Buteyko & Swimming

The Buteyko method is a breathing technique which focuses on improving breathing patterns to enhance oxygen delivery throughout the body.

The foundation of the method is nasal breathing and also breathing less.

The problem with swimming is that when we come out to breathe after every stroke or two, we can't breathe the way we're designed to, through the nose. Instead, we have to take breaths through the mouth…

When we breathe using the mouth, we bypass the many functions that the nose has for breathing, including filtering and regulating air temperature and the production of nitric oxide which is a gas that helps us to get more oxygen into our body. While nasal breathing is conducive to optimal breathing, slow and low (from the diaphragm), mouth breathing is conducive to faster and shallower breathing from the upper chest. When we use the mouth, we actually breathe too much air, too quickly.

While oxygen travels around the body in the hemoglobin of the red blood cells, it's carbon dioxide that dilates the walls of the blood vessels and releases the oxygen from the cells into the tissues. When we over-breathe, we blow off too much carbon dioxide (CO2). The reduction of CO2 causes the blood vessels to restrict and the blood cells to cling onto oxygen. The more we breathe, the less oxygen gets released into the tissues of the body, including the brain.

It's widely understood that swimming can be great exercise- good cardio with low impact on the joints. But if you go to a busy pool and look at how people are swimming, you might see that most people are straining, pulling their heads into their bodies and snatching quick bites of air. This disturbs the integration of the head, neck and back and we get less oxygen. As we are land mammals, it’s easy to get things wrong in the water. This is why some people might come out of the pool feeling a bit frazzled and stiff. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

For relaxed swimming, it can be helpful to slow things down and spend more time under the water. When we stay underwater, we can allow long, soft exhalations and let the water support the body. The neck can be free, the back can lengthen and widen, and movement becomes lighter and less strained. By rolling onto our back to breathe, we can take our time and allow the breath to return through the nose.

As with breathing, with swimming, sometimes less is more. By slowing down and staying underwater, we can move with greater awareness and integration of our body. We can leave the pool feeling calm and energised.