Breathing training for healthy nose breathing
Until it comes naturally.
Many of us breathe more than our body needs: through the mouth, a little too fast, with lots of sighing. lowflow gently brings you back to calm, steady breathing through your nose. A little every day, with a plan that starts from your own measurement.
Good to know: the app speaks German for now. English is on its way. Until then, this page tells you everything in English, and Maria’s exercises work with your eyes closed anyway. Let me know when it’s ready
By AtemFlow4.9 ★ on the App Store50,000+ downloadswith Maria Böhme, Buteyko Clinic
This is for you if you …
Many of us breathe more than the body needs, without ever noticing.
- often breathe through your mouth.
- wake up with a dry mouth.
- get out of breath quickly on the stairs or during exercise.
- often sigh or yawn without being tired.
- gasp for air while talking.
- breathe fast and shallow when life gets stressful.
- know Buteyko from a book or course and finally want to keep at it.
- would rather practise with your eyes closed than stare at a screen.
Why lowflow exists
Breathing training works.
Doing it alone is rarely fun.
Breathing training is a bit like working out on machines at the gym: it works if you keep at it. But alone, with no plan and no feedback, many people give up after a few weeks. Maria saw this again and again in her coaching. Many people know the Buteyko method from a book. What stops them isn’t knowledge, it’s putting it into practice every day.
That’s why lowflow exists: guidance for every day, a plan based on your own measurement and a path that takes you along. So that knowledge turns into practice, and practice into habit.
- No planWhat do I practise today, and for how long?Every morning lowflow tells you what’s on.
- No feedbackIs it actually getting better?Your Control Pause shows you what’s changing.
- AloneNo one notices when I stop.Maria guides you, and your rope team comes along.
The answer
Buteyko has never been this easy.
Where it leads
Imagine …
- Morning, 6:45
… you wake up and your mouth isn’t dry. You breathed through your nose all night.
- Stairs, 3rd floor
… you get to the top and simply keep talking.
- In conversation
… you tell a long story without having to gasp for air in between.
- On your walk
… you walk briskly or go for a run, and your mouth stays closed.
- Evening, 10:30 pm
… you lie down and your breathing calms down on its own.
That’s where lowflow wants to take you, step by step and at your own pace. You practise every day, and your Control Pause grows a few seconds at a time. Everyone gets there at a different speed, so instead of guessing, you measure.
“[…] I’ve been a shallow breather for decades, and these exercises are really fun.”
The obvious thing
We count steps and calories.
Our breathing we just leave to run.
You breathe around 20,000 times a day, mostly without noticing. Yet your breath carries you every second. It’s the foundation for everything else.
For bestselling author James Nestor, breathing is the missing pillar of health: what we eat, how much we exercise, how good our genes are, none of it helps much if we don’t breathe well.
Sighing, yawning when you’re not tired, a dry mouth in the morning: almost everyone knows these. Hardly anyone thinks of their breathing.
What studies say
- About 1 in 10 adults shows clear signs of disordered breathing, most of them without knowing it. Among people with asthma, it’s almost one in three.
- 2 in 3 people in Germany feel stressed sometimes or often. Under stress, breathing gets faster and shallower.
- 1 in 7 adults in Germany has had hay fever. With a blocked nose you breathe through your mouth, often still after it has cleared.
- In a study in Brazil, one in two children breathed mainly through their mouth.
Sources: Thomas et al., Primary Care Respiratory Journal 2005; JASTIS study, Japan 2025; TK Stress Report 2025; Robert Koch Institute, DEGS1; Abreu et al., Jornal de Pediatria 2008.
In brief
What is Buteyko?
Buteyko is a breathing method for everyday life. You learn to breathe calmly and steadily through your nose, the way your body actually needs. Put simply: breathe less, live better.
Buteyko turns a common belief on its head: it’s not about breathing deeply, but more calmly, more slowly and through your nose. This brings your body’s CO₂ balance back into equilibrium, the basis for calm, healthy breathing.
The method was developed by the physician Dr. Konstantin Buteyko. Patrick McKeown made it known worldwide with Buteyko Clinic International. lowflow brings it into your everyday life: a small step each day, at your own pace.
“Many people believe that taking a deep breath increases body oxygenation. The opposite is the case.”
- Through the nose
- Calm and steady
- The Control Pause as your measure
The Control Pause
How you notice that something is changing.
