Tess Graham
BSc, PGD Phty, Dip BM MBBEA
Tess Graham is a physiotherapist with postgraduate qualification in breathing retraining and 35 years clinical practice and teaching experience. Tess established Australia’s first dedicated breathing retraining clinic in 1993, has been involved in research, and presents nationally and internationally. Her current focus is on teaching health professionals breathing retraining skills that address physiological and biochemical dysfunction, with application into therapeutic approaches in mental health, sleep disorders, pain management and other clinical practice. Tess is the author of two books, Relief from Snoring and Sleep Apnoea (2012) and Relief from Anxiety and Panic - by changing how you breathe (2017).
Topic: Addressing Dysfunctional Breathing Patterns: A Vital Tool to Down-Regulate the Stress Response and Enhance Neuropsychotherapy Outcomes.
Abstract: The connection between acute hyperventilation and anxiety is well-known. This workshop is designed to introduce participants to the often present but overlooked, chronic, ‘hidden’ form of hyperventilation, which creates on a day-to-day basis, a fundamental disturbance in physiology and biochemistry. This ‘baseline-overbreathing’ drives sympathetic-dominant state, interferes with cognitive function, depletes energy, and primes a person for acute stress-response. It may underlie loss of resilience, relapse, or failure to respond to therapeutic intervention.
By restoring physiologically normal breathing, ‘breathing retraining’ down-regulates primitive systems in the medulla – breathing and heart rate, balances blood chemistry, optimises oxygenation, and promotes the parasympathetic state. This is a vital key to effectively working on higher-order systems – emotions and cognition.
This theoretical, interactive, and experiential workshop provides an understanding of relevant neuroscience and physiology, and tools to identify and address dysfunctional breathing habits.
Clinical and research findings on the incidence and nature of abnormal respiratory parameters in patients with anxiety disorders are reviewed and discussed. Case studies are used to illustrate application, results and benefits of breathing retraining in anxiety disorders. You will practice basic skills to apply in a clinical situation to defuse the stress response and to improve and stabilise breathing for immediate and long-term benefits.
Format and Learning Outcomes
· Relevant neuroscience and physiology of breathing - 20 mins
· The link between dysfunctional breathing and biochemical and neurophysiological imbalance, sympathetic dominant state, tissue hypoxia, and common mental and physical symptoms of anxiety disorders- 15 mins
· Understanding the breathing retraining process - 10 mins
· Identification and evaluation of dysfunctional breathing patterns (interactive, practical) –15 mins
· Strategies to defuse the stress response and relieve breathlessness, panic attacks and insomnia (interactive, practical) - 15 mins
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