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◄ CAPNOLEARNING® FOR RESPIRATORY FITNESS ► Our
mission is to help people improve health and performance through
the application of behavioral learning principles to breathing physiology. Everyone
agrees that good respiration is fundamental to good health and optimal
performance, but unfortunately only a few who do breathing training could
really tell you why. Although
breathing is reflexive in nature and is fundamental to every cell in the
body, dysfunctional breathing is common place and accounts for 60 percent of
the ambulance runs in the USA. And,
fewer people yet could tell you why.
One would think that with more than 1200 books currently in print in
the USA on the subject of breathing that the answers would be common
knowledge, but not so. Why? What’s the answer? We believe that it is rooted in both the philosophical
and the practical separation of behavior from physiology, of learning from
physiological functioning. Few people, lay or professional, know that (1) breathing
directly regulates body chemistry, including pH, electrolyte balance, blood
flow, hemoglobin chemistry, and kidney function, and that (2) breathing is a
behavior subject to the same principles of learning as any other behavior,
including the role of motivation, emotion, attention, perception, and
memory. Bringing together these two
simple facts means bringing together the biological and behavioral sciences
in profoundly practical ways relevant to the lives of millions who have
unwittingly learned breathing behaviors that compromise respiration and its
associated effects on acid-base balance.
It changes the way that we think about ourselves and our physiology. This is the basis of
the Institute certification program. Failure to directly address breathing as learned behavior, and
how it regulates basic body chemistry, means leaving out the most
fundamental, practical, and profound factors that account for (1) the
far-reaching effects of maladaptive
breathing habits, as well as for (2) the surprising benefits of learning
breathing behaviors that optimize respiration. CapnoLearning® represents an effort to address these
considerations. Compromised respiration can cause, trigger, exacerbate, and
perpetuate symptoms and deficits of all kinds, ones that typically go
“unexplained” or are falsely attributed to other causes; these effects, of
course, are real ones, and not imagined.
Good respiration, on the other hand, can bring about immensely
beneficial physical, mental, and behavioral changes, ones that again may be
attributed to other unrelated factors.
Breathing is behavior, and as a behavior, it serves multiple
objectives. Although, respiration is
obviously and unquestionably the fundamental objective, breathing is required
for talking, for singing, and for coughing.
It is indicated in relaxation, yoga, and meditation. It is utilized as defensive behavior for
triggering emotions (e.g., anger), for dissociating from trauma, for reducing
fear (avoidance learning), and for achieving secondary gain (operant
learning). None of these
considerations, however, may necessarily be associated with healthy
respiratory chemistry, and unfortunately, quite often to the contrary. CapnoLearning® is about learning breathing behaviors that serve
respiratory physiology and its associated acid-base regulation, that is, what
might best be called respiratory
fitness. CapnoLearning involves the use of a
capnometer (or capnograph) which provides real-time information about carbon
dioxide (CO2) retention in the alveoli of the lungs for evaluating
learned breathing behaviors that serve or disturb respiratory chemistry. Clients discover how they have learned to
breathe, how their breathing affects them, and how to effectively
self-regulate breathing behavior based on learning rather than on
prescriptive exercise. CapnoLearning
includes the application of principles of phenomenological exploration,
behavioral analysis, behavior modification, biofeedback, awareness training,
and cognitive learning. Millions of
people, worldwide, teach and learn about breathing, but unfortunately, little
of what is practiced is rooted in the textbook sciences of pulmonary
physiology, acid-base physiology, behavioral analysis, behavior modification,
cognitive learning, biofeedback, and the psychology of respiration. Unfortunately,
misinformation, misconceptions, pseudoscience prescriptions, and ignorance
about breathing prevent people from making good use of basic textbook
knowledge. CapnoLearning clients are
offered a solution: comprehensive educational and consulting services for
observing, evaluating, and learning breathing behavior. These services are not about diagnosis and
treatment. They are about learning
optimal breathing behavior through self-exploration. Emphasis is on inside-out learning and
intuitive experience, rather than on outside-in “treatments” and prescriptive
exercises. The principles of CapnoLearning can be utilized professionally
and personally in settings of all kinds.
Virtually anyone who already does breathing training and learning can
integrate this relevant physiology and behavioral science into their
practice, professional or personal. Copyrighted by Behavioral Physiology
Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico USA |