Journal Tag: buteyko

Your Free COVID Care Package

COVID Recovery Package with Fertile Ground and The Melbourne Apothecary

We are here to help you – it’s what we love to do. This COVID care package is for you if you:

  • Want better health, rest and body-wide repair,
  • Want help with navigating the complexities of making your Fertility Plan,
  • Have PCOS and want to start making healthy recovery strides simply by adjusting your diet,
  • Need help creating better breathing and respiratory health habits to carry you through a COVID climate,
  • Are experiencing frayed mental edges that need soothing,
  • Want relief, attention and release of areas that experience cyclic or persistent pain,
  • Love to have beautiful restorative sleep,
  • Want insights into how to ramp up the health of your diet and your digestive tract
How can we help?

You may have noticed that we’ve enacted an outpouring of free things to you since the inception of COVID. We have made a concentrated effort to create free resources for you with love from many of our wonderful practitioners, to support your mind, body, and sense of connection through all the recent challenges and beyond.

These resources have felt like a lifesaver for many people who have felt disconnected, stressed, in pain, anxious and fearful with reverberating body-wide repercussions like restlessness, digestive issues, insomnia, panic attacks, breathing difficulties, muscular pain and more. It’s important that you pay attention to your health with even more precision during stressful times like these.

We are robust and resilient when given the right ingredients for thriving and surviving.

 

Your COVID Care Package Freebies

We are dedicated to supporting you now and beyond – download any and all of the freebies contained below in our free COVID Care Package. We have built all of these resources for you and will be adding to this package often over the coming months, so keep your eyes peeled on our newsletters and Instagram OR Facebook pages so that you can grab each freebie as it comes out.

It is our pleasure and mission to support your glowing health and healing always.

 

Free 10-minute Naturopathic Wellness Consults

Book here for anyone who needs preventative wellness strategies for immunity, symptomatic relief for an acute condition and general health enquiries. We will, of course, refer you if needed for more complex issues/conditions, but this is a great way to make a start toward your healthier life.

 

Immune Essentials E-book

Nine simple steps to enhance your health and resilience written by our wonderful naturopathic team.

Get instant free access and start taking simple actions every day to improve your immunity and stay well this winter.

 

Your Fertility Plan

Naturopath, Sage King, is putting together a free 6 part series designed to help you navigate your fertility journey. Sage touches on everything from preconception care, pathology screening, to assisted reproductive technology (ART) and how to optimise your outcomes with Naturopathy. Register to be notified when the series is released.

 

Free PCOS & Diet Guide

Do you have PCOS? Access this simple Naturopathic guide to get started with balancing your body through your diet. Inside you’ll receive delicious PCOS friendly recipes, detoxification details, information on how to approach carbohydrates, fats and proteins, food swap charts, as well as steps that you can take to really kickstart your healing. Well known PCOS treating Naturopath, Josephine Cabrall, has put this together to help anyone suffering with PCOS start to find the path to healing. Get your free copy of this fantastic resource.

 

Deep Sleep Yin Yoga

Jane Holland, yoga teacher, international retreat facilitator and educator has lovingly created this Deep Sleep online series in collaboration with Fertile Ground at The Melbourne Apothecary.

These yin classes are designed to guide you into your body to fully inhabit sensation, find release and arrive in spaciousness, allowing you to melt tension and move into a deep state of rest. Jane is generously offering to everyone to come and experience their first class free.

Register for your first free class and get ready for the rest 😴 of your life.

 

Free Buteyko Starter Pack for Healthier Mask Breathing & Nervous System Relief

Mask wearing and mask breathing is really hard. Why? Much of it is to do with carbon dioxide which, when understood and used to your advantage, can actually be used to improve your health rather than hinder it. In fact it can be part of the solution to many health issues beyond respiratory protection. Use this Starter Pack to begin to address your foundational respiratory health.

The Starter Pack includes 3 x 15 minute Buteyko embedded meditations and comprehensive instructions about duration, frequency, what to expect as results. Made with love by our breath specialist naturopath Carly Woods

Carly has also made a hilarious and informative online quiz entitled ‘Are you a Dirty Mouth Breather?’ So go ahead and find out – are you a Dirty Mouth Breather?

 

Acupressure for Stress Relief

Stressed? Understatement of the year perhaps.

Download this wonderful Acupressure for Stress Relief Guide from Acupuncturist, Chinese Medicine practitioner and Naturopath, Holly Peyton-Smith (thanks so much Holly).

