Breathe to heal or breathe to be ill?
Utilize the power of your Sacred Breath
Every breath we take contributes to our well-being or disease development. This process amplifies at a high altitude. “It is painful to see my neighbors hurting their health by breathing improperly”, says Sasha Yakovleva, a Buteyko Breathing Specialist and author who lives in Crestone.
She explains that we can survive without food for about a month, without water for a week, but without air only for a few minutes. Among these three substances, air intake is the most impactful. According to a Russian physiologist, K.P. Buteyko, MD-PhD, breathing is as potent as nuclear power and can destroy or restore our health quickly.
This applies to how a person breathes regularly, including while exercising, speaking, and sleeping. Healthy breathing, which is always nasal and silent, should be maintained 24/7.
The Buteyko method, which Sasha taught for fifteen years, assists in achieving this goal. It primarily helps people who suffer from breathing difficulties (asthma, COPD, cough, congestion, allergies, sleep apnea, and snoring) but also from conditions seemingly unrelated to breathing (high blood pressure, anxiety, fatigue, and many others). Sasha’s clients who applied this holistic approach report reducing or eliminating their symptoms, which allowed them to become healthier and, eventually, medication-free. Breathing optimization also helps athletes and people who want to boost their vitality.
The method is the result of the colossal work, which was done by a team of physicians and scientists led by Dr. Buteyko. In the sixties, the Soviet Union’s government granted them unlimited funding in the hope that their research and clinical work would help to harvest the power of breathing. Unfortunately, when Dr. Buteyko presented his discoveries, his work was rejected because, being in tune with the Eastern yoga/dharma path of prana accumulation, it defied the Western medical view on respiration. Despite repressions, his method survived and has been helping people worldwide, often saving their lives.
The core of this work is the discovery that we, modern people, don’t breathe like our ancestors did because our lifestyle determines our automatic breathing patterns. Most of us spend hours sitting indoors in front of electronic devices, while our ancestors spent their days hunting, foraging, gardening, etc. When the lifestyle becomes unnatural, breathing patterns become unhealthy, encouraging excessive air intake. Hyperventilation, especially mouth breathing, represents a major risk factor for many health conditions. Learning how to breathe less creates a foundation for overall health and longevity.
Sasha’s unique work was featured in The New York Times and other publications and described in the bestselling book Breath, in which the author traveled to Colorado to learn the method from her. Sasha’s services are in demand worldwide, and because of this, she rarely works in Crestone. “This June, I decided to change this, – She says. – In the Sacred Breath retreat, I will offer the gift of the Buteyko method to my local community. Everyone can benefit from learning how to understand their Sacred Breath, which is their ultimate health coach.”
This article was published by Crestone Eagle newspaper
