the buteyko method

8/10/2019 The Buteyko Method

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THE BUTEYKO METHOD

Konstantin Buteyko was born in1923 in the Ukraine and grew up in afarming community. After becoming

a physician, he made an importantdiscovery about human health, onewhich would lead many seriouslyafflicted individuals back to goodhealth. Dr. Buteyko's main discoveryfocused on breathing and therevision of breathing habits in orderto reverse the progression of anillness. His holistic, drug-freetechnique became so effective and

widespread that it was named in hishonor: The Buteyko Method. His lifewas fraught with peril, including thedestruction of his laboratory inSiberia and threats on his life.

Dr. Buteyko miraculously survived the turmoil and established a clinicin Moscow (Clinica Buteyko). He lived to see his scientific discoveryand applied practices gain worldwide recognition.He died in Moscowin 2003.

Konstantin Buteyko's Early Life

Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko was born in 1923 in Ivanitsa, a smallfarming community near Kiev. His mother, a schoolteacher, wasknown to say, "I gave birth to a very odd boy," possibly referring toher son's powerful mind and avid curiosity about every detail of thenatural world around him. He was very independent and would spenda great deal of time alone outdoors, closely observing and examiningplants, insects, and anything else he encountered. His innate interestin this and his aptitude laid the foundation for his keen scientific

insights in the future.

Konstantin's father was a mechanic, and his sonbecame adept at this skill as well. When heencountered any kind of mechanism, Konstantinfirst saw it as nothing more than an arbitrarycollection of parts, but when, upon further study,he would see that all the parts should interactedharmoniously as a whole in order to make it runwell, he became fascinated. This process led

Buteyko to study engineering at the PolytechnicCollege in Kiev, Ukraine.


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In his sophomore year of college, World War II began. This spurredButeyko to enlist and he volunteered to go the frontlines. During hisfour years in the war zone, he worked as a driver, mechanic, and ahelper in a medical aid party. He repaired all sorts of vehicles, having

started the training for this work at the mechanics department ofengineering college. Throughout this time, he also came face to facewith another type of wartime destruction - human casualties. He wasnot trained to offer any assistance for this. His frustration at notbeing able to serve the maimed and wounded caused him to redirecthis studies and become a medical doctor. Viewed through his naturalanalytical perspective, Buteyko beheld the human body as the mostsuperior of all "machines" and so, finding ways to help it operate inthe most harmonious and effective way became his new goal.

In 1946, over a year after the end of the war, Konstantin Buteykoenrolled at First Medical Institute in Moscow, Russia. As a studentthere, he was known as a handsome, young veteran with a sharpintellect, abundant energy, and, always, the highest possible grades.He spent most of his time at the library, or conducting clinical work.Upon graduating from medical school with distinction, he was invitedto come on staff by an eminent doctor at one of Moscow's most elitehospitals. His scientific and clinical supervisors, as well as his friends,were convinced that a bright future began to unfold in front of thisvery talented doctor.

While still at medical school, Dr. Buteyko had specialized in the studyof hypertension [high blood pressure]. Ironically, Dr. Buteyko himselfdeveloped a severe form of this, in his case, lethal disease. Thehospital whose staff he had joined had the best medicine available forthe treatment of this illness. Dr. Buteyko began treating himself withthese drugs but soon recognized that his condition only worsened. Inthe fall of 1952, his health had deteriorated to such a degree that itwas not likely he would live for more than a couple of months.

Konstantin Buteyko's Monumental Discovery

Dr. Buteyko was a man of great strength andfortitude who, despite tremendous pain,continued working. One evening during hisnight shift at the hospital, he was alone in aroom, standing in front of a window lookingup at a star filled sky. His mind was occupiedwith one question: What is the cause of mydisease? As many renowned doctors of thepast, Dr. Buteyko believed that it wasimpossible to cure a disease without knowingits cause. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed


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outside and he lowered his gaze to shield his eyes. Having beendazzled by the flash and looking downward to regain his vision, henoticed something that immediately caught his attention. Heobserved his chest and belly moving a great deal as he wasbreathing. In the midst of his impending demise, and in great pain,

he, nevertheless, maintained his lifelong habit of being a keenobserver of natural phenomena.

