buteyko manual.pdf

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Disclaimers

This manual and the associated audio tape are general information

products only.

This information should be used only under consultation with a regis-

tered physician. Do not alter any medication or treatment without proper

medical advice.

Any liability to the author, publisher or agents for any impact on the

purchaser or other reader of the use or non-use of this information is ex-

pressly disclaimed.

There is no guarantee or promise that effects and relief, as proven withpersonal training using this information in the past, will offer any future

benefit to users of this training.

The purchaser or other user of this information uses or does

not use it at their own risk.

Warnings

Changing your breathing can result in certain responses from your body.

Chapter 10 has a summary of what symptoms could possibly arise as the result of a

breathing change. Liability for any such effect lies with the user.

A Special Warning for Diabetics

Please be aware that this breathing training will cause a decrease in blood

sugar. This may cause any medication that is also taken [insulin or oral

hypoglycaemics] to reduce blood sugar levels to lower than recommended levels.

Should a diabetic undertake this training, it should be preceded byconsultations with your doctor/endocrinologist.

The frequency of blood tests should be increased and the symptoms of

hypoglycaemia [very low blood sugar which could cause coma] should be

reviewed. It is not recommended that diabetics follow this training without

supervision from an experienced Buteyko Instructor.

This Book is Copyright. Any unauthorised

use, copying, lending, or other transmission is forbidden.


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CONTENTS The Buteyko Method

Contents

FOREWARD 4

CHAPTER ONE 5

The Cause of Asthma

Evolution of the Atmosphere

Quick Review

Asthma Is Your Defense

CO2 is a Powerful BronchodilatorHow to Stop Coughing

Summary

CHAPTER TWO 16

How To Estimate Your Breathing Level

The Measurement Pause

Your Lungs Are Like the Carburetor On A Car

CHAPTER THREE 23

Your Nose Is For Breathing, Your Mouth Is For EatingDry Lungs

The Best Reason to Keep Your Mouth Closed

CHAPTER FOUR 27

Stopping Asthma The Simple Answer

The Drugs of Asthma

1. Relief Drugs

What Relief Drugs Are Actually Doing To You

Buteyko Strategy

2. Preventative Drugs

Strategy for Preventative Drugs

How To Use Buteyko To Stop An Asthma Attack

CHAPTER FIVE 39

Shallow Breathing To Tune Your Body

Definition of Shallow Breathing

Am I Doing It Properly?

The Everyday Training

Measure Your Progress

Record Your Progress


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CONTENTS The Buteyko Method

CHAPTER 6 46

Exercise Induced Asthma

CHAPTER 7 49

The Secret of Night Asthma

CHAPTER 8 57

The Effect of Diet On Your Breathing Health

The Need For Supplements

CHAPTER 9 62

The Link Between Asthma/Allergy

Attacks and Trigger Factors

CHAPTER 10 65

Clearing Reactions Coming Back To Normal

CHAPTER 11

What is depth of breathing 67

Childrens Asthma

CHAPTER 12 89

Asthma In Infants

CHAPTER 13 98

Emphysema

APPENDIX 1

Summary of Results of the Buteyko Clinical Trial 109

APPENDIX 2 113

The Importance of Carbon Dioxide

in Buteykos Theory

APPENDIX 3 118

Steroid Deficit in Asthma

APPENDIX 4 122

How To Wipe Your Nose

and Control Sneezing

AUTHORS NOTES 127


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Foreword

Thank you and congratulations on taking the step of allowing yourself

to view a model of asthma that is different to that currently supported by the

vast majority of health professionals. The support is only lacking at this

time simply because doctors and health practitioners in general are unaware

of it.

This manual and tape provides an understanding of asthma that issimple, easy to follow and implement. The basic material included can be

found in any good medical text. Nothing is suggested that is not com-

pletely logical. The only criticism that can be leveled against it is that it is

too simple. It is this simplicity which has caused hesitation in the minds of

the medical establishment, despite the clearly proven effectiveness of the

method. [See Appendix 1 for Clinical Trial Results.]

This manual is written for the person in the street, who for decades has

been patronized by the so-called medical experts. By the time you finishreading this book, you will have a different understanding of asthma than

your specialist doctors. You will understand the simple cause of asthma,

and therefore will be looking for the drug-free relief that over 15,000 Aus-

tralians have found.

This book is dedicated to Professor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko who

has the genius to look at confusion, and draw out the simple truth.


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CHAPTER 1 The Cause Of Asthma

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The Cause Of Asthma

Despite the vast array of reasons that people believe cause asthma,

there is only one. If this one cause is removed the list which

includes dust mites, dust mite droppings, dust, smoke, stress,

exercise, atmospheric changes, food, odours, and many more becomes

irrelevant.

Lets look logically at what happens when we get asthma. Asthma

appears to have many variations. Some people get tight, others wheezy,

or develop a cough, or perhaps just the sensation of restriction. The

actual symptoms can vary or even disappear and reappear later in life.

Many children start of with a cough [called bronchitis in the past], then later

develop tightness, and later get the cough back again.

Others will not develop any symptoms until later in life. People who

are otherwise in perfect health. The severity can vary from day to day, oryear to year.

Many people of all ages even appear to grow out of it, which is called

by the doctors a spontaneous remission. There has been no explanation

of how this can happen, until now. You are about to find out exactly how

people do grow out of asthma, even though these lucky ones do not know

how they did it themselves.

Buteyko is simply learning how to do this.

Asthma occurs because you have developed a breathing depth level

which is far in excess of the ideal, and your body uses defensive

measures to force you to breathe less. These defenses include causing

your airways to be restricted, and also clogging them up with sticky

mucus.


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The cause of asthma actually comes to us from prehistoric times.

Follow through this story with me, as it will help understand why the

problem arises. This section seems outrageous to some, but just follow with

the simple explanation that it offers.

When we go far back into the past we find that the atmosphere has

changed greatly in the past millions of years. There used to be a very

different mix of gases in the air. The two gases we think about in terms of

breathing are oxygen [O2], and carbon dioxide [CO2].

Over many thousands of years the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere

has dropped from perhaps well over 40% to currently almost none. [It is

actually now close to 0.03%] At the same time the amount of oxygen [O2]

has increased from almost zero to around 21%.

Another Russian [with a similar name to Buteyko, called M.I. Budyko],

in 1977 showed from rock samples that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere

around 360 million years ago was 4.0%. I.e. over 10 times higher than it is

now. The greatly higher CO2 levels in the past were due to massive

volcanic action. Man was apparently not for several hundred million years

after this time.

The drop in CO2 has occurred because there has been an increasingamount of plant life on earth. Remember that plants convert CO2 to O2, so

that the more plants there are, the more conversion of CO2 to O2 there is.

As the amount of plants on the earth doubled again and again, this

caused a slow but steady decrease in the percentage of CO2 in the air, and a

steady increase in the O2 percentage in the air. Remember that this story is

spread over hundreds of millions of years.

Despite what recent history may have suggested to you, there is no

doubt now that there are vastly more plants alive today on earth than therewas millions of years ago. This explains the percentage increase in O2 and

the decrease in CO2 over this time.


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Graph of The Changes In

Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen LevelsVersus Evolution of the Atmosphere

During this very long interval with changes in the air occurring,

mankind had to develop a system which gave a constant internal chemical

balance. The human body cannot tolerate much change in its chemical

composition. The change in the air composition caused the body to evolve

a special organ to ensure the levels of these two gases stayed within a safe

range. This organ has allowed humans to thrive even as the atmosphere hadmassive changes. This organ is obviously the lungs.

The logic of this role of the lungs is proven by the fact that despite the

level of CO2 in the air being almost zero, there is on average 6.5% CO2 in

the lungs. This means that one of the major roles of your lungs is to act as a

carbon dioxide trap. It is no longer a bellows with the goal to fill and

empty as fully as possible, but rather a gas mixing chamber.

A key point is there is almost no CO2 in the air that surrounds us, sotherefore the CO2 that is in your lungs has been trapped in! Whenever

your body burns energy, it uses up oxygen and produces carbon dioxide.

