There can be little doubt that the role of mother has a profound effect on the health and well-being and intelligence of our children and that, in turn, this may ensure the health and well-being of the planet and mankind.

This was the belief of Prof. Konstantin Buteyko, a Russian doctor who founded the Buteyko Method, a breath training system that has given enormous benefit to millions of people throughout the world suffering from asthma, panic attacks, hypertension, sleep apnoea and a whole range of other conditions related to their poor breathing habits. Professor Buteyko originally graduated as a gynecologist and obstetrician, and although his early career was devoted to developing his breath training work, in later years he began training couples planning to have a baby (especially the mother to be) applying his principals of optimum health. He found these couples had healthier and more physically and mentally developed children than what was considered ‘normal’.

Today poor breathing, or more particularly “chronic hidden hyperventilation” is epidemic in the west. Why this is so could be debated at length but there seem to be two major causes – stress and poor diet. The effect of stress, either severe trauma or chronic long term stress triggers our primitive ‘fight or flight’ response which in turn leads to our being locked into over-breathing. A diet overloaded with protein and refined foods can produce metabolic acidosis that the body deals with, in part, by over-breathing, thereby lowering the CO2 in the body and reducing the acidity. Professor Buteyko found that when both parents breathed normally and heavy breathing exercises were avoided along with other lifestyle improvements, births were easier and usually without complication and the babies started life in good health.

It is not rocket science to suggest that healthy parents can bear healthier children.

Furthering this idea that our health is founded on our parent’s health and well-being, a highly successful and experience pathologist, Dr. G. Scott Williamson and a fellow doctor, Dr. Innes H. Pearse were shocked that despite their combined medical knowledge, neither of them could explain the origins or aetiology of health, and even when they researched the medical libraries in the UK and the USA they could find no answers there either. Thus began their remarkable experiment to establish an answer to the simple question “What is the origin of health?”

A thousand families were studied over a period that stretched from the 1930’s to the 1950’s at a family community centre in Peckham, London. The results of their studies were regarded at the time as perhaps the most important contribution to health and welfare this century. Basically every family became healthier by every medical measure with little or no medical interventions except in exceptional cases.

Their conclusions were that health derived from becoming whole in a supportive family of mother and father in a supportive community. The model of wholeness or health was the mother and father, and their support from came from the community centre that provided the rich environment and emotional help for children and parents alike.

In more recent years, a pioneer doctor in Philadelphia, USA, Dr. Glenn Doman began fifty years of research working initially with brain injured babies and young children, on ground-breaking rehabilitation programmes and later with healthy children to help their mothers learn how to teach them from birth to school age. Both projects have been success stories for tens of thousands of children.

There are many thousands of young people who began their lives as severely brain damaged babies labeled as ‘spastic children’ destined for a lifetime of intensive caring and support now living independent, fulfilling lives, and from the work with healthy children there are tens of thousands of highly educated healthy children who excel in many fields of development and who will be confident leaders of tomorrow in all branches of society.
These success stories are the result primarily of the dedication and nurturing of babies and young children by their mothers, not by professional educators or specialists but simply by mothers being given the support and knowledge to do what mothers are best at doing, nurturing and caring for their young.

Dr. Glen Doman makes two bold statements in a video about this work. The first is, “That every child born has the potential intelligence far greater than Leonardo Da Vinci ever used.” and “ What every child wants is constant attention from an adult to learn as much as they can, the first choice is their mother, then their father and then anyone who will give them that undivided attention they seek.” This is especially true from birth to early schooling and this should make us all concerned that in today’s world many mothers are having to work to meet financial demands on every family, and are often unable to give this attention, a close bonding that cannot be replaced by professional minders or teachers in the early years.

A common factor contributing to the remarkable achievements of these three pioneers in human development is their concern and interest in the diet of young babies and children. Professor Buteyko gave simple sound guidelines for nutrition as part of his programme of breath training for optimum development and health. The participants of the Peckham Experiment, as it was called, had access to fresh produce from farms in Kent that many of them had worked on them themselves at weekend trips to the countryside as volunteers. The work of Dr. Glen Doman also embraces good nutrition as a fundamental requirement for a healthy development.

Perhaps the most significant research in this field has been the work of a group of doctors in the USA and China over the more recent past. Their work has given us the scientific evidence that has been sadly lacking or misunderstood in the past. Good nutrition begins with the perfect food, mother’s milk of a healthy mother, later to be replaced by a health-promoting diet based on the family’s normal healthy eating habits with no processed or pre-fabricated food substitutes that have become the norm for many in developed countries. Once again it is the mother usually who provides the food for the family, the most vital link in the nurture and health of all the family.

To gain a greater understanding of the work of these three pioneers I would suggest visiting thebreathconnection.com and in particular watching a video by a leading orthodontist on childhood development jfdental.com

For information on the Peckham Experiment of Drs Scott Williamson and Innes Pearse visit thephf.org

For the remarkable work of Dr. Glenn Doman watch the Youtube video

and for an introduction to the power of diet on child bearing and health read this story related to the China Study

For an access to an overall body of health promoting information visit totalhealthmatters.co.uk

Michael Lingard BSc.Dip.Ost. BBEC

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I speak with personal experience on this matter; trained as an osteopath with thirty-five years in the health promotion profession, including almost twenty years managing one of the country’s first holistic health centres in Tunbridge Wells (The Wealden Clinic 1981- 2001). I really thought I knew a little about health and its aetiology, though it has taken until now for me to break away from those prejudices that have coloured my thinking and hidden some of the basic truths. I hope that I can help expedite this thought shift for others with some of the work I am doing now.

Here are just a few of the myth busting statements for your consideration:

1. Every child at birth has the right genes and the right brain to become a genius, or at least to far exceed any expectations the parent may ever dream of for their child.
2. Every baby can learn to read as easily as they learn to talk.
3. Although education begins at six years old, learning begins at birth.
4. Our capacity to learn is highest in the first year of life and falls off year by year until six years of age.
5. Beautiful children all breathe through their noses and rarely mouth breathe.
6. Children who mouth breathe have crooked teeth and poor posture.
7. No child needs cows milk for good healthy bones.
8. None of us, including children, need meat for protein and iron.
9. The best teachers for young children are mothers or fathers, or anyone willing to give them the one to one attention they need during this early learning period.

If you’d like to learn more about the statements above:

For points 1 to 4 watch a short Youtube video ‘An introduction to the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential’s work with children for over 50 years’

For points 5 and 6 please view my blog or a full presentation by an orthodontist

For statements 7 and 8 view thefoodconnection.org.uk

For point 9, decide for yourself after you have learnt the facts!

Michael Lingard BSc DO BBEC
totalhealthmatters.co.uk
June 2015

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“The perfect man breathes as if he is not breathing” Lao Tzu (4th century BC). Lao Tzu is claimed to have lived to a 160 years old. Perhaps he only breathed about five breaths per minute.

We don’t promise great longevity when you train with the Buteyko Method, though you will have better health, more energy, sounder sleep, fewer symptoms and a calmer life if you breathe better.

With humans, one of the major factors that cause chronic hidden hyperventilation is stress. Stress triggers the primitive fight/flight response repeatedly, eventually causing the CO2 receptors to accept a lower level of CO2 and thereby establishing a over-breathing pattern. Your doctor usually never checks your breathing as part of a routine examination (unless you arrive complaining of a respiratory condition) despite the fact that breathing is perhaps the most important activity in our lives! Well, we can live for three weeks without food, three days without water, and less than three minutes without air!


Over seventy-five percent of us in the West over-breathe or hyperventilate and breathe badly, using upper chest and mouth breathing instead of using the amazing breathing tube – our nose! You can check your own breathing on our website thebreathconnection.com or you can learn more about ‘The Breath Connection’ with a book just recently published by the same title – from Lulu.com – and become aware of just how much you can do to help yourself to better health.

Michael Lingard BSc. DO BBEC

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All children who are habitual mouth-breathers will have a malocclusion. The mouth breathers’ maxillae and mandibles are foreshortened. Palatal height is higher, overbite is greater in mouth breathers. Overall, mouth breathers have longer faces, with narrower maxillae and foreshortened jaws.

