Breathing Retraining approach based on the Buteyko Method
Our breath is our greatest support to not only live, but to live well.
Our breathing is the most fundamental thing we need to get right.
Helping people improve the way they breathe since 1993
Welcome to BreatheAbility® and our resources dedicated to helping people improve the way they breathe
Our breath is our greatest support to not only live, but to live well.
Do you SNORE, MOUTH-BREATHE or have ASTHMA, SLEEP APNOEA, BLOCKED NOSE, CHRONIC COUGH, ANXIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, INSOMNIA?
Do you wake up with a dry mouth and feel like you haven’t slept at all?
Has your snoring seen you banished to the spare room?
Do you often breathe through your mouth because your nose is congested?
Do you get short of breath easily, lack energy, and your exercise capacity is down?
Do you have brain fog, or trouble concentrating?
Do you often feel on edge, panicky and unable to relax?
Breathing is the most fundamental thing we need to get right. It is the first thing we do in life, and the last, and many people get it wrong around 20,000 times a day.
RESEARCH shows that dysfunctional (faulty) breathing habits are characteristic in the daytime breathing as well as the night-time breathing of people with heavy snoring, sleep apnea / apnoea, asthma, nasal prob;ems, anxiety and panic attacks. That is, there is a relationship between these conditions and the WAY you breathe.
This is where breathing retraining can help.
BREATHING RETRAINING addresses the (usually unconscious) everyday dysfunctional breathing habits that typically underlie and may trigger, aggravate and perpetuate breathing-related conditions. The most common overriding dysfunction seen is chronic “overbreathing” - breathing too much air. (1)
The goal of breathing retraining is to return you to breathing as nature designed:
silent, nasal, easy, rhythmic, slow, light, and relaxed breathing- when awake and asleep
comfortable and efficient during exercise and speaking
enabling optimal oxygen to every cell of your body.
IT'S ABOUT GETTING YOUR ‘EVERYDAY’ BREATHING RIGHT.
Extraordinary benefits may result from getting this fundamental body function right. (2)
For example research shows people with asthma habitually (and unknowingly) breathe 2-3 times more air per minute than the physiological normal of 4-6 L/min. Multiple studies show an average around 14 L/min. The consequent low baseline CO2 levels are also characteristic in people with asthma.
‘Buteyko breathing techniques in asthma: a controlled trial’. Bowler SD, Green A, Mitchell CA. MJA. 1998; 169: 575–578.
Have you ever had your breathing pattern checked?
Top section of image shows common dysfunctional breathing habits (e.g. in those with asthma, snoring, apnoea, panic attacks).
Lower image shows physiological normal breathing pattern.
The goal of breathing retraining is to retrain the normal pattern - breathing as nature intended.
Take the Breathing Pattern Assessment Quiz
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Your breathing matters - start now to improve this fundamental component of health, wellbeing and refreshing sleep
The BreatheAway course is the online version of the breathing retraining programs that Tess Graham has delivered to over 6000 people since 1993. It takes you step-by-step through the breathing retraining process. First results typically seen within 24-48 hrs.
Video lessons, handouts, checklists
The books have easy-to-follow explanations and step-by-step guidance in retraining your breathing and establishing the 9 healthy breathing habits. Each book has info on ALL common breathing-related conditions for which people seek help from Buteyko breathing educators. Companion products: Workbooks and MP3 instruction audio
Tess Graham - Physiotherapist, Breathing Educator, Sports Breathing Coach
Support and access to Tess Graham's decades of experience in breathing retraining therapy, including the Buteyko Method. Explore aspects of working with breathing you need help with; shorten your learning curve; boost your ability to effect positive change in your clients
TESS GRAHAM
When two of my children developed asthma, I was very concerned. I closely observed their breathing and symptoms day and night, and observed that even when they didn’t have acute asthma symptoms, they breathed differently to their brother who did not have asthma. They “over-breathed” - their breathing was more audible and obvious, and more so when they were exposed to triggers.
I did extensive research around asthma and eventually I found the work of medical doctor and research scientist, Professor Konstantin Buteyko. He offered a common sense and physiologically sound explanation to what I had observed. In addition he had developed a method of restoring a functional (i.e. physiologically normal) breathing pattern). The Buteyko Method of Breathing Retraining addressed a fundamental cause of asthma. My children benefited enormously from learning to breathe correctly.
INTRODUCTION TO BETTER BREATHING & TESS GRAHAM'S ONLINE BREATHING COURSE - BreatheAway
– By Tracey Anderson Askew
COULD YOU BE DEPRIVING YOUR BODY OF OXYGEN?
Breathing is the first thing we do in life, and the last. It affects our physiology and blood chemistry, and the function of all our body systems. Yet many people get it wrong around 20,000 times per day.
The typical fault is chronic OVER-breathing/ chronic hyperventilation - that is habitually breathing too fast and/or too much air per breath (breathing too 'deeply'). Snoring, yawning, sighing, heavy (especially mouth-)breaths are all examples of high-volume breaths.
This scan shows a 40% reduction in oxygen in the brain after 1-min of overbreathing/hyperventilation
Red, yellow and pale blue areas correspond to higher O2 saturation.
[Image courtesy of Dr PM. Litchfield, Grad School of Behavioural Health Sciences, Wyoming USA. (1999)]
CONDITIONS HELPED BY BREATHING RETRAINING
CONFERENCES
Tess Graham has been an invited speaker and workshop presenter at conferences in Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand, India and Taiwan. Here is a sampling of the conferences that have featured her expertise.
What is the correct way to breathe; Why deep' breathing is a problem
Faulty breathing quiz;
Symptoms checklist
Science & art of breathing retraining; How and why it works.
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