Kary Kilmer: Hello, Sasha! Today, we’re exploring a topic that affects millions of people every night, even if they don’t always know it.
I’m talking about sleep apnea, and the surprising connection it has with the way we breathe. More specifically, how the Buteyko Breathing Method can help people reduce or even eliminate sleep apnea in a natural, sustainable way.
Today I am interviewing Sasha Yakovleva, founder of the Buteyko Breathing Center and one of the few practitioners officially authorized by Dr. Buteyko’s family to teach his method.
Sasha, it’s so good to have you here again.
Sasha: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be back. Sleep apnea is a very personal and very serious issue for many people, and I’m glad we’re talking about it today. There’s so much confusion out there, and a lot of unnecessary fear.
Sleep Apnea: More Than Just Snoring?
Host: Let’s start by setting the stage a little. When people hear “sleep apnea,” they usually think of someone snoring loudly, gasping for air, maybe needing a CPAP machine next to their bed. Is that accurate?
Sasha: Yes, that’s the common picture. But I think we need to go much deeper. Sleep apnea is essentially the body trying to survive under difficult circumstances. It’s not just a disorder; it’s a protective mechanism.
What’s causing this? In many cases, chronic hyperventilation. In other words, people are breathing too much, especially through their mouths, and it’s creating a physiological crisis.
Host: Wait, breathing too much? That sounds counterintuitive. We’re always told that deep breaths are good for us, that we need more oxygen, not less.
Sasha: Yes, I hear this all the time. But it’s one of the biggest myths in modern health. Dr. K.P. Buteyko, a medical doctor and scientist in the former Soviet Union, discovered that over-breathing, or hyperventilation, leads to a depletion of carbon dioxide in the lungs. And carbon dioxide is not just a waste gas. It’s vital for your body.
Without enough carbon dioxide, oxygen cannot be properly released into the cells. So you could be breathing in a lot of oxygen, but your organs are starving because that oxygen isn’t being delivered. This imbalance causes constriction in the airways, poor sleep, anxiety, and, yes, sleep apnea.
Apnea as a Defense Mechanism
Host: So what does that look like at night? Walk us through what’s happening in someone’s body while they’re sleeping.
Sasha: At night, the body’s metabolism slows down. It produces less carbon dioxide on its own. If a person is a mouth breather (and most people with sleep apnea are), they lose even more carbon dioxide through deep, heavy breathing.
Now the body has to do something to stop this loss. One way it compensates is by creating swelling or edema in the soft tissues of the throat and nasal passages. This narrows the airways and forces the person to breathe less.
That’s when snoring starts. Snoring is the sound of air struggling to pass through a narrow, inflamed airway. And if the snoring isn’t enough to slow the breathing, the body may go further. It will stop breathing altogether, for a few seconds or even longer.
This is sleep apnea. But here’s the key: It’s not a random malfunction. It’s the body’s emergency brake, designed to conserve carbon dioxide and protect vital functions.
Host: That’s such a different perspective. Most people think of apnea as a failure of the body, not a defense mechanism.
Sasha: Exactly. And that’s why many common treatments for sleep apnea don’t address the root cause. A CPAP machine, for example, forces air into the lungs, but it doesn’t fix the problem of low carbon dioxide. So, sometimes it makes hyperventilation worse.
The Buteyko Method, on the other hand, teaches people how to breathe less, gently and gradually. It helps the body return to a state of balance where apnea is no longer necessary.
In this video, Sasha shares how she overcame sleep apnea using the Buteyko method.
First Steps with Buteyko: Assessment and the Positive Maximum Pause
Host: So how do you help someone who comes to you with sleep apnea? What’s the first step?
Sasha: The first step is to understand the person’s life and their breathing habits, day and night. I ask a lot of questions: Do they breathe through their mouth during the day? What’s their sleeping position? Do they snore? What’s their Positive Maximum Pause?
Host: Can you explain what that is? The Positive Maximum Pause?
Sasha: Yes. The PMP is a measurement we use in the Buteyko Method. It helps us understand how much carbon dioxide a person has in their lungs. If the PMP is low, it means the person is over-breathing and their carbon dioxide levels are depleted.
When I work with someone who has sleep apnea, I use this measurement to track their progress. As their PMP increases through the Buteyko Breathing Normalization Training, their symptoms usually decrease. They snore less. They wake up less often. Some even stop having apneas altogether.
Host: So it’s not just a matter of switching to nasal breathing?