The tongue plays a large part in influencing cranial and maxillary growth. When a child is new born the forward thrusting of the tongue to express milk from the mothers breast is the force that drives the horizontal or forward growth of the maxillae. The tongue is ideally in contact with the roof of the mouth at rest and during the sub-conscious swallow. In this position, the tongue exerts a lateral force, which counterbalances the inward force exerted by the buccinator muscles. This is what maintains the integrity of the developing maxilla. The moment the child is a mouth breather, and the tongue drops to the floor of the mouth, the buccinators continue to push inwards and cause the upper arch to collapse. In the chronic mouth breathing child the tongue falls from the roof of the mouth and no longer provides support for the upper arch.

Breathing through the mouth causes or contributes to the following dental problems: dental decay, gum disease, malocclusion (teeth not fitting together properly when the mouth is shut), anterior open bite (prominent top teeth), reduced dental arch space (narrow roof of the mouth) greater potential for relapse of orthodontic correction, TMJ dysfunction (where the jaw bone hinges onto the cheek bone).

When the mouth is closed the tongue is normally pressed lightly upwards onto the palate, this constant small pressure ensures the correct development of the upper jaw. If however the mouth is kept open for breathing, the tongue falls to the floor of the mouth and the palate may develop with a high arch and reduced space for the upper teeth. If this kind of breathing is habitual, the face becomes more narrow or elongated compared with that of nose breathing siblings. (Champagne 1991, Rubin 1980)

The Breath Connection does not treat any condition specifically but teaches clients how to correct the dysfunctional breathing that is invariably associated with most health problems. By normalising the person’s breathing the body is better able to function, most symptoms are reduced, energy is increased, there are usually improvements in: immune system, body oxygenation, circulation, digestion, sleep, concentration and frequently less medication is needed for their condition.

Orthodontic Dental Problems Gum Disease
Sports Performance Physical Exercise Improvement
Asthma Sinusitis Hay fever Rhinitis
Stress Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / ME
Circulation Angina Hypertension Arrhythmias
Insomnia Snoring & Sleep Apnoea

words: Michael Lingard BSc DO BBEC
For further information please visit: www.thebreathconnection.com & www.orthotropics.co.uk

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The common factor that accompanies stressful situations is the triggering of the fight or flight response. This primitive automatic response puts the body on high alert physically and mentally ready to deal with the potential life threatening event. Usually the event is not in the least life threatening but our body does not take the risk and assumes any trigger could be a danger. The fight or flight response can cause over a thousand physiological changes in our bodies and most of them we have little or no control over such as release of adrenaline, increased histamine production, increased output of corticosteroids, increased sweating, raised blood pressure, suppressed immune system, etc. However, there are three reactions we can take conscious control over with practice and they are: muscle tension, mental tension and breathing.

By progressively learning to reduce muscle and mental tension and our breathing rate all the other physiological reactions are also reduced, so damping down the effect of any stress. Your training can be done wherever you are, on your smartphone or on a computer, each exercise may take less than ten minutes and is recorded on your smartphone.

If you are connected to a MyButeyko Registered educator they will immediately be able to see your results and feedback support and comments. You will also be able to track your progress yourself on a graph on your phone. Although you may use the app alone for training we recommend you connect with a qualified Buteyko Educator to receive support and monitoring to ensure rapid progress.
Please visit our website thebreathconnection.com to learn more and to download the free MyButeyko App

Michael Lingard BSc. DO. BBEC. Buteyko Educator

The post Stress management App appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Despite the above it is unlikely that your doctor has ever checked your breathing unless you arrived with a respiratory illness; apparently in today’s modern medicine it appears it doesn’t matter how you breathe so long as you do! This is not that surprising, as it is only in recent years that medical training began to incorporate nutrition into the syllabus in any significant way. We are seeing the results of this omission in the rise of childhood obesity that has reached almost epidemic proportions. At least diet and nutrition is now on the medical agenda but breathing is still largely ignored. The most common respiratory dysfunction is chronic hidden hyperventilation that is already a 21st century epidemic, as over 75% of us in the West suffer to some degree from this health problem and yet it is rarely diagnosed and even when it is the patient is not given the support and training they need to break this bad habit.

