For 15 years I suffered with ME, becoming
bed ridden for the last 2 years. I came across the Buteyko method
for healing people from a wide range of chronic illness such as
asthma, sleep disorders and ME. Buteyko is based on the principle
that the cause of most chronic illness is over
breathing, but that symptoms can be reversed simply by retraining
the breathing back to normal. This contradicts conventional wisdom
that deep breathing is good for you. Deep breathing is actually
bad for you and is what sick people do. The Buteyko teaching is
backed by science and physiology and 50 years of successful practice
in Russia. After 4 months of Buteyko breathing I had got rid of
the ME and went on and trained as a Buteyko practitioner.
One day, watching Cuilrane I was staggered
to realise that he too was badly over breathing. If I could persuade
him to reduce his breathing, his health problems should disappear.
Clearly Cuilrane was unable to consciously alter his breathing
in the way that we teach human Buteyko students so I developed
a way of physically reducing the breathing using my hands and Equine
Breathing was born. Cuilrane had a dramatic reduction in symptoms
and became comfortable even in the spring sunshine and pollen after
only 6 days. He continued to improve and no longer needed the homeopathic
remedies.
Three
years later Cuilrane has no signs of hay fever, but it was not
just the snorting and head shaking that improved. In the 10 years
that I’d
had him, Cuilrane had never bucked. His back was stiff and his
paces stilted. Now at age 29 he frolics round the field and has
expanded his bucking routine to include various side kicks.
Other problems such as rain scald, receding
gums, a hay allergy, difficulty keeping condition, high worm count
and fairly severe separation anxiety all melted away. His paces
have become light and springy and when he bounces around it seems
clear that he just feels great.
I went on to develop and successfully use
the technique on horses with a wide variety of chronic ailments
and behaviour problems. The reason Equine Breathing is effective
for a broad selection of conditions is that over breathing causes
the horse’s carbon dioxide levels to drop. Carbon dioxide
is incredibly important in numerous major physiological functions
such as making oxygen available to the body, relaxing smooth muscle,
nerve cell function, maintaining the correct acid /alkaline balance
and biosynthesis of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Low levels
of carbon dioxide result in a break down of these functions. For
example when smooth muscle constricts it can cause poor circulation,
colic and respiratory problems such as COPD. Lack
of oxygen can have a similarly wide range of effects including
build up of lactic acid, cell dehydration, lack of energy and poor
concentration and so on.
Over breathing also causes an increase in
adrenaline production. In evolutionary terms adrenaline bursts
are designed to be short lived, with a return to normal body functioning
in between when cell growth and repair, and immune system cell
production take place. Over breathing horses are continually in
the aroused adrenalised state which is exhausting for them but
they cannot rest. Equine Breathing turns off the adrenaline production
and sometimes its like flicking a switch. The horse drops into
a state of deep relaxation and healing. This calming effect can
be very handy when the horse is in a stressful situation or event
such as competing.
Equine Breathing works by reducing the amount
of air breathed by the horse, allowing carbon dioxide levels to
build back up and reversing the physiological damage resulting
from low levels. Higher levels of carbon dioxide make more oxygen
available to the body, recover acid/alkaline balance, enable relaxation
of smooth muscle, allow correct functioning of nerve cells and
much more. Eventually the horse regains their normal breathing
pattern and carbon dioxide levels come up to the optimal level.
Horses enjoy Equine Breathing and at its most
gentle level (called one nostril or 1N) Equine Breathing can be
easily learnt and done by almost anyone to help almost any horse.
You don’t need any special equipment or training, but
just need to plan to have10 minutes of undisturbed time daily
with your horse. The Equine Breathing website
has a free download to enable you to get started.
If you would like to know more visit www.equinebreathingtechnique.co.uk or email: clare@equinebreathingtechnique.co.uk