His mind was drawn to his heavy breathing and at that moment, heconsidered an idea that had seemed almost crazy before: could it bethat his heavy breathing was not the result of his disease but thecause of it? Ever the indefatigable scientist, he immediately beganexperimenting on himself. First, he increased his breathing. As aresult, his pain increased. Second, he decreased his breathing.Remarkably, his pain began to subside! This was a pivotal moment

for Dr. Buteyko, one that would change the course of his life. He wasfar from having all the answers, but he began to understand whatquestions were important to ask and consider.

This event inspired Dr. Buteyko to head straight for the pulmonologydepartment of the hospital where he found a pale man suffocatingfrom an asthma attack. Buteyko tried his technique with the patientand both were surprised by the nearly instant success. After a fewminutes of reduced breathing, the patient was able to breathe muchbetter and his face regained some color. The asthma attack was

gone.

Dr. Buteyko proceeded to try the method on many other patients athis hospital. He discovered the result was consistent for peoplesuffering from various diseases. When they increased their breathing,their symptoms became worse. When they reduced their breathing,their symptoms eased and their health improved. By modifyingbreathing patterns, Dr. Buteyko was able to help many patients; healso cured his own disease and regained health.

Dr. Buteyko was very excited by his discovery and wanted to tell allhis friends and colleagues about it. In his youthful exuberance, full ofenthusiasm, he went to his academic and clinical supervisors andexplained his remarkable discovery to them. They listened andimmediately discounted what he had discovered because it went sofar against what they were taught to believe. They told him to forgetall about this "discovery" and strongly urged him to abandon hispursuit of presenting this to medical journals or other medicalfacilities. His discovery was an anathema to such an extent, that hisfriends seriously feared he would be sentenced to and incarcerated ina mental institution.


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It was during this time of personal trial that Dr. Buteyko comparedthe path of his discovery to that of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis ofHungary. Dr. Semmelweis, while practicing at the General Hospital inVienna, Austria (1847), discovered that the spread of septicemiacould be radically reduced by the simple act of hand-washing. The

mortality rate of infants and mothers was incredibly high and themethod of washing hands with bleach and lime prior to surgeryreduced the rate by a large percentage. At that time, diseases wereattributed to many different and unique causes. Semmelweis'hypothesis, that there was only one cause for septicemia, seemed toosimple and was therefore discredited and heavily ridiculed. Aftermany years of protesting this unfair treatment and many angryletters sent to other doctors, Semmelweis was confined to a mentalasylum. Some sources say that he ran from that institution, went tothe morgue of his hospital and in front of dumbfounded students cut

his finger and put it into a corpse. Soon thereafter, he died ofsepticemia. 50 years later, Louis Pasteur confirmed Semmelweis'stheories by developing the germ theory: I saw microbes, he said, butSemmelweis was the one who discovered them.

Similar to Semmelweis, Buteyko came to theconclusion that many health issues, whichare considered to be unique diseases by themedical community, are a collection ofsymptoms of one disease - hyperventilation.

Hyperventilation leads to the development ofasthma, hypertension, cancer 150 diseasesin all, the most common ones in today'sworld. Dr.Buteyko realized that thesediseases can be cured by reducing one'sbreathing. It was just too simple for otherdoctors to accept!

Facing ridicule and a potential incarceration for revealing his newmethod was a terrible blow to Dr. Buteyko. He realized he would have

to keep the discovery quiet in order to save himself. The only way hiswork could possibly gain credibility was if he could collect substantialdata to support his theory. At this time, in 1952, a new Academy ofScience was developing in Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia, withabundant funding available for scientific laboratories and clinics. Itwas a bitter decision for Dr. Buteyko to leave an elite hospital in themost culturally sophisticated city of Russia and move to Siberia, faraway from the launch of his brilliant career. However, he saw noother way to collect and assemble the data necessary to raiseawareness for his revolutionary discovery.

Once he established himself at the Siberian clinical laboratory, Dr.Buteyko began treating the seriously ill, especially those with asthma.


