Live Long and Prosper...
Hello, I'm Dermod Wood, the developer of this program, principal instructor, and "lab-rat" for the material. I've been practicing the Buteyko Method for my own asthma for around 20 years and teaching it for the last fifteen, also researching and investigating the other factors that contribute to a long, healthy and happy life. This website is the result.
To provide a little background, I've had four careers, each of which has contributed in some way to this effort, and I suppose I could say that I'm starting my fifth.
Dermod Wood, PhD
Career #1 was a civil engineer and project manager, working in the UK, Canada, Guyana, Nigeria and the United States. It taught me the art of taking large complex problems and break them into smaller manageable pieces.
Career #2 was a systems analyst and systems developer in Montreal, initially for specialized project and construction management systems, then on to more general business systems. I learned, the hard way, to run a company, and to use computers and software to solve problems.
Career #3 was in academia. An MA in communication was followed by an MBA and PhD in management. I learned social science research methods and statistics, a skeptical perspective, and how to develop and teach effective online and hybrid courses.
Career #4 happened by accident and has run more-or-less in parallel with #3. As I was starting my doctoral thesis I was approached to design a data collection system for a clinical trial for a shingles vaccine, eventually marketed by Merck as Zostervax. This morphed into a 7-year assignment, and started my new career in data management and information systems for medical research. I learned how a clinical study was put together and how to read the literature and evaluate the results.
When I started my MBA at Rutgers University in 1991 at age 50, it required a move to New Jersey, which I think must be the asthma and allergy center of the United States. I was under a lot of stress at the time and not in the best of health, and for the first time in my life I had a full-blown asthma attack and continued to have them regularly.
I went on the usual drug regimen (albuterol and fluticasone) which controlled the asthma and allergies, but with some side effects including weight gain and low energy. After a year-or-two of this I came across a book on the Buteyko Breathing Method, and this worked so well for me I was able to stop taking medication on a regular basis and felt much better. Later, In December 2005, my wife Gail and I decided to go to the UK and train to become Buteyko therapists, and I've been teaching it on a part-time basis ever since.
Buteyko can be very helpful, but it is not the complete answer. Great Health, which is a lot more than managing the diseases of modern living with medication and surgery, requires a holistic approach.
Over the past 15 years I have been piecing together elements of breathing, exercise, nutrition, conventional medical and alternative health to form a highly structured and interactive program which seems to be working well for me.
Career #5 is going to be continuing the development and refinement of this program and website, and reaching and helping as many people as possible.
Gail Kinsey, BA
Gail is a licensed massage therapist with her own business, the Massage Therapy Group, and more than 25 years experience, specializing in pain management. She is also a graduate of the Plant Based Nutrition Certificate Program at eCornell, and will be taking the lead on the nutritional part of our program.