Revolutionary Breathing Method
Helps Overcome Asthma Attacks
STOP ASTHMA NATURALLY:
How to be Asthma Free Permanently!
Incorporating the Buteyko Breathing Method
By Christine Byrne-Ralfs & Patrick McKeown
Buteyko Books Canada
ISBN 978-0-9782506-0-7
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
Think you have asthma for life? There is an alternative, and it's as simple as breathing.
Author Christine Byrne-Ralfs is on the cutting-edge of introducing the Buteyko Breathing Method to Vancouver.
She was getting desperate watching her 81-year-old father, Tom Byrne, spend more and more time in hospitals as a result of asthma that he's had since he was five years old. He was becoming increasingly debilitated, to the point where he couldn't walk across the floor without leaning and gasping.
Christine resolved to speak to her father's doctor to see if there wasn't something else that could be done to help. The doctor didn't give her much encouragement. He reminded her that he was 81-years-old and that they had tried everything. He was on extremely high doses of medication, receiving 50 milligrams of prednisone and he was on a nebulizer.
Not satisfied with that explanation and still feeling that something more could be done, Christine went online for an alternative way and discovered Buteyko. Coincidently, her father's lawyer was also looking online for ways to help Tom, and they both reached the same conclusion to give Buteyko a try. Christine said it was like God working through them.
After many phone calls, Christine learned that there were not many practitioners in Canada, but one practitioner from Victoria was coming to Vancouver in three months time to do a workshop. Christine promptly signed her father up for the workshop.
"The workshop cost $600 and lasted for five days," Christine said, "but we knew we had to do it, because this was a case of life and death. But as fate would have it, when the time finally came for the workshop, dad was back in the hospital with another severe case of asthma."
So Christine went in his place. She attended the workshops every day and every night she would go to the hospital to coach her father along on what she had learned that day.
"Dad started practicing the exercises. When you're that ill, you have to do the exercises carefully and very slowly." She said, "in two weeks Dad was feeling a lot better and was able to leave the hospital. He continued to improve rapidly and he hasn't had an asthma attack since. He practices his exercises every day, three times a day, and he's religious about it."
She explained once her father gets his carbon dioxide levels up to a healthy rate, he won't have to do the exercises anymore. What happens with asthmatics is that they have low carbon dioxide (CO2) and the brain recognizes too low a level.
"What we have to do is force the CO2 to be higher so that the brain recognizes this as normal and healthy. Your immune system starts working better, adrenals start producing their own steroids, cortisol, and you don't have that histamine release and reaction to the slightest little triggers. The triggers are: pollution; stress; diet; animals; cold and exercise. But the cause of the asthma is the level of CO2."
When Tom Byrne started to feel much better, he became so excited about the Buteyko method of treating asthma that he said to Christine, "if I was 20 years younger, I would go and show this method to other people who are suffering from asthma."
He encouraged Christine to become a practitioner of the Buteyko Breathing Method. She started doing some research and learned that the original clinic was located in Moscow. Her other option was to go to Ireland where Patrick McKeown, who had trained at the Moscow Institute, was licensed by them to train practitioners.
It wasn't a hard decision for Christine: Moscow or Ireland for training. With an Irish background and her father born in Dublin, she went to Ireland to study under Patrick McKeown.
"McKeown has 10 clinics in Ireland," Christine said, "he has been practicing for eight years. Patrick was a severe asthmatic from the age of five and was so ill that he could not carry his books to school.
"At the age of 25, he discovered Buteyko online and self-taught himself. He got better and went to Moscow and trained to become a practitioner. He hasn't touched any medication now for six years. He runs all the time and is slim and healthy. He's a complete success story."
Ireland's rates of asthma are among the highest in the world and in Europe they are top of the list. For adults aged 18 to 44, Ireland is number one in the world. Christine Byrne-Ralfs and Patrick McKeown co-authored the book: Stop Asthma Naturally.
The Buteyko Breathing Method was discovered in 1952 by Russian doctor, Konstantin Buteyko, who recognized that people with asthma over breathe. In other words, they take big gulps of air through their mouth often, instead of controlled gentle breaths through their noses.
They breathe a volume of air two to three times greater than that which they require. This results in constriction of the airways, resulting in asthma symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and breathlessness. The Butyeko Method teaches people how to control their breathing and therefore reverse their symptoms.
The Buteyko technique has been an accepted form of treatment for asthma in Russia for decades and has been well-known in Australia and New Zealand for well over 10 years, but has only arrived in North America within the last six years and only in certain areas.
Native Indian cultures close the mouth of infants, and many eastern cultures are really aware of the importance of breathing. However, here in North America, we say take a deep breath and relax.
Doctor Buteyko thought that the reason that there was such a high increase of asthma in children, was because in prenatal classes mothers are taught to pant. So, babies are being born with a CO2 deficit and already at a disadvantage. Then we hit babies with processed foods, central heating, and lack of exercise.
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CHRISTINE BYRNE-RALFS |
As a result of Christine's tireless effort and determination, her father has learned to control his asthma, instead of it controlling him. She has helped put the joy and colour back into his cheeks. Now, as a licensed practitioner, she is also able to help many more people to control their asthma. It's a story with a happy ending.
She now offers weekly Saturday workshops on the Buteyko Breathing Method at 601 West Broadway in Vancouver (see her website for schedule).
Another great opportunity for more information and it's free, is Christine's Free Breathing Seminar on June 26 from 7-8 PM at the Richmond Public Library, 1 - 11688 Steveston Highway (Ironwood Plaza, corner of Number Five Road and Steveston Highway).
Her book, Stop Asthma Naturally is available at the following locations: Amazon, Chapters, Indigo and Health Food Stores.
To contact Christine Byrne-Ralfs, call (604) 723-0479, or visit: www.buteyko.ca, or
www.asthmatechcanada.ca
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