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As he gained insight and experience, his reputation grewexponentially. Profoundly sick people were carried into his laboratoryand then would miraculously walk out of it on their own. People whowere extremely ill traveled great distances to be treated by him andhe was besieged with hundreds of letters on a daily basis from people

requesting his help.

Dr. Buteyko tried to help anyone who needed his help without anyconsideration for his own benefit. Often, when his patients werelacking money for transportation or accommodation, Dr. Buteykoshared his own, at that time, very modest resources with them.Articles reporting on Dr. Buteyko's brilliant success stories appearedin the national press and he became known far and wide for hisaltruistic nature and treatments that were effective in cases whereothers failed.

This attention generated envy among Buteyko's peers. One doctorwas developing a powder that eased asthma symptoms. Dr. Buteykowas not only offering an ease, but an actual cure for asthma, andthis, of course, was more appealing.Another example was Konstantin's mainsupervisor at the Academy. He was asurgeon whose approach to asthma hadbeen to remove the afflicted lung, treat it,and then put it back into the body.

Although the effectiveness of this techniquewas insignificant, he had hoped this workwould eventually earn him a Nobel Prize.

Dr. Buteyko's discovery and the simplicity of his method was a threatfor these and many other medical professionals and put theirlivelihood at risk. This surgeon gathered a group of doctors andbegan a campaign to sabotage Dr. Buteyko's work. Dr. Buteyko'slaboratory, along with a lot of very expensive medical equipment,which he had acquired abroad (and some of which he designed

himself), was destroyed. His staff was dismissed. His data wascompromised.

This took place in 1968, while Konstantin was away on a businesstrip. He cut the trip short and returned immediately. When he enteredthe room that was once his sophisticated laboratory, his dark hairstarted to turn grey. On top of all this, Dr. Buteyko received multipledeath threats, the purpose of which was to intimidate him intostopping his work. He was once poisoned and there was also a mobstyle automobile crash arranged to kill him. He survived all of theseattempts.


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Dr. Buteyko's life was in serious danger and in the midst of it he,once again, stepped back, engaged his analytical side and contrived ameans of survival. Among the hundreds of applicants who beggedand pleaded to be treated by him, there were some influentialindividuals. He strategically selected to treat a few of these powerful

people, who, because of their full recovery back to health, agreed toprotect him to a certain extent. This was the sole reason Dr. Buteykowas able to continue his work and life in Soviet Russia.

Konstantin was offered an opportunity to practice his treatment inspace medicine. At first, it seemed like a beneficial way to advancehis work but it soon became apparent that this job would drasticallylimit his scope of influence. This was during the Cold War of the late50s and with the space race between Russia and the United States,agreeing to take this position would be like an automatic swearing to

secrecy. This job would have assured him financial security, but Dr.Buteyko returned to his altruistic desires to help the numerous peoplein need of his treatment, rather than have it sequestered for an elitefew.

For almost 20 years, Konstantin was officially unemployed and hisname was on the media black list. At that time, private practice wasnot legal in the Soviet Union, but Dr. Buteyko continued helpingpeople privately on a donation basis. The80s brought some relief for Buteyko. In

1981, the second official trial of hismethod took place in Moscow MedicalAcademy, in the department forasthmatic children. The positive resultsof the treatment were between 94 and96 percent. In 1983, twenty one yearsafter his application, he received apatent with a classification of "topsecret" for his discovery and the method of treatment. In 1985, theMinistry of Public Health of Russia issued instructions and

recommendations to all medical professionals to treat patients withthe Buteyko breathing method; however, those instructions werenever implemented. In 1987, at the very beginning of thePerestroika, Dr.Buteyko was finally allowed to establish his own clinicin Moscow. Later, it became known as Clinica Buteyko.

