Breathe out for longer than you breathe in.
That is the whole idea behind almost every calming breathing pattern. Follow the circle — or close your eyes and follow the voice.
What’s going on right now?
Different situations want different rhythms.
Stressed at work?
Short, discreet resets you can do at your desk with your eyes open.
7 techniquesCan’t sleep?
Wind-down patterns designed to be done lying down in the dark.
4 techniquesPanicking or overwhelmed?
Simple, slow anchors for when everything feels like too much.
3 techniquesAlso for focus, low energy, pain, breathlessness and complete beginners →
Thirteen techniques, honestly described
Each one says what it does, who should skip it, and how strong the evidence actually is.
The one part of your nervous system you can operate by hand
Your heart speeds up a little as you breathe in and slows as you breathe out — a normal reflex that is present in everyone. Make the out-breath the longer half and you spend more of each cycle on the slowing-down side of it. Many people notice the result in their jaw and shoulders before they notice anything else.
None of this is exotic. It is the mechanism behind sighing, and behind the six-breaths-a-minute pace that keeps appearing independently in prayer, chanting and lullabies.
What breathing exercises are not is a treatment for anxiety disorders, depression, insomnia or chronic pain, and they are not a reason to delay care a clinician has recommended. They are a low-risk thing to try that costs nothing and takes three minutes. Read the medical disclaimer, and what the evidence does and does not support.
Three ways to follow, any one is enough
See it
A circle that expands and contracts with the breath, the phase in words, and the seconds counting. High contrast, text to 175%, and a still version for anyone who finds movement uncomfortable.
Hear it
A voice saying “breathe in, two, three, four”, a pip on every second, and a tone that rises across the whole in-breath and falls across the out-breath.
Feel it
Optional vibration with a different pattern for in, out and hold — so a session works with the screen off and the sound down.
Using this with patients, staff or students?
Breathe is free to link to, print from, and put on a waiting-room screen. No login, no data collection, nothing to procure.
For clinics and workplaces