Your lungs are there to ensure that you do not lose too much carbon

dioxide. If you lose too much carbon dioxide from your body you will die.

So as you are sitting there quietly, you will be using up a little oxygen,

and producing a little carbon dioxide. If you were running around, lifting

things, doing heavy work, you would be using more energy and therefore

use more oxygen and produce more carbon dioxide. The single thing that

Millions of years

Atmospheric

CO2

Atmospheric

Oxygen


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controls how much of that gas is let out, and how much is trapped in, is

your breathing rate and depth.

When you produce more CO2, your breathing will increase so that thelevel in your body stays about the same. [This also allows more oxygen in.]

When you produce less CO2 [by burning less energy], your breathing will

be less, so that the level in your body stays about the same.

In reality it is normally your carbon dioxide levels that control your

breathing, not your oxygen levels. Oxygen levels will over-ride the

controls only if the oxygen levels get too low. I.e. if you are being

strangled, your oxygen levels take over your breathing controls.

Quick Review

We have learned that our breathing is controlled by our carbon dioxide

levels, not our oxygen levels. If the level of carbon dioxide in our bodies

gets either too high or too low, then we will perish. The levels are

maintained for us by our lungs and levels of breathing. If we produce more

CO2, we breathe more to release it. If we produce less, we breathe less.

This is nice and simple, but where is the problem that causes asthma?

There is a section of our brain called the respiratory centre which is

the control panel for keeping the CO2 level safe. It measures the amount of

CO2 in the system, and then gives directions on how much to breathe.

It is a little like the thermostat on an airconditioner. If the temperature

of your room rises, it causes the cooler to work harder. If the temperature

of the room falls, it causes the cooler to stop or the heater to start. The

temperature in the room is controlled by the thermostat. You can change

the thermostat and your room will go to a new temperature and be main-

tained there.

Your respiratory centre is like a breathostat. If the CO2 gets above

the setting on the breathostat, it tells you to breathe more. If the CO2 gets

too low, it will tell you to breathe less.


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Here is the vital point. You can also alter the setting on your

breathostat, just as with a thermostat. You can change the settings which

maintain the levels of CO2 in your body. [We will learn how later.]

The ideal level for your breathostat maintains the CO2 level in your

lungs at about 6.5%. [Note that is a different level to the CO2 level in your

blood.] A chronic asthmatic will have pushed their breathostat down much

lower, perhaps has low as 3.0%. This means that their body is in crises, as

the effect of this decrease affects every part of the body, and any further

loss of CO2 increases the problem.

With a low CO2 setting, the amount of breathing that occurs is always

much greater than with a normal setting. Remember this is because it is the

breathing level that the breathostat uses to keep the CO2 level where itthinks it should be. The amount of air breathed by an asthmatic can be as

high as ten times as much as a non-asthmatic, and this will still feel like not

enough.

Asthma Is Your Defense

As the amount of air breathed gets greater and greater, the CO2 levelgets lower and lower. If it gets too low, death will follow. Some people

have the genetic ability to mount a defense against the loss of too much

CO2. The bodies of these people can recognize that CO2 is getting

dangerously low, and take actions to trap more in.

The best defense is to be able to simply restrict the airflow by causing

the airpipes to swell. As less air is able to pass through the pipe, more CO2

is trapped in. This is felt as the restriction or tightness of asthma.

Because it forces you to trap in more CO2 than your breathostat wants,

you will feel as if you are not breathing enough. This is why the usual

response to asthma is to try and get MORE air in. The problem is that the

more air you try to force in, the worse your defensive closure of the airpipes

is going to get.

During an asthma attack you are already breathing vastly more than you

need, but because your breathostat is maladjusted, it still feels like not

enough. This means that the natural response is to try and breathe even


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more. This is exactly wrong, even though it feels right. Fighting to push

more air in and out will cause worsening of the condition, and will quickly

also result in a shortage of oxygen in the body as the pipes become more

and more closed. The shortage of oxygen will then over-ride thebreathostat, and will force the body to breathe even more deeply, making

the pipes close even further. This can result in respiratory arrest and death.

The only solution is to do whatever you must to survive the very severe

attack, and begin work to normalize your breathing as soon as you can to

avoid another one.

In a less severe attack, and where the asthmatic remains calm and

breathes less than they feel they want to, the attack will just subside. When

sufficient CO2 is trapped in for the person to be out danger, the swellingwill reduce and the airpipes open again.

What is Asthma?

The key point to remember is why your body is acting to restrict your

breathing? There is only one logical reason for your body to do this and

that is because the amount of air you were breathing was far more thanappropriate. This caused your CO2 levels to become life-threateningly low.

By reducing your breathing, you trap in more CO2 [that your body has

produced], and raise the level away from the danger zone.

In the past you may have been told that you had hyper-responsive

airways, but no one could tell you why you had this condition. Nor could it

be explained that if you had this condition, why did it sometimes go away,

and give you no symptoms.

Now you can easily explain it by looking at your breathing and CO2

levels.


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Carbon Dioxide Itself Is

A Powerful Bronchodilator

Another way to think about asthma is that if I reached into my chest,

pulled out a decent length of airpipe, and put it into air that had low CO2, it

would constrict. The smooth muscle in the walls of the pipe would swell

and twist.

If I then put it into air with sufficiently high CO2 it would open fully.

The smooth muscle in the airpipe walls would stop swelling and twisting.

[I used to get severe asthma, now I dont. If I was to change my breathingand lose all my CO2 again, I would see the return of my breathing

restriction [asthma]. If I then altered my breathing to trap in sufficient

CO2 again, the asthma would disappear again.] In the absence of CO2,

smooth muscle goes into spasm.

The other symptoms of asthma are similar in action to the broncho-

constriction [closed airpipes] discussed above. The other defensive action

of asthma is to cause an increased production of mucus. This increased

mucus secretion comes from the walls of the airpipes. [There are glandsthere whose job is to produce mucus in class I call them mucus

factories.] As every good plumber knows, what happens to the airflow

when you pump sticky stuff into a pipe?

The pipe is clogged up, and the flow is reduced.

Key Point:

The Level of Carbon Dioxide Determines

How Much Mucus Is Produced.

The additional secretion from the glands [or mucus factories] in the

wall of the airpipes, is switched on by the lowered levels of CO2. The

mucus blocks the pipe, this reduces the airflow, which means more CO2 is

trapped in. When enough CO2 is trapped in, the mucus factories are


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switched off, and mucus production stops. [You may have noticed that as

your asthma attack subsides there is often a little relieving cough as the

mucus that blocked your pipes is no longer needed and is released.]

It is almost ironic that bodys natural response to this defense is as

wrong as its defense against constriction. The natural thing to do when

you have extra mucus production is to cough. The slight tickle in the throat,

the clogged feeling in the chest both make you feel you need to hack this

sticky itchy goo out.

However, now that we know the only reason for the extra mucus is the

shortage of CO2 caused by breathing too much, we will recognize that the

breathing that comes with coughing will actually cause the mucus to get

worse, or at least to maintain the mucus production. i.e. the more wecough, the more CO2 we lose, the more mucus we produce, the more we

cough, and so on. By trying to clear the mucus that is there, we will always

produce more than we clear. This is why many have had bronchitis for

many decades, despite the best drugs and physiotherapy available.

The More You Cough Deeply

To Clear Mucus,The More Mucus You Create

Resist the urge to cough, trap in more CO2 to reduce the mucus

production, and your body will have no further need of the mucus

and will clear it for you.

Every person I have ever seen with a bronchitis cough has been able tostop it within one day by not coughing [just let it tickle] plus reducing their

breathing as shown later in this program. Every single one of them also had

the concern, that if they did not clear the mucus they would clog up and

die. All of the specialists and therapists had told them this [or at least

implied it].