Sasha: Nasal breathing is essential, yes, but it’s not always enough. People can still snore and hyperventilate through their noses. What we teach is breathing normalization. That means reducing the overall volume of air a person breathes, not just closing their mouth.
We also focus on lifestyle: posture, speech, diet, exercise. Everything contributes to breathing patterns and CO2 levels in the lungs. The Buteyko Method is very comprehensive. It’s not a quick fix; it’s a process.
“Why Bother if CPAP Works?”
Host: I imagine some people are skeptical. They may say, “Well, my doctor gave me a machine, and it helps me sleep. Why would I go through a 2- to 4-month training program?”
Sasha: That’s a good question. A great question, actually. I never tell anyone to stop using their CPAP or to stop taking medication. I respect medical treatment. But I always remind my students: machines manage symptoms, they don’t resolve the cause.
When you retrain your breathing, you change your physiology. You no longer need the body to create those emergency signals like snoring or apnea. You give your body permission to rest, genuinely rest.
And this is not just about sleep. When you improve your breathing, everything improves. Your immune system gets stronger. Your digestion works better. Your mood stabilizes. Sleep is just the beginning.
Wendy’s Story
Host: Can you share a story of someone you worked with who overcame sleep apnea with the Buteyko Method?
Sasha: Yes, I’d be happy to. In fact, there’s a story that always moves me because it’s not just about sleep apnea, but the ripple effect that disordered breathing can have on someone’s whole life.
This is the experience of Wendy Becher, a woman from Australia who switched to the Buteyko Method after trying just about everything else. She was nearly 70 years old at the time. For many years, she’d been suffering from a long list of debilitating symptoms: sleep apnea, asthma, jaw clenching, snoring, chronic fatigue, and more. These issues had deeply affected her social life, her work, and her outlook on life.
She had been extremely proactive about her health. Over the years, she saw five chiropractors, a leading arthritis professor, an endocrinologist, a consultant in Infectious and Tropical Diseases, a Chinese herbalist, three myotherapists, a nutritionist, a naturopath, and a cranial osteopath. She did breath testing for fermentable sugars, countless blood and urine tests, stool analyses, and took endless vitamins and medications, including Ventolin, which she said gave her unpleasant side effects. She even wore a bite plate for years to deal with her jaw issues. She did all of this in the hopes of getting better… and yet, the relief she found was temporary or partial at best.
And then, at the encouragement of her cranial osteopath, whom she deeply respected, she attended a Buteyko Breathing course in Melbourne. She named sleep apnea, asthma, jaw clenching, and snoring as her primary concerns. And incredibly, her symptoms began to ease from the very first breathing exercise.
Within ten days, her Control Pause (this is another way we measure carbon dioxide levels in the lungs) jumped from 22–27 seconds to 48–52 seconds. That’s a dramatic improvement in such a short time. Her pulse dropped from 80 to 68–72, which was what it had been almost 30 years earlier.
But the numbers aren’t the most powerful part. The most important change was in how she felt: her symptoms were disappearing, she was sleeping through the night, and she no longer needed the bite plate. She told us, and I quote, “I cannot emphasize how simple and successful I have found Buteyko in such a short time.” She gave us full permission to share her story, and I think it beautifully illustrates what’s possible when people give their bodies a chance to breathe in a way that supports healing.
Host: Wow. That’s incredible. I mean, nearly 70 years old, and after years of searching and spending all that money… it was breathing that finally brought things together?
Sasha: Yes, that’s often the missing piece — and not just “deep breathing” or “relaxing breaths” like the usual recommendations we hear everywhere, but specific, structured breathing retraining designed to reduce hyperventilation and restore balance to the respiratory system.
We’ve been conditioned to think of health in compartments: sleep issues go to the sleep clinic, jaw issues go to the dentist, fatigue goes to the endocrinologist. But no one connects all of these back to something as fundamental as breathing. Yet the body is one system. If you’re breathing too much, if you’re constantly blowing off carbon dioxide, your whole system is thrown off. And the body starts compensating in all sorts of ways: inflammation, sleep disruptions, muscle tension, immune suppression.
Wendy is a perfect example of someone who was doing all the right things, she was committed to her healing, but she hadn’t yet addressed her breathing. Once she did, everything started to shift.
Host: That’s so powerful. And it also makes me think about how many people are out there right now dealing with sleep apnea, or snoring, or clenching their jaws, and they’re just being told, “Well, that’s aging. That’s stress. That’s just how it is.”
Sasha: Yes. And I think that’s one of the hardest things: people are often told to just manage their condition. But the body wants to heal. That’s what the Buteyko Method supports. It gives the body the environment it needs to repair itself.