I know you probably believe your breathing is normal; well you’ve been doing it since you were born and you have never had a problem with it have you? Why not check it out today? Watch this short YouTube video that shows you how to measure your breathing in just a minute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSErLKCISWg

The great news is that we can all learn how to improve our breathing in just a few weeks and once you have re-trained your breathing it stays good without further work. The benefits of better breathing may be more energy, better sleep, better concentration, less anxiety, and a general calmer more healthy life. There are many ways of learning to improve your breathing but only one has been subjected to many clinical trials and shown to be very effective and that is the Buteyko Method. Google Buteyko to find out more or visit our website to download a free app for smartphone or computer that will get you started learning how to breathe better or download free leaflets that explain the breath connection to all the above conditions on the map above. www.buteykokent.co.uk
Michael Lingard BSc DO BBEC Buteyko Educator

The post Better Breathing Means Better Health appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

It has taken almost one and a half centuries for modern research in medicine to recognise the validity of this concept. Today there is a growing number of specialist orthodontists and health workers who say the same thing based on sound scientific evidence.

On 5th October 2012 there was a Conference in New York of American Association of Physiological Medicine & Dentistry discussing this association. Since then an increasing number of orthodontists are adding breath training to their regular practice services, especially with young children whilst their cranial structures are developing. You may like to read the blog “Beautiful children breathe through their nose” on the website referred to below.

Shut Your Mouth & Save Your Life

Much of the success of the Buteyko Method of training is due to the elimination of mouth breathing, advice against over-eating, the encouragement of more physical exercise and advice on quality sleeping. The ideas are so simple to teach or learn that they have been dismissed by mainstream medicine that increasingly puts its faith (yes, I use the word “faith” intentionally) in drug therapy or other intensive medical interventions.

The truth is there is little profit to be made from simple remedial systems that could threaten the profitability of our international pharmaceutical companies and the vast industry built on the management of disease, if the public were better informed of their existence.

Visit our main site www.buteykokent.co.uk for more information & perhaps you might like to download George Catlin’s book at www.members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/indians.pdf Bear in mind it was written almost 150 years ago, and you may find the style of writing strange however bear with it as it contains a wealth of thought provoking material. Meanwhile “Shut Your Mouth & start on the road to better health!”

Michael Lingard BSc DO BBEC lingard@buteykokent.co.uk

The post Shut your mouth and live a long and healthy life! appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

You may find the answers interesting, because dysfunctional breathing has reached almost epidemic proportions in the modern world and chronic hidden hyperventilation has repeatedly been demonstrated to cause a vast number of symptoms that are usually not recognised as being associated with the hyperventilation but ascribed to some other disease or pathological condition.

However, if you had a respiratory problem you may well have been given a peak flow meter test to assess your lung function, as this is the standard test for such an assessment. If you are already over-breathing or hyperventilating the act of blowing as hard as you possibly can through this instrument will naturally increase your over-breathing and cause related responses from your body. One such response will be for spasm of smooth muscle and a shutting down of air sacks in the lungs along with increased irritation of all your airways that may together make you cough or even precipitate an asthma attack. I believe this must be only scientific measuring instrument that changes the condition of the object being measured! It is rather like having an elastic tape measure to assess your waist measurement! The measurement will vary depending on how enthusiastically the tape is used!

Does it matter how I breathe ?

Returning to that first question, ” Does it matter how I breathe ?” The answer is definitely yes! Of course it does, just as it is at last accepted by mainstream medicine that it matters what and how you eat or drink or exercise or sleep. We can survive three weeks not eating, three days not drinking but hardly three minutes not breathing; wouldn’t this alone suggest breathing is worth checking out?

Yet the simplest non-invasive test developed by Dr Konstantin Buteyko, the Control Pause, or maximum comfortable breath hold in seconds after a normal exhalation, has not been adopted to screen for hyperventilation in patients. It takes literally under one minute and will reliably indicate those patients who are habitual over-breathing. Using this simple test would allow every patient to be screened for hyperventilation at practically no cost but for those showing serious hyperventilation it could speed their recovery from many conditions that are associated with hyperventilation. Every asthmatic hyperventilates, most people with heart conditions hyperventilate, all people suffering from sleep apnoea over-breathe, most people suffering anxiety or panic attacks hyperventilate and a host of other conditions improve as the patient’s breathing is returned to normal.