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What they were not told is that your body has a very efficient garbage

removal system. There are very large numbers of cells called macroph-

ages present in most part of your body, but particularly in your lungs. The

sole purpose of these cells is to devour any toxins, bacteria, or othermatter that should not be there. The only problem is that if you are

producing a massive amount of mucus because of your breathing, your

garbage system cannot keep up. When you reduce the mucus production, it

quickly catches up and most of the mucus will disappear without you

having to cough it up. [Of course, some will be released upwards.]

In practice what happens is that sometimes large gobs of mucus will

be released and come up by themselves to the back of your throat. A tiny

mouth closed cough will bring it to your mouth, where you can either spitor swallow it. However, the vast majority will be broken down by special

garbage cells and released into the lymph system. It is common for some

mild diarrhoea to occur during this mucus-clearing time.

How To Stop Coughing

The key point here is that when you start to do this you may feel a littleuncomfortable. In the past when there was a slight tickle in your throat or a

feeling of lumpiness in your chest, you coughed and had short term relief.

Now you must use your willpower to not cough at all if possible. If you

absolutely must cough, you do one with your mouth closed. It is a bit like

throat clearing before speaking. The air is released only through your nose.

If there is some mucus right there, obviously do not allow yourself to

choke. The goal is to not allow any more CO2 to escape than necessary.

[Remember the more you cough, the more CO2 you release, the more

mucus you produce, the more you cough.]

Within a short time of not coughing, and practicing shallow breathing

[which we will learn later it simply traps more CO2 in.], you will notice

the tickle has gone.


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A little story about this relates to my partners father. He at one time

was the caretaker of quarters for temporary accommodation for children.

He had a simple rule that said that No-one is allowed to be ill. He is a

caring old marshmallow, but could give the impression of a stern militaryman. In their efforts to please him, the children would suppress their

asthmatic [at that time called bronchitis] cough. Within a short time even

the urge to cough would be gone, and the child would have seemingly

grown out of it.

Coughing is often a very simple and effective way to get affection and

attention for children. The mechanism is unconscious, but all they have to

do is increase their breathing or run around madly with uncontrolled

breathing, and the coughing or wheezing will start.

You may have seen children who become upset, carry on for a while,

and then develop a really excellent asthmatic attack. This is real asthma,

not psychosomatic, it can be dangerous and is often fatal.

There is a childrens instructional chapter that has been added to this

manual. The rules are simple. They are not allowed to cough [the dry

asthmatic cough], and must be very still and reduce their breathing just as

the adults learn to do. A very effective asthma stopper in children is be

very still, place their forefinger under their nose, and breathe in and out insuch small breaths that they can hardly feel the air from their nose on their

finger. [Breathe like a tiny little mouse] In a short time the attack will

abate.

Obviously, you must use common sense in an emergency, and follow

any medical regime outlined for the child. This technique should be learned

by the child in a non-emergency, and be used at the first sign of any

problems, to totally avoid the emergency situation.

In a large number of my personal cases, all that was required is anexplanation to the child of the cause of the problem, a short practice on

what to do if their throat gets tickley, and the general strict instructions to

Keep your mouth closed and Dont Cough. [Unless they are choking.]

This one session is often sufficient to stop all symptoms of asthma. How to

clear a blocked nose to allow nasal breathing is covered later.


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Point Summary of theCause of Asthma

Our bodies use oxygen and produce carbon dioxide when we

consume energy. For our bodies to function we must have certain levels of

both oxygen and carbon dioxide. Just as with oxygen, if carbon dioxide

levels get too low we will die.

If the mechanism that controls our breathing level gets unbalanced, it

will cause us to breathe more than the amount that would keep our carbondioxide levels safe. Remember we breathe out carbon dioxide rich air, and

breathe in air that is poor in carbon dioxide. So the more we breathe, the

more carbon dioxide we release. If we release more than we produce

our level in the body drops. If it drops too far we will die.

To help stop this potentially fatal loss of CO2, some of us have the

ability to automatically restrict our breathing by having our airpipes either

constrict or be filled with mucus. Both of these will reduce the amount of

air we breathe, and therefore trap in more CO2. Your asthma is not a

disease, it is a defence against losing too much CO2 from breathing toodeeply.

An extra bonus comes from the realization that your nose, throat and

sinus cavity are part of your airways. If you experience a blockage or

excess mucus production in these areas, think why. If it occurred to you

that the cause of blocked, runny, itchy noses or congested sinus is the same

as asthma, you would be correct.

In fact if we consider asthma to be any response from your body which

will help reduce an excess loss of CO2 from the body, then hay fever, sinus,

post nasal drip, polyps are all forms of asthma. Think about snoring as

well. Your body is simply trying to help you breathe less.

The next section is learning a simple technique that will help you

estimate your own CO2 levels.


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CHAPTER 2 Estimating Your Breathing Level

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How To Estimate Your

Own Breathing Level

I

n this section we are going to learn a simple technique which will allow

you to measure your breathing health any time you like for free. Before

we start with that, a brief story about breathing.

The information in this manual is from the research of Professor

Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, an eminent scientist and doctor still working

in Moscow.

His early study as a medical student meant a project which involved

measuring the breathing of fatally ill patients. His project was to measure

their breathing as they approached death. This task, which seems like a

ghoulish thing to ask a young man to do, gave Buteyko the direction for his

lifes work.

His measurements showed that the closer the people got to death, the

deeper their breathing became. It got to the point where Buteyko could

predict with great accuracy the time of death, from days before simply

by measuring their breathing. It seemed odd to him at the time that the deep

breathing he was seeing on deathbeds was identical to that being promoted

at the time [and still today by some misguided experts] to developGOOD

health.

His later research asked perfectly healthy subjects to breathe deeply for

a period of time. All of them became dizzy, nauseous, and developed

symptoms such as wheeziness and coughing, and eventually passed out.

The accepted theory at that time was that it was caused by oxygen

saturation of the brain.

It was Buteykos research over the next decade, along with Bohr, that

has changed the accepted theory. If you now ask any good medical

student why these subjects responded in this way, they will say it is


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hyperventilation [Breathing too much]. They will say that hyperventila-

tion will cause an excess loss of CO2, which will cause constriction of

blood and air pipes, changes to the pH of the body, affect the nervous

system, and produce low oxygen levels. If continued it will lead to death,just as in Buteykos first project.

This was confirmed by the work an English scientist called Henderson.

He designed an experiment that mechanically force dogs to hyperventilate

[over breathe]. The changes to the gases were as predicted, and the dogs

died awfully.

The lesson is as Buteyko succinctly puts it The more deeply you

breathe, the closer you are to death.

Lets now learn the simple measurement technique and what it means.

The Buteyko Measurement Pause

This is a simple way to determine the setting on your breathostat.

By holding your breath you immediately begin to trap in all of the CO2

you produce. When you have trapped in more CO2 than your breathostat is

used to, it will make you have a desire to take a breath and release some

CO2.

The key is to measure how long it takes for you to feel youwant to take

a breath. This is not a measurement of how long you can hold on for. If

you hold too long, the measurement will be inaccurate. You will know

when you have held too long because your breathing after you release your

nostrils, will be labored and you will gasp a bit. A simple way to check is

to watch yourself in a mirror. If you look stressed when you release youhave held too long.

The other important key to this technique is that you should always start

with your breathing in the same place. You should be comfortable, your

lungs not full or empty. A simple routine to get to this point is to take a

normal [dont overfill] breath in, then a gentle breath out.


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To get an idea of the sensation of where the starting point is, sit straight

in your chair, breathe in gently and push your belly out, then relax your

belly. When you relax your belly there is a slight exhalation, almost like

a sigh. You can use this procedure to start your pause.

If you have any difficulty getting started an alternative is to breathe in

gently for the count of 3, then out gently for the count of 2.

While you are holding your breathyou must pinch your nostrils closed,

or the gases will diffuse, and the measurement will be affected.

So here is the procedure.

The Measurement Pause

1. Breathe in gently, not overfilling.

2. Release a small gentle breath,

3. Pinch your nostrils closed, and hold your breath. Note the second hand

on your clock.

4. Hold only until you feel slight desire to take a breath.5. Release your nostrils, and allow your breathing to begin. Note the time.

