Buteyko Better Breathing for Everyday Workshop
Remember the biggest things:
Always breathe through your nose
If you feel stress:
Check to see if your are breathing, if you’re not, then start
If you are breathing, check to see if it is through your nose, if you’re not, then start
Check to see how quickly you are breathing, and start to slow it down
Feel the physical sensation of your breath to help move your mind’s focus from your stressful thought or situation to the feeling of breath in your body
Areas of Focus:
Nose unblocking activity:
Sit or lay quietly with a flat back. Breathe Lightly, Slowly, and Deeply through your nose. Slow your breath down taking your time, extending how much time each breath takes. Once you've arrived at a easy slow breath, breathe out normally, hold your nose, hold your breath, and wibble wobble side to side, back and forth, until you have a strong urge to breathe. Once you have that strong urge to breathe, let go of your nose and take a slow inhale through your nose. Continue slowly breathing through your nose and returning your breath to a long, slow, deep breath, then repeat this breath hold, and returning to a calm breath 3-5 times.
https://www.breathelivethrive.com/blog/decongest-your-nose-with-your-breath-not-drugs
Carbon Dioxide Tolerance Test / Exhale as long as possible
To check your Carbon Dioxide tolerance, first thing in the morning when you wake up, or at the same time of day when you take this test repeatedly. Take about 3-10 light easy breaths, then do a full breath in, the breathe out as slowly as possible. Count the seconds from the end of your inhale to the end of your exhale. This time is your carbon dioxide tolerance score. It should increase by 1-2 seconds per week, though in the first week you may see a larger increase. We want you to get your score above 35, with 40 being the ideal for an average human. 60 is a great and attainable score. This score may go up or down on any given day. This is a good way to check your lifestyle habits from the day before. If your score drops on a day, look at what you did the day before so see if there is anything you can improve, like going to bed earlier, eating foods that do not irritate your stomach, or any other lifestyle choice that you are trying to engrain or remove from your life.
Do this first thing in the morning or at the same time whenever you complete this test. Breathing is the most dysfunctional during sleep so it will give you the best idea of how you are doing.
Breathe Light to Breathe Right (BLBR):
Do this 5 x per day. Breathe through your nose and lower ribs, as lightly as you can for 3-5 minutes. Build up with longer and longer, easier and easier breaths. Outside of these 5 x deliberate activities, bring your awareness to your breath and extend your exhale when you think of it.
Do it first thing and last thing when you get up or go back to sleep. Breathe entirely through your nose. Sit or lay down with your back straight. Place you hands on your lower ribs pushing your hands out, and breathe out slowly pulling your ribs back toward your spine. Take you time with these breaths. I want them to be close to or longer than 6 seconds, but it if takes you a few rounds to get there it is ok. You should feel slightly air hungry like out of breath and that is ok, this is you building your comfort zone up into new areas. Take your time. Do this for at least 3 minutes but you can go for more.
Its ok, this is a new task and it will take time to learn this skill. Do this around meal times or whenever you snack. This may take away your urge to snack because a lot of time we snack when we are stressed. Also, when you encounter people or situations that cause you stress, close your mouth, and do some of this breathing. Adding your awareness to your breath will bring you back to what's important, you, and when you control your breath you get to control how you feel. I plan to make a video of this soon to make this easier to visualize.
After every time you do this, take 1 second or more to cherish the fact you took a moment to calm yourself and take care of your body in a natural way.
Remember this is how you should light breathe all the time. This drill is to get you practiced at incorporating it into all the time. Don't try to change 100% immediately to all the time right away.
Practice:
Here is my basic breathwork video to review what we did https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/711434569
Here is a video with light breathing instruction that will help you practice keep focused (I know when I don't have the recording from my instructor it is hard to keep track). https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/711432532
I have longer video available too on the blog if you’d like a longer practice time with guidance to relax and meditate a little more. https://www.breathelivethrive.com/blog/15-minutes-of-buteyko-breathing