Do you often wake up tired, feel stressed or short of breath?
Perhaps, your spouse complaints that you snore or grind your teeth? Or just can’t live, breathe without your nasal spray?
There is a solution for that and even more!
BENEFITS OF BUTEYKO BREATHING METHOD
BUTEYKO BREATHING
BREATHE LESS. LIVE MORE.
Stress and anxiety surround us. Relationship problems, deadlines at work, exams at school, social media, the modern environment etc. take the toll on our body and keeps it in constant “survival” mode.
Buteyko breathing is a gentle, evidence-based method that retrains how you breathe – helping YOU restore calm and support longevity.
Developed by Dr. Konstantin Buteyko, this approach focuses on nasal breathing, relaxation, and healthy carbon dioxide (CO2) balance to improve oxygen use and support the body’s natural healing systems.
At InShape, we use Buteyko method to help adults and children to overcome these problems and bring the stress level of the body down by addressing mouth breathing, snoring, and other breathing pattern disorders – safely and sustainably.
WHAT IS BUTEYKO BREATHING?
The Buteyko Method is a structured way of restoring natural nasal breathing and reducing chronic over-breathing (hyperventilation).
Due to anxiety, stress we breathe too much – or too quickly through the mouth – it disrupts the balance of gases in the body, because stress hormones increase the sensitivity to CO2 by 30%, which triggers over-breathing further on.
Buteyko re-trains you to breathe less, slower and more calmly through your nose.
This approach helps normalize carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, allowing oxygen to be delivered more efficiently to the cells – a principle that is known as BOHR EFFECT.
To put it simply:
Buteyko helps you breathe in a way that supports energy,
focus, and calm – rather than triggering
stress or fatigue.
BUTEYKO CORE PRINCIPLES
The Buteyko method combines simple yet powerful core foundations:
- Nasal Breathing: keep air warm, filtered and rich in nitric oxide (NO). This molecule supports increased blood flow (vasodilator), improves circulation, and allows more oxygen and nutrients to reach the body’s tissues.
- Reduced Breathing: Restrains your respiratory center to tolerate slightly higher CO2 levels, improving oxygen efficiency.
- Calm Diaphragmatic Breathing: Reduces tension and helps reset the nervous system.
- Awareness & Posture: Encourages upright, relaxed alignment so the diaphragm can work naturally.
These principles work together to rebalance the chemistry of breathing – helping your body shift from a state of stress to one of balance and repair.
HOW IT COMPARES TO OTHER BREATHING METHODS
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Focus:
Belly expansion & relaxation
Intensity:
Moderate
Typical use:
Relaxation, posture, voice support
Buteyko
Focus:
Reduced breathing & CO2 tolerance
Intensity:
Gentle
Typical use:
Airway health, sleep, asthma, anxiety
Wim Hof
Focus:
Deep breathing & cold exposure
Intensity:
Intense
Typical use:
Stress resilience, energy boost
While all these methods above support breathing health, Buteyko stands out for
retraining your automatic breathing pattern – not just moment-to-moment relaxation. It helps restore calm, efficient breathing and complement lifestyle change efforts for lasting weight loss, improves sleep quality and enhances athletic performance.
HOW TO PRACTICE BUTEYKO?
Cautions & Considerations
Buteyko breathing is generally safe when approached gently, but it may not be
appropriate for everyone without guidance. Avoid pushing too hard with extended
breath holds, and refrain from practice when feeling unwell. If you have chronic heart,
lung or other medical conditions including pregnancy, please, consult your healthcare provider first.
With proper guidance, the practice should feel grounding – not stressful. Both private
and small group sessions are adapted carefully in terms of pace for your well-being.
INTEGRATING BUTEYKO AND LIFESTYLE CHANGE
At InShape
At InShape, we apply Buteyko Breathing during the lifestyle change process in order to achieve permanent body composition change by dialing the stress level of the body down.
Buteyko Method promotes a heathier breathing pattern which means less stress,
better sleep quality and improved metabolic health among many other benefits.
Buteyko retrains
Buteyko retrains how you breathe, which helps you to reduce mouth breathing, snoring and sleep issues.
This is combined with other lifestyle interventions like nutrient-dense diet and regular exercise to offset stress factors and help you build reserves while healing the body.
After that good stress factors can be applied to push you gently towards the desired body composition goal.
Your journey
Your journey starts with enrolling to InShape 9 Lifestyle Change Program, which is a 12 – weeks’ online program.
It is tailored 100% to you, blending 16 pre-recorded videos, 3-4 science backed daily posts with educational content in the first 8 weeks, daily motivation posts and weekly online free consultation (20 min) one-on-one.
Most people notice results in the form of calmer breathing, better sleep, weight loss and improved energy within a few weeks.
WHO CAN BENEFIT
Buteyko breathing is suitable for:
Adults
– Adults with asthma and breathing disorders: it may reduce asthma symptoms, as well as the intensity and frequency of attacks.
– It may alleviate hot flashes, mood swings, irritability, and sleep problems during peri- and post-menopause, since breathing has a direct effect on the functioning of the hormonal system.
– Reduces high blood pressure, dilates the blood vessels by restoring the CO₂ level in the blood, calms the nervous system, and relieves the heart’s workload.
– Helps optimize the quality and duration of sleep for those who have disrupted sleep or do not get enough sleep in quantity or depth.
– It can help eliminate nasal spray dependency in as little as one week.
Parents
– Parents of mouth-breathing children
Professionals
– Professionals seeking calm and focus under pressure
Athletes
– Athletes wanting better performance
Anyone looking to build healthier habits
Note: Buteyko complements – not replaces – medical treatment. Always consult with your healthcare provider before changing medication or exercise routines.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND BUTEYKO & WHO CREATED IT
Dr. Konstantin
Pavlovich Buteyko
The Buteyko Method was developed by Dr. Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko (1923-2003)
in the early 50s, a Ukrainian-born physician and researcher. While studying medicine in
Moscow, he observed that people with worsening illnesses often breathe more heavily
and rapidly. Those who breathed more gently seemed to stabilize and recover faster.
Dr. Buteyko proposed that chronic over-breathing (hyperventilation) disrupts the body’s
balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide, contributing to many modern health problems.
Over several decades he refined breathing retraining techniques aimed at restoring this
natural chemical balance and supporting the body’s own regulation systems.
His approach was formerly recognized within the Soviet medical circles in the 1980s
and has since been taught worldwide.
Evidence-Based Benefits:
Over the past decades, studies published on Pubmed and in other medical journals
have confirmed measurable benefits of Buteyko breathing for symptom reduction and
improved quality of life.
Research highlights include:
