Buteyko Breathwork

[EasternTeach]

First time poster here. Just want to share some of the amazing self help benefits I've had with Buteyko breathing.

Quick Intro
Been into self help for many years now and would class Leo/Actualized as one of my top teachers. 
Have picked up many techniques along the way.

Ailments
These are some of the ailments I have suffered from in no particular order which have improved considerably since starting Buteyko. I've only been doing it for about a year and the results have been remarkable.

- Depression
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Restlessness
- OCD type symptoms
- ADHD type symptoms
- Gut/digestive problems
- Skin rash/allergic reactions

I've seeked professional help for all of the above, and as we all know, generally GP's will prescribe band-aid medication which often forces us to investigate on the issue(s) ourselves.

Buteyko Theory
It turns out that I've been over-breathing my whole life. 
Yoga & Meditation teachers instruct you to take 'long deep breaths' (with the best intentions).
Wim Hoff encourages you to deep breath. 
However breathing too much activates the sympathetic nervous system which puts us in a constant state of fight/flight. 
Reducing your breathing increases the CO2 in your body, which acts as a catalyst for absorbing oxygen more efficiently. Therefore the counter-intuitive method of breathing less actually gets the oxygen to reach the important parts of your body more efficiently - including the brain.

Buteyko Method
There are lots of methods out there - lots of free tutorials on YouTube for example.
Personally I just do the following exercise. At first it was really difficult, but now I'm able to extend the breath holds with ease.

1. Inhale with abdomen for 1 second
2. Exhale while relaxing your body for 2 seconds
3. Hold after Exhale for 1 to 15 seconds (depending on your current capability; adjust the hold duration so that you have comfortable slight feeling of air hunger) Beginners will do about 2-5 seconds.
Repeat this inhale exhale and pause sequence for 3 minutes.

You are basically trying to increase the time you can hold your breath with your lungs being empty - otherwise known as the control pause (which Dr Buteyko labelled CP).

I would love to see Leo do a video on breathwork. I love his Shamanic breathwork video and his body relaxation one.

I feel that breathing correctly is at the root of people's physical and mental wellbeing. 

Edited January 27 by EasternTeach