Thousands of research papers have shown these relationships between many modern diseases and chronic hidden hyperventilation and yet it is still usually undiagnosed and even when it is diagnosed very little help is offered the patient to correct the problem.

The Buteyko Method is just one system of breath training that has been used with hundreds of thousands of people suffering the consequences of chronic hidden hyperventilation, it is effective, based on good science and easily taught. Why is it not a part of mainstream medicine? There’s another question worth asking!

Michael Lingard BSc DO BBEC www.buteykokent.co.uk 01580 752852

The post Does It Matter How I Breathe ? appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Michael Lingard trained as economist, statistician and accountant, working as a Financial Analyst with Fords (UK) Tractors & O & M Consultant and then as Operational Research Consultant with Hawker Siddeley Group Management Services. Having spent two years as university lecturer he then joined his wife as a restaurateur. Later Michael decided to retrain as an Osteopath at the European School of Osteopathy, established one of the first Holistic Clinics in 1981. Six years ago Michael took an interest in the Buteyko Method, driven by a desire to help create a revolution in medicine, to shift the dominant emphasis from pathology and disease to ethology and health. Despite commercial and establishment influences resisting such changes, Michael believes the public & economic pressures will eventually prevail.

Q: What is your approach to health
I am passionate about the work of Professor Konstantin Buteyko who identified one of the major factors contributing to so many diseases of modern man, namely chronic hidden hyperventilation or in simple terms “over-breathing”. I describe this as the 21st Century Epidemic in a YouYube video www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF0Kv36r4mk
It has taken over a century to have the significance of our structure recognised as an important factor in our health, only in recent years has the effect of diet on our health been accepted but modern medicine still has not recognised the vital importance of good breathing on our health. Professor Buteyko claimed over 150 modern diseases were associated with chronic hidden hyperventilation, it is possible that over 90% of the population in the West habitually over-breathe. All the symptoms and conditions associated with over-breathing are currently treated principally with drugs to ameliorate or suppress them. The ‘catch 22′ is that, not unreasonably, the medical profession demands more clinical research proof of this relationship between hyperventilation and disease.

The funding for over 95% of clinical research comes from drug companies. However teaching people to normalise their breathing with the Buteyko Method invariably reduces the need for drugs (asthmatics on average are able to reduce their reliever medication by up to 90% and preventer medication by up to 50%).

No self-respecting drug company is willing to fund research that would demonstrate patients could manage with less medication. Thus it is left to the public to vote with their feet & their wallets and to put pressure on their doctor to offer this training on the NHS. With asthmatics alone the NHS could save millions of pounds by offering Buteyko training, two doctors have already demonstrated this in their own practices.

I spend a lot of time trying to get this message across to anyone who will listen. I find that no one ever breathes the same after listening to an introductory talk on this subject, once people have the facts and the understanding they begin to change their habits for the better, surely this is the best kind of health care?

Q:What are your business ethics?

• Believe in what you do.
• Give your best service and advice.
• Respect the individual. No one size fits all.
• Give value for money
• Be honest
• Don’t make exaggerated therapy claims
• Never destroy hope that things may get easier. we don’t have crystal balls
• If you want to improve your patient care, care for your patient.

Q: What motivates you?
An ardent belief that we could all be healthier and happier if given a chance.
The fundamentals of a long healthy life are quite simple but we have lost this understanding and are encouraged to believe that we all need medical intervention from birth to death for every ill we might suffer. There are people like the Hunzas of the Himalayas who enjoy such a life, the men still playing polo at 90 years of age. Unfortunately there is less money in health promotion compared with disease management and in our materialistic world this counts!

How many sessions do your clients need to see results?.
The full Buteyko Course consists of five sessions of 90 minutes over two weeks, usually clients begin to experience improvements in their conditions within days of starting training.

Q: What are the results by learning the Buteyko Method?
Everyone who has completed the course has been pleased with the improvements in their general health and wellbeing and have realised that they have been given the skills to help them take better control of their health for life. Learning to breathe normally may take time but can be life transforming. Real healthcare re-empowers the patient, this is exactly what the Buteyko Method does.