The first few times you do this measurement, it is likely you will hold a

few seconds too long, as you will not be certain when to stop. With a few

practices you will become more sensitive to the sensation of a slight

shortage of air, which is what your breathostat makes you feel when you

have reached your normal CO2 level.

It often helps to view this measurement graphically.

A gentle in breath can be represented by an upward line:

The little outbreath that follows as a downward line :


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The time of breath-holding can be represented by a horizontal line, ie no

breathing:

When you feel a slight discomfort and want a breath, you allow the in

breath, and the breathing is not disrupted. ie it is about the same size, with

no stress.

The time in seconds from A to B is the Measurement Pause.

If you hold on too long, you will need to gasp, and your breathing will

be greatly increased. If you find you have done this and your breathing is

increased, then control your breathing and do not allow it to waste yourCO2, or you may find yourself having asthma. The following diagram

represents the WRONG way:

Holding on too long causes disruption to the breathing which isincreased. With a little practice the breathing after is the same as before.

Activity

You should stop reading now and do a measurement

pause if you have not already done so.

A CB

A B


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The Meaning of the Measurement PauseThe measurement pause measures the time in seconds it takes to trap in the

amount of CO2 which just exceeds your normal setting.

The length of the pause has been correlated with laboratory testing and is

consistent.

The following table gives the measurements. Remember 6.5% CO2 in your

lungs to close to the ideal.

Measurement Pause CO2 in Lungs [Alveoli]

60 Seconds 6.5%

30 Seconds 5.0%

20 Seconds 4.5%

15 Seconds 4.0%

10 Seconds 3.5%

Less than 10 Secs Less than 3.5%

Examples

If your measurement pause is 22 seconds, your CO2 will be just over 4.5%

If your measurement pause is 8 seconds, your CO2 will be less than 3.5%


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How To Calculate How Much Too

Deeply You Are BreathingIt is a simple calculation to work out by what factor you are

overbreathing. Divide 60 by your pause and multiply by 100%. For

example a pause of 30 gives 200%. This means you breathing enough for

two people. If your pause is 60, your factor is 100%, which is just right. If

your pause is 5 seconds, your factor is 60/5 x 100% equals 1200% or

deeply enough for 12 people. [Note that as the time gets really smaller

this estimation gets less accurate. Just be aware that whether it is 5 or 10

times too much it is far too much!]

[If your pause is that low then you are very unwell, and if you are not

suffering symptoms of asthma, then review the Appendix Other Effects

Of Chronic Low CO2.]

As a general comparison, if you were to eat two or four or twelve

times as much as you physically need, what would happen to you? Would

you be healthy?

Your Lungs Are Like The

Carburetor On A Car

Another analogy is to compare your breathing to a carburetor on a

motor. A carburetor is the device which controls the mixture of gases for a

motor. You will know that when the mixture is wrong, the motor will run

poorly or not at all. If it does run with a non-ideal mixture, the power will

be reduced, the economy reduced, backfiring will occur, and the life of the

engine will be reduced. The only thing that can improve this is to correct

the mixtures by adjusting the carburetor.

It is the same with your lungs. If you have the wrong mixture of

gases in your lungs, your body will have low power, use too much fuel, will

backfire, and will wear out much sooner. All you have to do is tune your

carburetor. That is what Buteyko is going to teach you to do. Your

respiratory centre or breathostat is the carburetor for your lungs.


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CHAPTER 3 Using Your Nose & Mouth

- Page 23 -

Your Nose Is For Breathing

Your Mouth Is For Eating

T

here are several reasons why it is obvious that your nose is designed

to be breathed through. Firstly, your nose is like an air conditioner

for your lungs. Air that passes through your nose on the way to your

lungs is filtered by the nose. Your nose will massively reduce the amount

of dust, pollens, bacteria, virus, or anything else that is floating in the air.

These things would cause major problems if there were allowed to

flow straight down into the lungs. The nose is designed to handle them. It

is your first line of defense. If you breathe through your mouth you do not

use these defenses.

Secondly, in this airconditioner, the air that is brought to your lungs

via your nose has been in your body slightly longer, and so is brought closerto your body temperature. Your lungs do not like temperature extremes.

Nose breathing reduces the problem.

Your airconditioner also works to increase the humidity of the air

that reached your lungs. Your lungs like the air to be clean, not too hot or

cold, and very humid. Air that is taken in via the mouth is far drier on

reaching the lungs than air via the nose.

Dry Lungs

It is probably this information about the lungs needing moistened air

that led to earlier theories of asthma based on the lungs drying out, and

the development of vaporizers which are designed to put moisture in the

air in your house or room to stop this drying out. These machines do

appear to have a small impact, but only if you breathe through your mouth.

If you breathe through your nose, you have an automatic humidifier built in,

and do not need them.


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This moisture factor was also believed for a while to be why

asthmatics who took up swimming often benefited, whereas running or

jogging less frequently seemed to help. This has been debunked now by

further research.

Of course, you and I now understand why swimming is more likely

to reduce asthma it alters your breathing pattern. You have to stop

breathing for a while when your face is underwater, plus because you are

burning

energy, you are producing more CO2, so you can train your breathostat to

accept a slightly higher level. Swimming does not appear to help some

asthmatics probably because they overbreathe even more as they swim.

The other reason that your nose is for breathing is that because thenasal passages are far smaller than your mouth, you are forced to breathe

less. You have to work a lot harder to overbreathe with your mouth closed.

You can still do it, it is just a little harder. In addition, nasal breathing

allows the extra defense of the swelling of your nasal passages to reduce the

airflow. The only reason you nose blocks up is because the shortage of

CO2 causes the smooth vessels to swell, just the same as in asthma.

If you keep your mouth closed, your nose will help reduce your

airflow for you.

Note:

Your nose will not block completely

unless your mouth is open.

It may whistle and carry on, but remember the more it is blocked, the

more CO2 is trapped in, which will tell it to open again.

If you are experiencing a blocked or partially blocked nose now,

experiment with your breathing to make it get more blocked [release CO2

by breathing more deeply at the same speed].

Then, make it get less blocked by breathing less deeply, or just hold

your breath for several seconds [pinch your nostrils closed] longer than is

comfortable and breathing as little as possible through your nose after you

breathe.


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In brief, all you have to do is trap in more CO2 than you release, just

as you will do to stop asthma.

If your nose being blocked is preventing you from closing yourmouth and becoming a healthier nasal breather right now, then unblock it

with the following procedure. Then keep your mouth closed! When you

first convert from a mouth-breather, you may find that it feels like you are

not getting enough air. This is a good sign, and means will benefit almost

immediately. Simply put up with it, it will pass as you progress into your

shallow breathing exercises.

Be aware of yourself trying to sneak a mouth breath by chewing a

pencil or a finger, or yawning more than a couple of times. If you do startto yawn madly and repeatedly, repress it a little and keep your mouth

closed. An occasional yawn is to be enjoyed stretch and make a good

yawning noise it is good for stress relief.

To unblock your nose right now. You need some extra CO2, so after

a small out breath, pinch your nostrils closed and hold your breath. [Your

mouth is obviously closed at this time.] Hold until about 5 seconds after

you have developed the feeling that you want to take a breath [not need a

breath], release your nostrils and allow only a little breathing to occur

through your nose. Keep the CO2 in! It will be at least a tiny bit clearer. Ifit is still very blocked, repeat the process several times with about 5 seconds

between each hold. Really restrict your breathing. Be like a statue and

dont move. [Keep your mouth closed!]

It may block up again as your breathing tries to increase to its

previous level, but that is OK, just repeat the procedure. All you have to do

is trap in a little more of the CO2 you are producing inside you.

A different way to do this is to keep breathing at the same level but

increase your CO2 production. You can do this by standing, and without

increasing your breathing, march on the spot. In a very short time you will

feel your nose starting to clear, once it is clear, stop and restrict your

breathing to keep the CO2 in.

If you become breathless while marching, stop and reduce your

breathing it will mean you have unconsciously increased your breathing,

and have actually lost more CO2.


