As I tell my students, baby steps at first. Set a goal for say 5 seconds. Concentrate on posture, taking your air in through your nose and gently and slowly blow your air out in a controlled fashion. The sound will tell you if you have a even flow of air. Listen to yourself and try for a steady tone. It's not a easy thing to do. Once you get it, than set your goals in 5 second intervals. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I'm more than happy to assist. Have a great day

As a trumpet player who suffers from COPD, I can tell you first hand that breathing exercises will help relax your lungs when in spasm. I have had many bouts with COPD when my inhalers wouldn't touch it. I would take out one of my trumpets and start doing long tones. That's where I slowly fill my lungs with air and than proceed to hold a single note on my trumpet as long as I can WITHOUT STRAINING THE SOUND. Now I know everybody out there isn't a trumpet player. However, I would think a Irish whistle or a recorder would have the same effect. I found that when in spasm, inhale slowly through your nose and then blow through the whistle or recorder in a steady flow without altering the sound and try to hold that sound. It takes practice. You will hear the results as well as feel the results where only breathing exercising can discourage you because you are going by feeling only. Plus once you master the sound, you may get the itch to learn how to play through experimenting with the holes in the whistle or recorder.

I do the breathe in mouth closed breathe out thru pursed lips.

Stephen, What an excellent idea to use a music pipe of some sort. I will get myself a 'recorder' have not played one of those things since my schooldays. Thank you sir.

You need to learn to Purse Lip Breathe and to breathe diaphragmatically. You can google both terms and you'll get more examples, explanations and videos than you can count. Those will both help. However, physical exercise will do a whole lot more for your breathing than breathing exercises will. Talk with your doc about Pulmonary Rehab or starting your own exercise program. Get to the point where you can do 30 minutes of non-stop exercise every day, and I guarantee you that your breathing will be better and you'll feel a whole lot better. I'd also suggest that you go to this website and learn about breathing, the mechanics of breathing and how the lungs are supposed to function:

bhttp://www.copdfoundation.org/Learn-More/For-Pa...

The more you know and the more you understand about COPD the better off you are.