Therapeutic Breathing and GI Function

In this episode, Dr Nirala Jacobi is in conversation with Mim Beim about the effect of the breath on the digestive tract.

Mim has 30 years of naturopathic experience, she has authored books, and is a respected naturopathic voice in the media. Mim has also held lecturing positions at the Australian College of Natural Therapies (ACNT) and has two practices. 

Topics discussed include:

• Mim’s story and how she came to Buteyko breathing.
• Physiological effects of Buteyko breathing.
• What actually happens with Buteyko breathing?
• Overbreathing - chronic hyperventilation (breathing more than we metabolically need) and the effect of losing too much carbon dioxide.
• What are the effects of increasing carbon dioxide in the body in miniscule amounts?
• Digestive conditions and the breath.
• How can Buteyko help with irritable bladder, uterine issues, digestive conditions, high blood pressure, peripheral circulation, sleep apnoea, and asthma (among others), and what is the mechanism?
• What is the importance of nose breathing?
• The magical chemical, nitric oxide, and how to produce it with breathing.
• The Bohr Effect
  • If carbon dioxide levels are a little higher the result is more oxygen delivery.
  • The importance of this in conditions featuring damaged lung tissue.
• The importance of increasing carbon dioxide and resetting respiratory centres in the brain to create new patterns of breathing.
• Buteyko exercises and how they can create permanent changes in physiological responses.
• Age appropriate and condition appropriate Buteyko breathing exercises.
• What improvements and symptomatic relief has Mim seen with Buteyko breathing with SIBO and digestive conditions?
  • Nitric oxide improving functioning of sphincters and how this affects the digestive tract.
• What are common signs of dysfunctional breathing?
• Tactics to retrain mouth breathing during sleep and the outcomes of this.
• Nose breathing at night and how this positively and profoundly affects orthodontic development.
• Sleep apnoea and the flow on effects to other conditions in the body, eg diabetes, and heart disease.
• Sympathetic overdrive and Buteyko’s role in helping to retrain trigger happy adrenal glands.
• Diaphragmatic breathing.
• Motility and the parasympathetic nervous system.
• How to know when the parasympathetic is turned on - such as increased salivation, warmth, and decreased anxiety levels.
• Stories of health success with Buteyko Breathing.
• Webinar courses for practitioners who cannot make it to in person trainings.
• Live webinar courses for patients.
• An example of a Buteyko breathing exercise - a live exercise on the SIBO Doctor Podcast with Mim Beim.
• General indication: if the parasympathetic switch takes over 2 minutes to activate, this indicates a heavy tendency to sympathetic dominance.

Resources

• Mim Beim
  • Breathing Quiz
  • Skype appointments also available.
• Patrick McKeown - Buteyko Educator (in person and online) for practitioners and practitioner locator for patients.
  • com
  • Oxygen Advantage - Performance training for athletes, November 9-11 2017 in Sydney, Australia.
• Buteyko Breathing Practitioner Training
  • November 1st-5th 2017 with Patrick McKeown and Mim Beim in Sydney, Australia
• Rosalba Courtney - osteopath specialising in breathing and training.