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Goodbye To Nasal Sprays and Pills

You now have the ability to unblock your nose at any time

without drugs or surgery. If you follow why it blocks up, you can

reverse the process. The same procedure will also dry it up.

The Best Reason To Keep

Your Mouth Closed

The final reason that you should breathe through your nose is most

important reason to many. I find that the most compelling reason for

teenagers and children is how you look when you wander around with your

mouth hanging open.

Take a moment now to think about the movies. In a good young

peoples movie there will be a good guy, a main bad guy, and usually a

herd of not-too-bright assistant bad guys. The main goodie and baddieare smarter, and the actors who play them will keep their mouths shut.

However, the actors who play the dumb ones will automatically begin to

mouth-breathe. We will automatically subconsciously associate a lower

intellect with an mouth hanging open.

Try it yourself. Pretend you are really stupid. Is your mouth open or

closed? Now be cool [or whatever the current word is Rad? Kewl? ],

and close your mouth........or look dumb.


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CHAPTER 4 Stopping Asthma

- Page 27 -

Stopping Asthma

The Simple Answer

This section will give the instructions on the most effective way tocorrect your breathing. It is quite a long chapter, and covers the

roles of relief and steroid medications first. It is important to

understand how the drugs work, and fit into a rational approach to stopping

your need for the defense of asthma.

The key point here is to recognize that the only way you can get

asthma is by first breathing too much, which causes you to lose too much

CO2, which in turn causes your body to defend itself by forcing you to

breath less.

Therefore there are two steps involved in being free of symptoms.

The first is to learn to stop an individual asthma attack by trapping in more

CO2. This involves following some general guidelines to follow which

combine breathing and your relief drugs which gives a very rapid decrease

in the need for relief drugs.

The second step is to reset your breathostat or respiratory centre to

a level which automatically gives you a healthy level of breathing, and the

right mix of gases in your body. This is the tuning of your carburetor.

Important warning over page.


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The Drugs of Asthma

Warning and Disclaimer: Any and all advice, explicit orimplied in this book or tape, is general information only. No alteration

to any drug, or other treatment regime, should be undertaken without

first obtaining medical advice. This information is designed to be used

under medical supervision only. Do not alter your own drug program

without checking with your doctor.

It is up to each reader to comply with any federal, state or local

laws. The authors, publishers, and distributors of this package

expressly disclaim any liability for the use or non-use of the information

contained herein.

Before we go over the strategy to stop your asthma attacks, we need

to first review the role of drugs. There are two basic classes of drugs. The

general categories are Relief and Preventative.

1. Relief drugs

The majority of this class are the bronchodilators. You will know

that bronchus means airpipe, and that dilate means to open up. So

in the simplest sense, these drugs work to open your airways. They are

chemicals which, when detected by special detector cells in your airpipe,

simply instruct the pipe to open. These drugs can be taken by inhalation,

which means spraying and breathing them into your airpipe, where they act

quickly and effectively.

They can also be taken orally as a tablet or syrup, which eventuallyreleases them into the blood stream, and finally to the lungs where they take

effect.

In emergencies, bronchodilators can also be injected.

The majority of asthmatics rely on a class of drugs called beta-

agonists. The most common of these inhaled drugs is salbutamol, known

as Ventolin [or variations of this]. Other drugs of this type include


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terbutaline, fenoterol, and dozens of slight variations. Some of this class of

drugs have been engineered to produce a longer lasting effect. These

include ipratropium bromide (Atrovent), and salmeterol xinafoate

(Serevent).

As doctors meet with failure to control symptoms, it is usual to add

more and more of these drugs to your regime. It is simplest to break the

drugs into length and effectiveness of action categories. If you are on a

drug that is not listed, ask your medical advisor to guide you.

Due to the way that these chemicals are marketed in different parts of theworld, there are hundreds of different brand names for the same chemicals. Do

not be confused with the classification of drugs like Serevent [salmeterol]. If the

action is to hold the airpipes open, rather than to make them less likely to close [as

with steroids], then class them as a bronchodilator.

Salbutamol

inhaled through puffer

or nebuliser

Strong effect, works very

quickly

Drug Name

Speed and

Effectiveness of

Action

Length of

Action

Short-acting,

about 4 hours

Ipratropium bromide

inhaled

Theophylline tablet

Salmeterol

Xinafoate

Strong effect, works very

quicklyShort-acting,

about 4 hours

Weak effect, works

medium quickly

Medium

about 6 to 8 hours

Very weak effect,

slow to act

Varies

Medium to strong effect,

very slow to act

Long acting. Lasts up

to 12 hours.

Terbutaline inhaled


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What Relief Drugs Are

Actually Doing To You

You now recognize that the closing of your airpipes is basically your

bodys defense against the lowering CO2 levels caused by you breathing

more than is appropriate for the amount of physical work you are doing. It

is your defense against your releasing more CO2 than you produce.

So when you suck these chemicals into your airpipes, their powerful

effect over-rides your defense, and allows you to breathe as deeply as your

breathostat wants you to. It is a great feeling of relief when the airpipes are

pushed open again, and you are able to go back to breathing many timesmore air than you need. Aaaahhhhhhhh.

If you use a drug with a long action, you can breathe as much as you

want all day. Almost no restriction at all. The only problem is that after a

while, it may be days, weeks or years, your defenses will start to get a bit

more serious about stopping the CO2 loss [which it knows is fatal].

An Example of the Development of Severe Asthma

Lets follow the development of a typical asthmatic. Lets say he had

a cough [bronchitis] during childhood, and probably some hay fever. As a

teenager, the cough reduced, but was replaced by a restriction in his

breathing, usually very early in the morning, or when he exercised.

A worried parent took him to the doctor, who did various measure-

ments, and said Asthma!. The shame of this was hidden, and the

teenager instructed on the use of a puffer [lets say relief-puffer]. At

the start, all it took was two puffs, every now and then, say twice a week,and the wheeze disappeared like magic. Not too bad.

Later in the same year, the winter was quite nasty. He found he

needed to use the puffer more and more. His mother, having read about the

increased death rate associated with high use of puffers returned him to the

doctor. Ahh. said the doctor wisely, we will need to introduce a

preventative puffer, as this has been shown to reduce the death rate that

had apparently risen because of the increased use of the relief-type puffer.


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He had to take the preventative puffer every morning and night. Is this for

the rest of his life asked his mother? Very likely, but well see said the

doctor.

Despite the new puffer, he began to get more and more tight, more

and more often. The two puffs of relief puffer no longer worked well

enough, so they bought a machine that sprayed the chemical out of a mask

he wore on his face. This gave pretty good relief, but on some days he

needed it 3 or 4 times. He was a large teenager, so he received the full adult

dose, and made sure he used all of it. [Note: .1 puff of relief puffer is 1/

10,000th of a gram. A full nebule of relief puffer is 50/10,000th of a gram.

So one nebule is equal to 50 puffs, but a lot gets out of the sides so lets say

its equal to 25 puffs from the relief puffer.]

Mother is getting very worried now, has been back to the doctor, who

has doubled the dose of preventative puffer and referred them to a

pulmonologist. This doctor sees mostly asthma, and is considered the

best in the area. He immediately does more tests involving mostly huffing

and puffing, and puts our lad onto 50mg of oral steroids per day, for 6 days,

then on a reducing amount. This reduces the asthma, and two weeks later,

only puffers are needed. A few weeks later, it all starts again.

The family learn to live with it, and have some periods of goodhealth. Their pulmonologist sees them every month, and gets hold of new

drugs earlier for them to try. Which work for a while, but then seem to fail.

A trip to the emergency ward is made about twice a year.

Then, after 8 years, the family moves to a different area near the

beach. The lad takes up surfing, and within 1 week the asthma has stopped.

A call to their pulmonologist gets the reply that this happens quite often,

they seem to just grow out of it.

This story illustrates how the amount of relief medication neededusually increases with time in many people. Others never need much more

that a couple of puffs a day.

