overbreathing

According to the famous physiologist Walter Cannon, stress activates the fight or flight response. Meeting deadlines, financial pressures, time urgency, marital issues, the pressure of rearing children and wanting to do well in our work, as well as many other factors, add to stress levels.

How to correct it

Only by bringing your breathing volume to normal levels can you deal with the physiological aspects of stress and anxiety.
Long-term stress is exhausting and is known to result in many illnesses. It increases breathing volume, causing carbon dioxide to be washed from the lungs.
Remember: The more you breathe in, the more your breathe out.
The more you breathe out, the more CO2 is washed from the lungs.
As CO2 is washed from the lungs, the partial pressure of CO2 is reduced in the blood, tissues and cells.
Prolonged overbreathing resets the respiratory centre in the brain to tolerate a lower partial pressure of CO2.

Therefore, even when the initial stress is removed, the heavy breathing habit is maintained as a result of chemoreceptors in the brain being reset.

An anxious person may attend many psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists in an effort to get to the root of his or her condition. However, unless chronic overbreathing is addressed, he or she will be at a significant disadvantage in making progress.
Level and correct breathing volume allows normalisation of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide within the lungs, thus improving oxygenation of the brain and resulting in far less brain cell excitability.

Taking ownership of the mind

No matter how many times a day I look, there is a newness, a freshness and an aliveness. I am not looking at the countryside through thoughts, through labels, through names. I get so much more when I truly look. Nature is constantly changing, dying and renewing. Therefore, each time I look without the filter of my mind, the landscape has changed from before. A river that flows is not the same river five minutes later. Nor is it the same river five minutes before. The water is different. One pheasant is not the same as the next. Humans might attach the same label by calling it a pheasant, but each is unique, beautiful and individual.

The essence of nature is not understood through thought. Truly appreciating nature does not come through the amount of information or the names you attach to different flowers, birds or animals. You are not going into nature to exercise your mind. Instead, go into nature to give your mind a rest. Who cares about the name of the tree or the bird? Instead, just look at the tree or bird without thought and sense its aliveness. This is far more important than knowing a mere label.

If you have great difficulty doing this and your mind continues to bombard you with thought, then take this process little by little. In addition to stilling your mind through nature, watch your breath and pay attention to your inner body. Feel your body from the inside. Be connected with it. Feel your body as you merge with the life around you. Life takes care of the flowers, grass, trees and birds. There is nothing wanting here. Nature is immersed in stillness and will help take you there, too. You have nothing to do but to stop thinking.

Who is the real you?

Stay present and connect directly with life instead of doing so through a collection of thoughts, experiences and events. Drop the thoughts. Set them aside not through force but through the realisation that thoughts are not who we are. If the mind is not us, then thoughts originating from the mind are not us.

This is liberating. We understand thought to be just a thought and nothing more. We have the choice to follow it or not. We begin to see thought NOT as truth or something that we must adhere to and blindly follow. We understand thought as a collection of good and not so good influences that we have stored in our film.

With this understanding, you see the film for what it is. The light of your true self can then shine without thought. Only then do you truly live in your natural state. Once you realise this, your life will positively change forever. If this is your first introduction to this concept, stick with it. This is not intellectual debate. This is about understanding your mind, which alone determines your happiness on earth.


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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Buteyko for anxiety (part 1)

Thursday, July 15th, 2010
<Like this article? Visit our website www.asthmacare.us>
 
In this two-part article we are introducing Patrick McKeown’s new book Anxiety free: stop worrying and quieten your mind. Two hundred and forty pages of beautifully written and illustrated self help book is a must-read for everybody! Below we randomly selected a few chapters for you. The Anxiety free e-book is available for purchase on our website.  
 Prologue 
This book is for any person who wishes to have clearer functioning of his or her mind and not to be bogged down with useless thinking. Within three weeks the result will be more control over thoughts, better concentration, more energy, more joy, happiness and appreciation for life. This is a simple and straightforward self-help book approached from two different and yet related perspectives.The first is about correcting breathing volume using a physician-developed programme known as the Buteyko Breathing Method. Chronic overbreathing is a habit present with any person who experiences stress, anxiety, panic attacks and depression. It causes both a constriction of blood vessels and reduced delivery of oxygen to tissues and organs, most notably the brain. The Buteyko Method is a simple approach that significantly improves oxygenation of the brain, resulting in far less brain cell excitability.The second aspect deals with recognising the activity of the mind, the nature of thought and how to step out of thought. This too is essential to understanding your mind and taking control.