Q: How much does a Buteyko course cost?
The full cost of a Buteyko Course is about the cost of a full car servicing but unlike your car this is a once in a lifetime cost. The course includes five 90 minute training sessions, two follow-up sessions, twelve months follow-up telephone or email support, text book, work book and other literature and ButeykoKent provides Capnography tests to establish quality clinical data at no extra charge. Adult fees of £340 & children £240 for children receive a 10% discount if paid at start of the course and additional family members are charged at £100 each.

Q: What are the challenges?
The main challenge for all Buteyko Educators is the challenge of changing an almost universal mindset among the general public and many doctors that breathing is naturally fine, that everyone breathes normally from birth with the exception of those with asthma or other respiratory conditions and that the bigger our breaths and the more we breathe the better our health. The truth is that up to 90% of the population in the West breathe badly, they breathe too much, often erratically and usually mouth breathe rather than using their noses for breathing. Over-breathing or hyperventilation, put very simply, makes us ill. It is the underlying problem of every asthmatic and practically every person diagnosed with a heart condition, diabetes, panic attacks, anxiety, ME, IBS, sleep apnoea or other common diseases will be found to be breathing two to three times more air per minute than normal. This always contributes to their disease symptoms and if eliminated there is usually a major reduction in symptoms, reduced need for medication and general improved well-being. Changing this mind set is truly a great challenge for us all. A wise Chinese sage Lao Tszu (300BC) summed it up with his saying ‚”The perfect man breathes as though he is not breathing”, how far this is from the teaching most of us have received since childhood, that the more you breathe the better!

Q: What are your long terms plans?
Together with other Buteyko Educators worldwide I hope we can convince the medical profession of the vital importance of good breathing to the point that training such as the Buteyko Method becomes an integral part of mainstream medicine. This would save billions of pounds spent on drugs and medical interventions, improve the health of millions and almost certainly extend the lives of many who are currently the victims of chronic hidden hyperventilation with the usual cocktail of many drugs that suppress or ameliorate the symptoms due to their dysfunctional breathing.

Food for thought
Since training as an osteopath, over thirty years ago I have been driven by a belief that we are heading for a medical disaster unless there is a change in priorities, most of our resources are devoted to pathology; disease diagnosis, management and perhaps disease prevention, only minimal resources are directed towards health promotion and education. With the exception of surgery and acute emergency medicine I feel we are going through ‘The Dark Ages of Medicine’, “a pill for every ill” is good for the drug companies but not for the health of individuals or the nation. If I can help change this resource imbalance a little I will be pleased with my work.

Photos from orthotropic dental work that involves correction of breathing and muscle development but does not usually use braces or tooth extraction.

I recently attended a seminar of orthodontists who are also interested in the impact of poor breathing habits on the dental and developmental health of their patients, a fellow Buteyko Educator from Ireland was giving them a talk on the Buteyko Method. His talk was received well, as this group of orthodontists have recognised the importance of correct breathing on our early development. ‚”Beautiful children need to breathe normally, bad breathing habits may lead to a crowded teeth and disfigured or poorly developed cranial structure, or to put it bluntly, an ugly child and adult! “This is not new thinking, this idea was written about over a hundred years ago by an artist who painted the indigenous people of north and south America. He noticed how well formed and how healthy the indigenous people were compared with the immigrant population, it led him to write a book on the subject entitled “Shut your mouth and save your life” by George Catlin 1891
I am currently working with a computer expert on a Buteyko App for Android and iphone use. It will be free and will offer an introduction to the Buteyko Method and much more.

I am hoping it will help spread the word about this health promoting concept and make the basic training available to everyone. I would prefer there is no announcement of this until it has been beta tested.

Michael Lingard
BIBH trained 2004 (DO 1981)
TotalHealthMatters!,
St Bridgets, Rye Road,
Hawkhurst
Kent TN18 5DA
01580 752852
lingard@ totalhealthmatters.co.uk

asthmacarekent.co.uk (Buteyko training for asthmatics)

buteykokent.co.uk (General information about Buteyko )

totalhealthmatters.co.uk (Devoted to promoting health)

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