What is really happening? Your overbreathing pattern is causing you

to lose more and more CO2 from your lungs. When it gets low enough,

your body acts to trap more in. When you feel this restriction, it feels

unpleasant and you feel you are not getting enough air. The bronchodilator

you take tells the airpipes to open up.[Turns off your defense, and stops it


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for about 4 hours.] This means that you can return to the breathing that

caused your need for the defense in the first place. If your breathing has not

improved when the drug wears off, your defense will start again. You will

want more drugs, to improve your airflow again.

Over a period of time, this will cause you to need more and more of

the drug, as your body becomes more resistant to it. Where one puff per

day was enough before, you may start to need many more puffs, plus the

addition of other drugs. If this loop continues without an improvement

[decrease] in your breathing, your body will work harder and harder to stop

the CO2 loss, until the point where hospitalization is needed because your

airpipes no longer respond at all to your drugs.

Buteyko Strategy

The Buteyko strategy is to use your breathing to trap in more CO2 at

the first sign of asthma, and after a short time use your fast acting, short

acting drugs then only if needed. The activity here involves the use of an

exercise called shallow breathing, which is an easy way to trap in more

CO2. Shallow breathing is covered in the next chapter.

The Buteyko Method has found the best way to use relief drugs is to

use them only for the purpose they were first designed to relieve an

attack. If you are on a regime where you are taking bronchodilators as

routine rather than according to need, please see your doctor and discuss it.

If you are taking these drugs when you do not need them you are taking

more than you need, and you will never be able to be free of them.

We will later describe a strategy which has a 99% success rate for

asthma, which relies on using your relief drugs only when you need them,

and after youhave tried to use your natural bronchodilator carbon

dioxide first.

If you are taking long acting drugs such as Serevent, remain on the

same dose until your need for supplementary short acting dilators is almost

nil. Ie you need no salbutamol for example. After this time ask your

doctor to reduce it slightly. If symptoms occur on the lowered dose, use

your breathing and short-acting drugs to relieve them. Do not reduce the

Serevent again until you are symptomless again. Then repeat the reduction.


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Use the same process for the newer drugs like Accolate. Allow little

symptoms to break through so you can use your breathing [plus short acting

bronchodilators, if needed ] to relieve them.

If your regime includes the drug Ipratropium [Atrovent], it is best to

ask your doctor to simply stop it. This may mean that you could require

slightly more of your short-acting reliever in the short term, but because of

your use of the breathing it is unlikely. [This drug is usually an add-on,

and given to patients only because there appears little else to try. It is weak,

has additional side effects, and will confuse your recovery program.]

The other group of drugs which need to be mentioned are the oral

bronchodilators. The most common of these is theophylline, although it is

used less and less these days because it is weak, has awful side effects, andthe dosage needed is only just less than a toxic dose. Again it is usually an

add-on, when no other options are seen. This drug is best reduced slowly,

no more than 25% per day. As with Serevent it should be reduced only as

the condition improves. Follow your doctors advice. You should not

continue on this drug if you have no symptoms. It is a bronchodilator, and

should only be used for relief not prevention.

2. Preventative Drugs

The second general category of drugs is preventatives. This

includes all steroids plus those with antihistamine type actions. They act

locally to reduce the ability of the airpipe to constrict, as well as systemi-

cally to produce a different effect.

The majority of people asked about steroids believe they are

dangerous, have terrible side effects, and you are better off without them.

The side effects include degeneration of skin and bone tissue, weightvariations, and blindness. This negative outlook is mainly the result of the

way that steroid doses are determined, plus the impact of the general press.

A more accurate reality is that our bodies are full to the brim with

steroids, when we are completely healthy. They are a vital part of our

body chemistry. Steroids include most of the hormones in your body. They

include the majority of the active chemicals in your body. If you have the

right amount of steroids, you will be healthy. If you have either too little or

too much of any steroid you will have problems.


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The appropriate way to think about the use of steroids in asthma is to

view them as a supplement to your own production. In very simplified

terms, one of the effects of low CO2 on your body chemistry is to change

the pH. With this slight change, the organs responsible for your usualproduction [such as your adrenals], produce less than you need. Two

effects of this are the extra sensitivity of your airpipes in responding to

allergens, plus the allergic skin problems that often occur alongside

asthma. You will know that the application of steroid cream to an allergic

rash reduces the swelling quickly, but continued use [or overdose] causes

changes in the skin texture.

Similarly, the use of inhaled steroids is useful as a preventative for

asthma attacks. The placing of the steroid on the inside of your airpipe

makes it less sensitive, and therefore less likely to react, and therefore youwill need less bronchodilator. [This is good because of the apparent

increase in risk as you use more and more bronchodilators. The use of

inhaled steroids allows you to need less bronchodilator medication.] There

is no suggestion here that inhaled steroids alter the internal texture of your

airpipes.

In terms of the overall steroid production shortage, the use of inhaled

steroids is not usually enough because of the low doses involved. The dose

is so low that there is almost no effect on steroid levels except in theimmediate area [the airpipes].

As the CO2 levels get lower and lower with increasingly severe

asthma, the production of steroids gets lower and lower. The shortfall in

the amount needed for health gets larger and larger. This is seen as

increased asthma, despite the use of the inhaled steroids. There is simply

not enough.

In these cases, the use of oral steroids in far greater doses, makes up

for the shortfall in production. The main steroid that is in deficit iscortisone. Usually your adrenal glands produce all you need. If you

supplement your production with man-made cortisone [or variants of it with

longer life in the body than human cortisone], the hypersensitivity of your

body decreases, and you are able to reduce your breathing level. This in

turn allows your blood chemistry to change, and your own adrenal cortisone

factories to increase production again.


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The problem of side effects occurs because people are prescribed

more steroids than they are short of. So they end up with too much in their

body. This helps to reduce the asthma quickly, but also quickly begins to

affect other processes in the body such as bone formation. If the overdosecourse of steroids is continued for a period of time, this becomes a serious

problem.

For example, assume you are a severe asthmatic, and upon seeing

your doctor it is decided that oral steroids are needed. Chances are that

your doctor will start you on quite a high dose, and then reduce over time.

Lets say you were the equivalent of 14 milligrams of cortisone short. You

are given a starting dose of 50 milligrams. This means that you are

overdosing by 36 milligrams. This will make you swell up, feel awful, and

if continued serious problems like osteoporosis may occur. [It even has theability to apparently cause schizophrenia.]

Lets review that. Your body normally produces heaps and heaps of

steroids. This is good and necessary. When your chemistry is altered by

continued overbreathing and the lowered CO2, there are changes in the

body fluids which affect your glands. Less steroid is produced than you

need, and your body becomes hypersensitive, and reducing your

breathing becomes almost impossible. You will continue to deteriorate until

the shortfall in your steroid level is made up. If you take more steroids thanyou need, the extra amount will cause the side effects that have made

people believe in the past that steroids are bad for you.

The ideal would be to take only the exact amount of steroids you are

short of. It is very difficult to recover unless you have at least this amount.

The goal is to have this amount and no more. There is a suggested process

to this, but as it is not relevant to the majority of asthma sufferers it is

covered in Appendix 3 Steroid Supplementation.

Note: Just because you have asthma does not

mean you have a steroid deficit.

It is a problem in only severe patients and not all of them.


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Strategy for Preventative Drugs

The simple strategy for preventative drugs is that if you are stable on

your inhaled drugs, stay on them until you have had no symptoms of asthma

for at least a month. At that time see your doctor, and follow their advice

on gradual reduction. Because the actual doses in inhaled steroids are so

low, there is no downside to their use, and their presence will make

reducing your breathing a little easier.

If you are on oral steroids, please study Appendix 3 carefully, and

ask your doctor to assist you to follow the strategy suggested there. Do not

alter your dosages of any steroid medication without medical advice. Until

your own steroid factories are back in full production it is better to have a

little extra than be a little short.

How To Use Buteyko

To Stop An Asthma Attack

Do these steps at the first sign of yourattack if possible it is easier to avoid an attack

than to conquer a full blown one.