Dr. Buteyko compared breathing to atomic energy: from hisperspective, the awesome power of breathing was capable ofdestroying health very quickly as well as rebuilding it extraordinaryfast. Many people suffering from asthma, allergies, hypertension,kidney problems, cardio, gastrological problems, immune deficiency,cancer, and many other serious diseases were healed at ClinicaButeyko. Konstantin Buteyko also started working with people who


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were exposed to radiation during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Anofficial trial regarding this work took place in 1990 in Kiev, Ukraine,at the National Scientific Center of Radiation Medicine. The result: 82percent of patients significantly improved their health. In 1991,another official trial of the Buteyko Method took place. This time,

Buteyko's team worked with AIDS patients at the Institute ofEpidemiology (Kiev). This work demonstrated positive results with nonegative side-effects. That year, the same Institute conductedanother trial with hepatitis and liver hepatocirrhosis patients. TheButeyko Method proved to be very effective and was officiallyrecommended for use on patients with such problems.

The Buteyko Method and Spirituality

From the point of view of Konstantin Buteyko, a human body is "the

perfect machine." As many famous doctors and scientists have done,he used his own body and mind to experiment with his method.Konstantin practiced his method and followed a particular lifestylethat promotes physical and mental health. In the final period of hislife, Buteyko came to the conclusion that a reduction of breathingleads to clarity of mind, inner peace, and calmness. Additionally, hefound out that it promotes intuition, telepathy and other types ofextrasensory perception. Konstantin started his career as a talented,yet regular medical doctor, but, by the end of his life, he developedqualities of an advanced spiritual practitioner. He was known for

being able to read people's thoughts, predicting the future, and manyother extraordinary abilities. He hardly slept at all, was able to existwithout food for 50 days at a time, and was capable of holding hisbreath after an exhalation for several minutes.

During the final part of his life, the firstquestion Buteyko would ask hispatients was, "Do you believe in God?"He was equally accepting of theanswers "yes" and "no" but preferred

not to give his time to people whoanswered "I am not sure." WhatButeyko found was that the door to anindividual's personal evolution could beopened through his breathing. In away, this was not a new idea: thisprincipal was known and understood in many ancient cultures. One ofthe goals of Indian yoga, for example Pranayama, is to breathe less.A fundamental meditation in Tibetan Buddhism, which is called Shine(Peace), train the meditator to switch from heavy to shallowbreathing. Japanese samurais had another interesting tradition: theywould put a feather under one's nose and breathe on it. If the feathermoved, that person would be dismissed from being a samurai.


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Russian Orthodox Saints recommended to their disciples to reducebreathing during prayer. They believed this would bring them closerto the divine.

About our civilization

In the end of his life Buteyko also spent time studying various ancientcivilizations and trying to find the answer to one question: Why didthey fall? The reason he was occupied with this question was simple.Buteyko's highly analytical mind was telling him that our civilizationwas also dying, and he was trying to find a solution to prevent thisprocess.

That's how Dr. Buteyko came to this conclusion: he found out thatthe majority of the population hyperventilates (to varying degrees)

continually in their daily lives. This removes the beneficial andnecessary CO2 from our system, and thus creates a less effectivebond of the Oxygen molecule with the hemoglobin in the blood.Paradoxically, oxygen is actually reduced in many organs, includingthe brain. When the brain does not receive enough oxygen, itsintellectual function gradually becomes impaired. That means that aperson loses his ability to think systematically or as K. Buteyko put it,"in terms of cause and effect." The person's thinking becomes morecomputer-like: he can accumulate a lot of information but is onlycapable of processing it within a limited frame. In daily life, this is

often manifested when a person is fully engaged with his endlesstasks, but does not have time to think about the meaning of his lifeor the future of our planet or civilization. As the result ofhyperventilation, on the psychological level people literally becomenarrow-minded and on the physical level they become much weaker.Dr. Buteyko believed that if our civilization does not change itsbreathing, it's destined to die just as many other civilizations before itdid.

Some concepts of Dr. Buteyko

Why do people hyperventilate? In the early part of life formation onearth, the carbon dioxide content in our atmosphere was 70 percentand higher and the Oxygen content was less than one percent. It wassimilar to the conditions inside a womb, which has a high level ofcarbon dioxide and a low level of oxygen. As plant life increased anddeveloped, the balance of CO2 and Oxygen shifted and Oxygenbecame the dominant gas in our atmosphere (Presently it is about 21percent Oxygen and less than one percent Carbon Dioxide). Buteykoassumed that many biological species were not able to adjust to thischange and became extinct (possibly, dinosaurs). Humans survivedby being able to adjust to these gradual changes; however, our


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bodies were not ideally created for the type of the atmosphere thatsurrounds our planet.

