Breathlessness is a common symptom experienced by many people. It can also manifest as gasping, sighing, yawning or holding our breath and then breathing rapidly afterwards. We assume that we must not be breathing deeply enough; that somehow the tightness around our chest is restricting our breathing and making it too shallow...making us breathless.
 
Breathlessness is principally an outcome of poor oxygen exchange. We assume that we require more air to reach the lungs to bring more oxygen in. Paradoxically, the more we breathe, the less oxygen is available for use by our tissues -- and the more breathless we become.
 
To present this in a different way: if deep breathing enabled greater
oxygen availability then we would think of nothing better than blowing up balloons all afternoon. Opening our mouths and breathing as quickly and deeply as possible would leave us feeling totally refreshed. But these activities do not leave us feeling better. Very quickly we become breathless, light-headed, nauseous and dizzy: all symptoms of a lack of oxygen. If we were to continue despite these warning signs we may even faint.
 
Deep breathing does not deliver greater amounts of oxygen to our
bodies. On the contrary, it delivers less. The Buteyko Institute Method
eliminates symptoms of breathlessness by normalizing the volume of air breathed, maximizing oxygen exchange and efficiency of breathing.