Breathing easy is what Victoria Kleeberg would like to see everyone do.
That is what she is sharing with those who wish to learn.
When Buteyko lessons crossed her path when she was working for a doctor in Sydney she was very impressed by the changes she could see in the people learning the breathing technique.
Basically it is all about teaching people how to breathe correctly.
When people find that they feel tired or a little foggy they seem to look at their diet, lifestyle or exercise regime. Not many think consider the possibility of adjusting their breathing.
“We eat five or six times a day,” said Victoria, “We breath 20,000- 30,000 times a day.” We need to get our breathing right.
The Buteyko method instructs patients to recognise their breathing patterns and to retrain and recondition their breathing to normal levels.
It is a safe and effective way to relieve and prevent asthma as evidenced by the Australian clinical trial at The Mater Hospital in Brisbane in 1994.
Victoria said that it helps not with only asthma but also sleep apnea.
She said that it is often that the partners of people with sleep apnea that point out that there is a problem as many with that condition are not aware of it. They can stop breathing while sleeping.
Victoria teaches Buteyko in sessions and it is taught in groups of between three to eight people. The sessions are 90 minutes each five sessions are required. Victoria is also available for follow up sessions.
Keeping the groups small enables Victoria to monitor everyone effectively.
Victoria does not limit her work to the Southern Highlands and has classes in Goulburn and Wollongong.
She has been practising in Bowral for the last six years and is pleased that some doctors are now referring people to her.
“It has been a battle,” she says as are most things that are out of the norm.
With Asthma Awareness week fast approaching Victoria is keen to highlight the benefits of the Buteyko method.
Started about fifty years ago by Professor Constantine Buteyko. For the past twenty five years this has been the primary care method in Russia for breathing problems, especially asthma.
A nursing trial, The Glascow Trial, has recently been completed and once the findings are published the Buteyko method will become a source of primary care.
She has found that women are more inclined to come and men with emphysema are often reluctant to try this method but there have been some wonderful success stories.
Victoria has seen many people benefit after learning the technique and it is not just their health that improves. She has seen self esteem in children, as well as adults improve because they are more comfortable within themselves.
She has seen cases where a persons skin improves, they no longer have droopy eyelids and their whole body seems more vibrant including a marked change in their eye colour.
She encourages people to pause before you puff as many times she feels that people overuse their medications. She feels that they overuse their reliever or underuse their preventor. She teaches them how to become less reliant on them.
In a Brisbane trial it was found that there was a 90 per cent reduction in the need for bronchodilators and an average of 49 per cent reduction in the need for steroids at the 12 week stage.
Buteyko patients are instructed to follow National Asthma campaign guidleines as described in the Asthma management handbook.
They are also instructed to recognise their overbreathing pattern and to retrain and recondition their breathing to normal levels.
Something that seems so natural can be relearnt , especially by those who overbreathe. That is what Victoria would like to teach you. For further information contact her on 48 615744.
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