A former Cumnock taxi driver who couldn't walk 28 steps without stopping to catch her breath has hailed a piping therapy for changing her life.

Karen Cairney said she used to have to stop at least twice when walking from the street to her own front door. 

The 54-year-old attended Piping For Health - a pilot programme by The King’s Foundation and The National Piping Centre - which launched at Dumfries House in October.

The health initiative aimed at promoting playing the bagpipes to improve certain lung conditions and breathing difficulties.

She said: “None of us make much music with the chanter yet! But getting together in a group and coming together with the same problem is really nice.

"I’ll say ‘I’m going to my piping class’ and my friends will say, ‘What? You can’t even blow up a balloon!'”

Cumnock Chronicle:

Karen has lived long-term with symptoms of bronchiectasis and was diagnosed with the condition last year. She also suffers from a partially-deflated lung.

 “I get breathless dead quick," she said. "It can keep you up at night and cause panicking when you can’t breathe."

But she can now walk to her front door without stopping.

She added: “I’ve learned a lot of new breathing exercises as well as reflexology, and I have been keeping them up and use them at home, particularly on a bad day.

"At this time of year, with the cold and dampness, I feel it particularly badly.”

In-person weekly two-hour workshops have run at Dumfries House for the past six weeks, with participants saying it's had a positive impact on their breathing issues.

The first cohort of participants were introduced to playing the chanter and bagpipes, breathing techniques, chair yoga, hand reflexology, qi gong (a traditional Chinese wellness system), mindfulness and mindset work.

Another beneficiary of the project was Mauchline man Robert Taylor.

The 64-year-old said his catalogue of conditions over the years – including COPD, sepsis, and pneumonia – has caused significant lung damage.

However, the scheme has helped to open up a whole new world to him once again.

He said: “The programme has shown me more ways to think about breathing, which is often brought on by anxiety, which is normally caused by breathlessness.

"I didn’t know what the course was going to be like but I’m very thankful to everyone who has run it.

"When you play the chanter, take a slow breath in and blow out, it controls your breathing and you feel much better.”

Cumnock Chronicle:

Robert, previously a very active person who retired from his job of 30 years as a lorry-driver due to ill-health, says he may purchase an instrument similar to the chanter to prolong the benefits of the programme in his spare time.

Ann Black, 57, from New Cumnock, presented with symptoms of COPD and has reduced her use of the blue ‘reliever’ inhaler since adopting the techniques and mind exercises taught on the programme.

Like Robert, she remains keen on playing the chanter as a form of improving her breathing ability.

The programme was the brainchild of Lady Oona Ivory, founder and chair of the National Piping Centre, who approached Dr Michael Dixon, head of the Royal Medical Household and advisor to The King’s Foundation’s health and wellbeing team, to develop the programme.