With sleep apnea, for instance, we see people who have been told they’ll be on a CPAP machine for life. But after a few months of Buteyko training, they’re sleeping through the night, often without any machine at all. Their PMP increases, their snoring decreases, they wake up refreshed.
But again, it’s not magic. It’s not passive. It takes practice, commitment, and often the guidance of a specialist who understands the nuances of the method. And most importantly, it’s a process that works with the body, not against it.
What Does Buteyko Training Look Like?
Host: That’s something I really want to emphasize: this isn’t just a matter of “breathing better” and hoping for the best. You’re talking about a structured training program. What does that actually look like?
Sasha: Yes, it’s very structured. At the Buteyko Breathing Center, our full training usually takes about two to four months. During this time, I work one-on-one with a student who measures thor CO2 levels every day. I do in-depth assessments to understand their breathing habits, their symptoms, their lifestyle.
Then, I create a personalized plan that includes daily breathing exercises, like reduced breathing and Positive Maximum Pause breathing measurements, plus changes to posture, movement, workpots, sleeping position, and sometimes even speech habits. I teach them how to breathe in a way that increases carbon dioxide levels, supports cellular oxygenation, and brings calm to the nervous system.
Each person’s path is different, but the method is the same. I never force change. I support small challenges that help the body adapt gradually.
Host: And you mentioned sleeping position. I know that may seem like a small thing to some people, but can you talk about why that matters?
Sasha: It matters a lot. Most people sleep on their backs, but this position actually encourages mouth breathing and often makes sleep apnea worse. When you lie on your back, your tongue and jaw naturally fall backward, narrowing the airway.
We often recommend stomach sleeping, or at least side sleeping, for my students. This posture helps to reduce or prevent night time hyperventilation that leads to CO2 loss. It’s a simple shift that can have a big impact, especially when combined with other breathing normalization techniques.
Host: So even something like turning over in bed can be part of this bigger process of healing?
Sasha: Yes. Because everything is connected. That’s what’s so beautiful and so overlooked about breathing normalization. It invites people to look at their whole lives: how they eat, how they sit, how they speak, how they sleep.
I am not just changing how much air they breathe. I am helping them build a new relationship with their body, with their nervous system, with rest and energy and awareness.
Feeling Skeptical? A Message of Hope
Host: I’m curious; what would you say to someone who’s listening and thinking, “This sounds interesting, but I’ve tried so many things. I’m not sure I have the energy to try something else.”
Sasha: I would say: I understand. Truly. Many of my students come to me after years of trying other approaches. They’re tired, discouraged, and skeptical. And that’s okay.
But I would also say: if you’re still struggling, it’s worth looking at your breathing. It may be the one thing no one has addressed yet. And if you can bring that back into balance, many of your symptoms may begin to improve, gently, gradually, and in a way that lasts.
You don’t have to do it alone. That’s why the Buteyko Breathing Center offers guidance, structure, and community. We walk with people every step of the way.
Host: And this isn’t just for older people, right? We’ve talked about Wendy’s story, but I imagine you see younger people with sleep issues too.
Sasha: Absolutely. I work with children as young as three or four years old. Many of them are already mouth breathing, snoring, have enlarged adenoids, and often show signs of sleep apnea. This can affect their growth, behavior, and ability to focus.
By retraining their breathing early on, we can help prevent long-term issues and support their development in a healthy, natural way.
And for adults, especially younger adults who are already showing signs of sleep disturbance, now is the perfect time to act. Breathing issues don’t go away on their own; they tend to get worse with age unless they’re addressed.
Final Thoughts: Sleep Apnea is a 24/7 Breathing Issue
Host: Before we wrap up, what’s one thing you wish more people understood about sleep apnea?
Sasha: I wish people understood that it’s not just a nighttime issue. It’s a 24/7 issue rooted in how you breathe all the time. And that means you can start improving it during the day, by becoming aware of your breathing, by closing your mouth, by practicing gently breathing less.
And also: sleep apnea is not the enemy. It’s the body doing its best to protect you. When you learn to work with your body, rather than against it, you can begin to heal in a way that’s deep, lasting, and peaceful.
Host: That’s a beautiful way to put it. Sasha, thank you so much for sharing your insights today, and Wendy’s story. It’s inspiring to hear what’s possible, no matter your age or history.
Sasha: Thank you. It’s always a pleasure to speak about this, because I see the difference it makes in people’s lives every day. And I hope it gives people a new sense of hope, not fear, when it comes to sleep and breathing.
