History of the Buteyko Method
The Buteyko Method is named after Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko (1923 - 2003) who was born in Ivanitsa, a small village near Kiev, Ukraine. He enrolled into the Kiev Polytechnic Institute but his study was cut short due to World War II. By the time he returned home he had decided to study medicine to diagnose diseases and to help people. Buteyko enrolled at the First Moscow Institute of Medicine (1946 – 1952) where he graduated with honours.
In his third year of education at the Institute, Buteyko was assigned to observe severely ill patients and noticed their heavy and faster breathing as their health deteriorated. He would spend hundreds of hours at their bedside studying the patterns and as a result was able to predict the day and time of death by the change of their breathing. His observations were leading him to the assumption that there might be a connection between over-breathing and the health of patients.
Dr Buteyko was excited and started experimenting with his own breathing by increasing and reducing the depth of his inhales. He discovered that he was able to manipulate his own acute hypertension symptoms like headaches, pain and rapid heartbeats by the amount of air he was inhaling and exhaling. Encouraged by his discovery he immediately began testing his findings on his clinic patients suffering from stenocardia condition and asthma. His findings confirmed that deep breathing rapidly increased their symptoms and reducing ones breathing showed instant symptom improvement in individuals from both groups.
At the time it was well known to the medical world that deep breathing is removing carbon dioxide from the body. Textbooks stated that deep breathing has a special effect on blood vessels and result in spasms which in return causes an oxygen reduction of the tissues. He was asking himself - what if breathing in a certain way was the cause of a disease and not the result of it? None of the medical books showed an answer to his hypothesis.
Dr Buteyko was unsuccessful in finding any reference in the library relating to reduced breathing to eliminate symptoms and was left with the common recommendation in literature of ‘breathe deeply’. It was time to share his thoughts with his mentors, which didn’t spark the support he was hoping for. He quickly understood that he had to deliver supporting evidence of his idea.
Over the following years he devoted his time to extensive studies to prove his theory that reduced breathing supports health. Dr Buteyko worked and researched at various facilities in the USSR under a range of conditions. This included leading a space project to explore the effect of air parameter and optimal breathing during space travel as well as diseases. At the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine he designed a sophisticated diagnostic device with assistance from his team which provided the ability to measure and analyse an abundance of breathing activity data via large computers. His sophisticated diagnostic machine was discussed and mentioned in medical publications.
During all those years he never lost focus to prove his theory on hyperventilation or the demonstration of what effect carbon dioxide and oxygen levels play in the human body. A balanced level is vital to survive and maintain good health which is easily disturbed by over-breathing. Over the years his breathing method and special exercises to retrain a normal breathing rhythm showed good results treating a variety of diseases especially in the respiratory area.
Even with the results on hand Dr Buteyko still experienced a constant resistance from the medical profession and USSR officials to recognise his method. Dr Buteyko was a man of great strength and despite the obstacles in his way he continued to devote his life to promote reduced breathing. Individuals travelled far and wide to see him and his trained Buteyko practitioners to seek help for various conditions.
In September 1983 the Buteyko Method was finally recognised by the USSR government and approved to be used in the treatment of breathing disorders. In 1987 Dr Buteyko was able to start his own clinic in Moscow.
After the opening of the former USSR to the western world, Buteyko practitioners started to spread the word and shared his discovery outside of Russia. Nowadays there are practitioners around the globe teaching and practising the Buteyko Method.
In his third year of education at the Institute, Buteyko was assigned to observe severely ill patients and noticed their heavy and faster breathing as their health deteriorated. He would spend hundreds of hours at their bedside studying the patterns and as a result was able to predict the day and time of death by the change of their breathing. His observations were leading him to the assumption that there might be a connection between over-breathing and the health of patients.
Dr Buteyko was excited and started experimenting with his own breathing by increasing and reducing the depth of his inhales. He discovered that he was able to manipulate his own acute hypertension symptoms like headaches, pain and rapid heartbeats by the amount of air he was inhaling and exhaling. Encouraged by his discovery he immediately began testing his findings on his clinic patients suffering from stenocardia condition and asthma. His findings confirmed that deep breathing rapidly increased their symptoms and reducing ones breathing showed instant symptom improvement in individuals from both groups.
At the time it was well known to the medical world that deep breathing is removing carbon dioxide from the body. Textbooks stated that deep breathing has a special effect on blood vessels and result in spasms which in return causes an oxygen reduction of the tissues. He was asking himself - what if breathing in a certain way was the cause of a disease and not the result of it? None of the medical books showed an answer to his hypothesis.
Dr Buteyko was unsuccessful in finding any reference in the library relating to reduced breathing to eliminate symptoms and was left with the common recommendation in literature of ‘breathe deeply’. It was time to share his thoughts with his mentors, which didn’t spark the support he was hoping for. He quickly understood that he had to deliver supporting evidence of his idea.
Over the following years he devoted his time to extensive studies to prove his theory that reduced breathing supports health. Dr Buteyko worked and researched at various facilities in the USSR under a range of conditions. This included leading a space project to explore the effect of air parameter and optimal breathing during space travel as well as diseases. At the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine he designed a sophisticated diagnostic device with assistance from his team which provided the ability to measure and analyse an abundance of breathing activity data via large computers. His sophisticated diagnostic machine was discussed and mentioned in medical publications.
During all those years he never lost focus to prove his theory on hyperventilation or the demonstration of what effect carbon dioxide and oxygen levels play in the human body. A balanced level is vital to survive and maintain good health which is easily disturbed by over-breathing. Over the years his breathing method and special exercises to retrain a normal breathing rhythm showed good results treating a variety of diseases especially in the respiratory area.
Even with the results on hand Dr Buteyko still experienced a constant resistance from the medical profession and USSR officials to recognise his method. Dr Buteyko was a man of great strength and despite the obstacles in his way he continued to devote his life to promote reduced breathing. Individuals travelled far and wide to see him and his trained Buteyko practitioners to seek help for various conditions.
In September 1983 the Buteyko Method was finally recognised by the USSR government and approved to be used in the treatment of breathing disorders. In 1987 Dr Buteyko was able to start his own clinic in Moscow.
After the opening of the former USSR to the western world, Buteyko practitioners started to spread the word and shared his discovery outside of Russia. Nowadays there are practitioners around the globe teaching and practising the Buteyko Method.