Buteyko comes with one simple measurement. You breathe out calmly and see how long you can comfortably go without taking a breath. These seconds show you where your breathing stands right now.
And they show you, day by day, when it gets calmer. Everything in lowflow follows from it: your plan, your exercises, your path. Your seconds become metres of altitude, from base camp to the summit.
Try it now
Measure your Control Pause.
- Sit comfortably and breathe calmly through your nose for a minute.
- Breathe out normally, not deeply. Pinch your nose, start the clock.
- Stop at the first urge to breathe. Breathe in calmly.
Only while sitting, never in water or while driving. Measure up to the first urge, no longer. Stop at once if you feel dizzy.
Breathe calmly through your nose. Do nothing, just arrive.
Breathe out normally. Pinch your nose.
0 s
Or press the space bar.
Was your first breath afterwards calm?
None of this is stored or sent anywhere.
Only calm measurements count.
lowflow only counts measurements taken at rest and at your usual time. If a value is unusually high or low, the app briefly asks how your first breath afterwards felt. That way you only ever compare yourself with yourself, never with a record.
Your path
Three stages.
Understand
Short chapters explain what happens when you breathe and how to practise safely. Read them whenever it suits you.
Practise
In the morning you measure your Control Pause, and lowflow tells you what’s on for today. As your value rises, the plan moves with it.
Maintain
Once your value is stable, you switch to maintenance. Measure once a week, practise a little. That’s how it stays.
“What you only practise sitting down, your body can only do sitting down.”
This is lowflow
What makes lowflow different.
Practise
Exercises you don’t have to read.
Every exercise is a picture. The ball shows you when to breathe and when to hold, and in pause training Maria tells you what comes next. With music that sets the pace, or in simple silence.
Rope team
Up the mountain together.
Invite up to three people who matter to you. Each day one of you measures, the whole team climbs one rope length higher. Measuring days count, never values. Even with sick days, you reach the cabin just as surely as someone who climbs every day.
Everything you share is encrypted. You can leave with one tap.
Keep going
A path that never makes you feel guilty.
Every measuring day takes you a little further up the mountain. Measuring days only count up, even with gaps in between, and a break costs nothing. If you’re unwell, you take a rest day and carry on when you’re feeling better. Along the way, cabins await you with posters, games and a look at your numbers.
Safety
Safe from the very first exercise.
Before you hold your breath for the first time, lowflow shows you when not to practise and when to stop immediately. If you have a health condition, you get a gentle plan with shorter pauses. The exercise for acute moments is always free.
For everyone who knows Buteyko
What you practise in lowflow.
The tried and tested exercises of the method. You already hear Maria’s voice in pause training and Gentle breathing, and she’s recording the rest right now. Your plan picks the right ones every day, and you can start any of them yourself.
- Gentle breathinga little less air on purpose, with a light air hunger
- Soft breath
- Pause trainingthe ball guides you through the hold
- Rising mini pauses
- In motionbreath holds while walking
- Steps holdingcount your steps while you hold your breath, on your watch too
- Buteyko Triothree movements: pause training, reduced breathing, in, out, hold
- Zen Fokusgentle sighs first, then breathing less on purpose
- Breath waveset your own rhythm
- Breath feelyour finger on a figure of eight
- Diaphragm workout
- Mirror Lakebreathe in rhythm, the smoother you are, the stiller the lake
- Constellationarrives later with your cabins
Plus “It’s calmer” for acute moments, always free. And if sport matters to you, a sport focus based on Patrick McKeown joins in from a Control Pause of 20 seconds.
“Been doing them for a few months now. In sport I notice my performance going up, and I’ve become very calm in general too!”
Eyes-closed mode
Eyes closed.
Phone in your lap.
Breathing exercises work best with your eyes closed. That’s why every exercise in lowflow also works without looking. The screen goes dark and the phone speaks its own vibration language. When you measure, in pause training and in Gentle breathing, Maria also guides you with her voice. A tap anywhere pauses.
You can even measure this way: rest your thumb on the screen and let go as soon as you feel the first urge to breathe. lowflow works just as well with a screen reader, and the text grows up to twice its size.
“[…] Your voice carries me along so beautifully, it’s much easier for me to breathe together with you.”
When things get tight
For the restless days.
Sometimes your breathing speeds up more than you’d like: before a difficult conversation, at night, in a packed week. In lowflow you don’t have to go looking for help.
Maria is a systemic family therapist. She knows how closely breathing and tension are connected.
A short exercise with gentle cues that brings you back to yourself. Always free, even without Premium.
Tell lowflow with one tap that a lot is going on. You’ll then get two weeks of posters and an exercise that fits.
lowflow does not replace treatment for panic attacks or anxiety disorders. Please talk to your doctor or therapist.
Your progress
More than a number.
The Control Pause is your measure. But what really matters to you happens in everyday life: when you sleep, on the stairs, when you talk. lowflow puts both side by side.
Your goals
You’ll notice what’s changing for you.
At the start you choose what you’d like to change, for example sleeping better or taking the stairs without a break. If it’s about your nights, lowflow asks every day after you measure, one tap is enough. Everything else it asks on Sundays. Your answers sit next to your number.
Your experiment
What really helps you?
One week with, one week without: mouth tape at night, an earlier dinner, coffee only until noon, no screens in the evening, or an experiment of your own. lowflow draws the order at random and shows you at the end what difference it makes for you.
“For you it makes a difference of about 4 seconds.”
History
Plus seven.
Your history doesn’t show every up and down, but the path behind it: your weekly average, your goal and how far there is still to go. If you like, you share it as a poster.
Reading test
How many syllables can you manage in one breath?
Many of us breathe the most while we talk. You read a short text aloud, and lowflow only counts how often you take a breath. This happens on your phone, and no recording is stored. A few weeks later you try again.
Knowledge
Understand what’s behind it.
20 short posters about your breathing: why so many people breathe more than they need, what CO₂ has to do with it and how to practise safely. With a self-test, “Is that true?” questions and all sources.
My everyday proof · lowflow
The everyday proof
After six weeks: your poster.
Week 1 on the left, today on the right. Your number and your everyday life side by side, from your own answers. To print out, for yourself, your family or your next appointment with your doctor.
For your everyday life
Measure wherever you are.
Your mountain on the home screen
The widget shows you every day where you stand, without opening the app. On iPhone and Android.
Measure and practise on your watch
On Apple Watch and Wear OS you measure your Control Pause and do the pause training from your plan, with your pulse in view. Steps holding works there too, once you’ve tried it on your phone.
Measure in two seconds
Long-press the app icon, tap “Measure”, and off you go. In the morning, in the evening, or after your main sleep if you work shifts, whatever fits your life.
Compared with others
More than a tracker.
More than relaxation.
- Habit trackers
Count whether you did it.
lowflowtells you every morning what’s on, and measures whether it works.
- Meditation apps
Help you switch off for a moment.
lowflowtrains your breathing to stay calm even when you’re not practising.
- Health apps
Collect steps, pulse and sleep.
lowflowgives you one number you can change yourself, and the plan to do it.
And without what makes many apps tiring: no streak that breaks, no ads, no selling of data.
Try it for a week.
Everything open for 7 days, no card and no subscription. Measuring stays free afterwards.
Your data
Your numbers are yours.
Without an account, everything stays on your phone. If you want a backup, you decide how: encrypted in your account, with your own code that only you know, or not at all. Encryption happens on your phone before anything leaves it.
- No ads, no usage analytics, no selling of data
- No one in your rope team sees your measurements
- Servers in Frankfurt, Germany
“My little daily time-out that I wouldn’t want to miss. Thank you, Maria!”
Price
A whole year of practice.
That’s about €5 a month, less than 17 cents a day. For a plan that’s waiting for you every morning, exercises with Maria’s voice and a path that grows with you.
Premium · yearly
€5a month
billed as €59.99 a year
Prefer to stay flexible? €9.99 a month, cancel any time.
Purchase and cancellation via the App Store or Google Play.
Everything included
- Your breathing plan, new every dayAt its core one exercise a day, matched to your Control Pause, very short in the first week. You’ll usually feel it with three times ten minutes a day, and the extra sessions are ready for you.
- All exercisesPause training, breathing games, the Buteyko Trio, Zen Fokus and everything still to come.
- All the knowledge20 posters, the self-test and the foundations, with every source.
- Your experimentOne week with, one week without. Find out what really helps you.
- Stressful weeksTwo weeks with posters and an exercise that fits, whenever life gets loud.
- Your own rope teamInvite up to three people. Joining someone else’s team is always free.
- MaintainReached your goal? Then keep your level with a plan of its own.
- TodayStart for free
Measuring, your path, your history, the exercise for acute moments and everything for safe practice. Free, and it stays that way.
- Whenever you like7 days, everything open
Your trial starts the first time you tap something from Premium. No card needed.
- Day 8You decide
The trial simply ends. Nothing renews by itself, and the free part stays yours.
For comparison: a single hour of breathing coaching usually costs more than a whole year of lowflow. lowflow doesn’t replace a good coach. It keeps you company on all the days in between.
Who’s behind it
Hi, I’m Maria.
I’m a certified Buteyko breathing instructor and a systemic family therapist. lowflow didn’t come from my training alone. It grew out of everything I’ve learned from more than 1,000 people I’ve walked alongside on their way to healthier breathing. In lowflow you hear my voice when you measure, in pause training and in Gentle breathing. I’m recording the rest right now. And if you write to me, I’ll answer you myself.
I don’t come from the wellness world but from social work. For many years I worked with children and young people who had been through a lot, most recently as head of a residential group. During my training as a family therapist I understood for the first time how strongly breathing affects anxiety and tension. It has stayed with me ever since.
Certificate in the Buteyko Clinic Method, 2022, signed by Patrick McKeown. 100 hours of theory and practice.
Three years of training at the North German Institute for Brief Therapy in Bremen, certified by the DGSF (German Society for Systemic Therapy).
University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, state-certified social worker and social pedagogue.
I’ve learned the most from talking with people. I still see clients in my online therapy practice today.
“For me, breathing always involves the whole person.”
That’s why lowflow is calm by design: no pressure, no records, and sick days count too. And yet it keeps you moving: your number every morning, a clear plan, and cabins along the way that draw you on. That’s how practice turns into a routine that carries you forward, at your own pace.
I live with my husband Christian and our son Bruno in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Christian builds the app; I record the exercises and write the texts.
From Maria’s work
What people say.
“I had read a Buteyko book and wanted to put it into practice. Just breathe more calmly. But I sat there and nothing happened. […] With AtemFlow it was different: the breath holds showed me where I stand, and I could feel progress. That kept me going.”
“I had discovered the Buteyko method in a book […]. But I couldn’t manage to turn it into a daily routine. With AtemFlow it became really easy: measure the Control Pause, follow the breathing plans. I enjoy the calm and stillness inside me in every breath hold.”
“Moments of success are important for keeping at it. I get on very well with your tools and I’m making progress, sometimes more, sometimes less, but I’m on a good path. Sometimes my Control Pause was even 30, and I originally started at 3 seconds!”
Voices from Maria’s Buteyko coaching and the AtemFlow app in Germany, translated from German, shortened where marked […]. lowflow grew out of these experiences.
Before you start
Your questions.
What is the Buteyko method?
A breathing method for everyday life. Instead of taking deep breaths, you learn to breathe more calmly, more slowly and through your nose. It was developed by the physician Dr. Konstantin Buteyko. A simple measurement, the Control Pause, shows you how far along you are.
Do I need any prior knowledge?
No. lowflow explains what to do before every exercise. In pause training and Gentle breathing, Maria guides you through with her voice. You read the knowledge chapters whenever you like.
Is it suitable with asthma or medication?
With asthma, your emergency plan with your inhaler always comes first. Never change your medication on your own, even if your Control Pause goes up. If you have a health condition, talk to your doctor first. lowflow then gives you a gentle plan with shorter pauses.
What makes lowflow different from other breathing apps?
Your plan comes from your own measurement, not from a fixed programme. On top of that: practising with your eyes closed, sick days that don’t count against you, and a rope team where no one sees your numbers. And no ads.
Do I need an account?
No. You can start right away, and everything stays on your phone. You only need an account to back up your data or join a rope team.
Is the app available in English?
For now the app is in German. English is on the way, and this page already gives you everything in English.
Which devices does lowflow run on?
On iPhone and Android. You can also measure your Control Pause on Apple Watch and Wear OS.
days
fully open.
No card, no subscription.
Take a week and try lowflow at your own pace. Measuring, your path and your history stay free afterwards, just like everything you need to practise safely.
Help.
hallo@atemflow.deCancel your subscription
You do that in the subscription settings of your Apple or Google account. We never charge you directly.
Delete your account
In the app under Profile, Your account. Without the app: here’s how.
Your measurements
They stay on your phone. If you back them up in your account, they are encrypted on your phone first.
If you have symptoms
lowflow does not replace treatment. Please talk to your doctor.