Rhyming with Potato and sounding like Boo-Tay-Ko, Buteyko Breathing is named after Konstantin Buteyko, a Ukrainian doctor who pioneered breathing techniques in the 1950’s. Buteyko believed many conditions including asthma and high blood pressure were due, in part, to dysfunctional breathing. 

Since 2010, the science of breathing has exploded, with knowledge expanding the benefits of correct breathing to also improve conditions such as anxiety, insomnia, sleep apnea and boosting mental and physical performance simply by restoring the most primal of body processes, breathing.

Mim Beim’s Breathe Well courses are based on Buteyko Breathing in addition to the work of Patrick McKeown, the world’s leading breathing educator.  The training you receive in the Breathe Well course (or one on one sessions) will help to recalibrate the breathing centre in your brain, via neuroplasticity, to restore better breathing. 

Most people feel better after the first lesson, and once training has concluded, these benefits are experienced in the long term. Each person is given specific breathing exercises relevant to their individual needs.

“I must be breathing OK, I’m still alive!” is a common refrain.  However, you can be eating junk food all day long, or live your life on the couch without exercise, and you may still be alive; but how well are you? It’s the same with breathing.  You may be breathing, but are you breathing well?

Signs your breathing may be below par include; mouth breathing, breathing with your chest rather than your belly, snoring, frequent yawning, sniffing or sighing, sore neck and shoulder muscles.

Take my free Breathing Quiz to see how well you breathe. 

How long is a piece of string? Although most people notice improvement after the first session, some health conditions may take weeks to months for significant and permanent changes to occur.  You may need to practice the breathing exercises for some time.

In general, the longer you have had the condition such as asthma, anxiety, or high blood pressure, the longer it takes to reverse. However, most people become hooked on the technique, as they notice a steady, positive improvement, and the breathing exercises themselves feel good to do. 

You are born using your nose and diaphragm to breathe.  Studies have shown that around 60% percent of adults identify as mouth breathers. Mouth breathing means having your mouth open while breathing.  Problems associated with mouth breathing include restless sleep, daytime fatigue, snoring, bad breath, gum disease, dental cavities, poor concentration, reduced athletic performance, increased risks of coughs and colds, and even poor posture.

The Breathe Well course teaches you nasal and diaphragmatic (belly) breathing.  You will be amazed at the difference good breathing makes.

Unlike going to the gym, where, if you stop attending for a few weeks, fitness levels drop, and you need to start from scratch, breathing retraining works by recalibrating your brain’s breathing centre, via repetitive breathing exercises creating new pathways via neuroplasticity.  Once the breathing centre has been reset, good breathing patterns remain in place. 

It sounds too good to be true, however, Breathe Well training is all about getting your breathing back to where it should be.  Before you know it, your breathing will be restored, just as nature intended.