Grab it fresh out of the digital inbox and take therapeutic action to slay your stress.

 

Winter wellness Super Soups RecipEbook

This fabulous Super Soups Ebook has been built for you with love by Naturopath Tina Jenkins. Do you want to ramp up your Winter wellness in an oh-so-delicious way??  If so, make sure you grab your copy here.

 

Phew! That’s A LOT of resources for healthy living that you can use right now or access later as you need. Feel welcome to share it with your friends too – these resources are for everyone.

Have a great time consuming all of these wonderful resources packed full of actionable health-enhancing goodness. Thank you to all of our loving practitioners and team for putting these together for our community so quickly and with such care.

Brought to you by Carly Woods Director, Naturopath and Breath Specialist, Fertile Ground Health Group and The Melbourne Apothecary.

Your Guide to Healthier Mask Breathing

Healthier Mask Breathing with Carly Woods

Do you feel comfortable mask breathing?

Do you feel fear about wearing a facial mask? 

Do you find it claustrophobic? 

Do you find it anxiety producing?

Are you wearing it properly or are you treating it like a piece of face jewellery (only wearing over the mouth with your nose out, or putting it on the top of your head or chin because it feels irritating?)

So many things to consider. Read on to find answers and helpful solutions to all of these things.

Why is mask breathing so hard?

Mask wearing and mask breathing is really hard. Why? Much of it is to do with carbon dioxide which, when understood and used to your advantage, can actually be used to improve your health rather than hinder it. In fact it can be part of the solution to many health issues beyond respiratory protection. But first let’s address the respiratory aspect.

At first mask breathing can make us feel anxious. That’s because 

  • When we first start breathing more carbon dioxide (incremental amounts from our out-breath) we experience a sensation of air hunger. If your body is not trained to accommodate (and benefit from) this experience (like altitude climbers and free divers) it can be really confronting.
  • When we find it hard to breathe behind a mask we often open our mouths, which ends up contributing to a state of sympathetic dominance in our system (fight or flight) = anxiety producing.

Adapting to this new way of mask breathing can be daunting, especially for those of us who have suffered anxiety or stress around breathing, claustrophobia or air constriction in the past. Whacking a mask straight onto our faces might be really intense, let alone dealing with the sensation of mild air hunger.

Finding a solution – Buteyko Therapy

Buteyko Therapy was originally developed in the 1950s to treat asthma, however (thankfully) the Buteyko breathing exercises and principles can be applied across a variety of conditions (many of which are top of mind globally now) AND they can be easily applied to support healthy and comfortable mask breathing. 

These exercises provide a powerful tool that you can use to relieve stress and anxiety within minutes, to prompt nasal decongestion, support healthy respiration and respiratory recovery, healthy digestion, pave the way to restorative sleep and support general body-wide repair.

It seems crazy that these incredible little lungs that we grew all by ourselves, when used correctly, support such profound health. And yet not so crazy, when you think about it…

  • We can go weeks without eating.
  • We can go days without drinking.
  • We can go minutes without breathing.

So that’s pretty sobering.

It is my mission to teach you how to use Buteyko to your advantage, with urgency. Simply. Daily. Easily. Powerfully. Alongside your mask. Let’s begin.

What conditions can Buteyko Therapy help to address?

There are too many to list, so I’ll list the ones that are most relevant at this moment in time.

  • Respiratory decongestion (hayfever, colds, flu, rhinitis, sinusitis)
  • Asthma 
  • Anxiety & stress
  • Panic & overwhelm
  • Sleep issues (insomnia, sleep apnoea, snoring)
  • Digestive issues
How does Buteyko Therapy work?

A basic explanation of the way Buteyko Therapy works is to say that it retrains your respiratory centre in your brain to accept more appropriate levels of carbon dioxide in your system. This is done through a series of gentle introductions to the sensation of air hunger to gradually nudge your brain’s tolerance towards a more optimal state. 

“Purposely expose myself to air hunger? Why on earth would I do that?” I hear you saying. Fair enough. Let’s find out why.

