A FREE seminar at Tavistock College on June 6 is expected to give new hope to asthma sufferers. Specialist practitioners will be demonstrating a form of breathing retraining called the Buteyko Institute Method (BIM), recently featured on the BBC?s ?Inside Out? programme. Nikki Jewell and Simon Paddon are two of only 65 specialists throughout the world who are qualified to teach the BIM which has had amazing results following clinical trials in the UK. The method, based on the clinical findings of the Russian professor Konstantin Buteyko, was developed in the 1950s and has been the first line of asthma management in the Russian health system since 1983. It can be taught to children as young as three with no upper age limit. Mr Paddon said: ?Those attending the seminar can expect to learn some simple breathing techniques, a breathing method which will unblock the nose, detailed information about correct medication usage in line with Asthma UK and an explanation of how the BIM is so effective. ?Just by attending the seminar, we expect sufferers to gain up to 30 per cent improvement. It can be used for all types of breathing disorder from asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and emphysema to panic attacks, anxiety and sleep apnoea.? The UK has the highest incidence of childhood asthma in the world. The seminar at Tavistock College begins at 7pm.
