Breathing exercise · 5 · 5 · 5 · 5
Slow box breathing — 5 · 5 · 5 · 5 — for the middle of the night, when you cannot concentrate on anything else
Simple counts — 5 · 5 · 5 · 5 — and a circle that keeps time.
Follow the circle. It counts for you.
How it works
The pattern is a square — 5, 5, 5, 5 — and you trace it with your breath. When concentration is gone, work with what is left. We'll stay close to sensations rather than ideas.
Why it can help
The rhythm is deliberately unremarkable. Unremarkable is easier to keep up when your hands are shaking.
The pattern, in seconds
| Phase | Length | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| Inhale | 5s | 0s |
| Hold | 5s | 5s |
| Exhale | 5s | 10s |
| Hold again | 5s | 15s |
One round is 20 seconds. At the default 12 rounds this practice runs 240 seconds — about 4 minutes — plus a breath or two of ordinary breathing between rounds.
Good for
- when your hands are cold and your chest is tight
- when you have read the same paragraph three times
- when you wake at 3am and the room feels too quiet
Tips
- Try it lying down with your knees bent if sitting upright feels like effort.
- Practising when you are calm makes it available when you are not.
- If holding for the full count feels tight, drop every number by one. The shape matters more than the size.
Please note
If holding your breath makes you dizzy or uncomfortable, skip the holds entirely and breathe slowly and evenly instead. Never push through lightheadedness. If you are pregnant, or manage a heart, blood pressure or lung condition, check with a doctor before doing breath holds.
If this rhythm does not suit you, try Coherent 4-4 breathing — 4 · 4 — for a noisy room, when you are too tired to try hard, Physiological sigh (2 · 6) for a ten-minute window, on a day that started badly or 4-6 breathing: 10 rounds for a lonely evening, if you are doing this in the middle of the day.