A gradual sensation of air hunger (in controlled Buteyko Therapy setting) prompts incremental advances in carbon dioxide tolerance. This is an important balance to get right, because carbon dioxide:

  • Plays an important role in helping your blood to release oxygen into your tissues (for the keen science analysts out there check out the Bohr Effect)
  • Prompts activation of your parasympathetic nervous system (your rest, digest, repair state)
  • Contributes to decreasing your brain excitability (hello calmer brain)
  • Helps to relax your smooth muscles (which equals greater general relaxation, better sleep, better digestion and release of tension throughout your body)

Now that’s not all. Buteyko Therapy also works to increase the natural nitric oxide production in your nasal cavity, which you then breathe down into your beautiful lungs (via nose breathing). Why is nitric oxide helpful?

Nitric oxide gas

  • is antiviral and antibacterial (yay)
  • is a natural bronchodilator (opens the lungs)
  • acts in the respiratory passages and lungs in an anti-inflammatory way (so you can see the link to decongestion)
  • helps to move you into your parasympathetic state (again – your rest, repair and digest state)
Support comfortable mask breathing with Buteyko

There are many Buteyko principles and exercises that you can use to supercharge your health. For simplicity, start with the following:

  • Always nose breathe ONLY, even with your mask on – do NOT mouth breathe unless you have to talk or have physical nasal obstruction (snot, unless so dense that you cannot possibly take a breath through a tiny part of your nostrils, is not counted as a physical obstruction).
  • If you must mouth breathe (when talking) ensure it is smooth, gentle and not audible. If audible, shut your mouth and nose breathe for a time until your nervous system calms down and then resume talking, calmly.
  • Wear your mask for short periods at first (15-20 minutes) and slowly work up to wearing it for longer periods so as not to shock your system.
  • Do daily Buteyko meditations to start to retrain your body towards healthier respiration (grab the free Buteyko Starter Pack that I’ve built for you).
  • Learn how to wear your mask properly (as decreed by the WHO).

By the way, when you begin nose breathing consistently you’ll notice that your nose starts to decongest. Some people can experience post-nasal drip or the need to blow the nose more. This should not last more than a few days and doing an increased number of buteyko exercises daily will generally help you move through it more quickly.

Interesting and wonderful facts to perk up your day
  • Nitric oxide is antiviral and antibacterial and it is enhanced in the body via nose breathing – yay! Nose breathing is so easy and simple, we can all do it!
  • Use your nose to breathe in order to reduce the viral load AND to reduce the potential transmission of water particles into the atmosphere (if infected) – there is a 42% greater water* loss from breathing out through the MOUTH than the NOSE – and when something is transmitted via water particles this would feel like common sense to convert to total nose breathing, don’t you think? So get on board and (with love) shut your mouth – for all our sakes.
  • Always nose breathe, as much as possible, even during exercise. Gauge your exercise intensity by your ability to nose breathe. You can enhance your ability to nose breathe while exercising by simply smiling (with your mouth closed). Smiling widens your nostrils. Plus you get wonderful responses from people passing you. Remember not to wear your mask while exercising (WHO recommendation) – simply stay 1.5 meters away from anyone and close your mouth.

So let’s all nose breathe and let our smiles be the thing that is contagious. Connection and protection all in one foul nasal swoop. High facial fives. It’s almost like we’re designed to be happy and healthy…😉

The nose knows.

Written by Carly Woods

Buteyko Practitioner & Naturopath

Download Carly’s free Buteyko Starter Pack – 3 Buteyko embedded deeply restorative meditations complete with comprehensive instructions for duration, frequency of use, and benefits to your body. You will learn which part of your face to breathe with and why, you will be guided through using these recordings daily to incrementally build up your brain’s carbon dioxide tolerance, to nourish your lungs and to leverage the protective power of your nose.

Are you a natural nose breather or a dirty mouth breather? Find out via this fun and informative quiz.

A special thanks and acknowledgement for all the fantastic work my trainer and global Buteyko expert, Patrick McKeown, is doing for everyone all around the world at the moment. Look up his ted talk. He is a brilliant trainer, wonderful person and incredible to listen to and learn from.

Reference

How to Breathe While Wearing Face Mask, by Patrick McKeown

What is Buteyko?

Breathe

by Carly Woods, FGHG Buteyko practitioner and Naturopath

Did I say potato? No. But I understand the confusion. Let’s get some clarity around what Buteyko is.

A lot of people know about Buteyko Therapy because of the incredible results it produces in asthma recovery.  Dr Konstantin Buteyko developed it in the 1950s for this exact purpose. It’s a breathing therapy that is simple, powerful, and easy to integrate into your life for maximising your health outcomes.  Let’s dive in.

