Feature
Article for Verve Magazine, Printed January 2002
Breathing
Easier
A Profile of Liv Valentina Browning
by Susan Wright
Liv Valentina
Browning struggled to walk uphill, her pace painfully slow. Each
step left her gasping for air, fighting for enough oxygen to take
the next step. Exhausted from a lack of sleep, she moved with the
slow, deliberate march of a climber on Mount Everest. One forced
step at a time. The problem was, Browning wasn't on Mount Everest
- or any other mountain. She was simply trying to reach the University
of Idaho infirmary after an all-night asthma attack. "That
attack could easily have been fatal," Browning says, "Easily."
Today, Liv
Browning is a 33 year old resident of West Seattle. Tall and reedy,
she has bright, brown eyes and shoulder-length brunette hair that
gently contours her head and neck. She works full time as a graphic
designer. She is also the founder of the Northwest Buteyko Center
for Asthma Control, where she teaches the Buteyko Breathing Method
to help control asthma without medication.
The Buteyko
Breathing Method — or "Buteyko," as Browning refers
to it — originated in Russia and has slowly spread to England,
Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Until recently Buteyko was
unknown in the United States. Browning, one of three certified Buteyko
practitioners in this country, is working hard to change that.
Browning was
diagnosed at the age of seven with asthma that was triggered by
both exercise and allergens. "I've always had it. It was everything
I knew. It was just who I was." Asthma defined what Browning
could do and where she could go. She couldn't be active. She couldn't
be around pets. She had to be constantly aware of what she ate and
whether people around her wore perfume. By the age of ten, Browning
had decided not to have children out of fear that she might pass
asthma on to them.
Asthma's defining
grip on Liv Browning's life was tight. Until 1997.
In 1997 Browning
took a sabbatical from her job to study art in France. While there,
she heard about a breathing therapy class offered in London that
claimed to control asthma. Browning was skeptical, but with the
assurance of a money-back guarantee, Browning traveled to England
for five days to learn Buteyko. She was not immediately sure she
had made the right decision.
"You think
you're buying snake oil," she admits. But during the first
session, as her instructor described the theory behind Buteyko,
Browning felt like a light bulb turned on. "It made sense to
me after the first day," she says.
The Buteyko
Breathing Method is based on research conducted in the 1950's by
Russian doctor Konstantin Buteyko. Dr. Buteyko's key finding was
that asthmatics breathe two to three times more than average. This
"over-breathing" releases the small but necessary amount
of carbon dioxide in the lungs. Low carbon dioxide levels result
in a chemical reaction that actually hinders oxygen transfer to
the blood and tissues. Dr. Buteyko describes asthma as a defense
mechanism - the body's attempt to retain carbon dioxide by tightening
the airways.
The goal of
the Buteyko Breathing Method is to teach asthmatics exercises to
normalize their breathing patterns. Normalized breathing patterns
result in normalized carbon dioxide levels, making the defense mechanism
- asthma - unnecessary. And it worked for Browning.
Before traveling
to London, Browning used an inhaler two to four times a day. During
the five-day course, she used it only once. And after that, she
didn't use it again for six months. Browning is quick to clarify
that her asthma didn't disappear overnight. "It wasn't like,
'Poof, you're all better.'" But she felt more in control of
her asthma and less dependent on her inhaler. Over time the change
was dramatic.
"Within
a couple of months of doing the breathing exercises, I experienced
nothing at all. There was no tightness, there was no wheezing, there
was no breathlessness. It was gone."
Browning felt
so strongly about the value of Buteyko that two years after learning
it, she traveled to New Zealand for two months to become certified
to teach it. She has been a Buteyko practitioner since January 2000.
Browning holds
her courses in a local chiropractor's office. Standing composed
in front of a recent class, wearing a bright blue V-neck sweater
and black pants, Browning described some of the Buteyko breathing
exercises. Handing out notebooks for her clients to track their
progress, Browning told her clients that their first "exercise"
was to breathe only through their noses. "Your mouth is three
times larger than your nose and lets in three times more air,"
she explained.
Another exercise
Browning teaches is called "reduced breathing," which
involves a particular type of shallow breathing for a set amount
of time. Other exercises measure in different ways a client's ability
to pause between breaths. Browning makes it clear that these exercises
aren't a magic cure. They form the foundation of a new way of breathing
and breath awareness. "This is a lifestyle change. Like working
out or eating well."
Like any good
businesswoman, Browning wants her business to be viable and financially
rewarding. But what makes Browning a great businesswoman is her
passion. While she has a firm grasp of the cost of her overhead
and how many clients she needs to make a profit, the numbers that
fuel her dedication are 1 in 9 - that's the number of people in
this country who have asthma. "Most people don't know much
about asthma and the statistics are staggering," Browning points
out.
In fact, according
to an American Lung Association report published in January 2001,
the number of deaths from asthma more than doubled between 1979
and 1998, from 2,598 to 5,438. That same report states that between
1982 and 1996, the percentage of people diagnosed with asthma in
the U.S. jumped from 3.48% to 5.52%, and the American Lung Association
predicts rates may double again by 2020. The news is worse for children,
who had the highest incidence rates in 1997 and 1998 (the most recent
years analyzed).
For Browning,
these numbers are far from abstract. And to make a dent in them,
she has made it her personal goal to raise awareness of Buteyko
in the mainstream medical community. That may not be easy.
Some very successful
clinical trials support the anecdotal evidence that the Buteyko
Breathing Method works, but only a few have been conducted, and
none in the US The most prominent clinical trial, conducted in Brisbane,
Australia, showed massive reductions of medication use — 96%
reduction in bronchodialators and 49% reduction in steroidal inhalers.
Browning's observation, however, is that US doctors are mostly unaware
of this trial.
A further challenge
is the economic reality that most clinical trials are funded by
the pharmaceutical industry, which, for obvious reasons, is unlikely
to be interested in Buteyko. But Browning remains hopeful. "The
medical community has all the pieces, but they haven't put them
together yet. But they're so close."
Momentum seems
to be building for both Browning and Buteyko. An article on the
Buteyko Breathing Method was featured in the Journal of Asthma in
November 2000. And a second clinical trial is underway in Europe.
As for Browning,
word continues to spread about her courses, and she has found a
local physician who is interested in using Buteyko in his children's
clinic. She hopes this will give her access to the mainstream healthcare
system. "My hope is that when children are diagnosed with asthma,
that along with their prescription for an inhaler, they will be
sent to see the Buteyko therapist."
While teaching
her recent class, a client asked Browning why she teaches Buteyko.
Browning's face flushed, and her eyes became red and moist. As she
spoke, her voice tightened, losing its smooth confidence. "I
want to make 22 years of asthma count." And then she took a
calm, steady breath through her nose.
[return
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You can find
out more about asthma and the Buteyko Breathing Method from the
following sources:
Kick Asthma
LLC, Center for Asthma Control: www.ikickasthma.com
The American Lung Association: www.lungusa.org/asthma
The American Lung Association of Washington: www.alaw.org
Asthma America: www.asthmainamerica.com
Every Breath
You Take, Dr. Paul J. Ameisen
Freedom from Asthma, Alexander Stalmatski
Susan Wright
is a local freelance writer and attorney.
Stay current
on asthma research, articles and the latest asthma information.
Sign up for the Breathe Easy
newsletter.
Learn the Buteyko
Method by taking a Kick Asthma®
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video Kick Asthma® Naturally.
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