The mind is regarded as the most important capability of the human species. Yet, most people have little control over it as it races from thought to thought. Mind activity, stress, depression and anxiety are nothing more than the absence of control. How much control do you have over your mind? For how long can you choose to stop thinking?

A quiet mind is one that you have control over. Quite simply, you can choose to think or not to think. You don’t get lost in trains of useless thinking. Most of the time, you know what is taking place. Without control over our minds, we have nothing. It is the one part of us that determines our quality of life on earth, yet it receives little attention from our educational, religious and medical institutions. How insane is that?

If only you had a chance to look inside people’s minds, you would see the same turmoil that goes on in your own head. Hidden behind the nice white smile is fear of the future and regrets from the past. A racing and repetitive mind is just below the surface. It might not have reached the depths that someone in depression has reached, but at the same time, you will see common traits. In fact, all of us are just a few stressful events away from mental problems. Cumulative stressful events take their toll on everybody unless, of course, we have some understanding of thought processes and can better oxygenate our brain.

In our sophisticated Western world with its emphasis on intelligence and the stigma on mental problems, normal healthy people who go through periods of being down or depressed have few outlets through which to seek help. Addressing this deficit early on is the key to reversing it.

My interest in this area stems from having both asthma and a racing mind for many years. By using the Buteyko Method to reverse my asthma and by improving my awareness, I also addressed my racing mind. Thousands have attended my courses in Ireland and abroad for asthma and other conditions. Those who have attended for panic attacks, depression, stress and anxiety have reported very good feedback; hence, this book.

This book can be read by someone with poor concentration, or a clouded and depressed mind. It contains nothing complicated and through constant repetition, the reader can apply the guidance provided.

Overbreathing causes depression, stress and anxiety

Lower carbon dioxide within the blood causes a constriction of the carotid artery, the main blood vessel going to the brain.

The extent of constriction depends on genetic predisposition but has been estimated by Gibbs (1992) to be as much as 50% for those with anxiety and panic attacks.(3)
This finding is also supported by Ball & Shekhar (1997).(4)
Other researchers, including Balestrino and Somjen (1988)(5) and Huttunen et al. (1999),(6) have demonstrated that CO2 reduces cortical excitability.

Cited in Normal Breathing: the key to vital health, “breathing too much makes the human brain abnormally excited due to reduced CO2 concentrations. As a result, the brain gets literally out of control due to appearance of spontaneous and asynchronous (‘self-generated’) thoughts.”

Balestrino and Somjen (1988) in their summary directly claimed that, “The brain, by regulating breathing, controls its own excitability.”(7)

Dr Robert Fried, professor of psychology, states that “the first stage of chronic graded hypoxia (insufficient oxygen), which has repeatedly been shown in the case of chronic hyperventilation, is depression of mood and activity.”(8)

Cardiologist Claude Lum comments that “Hyperventilation presents a collection of bizarre and often apparently unrelated symptoms, which may affect any part of the body, and any organ or any system.”(9)

He further labels hyperventilation syndrome as the fat file syndrome, noting that patients go from doctor to doctor in an attempt to get help for their symptoms. However, because chronic hyperventilation is overlooked in most instances, the patient might be told after a series of tests that there is nothing wrong with him or her, thus increasing the size of the patients’ file and further adding to his or her anxiety.

In the late Professor Buteyko’s words, “Exhaling Carbon Dioxide from the organism brings about spasms in bronchi, vessels and intestines, etc. This reduces oxygen supply, leading to oxygen deficiency, making one’s breath heavier, thus completing the vicious circle.”

