Buteyko method

The Buteyko method is a form of breathing education. It teaches breathing techniques together with guidance on posture, health and lifestyle, and aims to return a person's breathing to an optimal pattern. It was devised by Konstantin Buteyko in the 1950s and introduced in Australia in the early 1990s, reaching other Western countries later that decade.

Description

Techniques

The techniques vary between practitioners and are usually tailored to the individual, but the method typically involves a structured set of daily exercises built around three elements:

• Reduced-volume breathing: relaxed breathing from the diaphragm, aiming to make each breath in and out smaller.
• Breath holds: the control pause, used at the start and end of the exercises to assess breathing, and, where appropriate, an extended pause tailored to the person, which gradually lengthens the time they can hold their breath.
• Nasal breathing: people are encouraged to breathe through the nose at all times, including during sleep and exercise, and may be taught breath-holding techniques to clear the nose.

Some advocates have promoted taping the mouth to keep breathing through the nose during sleep. Mouth taping and long breath holds are among the practices whose safety has been questioned (see Safety and good practice).

Learning the method

The method is usually taught over several sessions by a trained practitioner. In Australia, people typically attend at least five sessions, which may be online or face to face, one-to-one or in small groups. Self-directed online courses also exist, but the Buteyko Institute recommends against teaching yourself (the techniques are usually tailored to each person, as noted above). Students are first encouraged to practise daily, typically for about 30 minutes, and then to use the techniques as needed in everyday activities such as sleeping, exercising, speaking and eating.

How practitioners explain it

Konstantin Buteyko believed that over-breathing (hyperventilation) was the main underlying cause of many diseases. He proposed that it lowers carbon dioxide levels in the blood, which in people with asthma triggers narrowing of the airways, and designed his exercises to reduce over-breathing and so raise carbon dioxide levels. Other proposed explanations include better breathing mechanics, changes in the muscles and nerves involved in breathing, and breaking the cycle between anxiety and breathlessness.

A learner should keep Buteyko's original theory separate from the method itself. The 2024 review notes that there is no supporting evidence for his idea that low carbon dioxide levels are a main cause of breathing symptoms, and that there is evidence against some parts of the mechanism he proposed. Whether the exercises help is a separate question, answered by trials (see below).

What the evidence says

The evidence for the method's effects is limited. The Australian Government's 2015 review found no clear scientific evidence that the method was effective. A 2024 systematic review for the government's Natural Therapies Review found 11 small trials. For people with asthma, six trials gave low-certainty evidence that the method may reduce symptoms, but its effects on quality of life, physical activity and lung function were very uncertain. For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), high blood pressure, recovery from heart bypass surgery and eustachian tube dysfunction, effects were very uncertain or unknown. No studies looked at other conditions for which the method may be used, such as dysfunctional breathing or sleep apnoea. Better Health, in a page produced with Asthma Australia, says Buteyko exercises may reduce asthma symptoms and reliever use but that there hasn't been enough research to confirm this.

Scope

What it includes

• Teaching of reduced-volume breathing, breath holds and nasal breathing
• Guidance on posture, health and lifestyle
• A course of sessions with a trained practitioner, followed by daily practice at home

What it is not

• It is not a replacement for asthma medicines. Better Health advises people with asthma to keep taking their asthma medicine, to talk to their doctor before trying Buteyko, and to always carry and use their reliever medicine when they need it.

Traditions and lineage

The method was devised by Konstantin Buteyko in the 1950s. It is one of several structured breathing approaches used for breathing and related conditions; others include the breathing exercises of yoga and the Papworth technique.

Context

Within Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking the Buteyko method with Spiritualism.

In Australian Spiritualism

Spiritfold has found no published source linking the Buteyko method with Spiritualism in Australia.

A Spiritualist perspective

Breathing comes up early in Spiritualist development. Students are taught to settle the breath before meditation or circle work, simply to become still and receptive. The Buteyko method is something quite different: a structured breathing education approach, designed for health purposes and taught by trained practitioners, with no spiritual teaching attached.

A Spiritualist would regard it as a separate discipline, neither part of our practice nor in conflict with it. Anyone drawn to it should learn from a qualified practitioner, as its own institute advises, and never change prescribed medication or treatment without their doctor's guidance. Within a development circle, a teacher's guidance on breathing should stay gentle and comfortable, and should never be presented as a health treatment.

Buteyko method in Australia

Training and associations

Training for practitioners ranges from short intensive courses for health professionals, such as physiotherapists and nurses, to courses of several months for people who aren't health professionals. The Buteyko Institute of Breathing & Health trains practitioners and registers and accredits its practitioner members, although it isn't known what share of Australian practitioners this covers.

Regulation

The Buteyko method is not regulated under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, so practitioners don't have to be registered.

Clinical guidance

According to the 2024 review, the Australian Asthma Handbook lists the Buteyko method as a complementary therapy for which the evidence is insufficient or conflicting. The review contrasts this with a British Thoracic Society guideline, which says breathing exercise programs may be offered to adults alongside medicines; the trials behind that recommendation included Buteyko among several breathing approaches.

Private health insurance

Since 1 April 2019, Buteyko has been one of 16 natural therapies that private health insurers can't cover. The Natural Therapies Review 2024 looked at the evidence again. Its Chair, Professor Michael Kidd, recommended that seven therapies become eligible again, but did not recommend Buteyko.

Safety and good practice

Much of the research on Buteyko involves people with asthma, and much of the safety advice is about them too. The 2024 review notes that the scientific basis of some techniques sometimes used with the method, such as mouth taping and long breath holds, and their safety for some groups of people, have been questioned. Better Health advises people with asthma not to change or stop their asthma medicines without talking to their doctor, and says breathing exercises don't replace reliever medicine when asthma is getting worse. The 2024 systematic review didn't assess safety.

Related modalities

• Yoga
• Relaxation techniques
• Qigong
• Alexander Technique

Further reading

• Better Health Channel. "Asthma and complementary therapies". Department of Health, State Government of Victoria, 2023.
• Cochrane Australia. Systematic review of evidence on the clinical effectiveness of Buteyko. Australian Government Department of Health, 2024.
• Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. "Natural Therapies Review 2024". Australian Government.