Buteyko Trainer: Jennifer Stark and Russell Stark

Available for training in: United Kingdom, USA, Australia, New Zealand

Jennifer and Russell Stark have one aim, and only one aim, when it comes to practitioner training:

We want to make you the best practitioner you can be! And so we draw on every resource that we can find to make sure that this happens.

We took our original Buteyko training in 1993 with Alexander Stalmatski, protégé of Professor Konstantin Buteyko (1993), and did further training with Professor Konstantin Buteyko, his wife Ludmilla and Dr. Andrey Novozhilov from the Moscow Clinic (2000).

Our training, combined with many years experience at teaching the Buteyko Breathing techniques to thousands of people with poor health, and also training more than 100 new practitioners, has given us a wealth of information to draw on so that we teach you what you need to know, and we also teach it in a way that makes it easy to learn.

“I thought the training was very well planned and executed. I particularly liked the way I got to experience the class, practice the homework and have time to talk about the philosophies of Buteyko and why and how it works. In other words, learning how to teach and why we teach it and what I needed to know about asthmatics and other people with breathing disorders and the drug information.

I thought that there was all the opportunity I needed to ask questions and explore my understanding of the information. I thought you [Jennifer] were a perfect model for teaching. You presented the material in a very honest and direct manner. I think your teaching was empowered by the belief you have that the Buteyko Method works and your desire to see people have the tools they need to help themselves.

I was very impressed by the depth of your knowledge about breathing disorders. It was evident that you have worked with thousands of people. I saw in you, adaptability in teaching style and how to work the program. Your obvious experience allowed you to find ways to make the program work for everyone.

I appreciated your patience to go over material more than once with me. I felt supported by the follow up emails and conversations that made my teaching the work as a beginner, easier. I also liked the preparation work you had me do before coming to New Zealand. You imbued me with an honour and integrity that this work deserves. Thank you.” Robert Litman

We are published authors of the easy-to-read Buteyko book, The Carbon Dioxide Syndrome, and also the Buteyko On Line Home Education Kit, which has been retailing for over ten years and helped thousands of people worldwide.

We have taught classes both in hospitals and privately in Australia, New Zealand, USA and the UK, and have taught the techniques in studies and clinical trials of the Buteyko Method. We draw on this wealth of experience to keep our training programme relevant and up to date for our trainees.

Where possible, we work cooperatively with other Buteyko practitioners so that our trainees meet other people in the same field, helping trainees to build networks with Buteyko practitioners right from the beginning. This experience assists in learning to both sell courses and to teach the method because everyone involved with the Buteyko method tends to have a different teaching style.

Learning how to market your own courses is a major component of our training programme. However, it is no use being able to sell the courses if you cannot deliver what you promise, and therefore developing the skills to teach Buteyko confidently is the most important part of Jennifer and Russell’s training programme.

You begin your training by reading a selection of books and completing some short assignments that are designed to start you thinking not only about Buteyko, but also about running your business.

This is followed by a four-week practical component where you observe and take part in the teaching of at least eight classes. This practical component is split into four separate modules that can be taught within a four-week block or four single weeks, depending on the availability of the trainers and the requirements of the trainees.

In the first week of the practical course you take part in the classes, using the method yourself as is required by Professor Buteyko; and in the 2nd and 3rd weeks you teach parts of some classes. In the 4th week you teach one entire class while being observed by your trainer.

This slow but sure approach to training means that you learn to teach the techniques in an easy way, moving ahead as you gain more skills.

In addition to taking part in eight Buteyko classes, you also attend two - three hours a day of discussion and lectures within a supportive environment where you learn about the Buteyko Method theory, how to manipulate the exercises so that you teach them safely, basic physiology, how breathing affects the body, common treatments for asthma, snoring, sleep apnoea, allergies and other conditions that you are likely to be teaching Buteyko for, and many other relevant topics.

“I trained with Jennifer Stark in 2000. The tutorial format was very intensive, extremely thorough and organized. Marrying the theory in the morning sessions to the practical aspect of teaching the technique to clients in the afternoons and evenings was a stroke of brilliance. I found the knowledge I was acquiring was "sticking" as often I would have to use it only a few hours after acquiring it!

The debriefings after the client courses were enormously helpful in thinking laterally and applying the knowledge to specific situations. Jennifer monitored carefully and gave clear and precise feedback. Jennifer never tired of "talking shop", even long into the night.

The manual is also a valuable tool, one that I still refer to regularly as a practitioner. Jennifer's prompt replies to queries and post-course tests after the training have been greatly appreciated and very helpful, particularly when I have a client with a complicated or unusual condition.” Chris Bauman

There are several short-answer oral and written tests during the training time that are designed to assist the learning process, but teaching your own classes without supervision is where the real test of the training begins. Supervision and advice from Jennifer or Russell via telephone or email is encouraged, and so trainees can contact us whenever discussion is required.

The trainee follows closely the progress of the first 50 people that he or she teaches without direct supervision, writing up the case histories of these people. With the names suitable altered to preserve privacy, these case histories are forwarded to the trainers for feedback.

This training is backed fully with a complete set of training manuals that have been developed by us – the Buteyko Practitioner Guide (70,000 words) and the Buteyko Business Manual (50,000 words), as well as the resource and trainee manuals that our trainees find so useful. Other documents, books, DVDs etc are supplied whenever it is considered useful to promote learning.

For a copy of our training programme, please email us at info@buteykoworks.com

Remember: we want to make you the best practitioner that you can be!

Contact Jennifer Stark and Russell Stark
Buteyko Works
PO Box 526
Coorparoo QLD 4151

Phone: 07 3843 6441
Free Call: 1300 798 102
Fax: 07 3843 6442
Email: info@buteykoworks.com
Website: http://www.buteykoworks.com