Coming back to the present, Dr.Buteyko believed that the modern

lifestyle, specifically the sedentarylifestyle, protein rich foods, and thegradual loss of spiritual practicescompromised our breathing furtherand, by extension, our physical andmental health. In today's world, onaverage people consume five to tentimes more air than their bodies need.Ongoing research at Clinica Buteykoindicates that people's breathing on the

whole is worsening.

The end of his life

In 2003, an average lifespan for men in Russia was between fifty andsixty years. Konstantin was eighty years old and active despite thedamage caused to his life force by the many attempts to kill him. In1998, he became a victim of a street assault, which seriouslyimpacted his health. In Novosibirsk, when Konstantin was walking inthe city at night, he was surrounded by three men who brutally

attacked the elderly doctor. They used heavy metal bars and directedthem at his head. When they thought that Konstantin was dead, theythrew his body away on the snow (it was a cold Siberian night). Whenhe was found, doctors were astonished that he survived; however,they thought that there were very little chance he would live. He livedand worked for another four years.

During this time, he traveled a great deal because his methodgradually began to spread around the world. He was invited toEngland to treat Prince Charles who was suffering from allergies.

Konstantin and his wife Ludmila Buteyko successfully cured thePrince's problem. They also visited Germany, New Zealand, and othercountries educating people about his method.

A day before Konstantin passed away, he asked his wife Ludmila totake him to a hospital. She was surprised given that he was feelingwell but followed her husband's request. Doctors at the hospitalexamined Konstantin and came to the conclusion that there wasnothing wrong with him, in fact, they happily announced to Ludmilathat she should expect him to live another ten or twenty years.

And yet he passed away the next day. Why? Ludmila's answer is this:"By that time, he did everything he could to offer the people of this


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planet a very valuable knowledge that couldhave saved the lives of many as well as thelife of the whole civilization. Unfortunately,his offer was not fully accepted due to theunwillingness to change, to go beyond the

comfort of habitual thinking. He respectedthis choice; however, he felt that his missionor his life on Earth was completed. On May2nd 2003, on a very auspicious day inOrthodox Christianity, Konstantin looked atLudmila, his wife and his kindred spirit,smiled, and then turned to his right side andeffortlessly and painlessly left his body.

Letter About Asthma (Written by Dr. K.P. Buteyko)

Two hundred years ago asthma was considered a mild ailment.Having asthma generally meant having a long life free of otherdiseases. However, no one could explain how asthma prevented otherailments or why asthmatics lived longer than others. Today, we know

that asthma is not an ordinary disease. Bronchospasm, the maincomponent of asthma, acts as a protective mechanism, helping tomaintain biological constants and important functions at near normallevels.

We have also learned that asthma orbronchospasm cannot exist unless the CarbonDioxide (CO2) level in the lungs is abnormallylow. Since the metabolic and immune systemscan function correctly only if the CO2 level is

normal, the limit of the asthmatics CO2 levelprotects him or her and allows for a long andhealthy life. It is this powerful defensemechanism that provides the asthmatic with animproved biological system. Evidently,bronchospasm is one way the organism hasadapted to its environment.

Modern drug treatment for asthma is aimed at neutralizing thisprotective mechanism. The organism then fights back again andagain with more intensive bronchospasms leading to a rapiddeterioration of the asthma from drug treatment. It is not possible tocure asthma by removing a protective mechanism like broncospasm.


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Only when the condition responsible for the bronchospasm isremoved, can asthma be reversed.