Step 1. Think WHY your breathing is being restricted or extra

mucus being produced. There is only one answer. Your body wants you to

breathe less.

Step 2. Do shallow breathing at Moderate Shallowness as shown

in the next chapter for 5 minutes. Resist the urge to cough, or if you

absolutely must cough keep your mouth closed to minimize the CO2 loss.

Step 3. Do a Measurement Pause, followed by another 5 minutes of

Moderate Shallow Breathing.

Step 4. Take one puff only of your short fast acting bronchodilator

[eg salbutamol] if you need it. [If you do not need it, dont take it. ]

Followed by 5 more minutes of moderate shallow breathing. The shallow

breathing will improve the effectiveness of the drug.(GO OVER PAGE)


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Step 5. Only if needed, take another single puff of your reliever.

Followed by another 5 minutes of shallow breathing.

Step 6. If you are still unimproved, proceed to use your nebuliser[atomizer] loaded with your short acting reliever [e.g. salbutamol] only.

Use the machine only until you have relief. As soon as you have relief,

remove the mask from your face as you need no more of the drug. Do not

finish it if you do not need it.

Other rules:

If the onset of your attack is so fast and severe that you usually go

straight to the nebuliser machine, use your discretion when doing your

breathing exercises. Ie try the steps above, but if you are out of controlsimply try some breathing first, try the puffers, and then the machine.

Remember the goal is to try to use your natural bronchodilator CO2

instead of the chemical one. If you have to go the machine sooner,

remember to stop as soon as you have relief. Then do your shallow

breathing to supplement the drug with your CO2. As you spend time doing

your breathing practice, you will find that the attacks become less frequent

and severe. They will require less and less drug to relieve them.

There will be a great day when you overcome the attack without any

drugs. To get to this day, you must follow the steps. You must try the

breathing first, then the drugs only if needed. If you take the drug

immediately you feel the attack starting, you will never learn to stop it with

your breathing.

Remember it is best to try and stop it before it gets too hard. Do

your breathing at the first sign.

There are no points for not taking the drugs when you need them andbeing miserable or taking unnecessary risks. Simply follow the steps. If

after the first two steps you are not greatly improved, go to the next step,

use the drug.

Your progress is assured without need for heroics or extra stress.

There is no rush. All you have to remember is to use the Buteyko breathing

first, then the drug. Soon you will need less drug, and then no drugs, then

no attacks, so you will need no moderate level shallow breathing. Just


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follow the steps.

Do not take any unnecessary risks. If you know you are really in

trouble, do whatever is necessary to save your life, go the hospital orwhatever you do in an emergency. You can work your way clear of asthma

a little later, but only if you are alive. The hospital is a good place to

practice your shallow breathing if that is where you should be.

Note that the instructions say to take one single puff, not two puffs of

your reliever medication. You may only need one puff, if you automatically

take two, you will never know. You can take the extra puff a few minutes

later if you do need it.

Check with your doctor before altering any drug regime. He orshe may not be very happy with this approach, but if they are worth keeping

as your doctor, they will be extremely interested and will support your

decision and give you extra observation or care to ensure you do not get

into into difficulties.


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CHAPTER 5 Shallow Breathing To Tune Your Body

- Page 39 -

Shallow Breathing To

Tune Your Body

W

e are now at the position where we can discuss more exactly the

process that if followed will normalize your breathing. We have

seen in earlier chapters that our breathostat or respiratory centre

has somehow become set at the wrong level.

How did they become set at the wrong level? One major factor is the

false idea of the usefulness of deep breathing, which is often combined with

deep breathing exercises. A big long deep breath with a good stretch is

good to relax. If you do it repeatedly, it will turn your breathostat the

wrong way.

Another factor which increases breathing intensity is over eating,

especially high protein. Protein will increase your depth of breathingconsiderably. Animal proteins in particular are capable of producing

powerful changes. If we use dairy products as an example, we can see the

effect of all foods.

It is commonly known that consumption of milk products tends to

promote the formation of mucus. This is almost correct. What happens is

that the milk causes an increase in the depth of breathing, which in turn

causes a loss of CO2. We now know that reduced CO2 will tell the mucus

factories [glands] in our airpipes and sinus cavity to produce more mucus.

So the problem is not with the poor cow, but simply that the high protein

levels cause an increase in breathing.

Since the industrial revolution the amount of protein consumed has

steadily increased, along with so called diseases like asthma and hyperten-

sion.

Other factors that increase the breathing include lack of physical work,

narcotics, and exposure to many chemical agents.


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As your breathostat is exposed to greater levels of breathing and lower

CO2 levels, it becomes conditioned to a lower level. Then further deep

breathing, perhaps as part of a fitness or health training, can turn it even

lower. This training effect continues until such a low breathostat level isreached that your body takes defensive action to avoid a catastrophe. In

asthmatics it restricts the breathing.

It is a relatively simple strategy to reset your breathostat by exposing it

to higher levels of CO2 than it is used to. This is the opposite of the

approach which lowered the breathostat CO2 level, which was to expose it

to lower levels of CO2.

We want an approach that will:

a. Be easy and comfortable to do,b. Be able to be done anywhere by anyone,

c. Be combined with other tasks so we do not need to take time from

your busy day.

The most effective way to do this is to use an indirect approach. This

means not trying to control the size or length of holding of each breath, as

that requires huge concentration and very careful training. It does mean

using simple muscle relaxation which will make the depth of breathing less,

and requires no control of the rate of breathing which is difficult.

The key instruction is simple and short.

Shallow Breathing is:

A gradual reduction in the depth of breathing,

by relaxing the diaphragm and breathing muscles,

until a tiny shortage of air is felt

and then maintained.


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There are several key points. The first is that we are reducing the depth

of breathing. When we do this the frequency or rate at which we breathe

increases by itself. This is correct, and the rate should not be interfered

with. That would be direct control of the breathing, which is far harder tomaintain, and usually leads to a huge shortage of air which is followed by

gasping. This is not the goal. So reduce the depth only.

The next point is that the way we do it is by relaxing the breathing

muscles, not holding them. The more relaxed they are the morestill you

become. The more still you become the less deeply you can breathe. [If

you become still by holding or tensing you will develop sharp pains in your

ribs as the muscles complain.]

The other key point is that our goal is to develop a training that can bedone anywhere, is comfortable so it will not be avoided, and can be

combined with other tasks. The way to this goal is to allow only atiny

shortage of air to develop. It is all that you need. If it feels awful and

suffocating you have created a large shortage, and should relax and start

again. If you feel no shortage at all, become more and more still until you

do.

As part of this process, recognize that there is no rule that says you have

to be breathing all the time. If you find yourself breathing away with noreal need or desire to stop.

An alternative way to start your shallow breathing is to do a measure-

ment pause without holding your nose. This really means that you stop

breathing until you feel a tiny shortage of air. All you have to do then is

be relaxed and still enough to maintain that shortage.

Am I Doing It Properly?

This is the most common and natural question. You are shallow

breathing if you feel a tiny shortage of air, and you are comfortable. A

shortage of air is a sensation that you would like to take an extra breath, but

to maintain the shortage do not. If you are suffocating, you have too great a

shortage remember unless it feels comfortable, you will not do it enough

and will get poor results.

If you feel no shortage of air you are not doing it!

This is very important!


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A Slightly Greater Shortage

of Air To Relieve Symptoms

One way to get the feeling of a small shortage of air is to develop a

moderate shortage so you can recognize it. To get a moderate shortage,

pinch your nostrils, stop breathing until a few seconds after you definitely

want a breath. Ie hold for a few seconds longer than is comfortable, and

keep your breathing as small as possible when you do breathe. Maintain

this feeling of being a bit more suffocated.

You can actually feel the extra CO2 making you want to breathe more,

but dont.

Use this the level of moderate shortage shallow breathing when

trapping in extra CO2 to relieve symptoms.

The Everyday Training.

