Role of Physical Activity in Buteyko Method and Breathing Retraining

by | Jan 27, 2019 | Buteyko method, Fitness, Physical exercise, Teaching Buteyko practitioners

Days ago, I posted on our Facebook Forum for Buteyko practitioners (teachers of the Buteyko breathing method) the following message:

Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Buteyko breathing trainer and practitioner, writer

Dear people,
Dr. Buteyko trained many practitioners who are on this forum now. 
From Soviet and Russian sources, it seems that there were changes in Dr. Buteyko position and explanation of the role of physical exercise in breathing retraining and health maintenance.
My question is to those who were trained and met Dr. Buteyko (in the 1990s and later, maybe some were even trained in the 1980s):
– What did he exactly taught to you about the role of physical activity in breathing retraining and later, in long-term maintenance of health?
Thanks, Artour

All answers that I got from practitioners trained in the 1990s and later indicate that Dr. Buteyko did not provide clear guidelines about physical exercise in terms of amount (duration) of suggested physical activity. This is in sharp contrast with what Dr. Buteyko taught to others in the 1960s. Here are extracts from Dr. Buteyko Lecture in 1969 (available on Amazon.com).

Dr. KP Buteyko, the author of the Buteyko breathing method

During prolonged intensive exercise, the receptors that control breathing adapt to increased CO2. If the person regularly works and toils, then he practically follows our method: he is decreasing his breathing using the exercise. Hence, the diseases can be cured by regular physical activity. There is no need to spend 3 hours every day on retraining one’s breathing. Instead, one should work hard 5 hours per day with perspiration. This will cure asthma, hypertension, angina pectoris, and other diseases.
…
We are trying to put patients using breathing [exercises] back on their feet so that they are able to move, and then reassign them into sports or labor. If you do not want to train your breathing 3 hours per day, instead work up a sweat for 3 hours per day, and your breathing will be reduced. These things are similar. Consequently, other factors that increase ventilation will be counterbalanced, and you will be healthy.
…
Therefore, concerning physical exercise or labor, there is a minimum standard for each person. If he exercises less, then he will die gradually. It is similar to a deficiency in vitamins, water, or food. We need about three hours of hard work every day to sweat. This will be a standard for man. He is made up of 60% muscles; these muscles must function. All joints must revolve in their entire amplitude. This is our intention and instruction.

Note that the whole topic here is about how to maintain normal breathing or what it takes to remain healthy or maintain normal breathing. Obviously, Dr. Buteyko would not suggest having 5 hours of daily intensive exercise with heavy sweating to someone who just had a stroke or heart attack.

man runs with nose breathing - key factor in physical exercise for Buteyko method
Is exercise really crucial for breathing retraining?

Why could this change in teaching the role of physical exercise be important? Physical exercise, as it was in the 1960s and to the present day, remains the crucial single factor that determines the long-term success of students in their health maintenance.

Then the questions are:
– Why did Dr. Buteyko make this change to eliminate exact guidelines and substituted them with vague “exercise is good”, “the more exercise the better”, etc.? (See the next post for this discussion.)
– What were the effects of this change on the quality of teaching of Buteyko practitioners trained by Dr. Buteyko in the 1960-70s vs. the 1990s and later?