Theory of the Buteyko Method (Written by Dr. K.P. Buteyko)

Thirty-eight years ago, I announced that a great number ofwidespread diseases triggered by the lifestyle of our civilization (i.e.,bronchial and vasomotor spasms, allergic reactions, etc) have acommon cause: hyperventilation (excessive breathing). I realizedthat decreasing and thus normalizing the air intake can lead to anindividuals recovery. Scientific studies, as well as the basic laws ofphysiology, biochemistry, and biology have confirmed this hypothesis.Here are the general postulates of my theory:

When an excessive amount of air is consumed, a large amount of

carbon dioxide is removed from the organism, consequently reducingthe CO2 content of the lungs, blood, and tissue cells. Ahyperventilation caused CO2 deficiency produces pH alkaline shifts inthe blood and tissue cells. The pH shifts interfere with all protein(about 1000 in all) and vitamin (about 20) activity, altering themetabolic processes. Therefore, when the pH level reaches the valueof 8, the metabolic disorders can cause death.

A CO2 deficiency also causes spasms in the smooth muscles of thebronchi, cerebral and circulatory vessels, intestines, biliary ducts, and

other organs. In the late 19th century, Bronislav Verigo, a Russianscientist from Perm, discovered a peculiar relationship: when CO2diminishes from the blood, oxygen binds with hemoglobin and impairsthe transport of oxygen to the brain, heart, kidneys, and otherorgans. In other words, the deeper the breathing, the less oxygenreaches vital organs in the body. This statement forms the basis ofmy discovery, one that has gone underappreciated until now. Thisdependency, presented by Verigo, was suppressed and ignored. Atthe same time, Christian Bohr, a Swedish scientist, made a similardiscovery. Later on, this became known as the Bohr effect.

Hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) in the brain caused by deep breathingtriggers intense bronchial and cardiac spasms. Hypoxia in vital organsis counter-balanced by the rise in arterial tension (arteryhypertension), enhances blood circulation and provides the organswith blood. Oxygen starvation, when combined with hyperventilation,causes a false feeling of air deficiency, excites the respiratory center,intensifies breathing, and contributes to the progression of disease.

A CO2 deficiency in the nerve cells excites all of the structures in thenervous system, thus making the process of breathing even moreintense. As a result, oxygen starvation in nerve cells, in combinationwith metabolic malfunctions and an over-excited nervous system,


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brings about mental disorders, destroys the nervous system(sclerosis of cerebral vessels) and, finally, causes a deterioration ofan individuals physical and mental health.

Disorders brought about by deep breathing are aggravated by factors

such as environmental pollution, pesticides and other chemicals thatare found in nutritional products. If we assume this, then the basicprinciples of Western medicine, the remedial and preventativemeasures that commonly use deep-breathing methods just add to thedevelopment of diseases. Strenuous exercise and drugs, which relaxthe bronchi and blood vessels (thus increasing the removal of CO2from the body), do not improve a patients condition, but only worsenit.

This is precisely why diseases triggered by the modern environment

go untreated and are so widespread. The discovery of the fact thatthe main cause of such diseases is hyperventilation proves (throughexperiments) the fallacy of the existing remedial methods andprinciples.

A hyperventilation test serves as decisive evidence that this methodis effective. For example, a patient is offered to deepen his breathingand evaluate the result of the well know command, Take a deepbreath. Within a few seconds or minutes, this deep breathing testwill trigger or increase pathological symptoms. Meanwhile, a

reduction of the depth of respiration will remove the symptomsalmost at the same rate. Thus, the only effective principle forprevention and treatment is to reduce the depth of breathing, thusallowing normal respiratory function to be restored.

This is the basis for the development of volitional control ofhyperventilation. The essence of the technique is for a patient,through willfulness and diligence, to lessen his depth of breathing byrelaxing the respiratory muscles until he feels a slight air deficit.Adults and children over three years old can use this method. The

method can also be used in obstetrics for expecting mothers and theirnewborns to teach children healthy physiological principles.

This theory is also directly applicable to space medicine, surgery(preparation for surgical intervention), pedagogy, training of singersand athletes and more. Medicine, just like other branches of science,requires a comprehensive restructuring. The author considers hisideas, along with other progressive approaches, which have beenignored, as a foundation for the medicine of the future. The toppriority is to provide people with information about this method inorder to stop the propaganda of deep breathing in the mass mediaand to remove deep breathing exercises from health care. Themethod developed by the author will succeed when every human


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being realizes that his inborn greediness (which applies to breathing)is the cause of diseases and disasters.

Written by Dr. K.P. Buteyko

the buteyko method

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