In 2008, my good friend Thomas Yakovlev-Fredricksen told me of his amazing experience with the Buteyko Method and how it cured him of his chronic asthma.  Even though I have never suffered from that condition, ever since I was a teenager I have been affected by allergies to pollen, dust and various environmental hazards. In Maui, Hawaii, where I live, the air is usually very clean. However even in "paradise" we have two main causes of pollution: The Kilauea active volcano from the Big Island that incessantly spews poisonous gasses and the year-round burning of the sugar cane fields that also releases pollutants in the air.  When there are no trade winds, activity those toxic fumes are not removed from the atmosphere and many people get allergies and asthma attacks. To my amazement, a few weeks into my own BM training, I realized that even in the days when the sky was filled with smoke, and ashes from the cane burning all over this beautiful island, I was not sneezing, coughing or having red and itchy eyes.  To this day, I continue being affected only very minimally by what is "out there."  I was so impressed by my own improvement, and what I heard from my colleagues and friends, that have taken the course that I decided to integrate this method in my clinic and help the many asthma sufferers on the islands.