(to be continued)



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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Buteyko and meditation (part 2)

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

<Like this article? Visit our website www.asthmacare.us >

by Ryan Bowie

The reason for this direct relationship between mind and breath was demonstrated through the work of Professor Buteyko and his collegues, along with other Western physiologists. They found that carbon dioxide acts as a natural sedative or tranquilizer of the nervous system. As carbon dioxide levels increase, the nervous system naturally relaxes and we become less “primed” for anxiety, fear and worry. It has also been shown that as carbon dioxide levels normalize, the part of the brain responsible for thinking calms and becomes less prone to excitability. Below are quotes from modern physiologists and from ancient sages, both proposing the same insight, the relationship between breath and mind, and more importantly, hyperventilation and mental disturbance.

“The brain, by regulating breathing, controls its own excitability ”Balestrino & Somjen, 1988.

“Hyperventilation leads to spontaneous and asynchronous firing of cortical neurons”. Huttunen et. Al, 1999.

“Mind and breath have the same source. Hence breath is controlled when mind is controlled and mind, when breath is controlled. Breath is the gross form of the mind.” Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, 1965.

“The removal of outside stimuli and the suspension of the breath within the nostrils controls the mind, and the transcendentalist becomes free from desire, fear and anger, and the one who is always in this state is certainly liberated.” Bhagavad-Gita

“If we can calm the breath, there will be very interesting and powerful results. First of all, the flesh-body will become very gentle, relaxed, and tranquil. Then there will arise a calming of the mind, also.”
Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, 1988

The central insight in all of these observations is that by controlling the breathing and in particular by breathing less, it is possible to bring the mind to a state of ease and tranquility. The greater the degree of breath control and the less one breathes as a general breathing pattern, the more accessible are states of quiet, calm, and even bliss in meditation. If you are a meditator, just think back to times that you have had very calm and peaceful meditations. What was your breathing like? Was it heavy or light? Did you reach a point where you could barely even feel that you were breathing? Have you ever wondered what your mind might be like if you breathed more like this all of the time?

The implications of this insight for the serious meditator are huge- learn to finally gain leverage over the thinking mind. What does this actually feel like when it comes time to meditate? One who breathes little all of the time (3 to 4 liters per minute at rest) finds that the mind naturally and readily goes quiet when attention is brought inward. The body is at ease, there is little cumulative stress, and awareness is bright and clear. Rather than spend our time in meditation dealing with excessive thinking, one can pursue the real purpose of authentic meditation: gaining insight into the nature of the mind and reality.

Having spent many years practicing meditation both as a layman and as a monk, often with unsatisfactory results, I experienced a radical change in my whole understanding of meditation and the nature of the mind through putting into practice the principles of the Buteyko method. I am pleased to be able to bring my experience and knowledge to those who are also aspiring to transcendental knowledge and insight, regardless of the particular tradition that one follows. For those who already have a meditation practice, the Buteyko method can greatly enhance it, and your skills as a meditator can be very useful in developing your Buteyko practice. And for those who are interested in learning to meditate, gaining an understanding and proficiency in breath training first can save you from hours, months or even years of fruitlessly chasing a quiet mind, when in fact it could be a disturbed breathing pattern that has primed you for agitation, resentment, and worry. But it doesn’t have to be like this- meditation can be the relaxed, rejuvenating, and enjoyable experience it is supposed to be, even for people living in today’s world.

If you wish to contact Ryan, send Email to ryan@learnbuteyko.com.



——————————————————————————————————-
Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Buteyko and meditation (part 1)

Friday, June 25th, 2010

<Like this article? Visit our website www.asthmacare.us >
 
 
The following article is kindly shared by Ryan Bowie, a Buteyko Practitioner in Northern California. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1999, Ryan moved to England where he trained as a Buddhist monk for 8 years in the Theravada tradition at Chithurst Monastery.
 He first found out about the Buteyko method from Christopher Drake in 2006 as a complimentary practice to his meditation. In 2008, upon leaving the monastic life, Ryan began to train as Buteyko Practitioner.  He has taught students in the UK, Europe, and America. Given his background in the monasticism, Ryan has a special interest in teaching the method to those interested in enhancing their meditation and yoga practices.
 
 The practice of meditation has been an integral practice in the world’s religions for thousands of years. In Theravada Buddhism, the tradition in which I was ordained as a monk, mindfulness of breathing (Pali: anapanasati, Sanskrit: anapanasmrti) is the central meditation theme and has been used to bring about a happy and equanimous mind, robust health, and even spiritual enlightenment (Pali: nibbana, Sanskrit: nirvana). By bringing full awareness to the breathing process, the meditator enters a state of absorption (Pali: jhana, Sanskrit: dhyana) in which states of fear, greed, and aggression subside, leaving the mind still and luminous. With a still mind and calm body one is then able to gain insight into the nature of reality.

Similarly, in the practice of pranayama, the yogi seeks to gain control over the mind by developing control of the breath. In both meditation and pranayama, the key insight is the profoundly intimate relationship between the mind and breath, and the possibility to control one by controlling the other.In my years as a Buddhist monk I have seen both lay practitioners and monastics spend years struggling with an agitated and defiant mind that resists all attempts at developing calmness.

When the incessant stream of thoughts finally does give in it often results in sloth, torpor and sleepiness. In addition, I have watched students of meditation struggle with states of boredom in meditation, which often leads to a mind that drifts here and there, lost in fantasy, and craving pleasures, like food, sex, and entertainment (this is especially the case during prolonged meditation retreats). And of course there is the mind that wonders in the past and future, rehashing old stories of wrongs and injustices, falling into ill-will and resentment. All of this over time can lead to a sense of doubt and uncertainty about meditation, what one is actually trying to do and if it is even possible to train the mind.

These 5 negative mental states: sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt make up what is called the Five Hindrances in Buddhist meditation (but are relevant for any meditation). The difficulty in dealing with these five states is that they are of the mind, and the mind is fast, elusive, and hard to grasp. We can be transported from one world to another in less than a second, sometimes not even realizing we are there until minutes later. And yet when we read accounts of monks and yogis in the ancient religious texts it sounds as if they had a different mind altogether or couldn’t possibly have had to deal with what we are up against in modern society. In a sense this is true.

It can be argued that human nature hasn’t changed in any fundamental way, as there were wars, atrocities, injustices, and exploitation then as there is now. But in another sense, the mind is different now. Never before in human history have people been exposed to so much sensory input, so many different and often contradictory ideas, so many pressures and demands relentlessly pursuing us.

People in modern society are often overstimulated, overstressed, and deeply isolated. Our lifestyles often lack exercise and movement, lack connection with nature and community, and require us to spend huge amounts of time lost in mental abstractions, bound by time, and living in the shadows of seemingly insurmountable problems such as environmental degradation, social injustice, terrorism, resource depletion, etc, etc.

In short, people in ancient times lived in a time when things moved slowly, the pace of life was determined not by the clock but by the sun and seasons, and advances in technology didn’t occur over the course of months but rather centuries. They lived in a harsh time in terms of lack of comforts, medicine, and technology, but they experienced less accumulated stress in the body/mind, and as a result, sitting down and being quiet was not the huge challenge that so many of us find it to be today.

There is however another way of dealing with the mind. Because the mind and breath are so intimately linked (just watch your breathing the next time you are angry or excited if you doubt this), it is possible to approach the mind from another angle. Rather than take it on directly, it is possible to gain leverage over the mind through training the breath. The advantage of the breath is that it is much more tangible than the mind- one can access it in a way that is very difficult with the mind. By learning to calm and ultimately change the way that we breathe, it is possible to gradually change our habitual thought patterns and ways of seeing the world and life.

Ultimately breath control is equivalent to mind control, and by developing this skill, it is possible to begin to have influence over the mind that for many of us was never possible, even after many years of dedicated meditation. (to be continued)

If you wish to contact Ryan, send Email to ryan@learnbuteyko.com.


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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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The Control Pause demystified

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

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The Control Pause is the main measurement tool of Buteyko theory and practice. It is essentially an indicator of our health. It reflects our Minute ventilation (breathing volume per minute), which for a healthy person should be 4-6 liters/minute at rest.

