Heather Corkindale
‘’In a single breath, more molecules of air will pass through your nose than all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches.
These little bits of air come from a few feet or several yards away. As they make their way to you, they’ll twist and spool like the stars from a Van Gogh sky.
The nasal concha (turbinates) are coiled in such a way as if you split them apart, they’d look like a seashell (concha). Molluscs use their elaborately designed shells to filter out impurities and keep invaders out……so do we.’’
(James Nestor – from his book ‘Breath’)
Hello! My name is Heather Corkindale and I live in Glasgow, Scotland. I worked as a nurse in hospitals and in the community for over 30 years.
I first learned about the Buteyko Breathing Technique (BBT) and the Buteyko Breathing Association (BBA) in 2018. I was becoming concerned about the increasing medication I was being prescribed by my GP for breathlessness, and was looking for another way to manage my symptoms – having had asthma on and off since I was 2 years old.
Professor Buteyko was a Ukrainian doctor who, in 1950s’ Russia, observed that different types of breathing had a profound effect on his patients’ health. He devised breathing exercises that as well as stressing the importance of nose breathing, aimed to correct dysfunctional breathing (e.g. fast/upper chest/mouth breathing).
Practised correctly, BBT can, over a relatively short time, significantly reduce asthma symptoms. It can also help address sleep apnoea, anxiety and other chronic disorders. Even blocked noses can become clearer and snoring can often be alleviated.
Buteyko works rather like a diet to correct over-breathing. If we overeat, it can damage our health. Chronic over-breathing likewise.
Buteyko breathing exercises train us to breathe in a more natural, efficient way – through the nose and using the large abdominal diaphragm muscle – just as we did as a baby.
BBT is acknowledged by the British Thoracic Society, SIGN (Scotland) and is included in the British Guidelines on the Management of Asthma.
I am qualified to teach Buteyko Breathing Techniques to adults and children (from 5 years old). The technique requires some self-discipline and can be learned in five 1.5 – 2 hour sessions over 4-5 weeks. Once mastered, the (10-20 minute) exercises need to be practised at least 3 times a day at home for several weeks until symptoms improve. Buteyko breathing exercises do require commitment, but it is really worth the effort.
Whilst not always a substitute for medication, Buteyko equips you with powerful tools that can help prevent the onset of an asthma attack and manage asthma symptoms generally.
For me, learning and practising Buteyko took the omnipresent, background fear of asthma away – and for that I am forever grateful.
If you are interested in finding out more, and think Buteyko may help improve your asthma or feelings of breathlessness, please find out more here.
You can contact me, Heather Corkindale at: Hkb123@live.co.uk for an informal chat about The Buteyko Breathing Technique and how it may improve your quality of life.
