What is a Mindful Buteyko Breathing course and why is it so important?

Put simply, living in a mindful manner is to live in the present moment.

By bringing into play and engaging with your senses of sight, smell. taste, touch and hearing without judgment and without criticism of self, or of others, you become more easily grounded in the present moment.

Conversely, if you allow yourself to be constantly stuck in the past or in the future by worrying about events or things that were said (or may be said) or done (or may be done) in those time zones then you can invite repeated self-criticism or judgment of others. Such an overactive mind can result in stress and anxiety. It can also result in you breathing more than you need to (hyperventilation) or you may engage in irregular mouth breathing and chest breathing (dysfunctional breathing).

That part of your brain known as the amygdala will be over-activated. Prolonged behaviour of this type can also lead to depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other mental and physical problems.

It is very likely that dysfunctional breathing and or hyperventilation will accompany such behaviour. This type of breathing can have detrimental effects on your health as respiratory alkalosis takes hold.

A mindful Buteyko breathing course involves the learning and practicing of a breathing technique that incorporates mindfulness and leads to normal breathing. It also involves the development of your awareness of how certain lifestyle habits (i.e. diet, exercise, sleep) affect your breathing. By experiencing the benefits of a mindful Buteyko breathing course you gain an enduring understanding and appreciation of how important normal breathing is for your health.

Awareness, or mindfulness, of our breathing, is essential. Recognizing how everyday emotional and stressful states affect the volume and rate of breathing is essential to you achieving a state of relaxation.

The practice of mindfulness living and mindfulness meditation (or attention training) wonderfully complements the practice of the Buteyko breathing technique.

Both disciplines (when practiced regularly) develop neural pathways as you rewire or retrain parts of your brain such as the prefrontal cortex and the medulla oblongata, where the respiratory settings reside.

Both disciplines enable you to develop the ability to be calm, to focus, to relax, and ultimately to enjoy wellbeing and good health.

This is why I teach a Mindful Buteyko Breathing Course in Geelong.