So Buteyko is fabulous for asthma – great, but did you know that it’s also applicable to a whole range of conditions that aren’t even related to asthma?

Anxiety, for example, is such a pervasive and easily hidden condition suffered by so many, and you can use the simplicity and power of Buteyko Therapy to take the edge off before the panic hits. You can even use Buteyko therapy to train your body out of anxiety patterns to avoid panic and chronic internal tension entirely.

The list of conditions that Buteyko is brilliant for is extensive, and includes:

  • Stress, anxiety
  • Digestive issues
  • Respiratory issues, such as sinusitis, rhinitis, hay fever, and asthma.
  • Sleeping issues, such as insomnia, sleep apnoea, and waking with a dry mouth.
  • Cognition issues, like memory, focus, and concentration.
  • Fatigue
  • Dental issues, like palate development, teeth grinding, bad breath.
  • Muscle tension.

And that’s not even all of it.

‘So why are the beneficial effects of Buteyko so wide-reaching?’ I hear you asking me with inquisitive eyes and slight disbelief. A great question.

The answers are simple, and the systemic effects profound.

Buteyko works to

  1. balance and retrain your nervous system;
  2. align your jaw to the right position and activate your correct breathing muscles (to train you out of being a dirty mouth breather);
  3. support proper oxygenation of the tissues throughout your entire body by adjusting your blood gas set point to a more appropriate level.

So let’s think about this for a second. I’m going to just take the first point of how Buteyko works, and dissect it a bit to help you to understand how powerful ‘balancing and retraining your nervous system’ really is.  Imagine you have a chronic condition (many of you may already, so if this is you, imagine your reality). Now imagine you are SUPER stressed. How does that stress feel thrown into the mix of your chronic condition symptoms? Does it exacerbate them, or does it placate them?

It surely does not placate.

So we can see here that stress is unhelpful. Great.

Now let’s think about sleeping.  When we sleep our body LOVES to repair itself. When we sleep we switch into something called the ‘parasympathetic nervous system response’.  It governs our states of rest. In this state we digest, repair, and rest best.

The first reason that Buteyko is such an incredibly versatile therapy is because it switches your body out of the state of stress (called the sympathetic nervous system response) and lands you in your parasympathetic response – your resting, digesting, and repairing state.

So now reconsider your chronic condition – is its repair helped or hindered by stress? Is its repair helped or hindered by being in a repair and rest state?

You got it – the healing of chronic conditions is helped GREATLY by putting your body in the nervous system response state of REPAIR.  I’ve never met anyone who was all, ‘oh yes please, I’d love a bit more stress today – that will surely help me feel apex on my health mountain and heal my underlying issues.’

So we get it – the takeaway here is: Buteyko trains your body OUT of the stress state and INTO a state of repair.

Throughout the next lot of blogs I’ll get into the nitty gritty of how Buteyko helps with all of the conditions listed above. We will start with anxiety and stress.  In the meantime – to get you going with a fierce health stride make sure you grab your free access to my Stress & Anxiety Buteyko Starter Pack.

Buteyko is a combination of simple, practical breathing techniques – I’ll be writing all about how and why they work in these blogs.  If you’re keen to learn how to use Buteyko for yourself and start feeling better immediately – come and see me so that we can tailor a Buteyko program specifically for your needs.  In my consultations we create a Buteko program specifically for you, teach you how and when to use your techniques at home, I’ll show you how to measure your progress, and you’ll learn about what signs to look out for from your body that indicate you’re on the right track with your balance and healing.  My aim is to make it super accessible and easy for you to stay on track with your health long-term.

I usually see patients 3-4 times, and then it’s up to you to implement the changes consistently in your life – which is not hard at all with Buteyko since it’s practical and simple, plus the way you feel as you progress through it is so wonderful that you’ll undoubtedly be a keen Buteyko breathing bean, looking forward to your integrated self-care spaces.

Breath is so incredibly fundamental to life. You meet your breath before you meet your mother.

Learn to get the basics right, and from there your health and healing potential is limitless.

In breath

Carly

Carly Woods - HeadshotCarly is a Buteyko Practitioner and Naturopath. She is passionate about helping her patients access their innate balance and wellbeing using practical, simple, and powerful fundamentals.  If you’re keen to get started now, book in to see Carly. She is available to see you at Fertile Ground Health Group on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Take a look at Carly’s bio to find out more about the way she works and how Buteyko Therapy can help you.