Be nice to your nose. Breathe well with Buteyko

With the cold and damp weather setting in, this can be the time of year when those with breathing-related symptoms notice they worsen: a persistent and annoying cough, a wheeze on the lungs or a feeling of congestion in the nose. Or maybe you are troubled by your breathing difficulty all year long, with feelings of anxiety and panic, for example.

We breathe every minute of every day but it is not something we often pay much attention to or even think we can do something about. We are concerned with what we eat and what we drink, how much exercise we do and many other aspects of our lives. But how we breathe does not seem to be as important.

The Buteyko breathing technique teaches you how to breathe well and how to breathe efficiently. You will become breathing aware and learn how to make adjustment to your breathing which will benefit your overall wellbeing. Making only a small change to how you breathe can make a big difference to any breathing -related symptoms that you may have.

Do you breathe through your mouth rather than through your nose? Is your nose too blocked up to breathe through? Do you get breathless when you talk on the phone? Does it feel like your breathing is in charge of you and not the other way around? Do you notice yourself every now and again letting out a big sigh or a sudden intake of air?

Through a series of breathing exercises and a variety of techniques Butyeko will help you to become breathing aware and to improve your control of your breathing.

Being nice to your nose is an important part of Buteyko because your nose does so much for you. Filtering, cleaning and moisturising the air we breathe. Being able to breathe through your nose is one of the first steps of improving how you breathe.

Kathryn Godfrey, Buteyko practitioner at Shine, Church Street