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WHAT IS INTEGRATIVE BREATHING THERAPY?

Integrative Breathing Therapy (IBT) was created by Dr Rosalba Courtney DO, PhD to help people improve their breathing through personalised retraining and therapy.

Your breathing practice will be tailored to suit your specific needs. There is no single breathing technique for everybody.

A comprehensive Approach

Integrative Breathing Therapy works to optimize how you breathe by focusing on three key dimensions: the chemistry of your breath (biochemical), the mechanics of your breathing muscles (biomechanical), and how your mind and body interact during breathing (psychophysiological).

Think of your breathing as a coordinated system involving parts like your nose, throat, chest, and diaphragm—all controlled by your brain through nerve connections. Breathing isn’t just about taking in oxygen; it serves many purposes, including potential healing effects through different mechanisms.

With Integrative Breathing Therapy, we assess and treat all these aspects of breathing and its components to achieve the best outcomes for your well-being.

HEALING THE BREATH
AND
HEALING WITH THE BREATH

Learning to improve your breathing can be a key therapy for issues like dysfunctional breathing, including such conditions as:

  • hyperventilation
  • breathing pattern disorders
  • sleep issues
  • stress related breathing issues

    • It’s been proven effective—simply changing how you breathe can have a positive impact on your health and help manage certain conditions. That’s because breathing affects not just your body, but also your mind and emotions.

    While breathing training isn’t a cure-all for every health problem, it can be a valuable addition to other treatments as a supportive therapy.

    Here are some of the physiological and psychophysiological effects of breathing:

  • IT INFLUENCES THE FUNCTION OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
  • IT AFFECTS EFFICIENCY OF CIRCULATION OF BLOOD, LYMPH AND CSF
  • IT TRAINS THE MIND, FOCUS AND ATTENTION
  • IT NORMALISES HOMEOSTATIC REFLEXES SUCH AS REGULATION OF BLOOD PRESSURE
  • IT AFFECTS FUNCTION OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
  • IT CALMS THE STRESS RESPONSE AND IMPROVES STRESS RESILIENCE
  • IT INFLUENCES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE
  • IT IMPROVES AIRWAY AND LUNG FUNCTION

    • Dr Courtney’s PhD research focused on “Dysfunctional Breathing: Its Parameters, Measurement, and Clinical Relevance,” which has greatly influenced the methods and tools used in IBT. These techniques have been fine-tuned and expanded based on actual practice and ongoing research.

    CONDITIONS FOR WHICH INTEGRATIVE BREATHING
    THERAPY MAY BE OF ASSISTANCE

    Respiratory Complaints

    • Dysfunctional breathing
    • Asthma
    • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
    • Laryngeal breathing disorders and PVFD
    • Sleep disordered breathing
    • Empty nose syndrome

    Stress Related Conditions

    • Anxiety
    • Panic disorder
    • Burnout
    • Chronic Stress
    • PTSD

    Musculoskeletal Conditions

    • Recurring back, neck and pelvic pain
    • Craniofacial and TMJ pain
    • Breathing related postural disturbances
    • Chronic pain with central sensitization

    Chronic conditions

    • Somatic syndromes
    • Long COVID
    • ME/CFS

    INDIVIDUALISED Breathing Therapy

    IBT is person centred rather than therapy centred. Breathing techniques are chosen and adapted
    to suit a person’s condition and circumstances on the basis of history, assessments and goals.

    ASSESSMENT

    During Integrative Breathing Therapy, a practitioner will evaluate your three dimensions of breathing (biomechanical, biochemical and psychophysiological) — and also how you breathe before, during, and after treatment. This assessment helps understand the extent and reasons behind any breathing issues you might have.

    By assessing your breathing, the practitioner can tailor the treatment specifically to you, offering the best advice and breathing techniques to help you get the most benefit from therapy.

    TREATMENT

    If you're experiencing breathing issues, once assessed, your treatment focuses on correcting dysfunctional breathing and working out your own individual breathing program.

    If you don't have breathing problems, breathing techniques can still be helpful alongside other strategies to boost overall physical and mental well-being. They can also be used to achieve specific goals like enhancing sports performance.