Why Buteyko?

Being a long-term asthmatics myself, and having an asthmatic son, I had looked long and hard for answers to the problem. In conventional medicine I had put my faith in the doctors only to find that we were taking a variety of drugs in ever-increasing doses, but I found no answers.
Anguished and annoyed by orthodox `treatments’ offered, I resorted to alternative treatments such as naturopathy, homeopathy and acupuncture. They were sometimes accompanied by expensive vitamins, minerals and diets. Our asthma was still not being helped.

As my son’s asthma became increasingly worse, to the point where he was taking oral prednisone frequently, we tried Buteyko in despiration. After the first night I no longer needed Ventolin and my son no longer needed his nebuliser on day two. This inspired my wife and I to train as Buteyko practitioners and we have now treated over 4000 asthmatics in New Zealand.

We believe that both conventional and alternative medicine have let asthmatics down, by not looking at the underlying cause of asthma – hyperventilation. Breathing is an automatic activity, like your heart beating. Buteyko is designed to teach you how to break free of the asthma cycle and to work on the one factor in the cycle that can be controlled by you – your breathing rate. The exercises are simple but require commitment and effort.

As a practitioner I have seen the method mastered by children as young as three years old and adults as old as 89. The techniques are simple but faultless.”Russell Stark
Director of Buteyko Asthma Management
Buteyko Institute of Breathing and Health Executive Member