Numerous studies show that Minute ventilation in subjects with many modern chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease and others, is three to five times greater than in healthy subjects. Over time, greater breathing volumes cause drastic changes in our bodies, such as PH balance disturbances, spasms in smooth muscles and blood vessels, and oxygen starvation in tissue.

That’s why to keep your Minute ventilation at norm is as important as to keep at norm your blood pressure, blood glucose, BMI, blood cholesterol and other health parameters. 

You don’t need special tools to test your Minute ventilation. Healthy Minute ventilation corresponds with a certain concentration of Carbon Dioxide in your alveolar air. Professor Buteyko discovered that it is measured by how long a person can comfortably suspend their breathing. The parameter was named a Control Pause, or CP, for short.

Why the time of breath suspension was chosen as a measurement? Breathing is regulated by our brain. Logically, a simple measurement of regulating mechanism’s work can be done by deliberately stopping the process (breathing) and waiting until the  regulating mechanism (brain) signals to breathing muscles to initiate the process (to take the next breath).  Why on exhale? Because after normal exhale the volume of air in the lungs and the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide least depend on fluctuating breathing pattern.

So, to measure the Control Pause,  breathing after normal exhale should be suspended, and the time should be measured until the first desire to breathe.

To my experience, many students have difficulty determining  when exactly they feel the first desire to breathe. As we mentioned above, it should not be brain’s psychological instruction (panic, emotional response etc), but the instruction  of the breathing regulating mechanism, i.e. push of respiratory muscles -  of diaphragm,  thorax or  larynx. Usually a person would experience a push of the diaphragm, throat or both.  You’ll know that you didn’t overextend if your breath after letting go is not larger than the initial breath.

To learn more visit our Health Check page.


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Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Natural choices against allergy

Friday, June 11th, 2010

<Like this article? Visit our website www.asthmacare.us >

While you are working on your breathing and bringing your Control Pause (CP) up, there still might be strong allergy triggers that would bother you up until your CP is in the 40s. If instead, or in addition to pharmaceuticals, you are willing to try natural remedies, there are a few that are more studied and which are likely to work.

Quercetin shows promise in inhibiting the release of histamines, which causes sneezing and other symptoms associated with allergies and asthma. Abundant in grapefruit, onions, apples and black tea, it is also available as a supplement. It is present in red wines, however, red wines typically contain sulfates, which by itself might cause allergies for some people.

Butterbur (Petasites officinalis) contains a substance called petasine, which can be as effective as antihistamines in relieving allergy symptoms – without drowsiness. In another recent study an extract of Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) inhibited the inflammation that brings about seasonal allergies. Stinging nettle contains compounds that enhance the body’s resistance to pollen and molds.

Science also shows that bupleurum and chrysanthemum herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, help fight allergies. Buplerum stimulates the production of corticosteroids, which relieve inflammation and strengthen the lungs. Other hay fever remedies to consider include bromelain, ginkgo, goldenseal, licorice and milk thistle. Locally produced raw honey may also be helpful.

Consuming a wide variety of fruit and vegetables can help guard against respiratory distress.

Supplements with probiotics are also highly recommended to asthma and allergy sufferers, not only for optimizing digestion, but also for strengthening the immune system.

Using nasal saline rinses is an effective approach to washing out pollen and decreasing post nasal drip.

When choosing which supplements to buy, consider quality of preparation and preservative free formula.

And finally, while supplements and rinses might be a good temporary help, remember, your body will be much more resistant to allergy triggers once your breathing is normalized. So whatever remedies you choose, remember that breathing retraining will address the root of your problem and don’t neglect your daily Buteyko practice!



——————————————————————————————————-
Buteyko Clinic USA offers unique breathing rehabilitation programs that result in long term drug free control over asthma, allergies, COPD, rhinitis, chronic cough, snoring, sleep apnea, anxiety, panic, chronic hyperventilation syndrome and other chronic conditions. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Posted in Asthma, Health and Lifestyle | 2 Comments »

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