The goal is to recondition your respiratory centre to maintain higher

levels of CO2 in your lungs. You do that by exposing this breathostat toslightly higher levels of CO2 for as much of the day as possible. So right

from the start, combine this breathing where you have only a tiny shortage

of air, with other tasks. Whenever you read, drive a car, work at a desk, talk

to your friends, go for a walk, have a shower, or do anything at all, reduce

your breathing while you do it.

Make it habit whenever you get into your car, reduce your breathing.

Open a magazine, reduce. Put the kettle on, reduce. After a time it is

automatic.

As you read through this manual, develop a tiny shortage of air. [Just

stop breathing and wait, when you feel the little shortage, allow your

breathing to continue but less deeply by keeping your chest and gut

muscles still and relaxed. Check at the end of each page that the shortage is

still there. If it has gone, simply re-create it. No problem.

If you go up a flight of stairs, reduce your breathing as you go up, when

you reach the top, reduce a little further for a moment [moderate shortage,


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just as for relieving a symptom.]

As well as this, always do some shallow breathing before sleep and on

waking. At least 20 minutes until you are free of asthma.

Measure Your Progress!

As your breathostat gets used to higher and higher levels of CO2, this

will be reflected in your measurement pause. Your pause will also indicate

your asthma status. When your pause gets above 25 seconds, asthma does

not usually occur. This figure can be as low as 15 for some peoples asthma

to stop. [Mine stopped at 16]

Should I allow my pause to drop that low again, I would develop

symptoms. Your goal with your training is to get your pause to at least 45

seconds. Remember that 60 is the ideal. The higher your pause, the greater

the buffer between you and asthma or other illnesses. The higher your

pause the better your overall health and energy. 60 seconds may seem like a

very long time at the moment, but once you start it will draw closer and

closer.

You will notice that sometimes your pause will jump all over the place.This is normal. It is the trend which is important in the early days. If you

get an unusually high or low pause, just record it and see what the next one

is.

Record Your Progress!

If you are experiencing regular symptoms it is very worthwhile to

conduct formal practice sessions at least until the symptoms have gone.

This is best done morning, afternoon, and night. The formal part is thatyou record your scores. On a blank sheet or in a notebook write the

following columns.

Date/time Pulse Measure Measure Measure Measure Pulse

Pause 1 Pause 2 Pause 3 Pause 4


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The Breathing Workout Workbook is also available. It gives more detail

on how to structure your breathing sessions, plus more breathing tips.

Fill in the date and time, take your pulse, do a measurement pauseand write it in the M.pause1 column. Then shallow breathe for 10 minutes,

then take another measurement pause and write your score in the next box.

Shallow breathe for 10 more minutes, another pause, and so on. If you have

the time do 40 minutes [4 pauses], and finish with another pulse.

If you only have 30 minutes, do only three pauses. Do as much as

you can often as you can until your symptoms are gone. When you are free

of symptoms you can just use your informal training to keep the improve-

ment going, or you can keep doing the formal practice to maintain your

momentum.

Formal practice means your record your scores, and follow the

pattern above. Informal practice is done anytime, anywhere, with no

recording. It is best combined with other activities that you do every day.

eg driving, watching TV, reading, doing the washing. Combine it with

everything!

This is the most important part in the long term. Once you are free

of symptoms your habit of reducing your breathing while doing other thingsis all you will need.

A simplified form of the formal exercise is the following:

Step 1. Take your pulse. [Count the number of beats in 15 seconds,

multiply X 4 ] . Write it down.

Step 2. Do a Measurement Pause. [Normal breath in, the small

unforced breath out, pinch nose, and hold until you want a breath. Time

how long this takes in seconds. And write it down.

Step 3. Shallow breathe [means you want to take a slightly deeper

breath, but continue to take less deep breaths.]

Step 4. Take a Measurement Pause, and write it down.

(TURN TO NEXT PAGE)


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Step 5. Shallow breathe for 10 minutes.


Step 7. Shallow breathe for 10 minutes.


Step 9. Take your pulse again, and write it down.

NOTE: If your condition is severe, then it will be easier for you to do

shallow breathing for 5 minute intervals instead of 10 minute intervals.

Ensure you do not decrease the total time you spend with your formal

practice because of this. Simply have more intervals and MeasurementPauses. As you condition improves, increase the length of interval to at

least 10 minutes.


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CHAPTER 6 Exercise Induced Asthma

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Exercise Induced Asthma

Alarge number of people only get symptoms of asthma during or

after physical exertion. They go up a flight of stairs, or go for a jog

and become breathless.

The key point from this manual is that there is only one way to getasthma. And we know that that is to release more CO2 than we produce.

This causes some of our airpipes to close to prevent further loss, and to

relieve the shortage.

There is no other reason for your pipes to close up.

The use of bronchodilators before exertion is therefore now logically

flawed. You do not need the drug if you can simply be more aware of the

balance of your breathing gases.

First Step

In all physical activities, the rules of breathing remain the same.

1. You should breathe only through your nose.

2. You should never allow yourself to lose control of your breathing, and

start puffing or panting. This will decrease your endurance, reduce your

recovery rate, and also bring on your symptoms. Read the Appendix 2,about the Bohr Effect.

3. Do not consciously increase your breathing to get more air as you

begin any heavy exertion.

In many people the key time for exertion asthma is after the physical

exertion has stopped. At this time, the production of CO2 has almost

dropped to nothing, but the breathing is still going on as if the CO2 was still

being produced at a high level. This means that more CO2 will be released

than is being produced, and a defensive constriction will be needed soon.


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The other time is a few minutes after starting the exercise. This is

usually because the person has increased their breathing in anticipation.

When you begin an exercise, take your time to get started. Do some

shallow breathing during your warm-up, and pay special attention tokeeping your breathing to only just what you need.

When you stop the exertion Stop the breathing

When you get to the top of the stairs, reduce your breathing for a while.

Go to moderate level shallow breathing. Suffocate for a little while. Trap

in some extra CO2. Do not puff.

If you tend to develop restriction during the actual exertion, be more

aware of your breathing, make it a little less.

During the exertion, keep your mouth closed

If you get to point where you want to breathe through your mouth

STOP, reduce your breathing, and continue only after your breathing is

controlled.

Training Your Breathing For Exercise

It is simple to develop the situation where you never get puffed or out of

breath.

The rules are clear.

Start off slowly at low intensity, such as a walk or march.

Your mouth must be closed, and you should develop a very tiny shortage

of air by shallow breathing. [This is very easy when you are walking]

If you start to feel you need to gasp through your mouth, you must stop

immediately, reduce and control your breathing, and only then continue.

Over a few sessions you will find that you can go further and further

without getting puffed. When you can proceed at that intensity for over 15

minutes, you can raise the intensity slightly, but follow the same rules.


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Within a few weeks your endurance will have greatly increased, and you

will able to train easily with your mouth closed, and not get out of breath.

It will only work if you stop just before your lose control of yourbreathing.

If you are a serious or professional athlete, you will know that races or

games are won or lost at training. Combine your new knowledge with your

training sessions. It will mean reducing the intensity at first so that you will

be able to exert with your mouth closed. It takes a very short time [a couple

of weeks] to reach the point where you can apply your full physical force

without having to open your mouth for extra air. You will then notice a vast

improvement in your endurance and recovery.

But during training you must stop and reduce your breathing immedi-

ately you start to feel the urge to gasp. During your match or contest do

everything you must to win. When you get the chance to recover, reduce

your breathing rather than do deep breathing. Suffocating a little tiny bit

will release more oxygen to your muscle cell and allow you to recover

faster.

Close your mouth and neverallow yourself to puff and pant


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CHAPTER 7 Nocturnal Asthma

- Page 49 -

The Secret of

Nocturnal Asthma

R

emember there is only one way you can get asthma. Asthma during

sleep is also as simple. When the human body becomes horizontal,

the resistance to deeper breathing is reduced. Ie it is a lot easier to

breathe more deeply when you are lying down. As soon as you become

unconscious, your breathing gets deeper and deeper, simply because of the

horizontal position.

Some people, particularly children, will develop asthma within 2 hours

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