How to actually use this
The technique pages cover the patterns. These cover the questions people arrive with — how to start, how long for, whether it does anything, and how to keep it up past the first week.
How to calm down quickly
What to do in the ninety seconds before you have to speak, answer, or hold it together — and why "take a deep breath" is bad advice.
5 min readNose or mouth — does it matter?
What nasal breathing actually does, which claims about it are overstated, and when the mouth is the right answer.
5 min readBreathing before a presentation or interview
A short routine for the minutes before you have to perform — and why the voice shakes in the first place.
5 min readWhy can’t I take a deep breath?
The feeling of not being able to fill your lungs is common, frightening and usually not what it seems. What it often is, and when to get it checked.
6 min readA beginner’s guide to breathing exercises
What controlled breathing actually is, what the first few minutes feel like, and how to tell whether it is doing anything for you.
6 min readWhat controlled breathing does to your body
The mechanism, in plain English — and an honest account of where the evidence is solid and where it thins out.
7 min readHow long should a breathing session be?
Ninety seconds, five minutes or twenty? What the sensible answer is for different situations.
5 min readHow to keep it up
Breathing exercises are easy to do once and hard to do fifty times. What actually helps.
5 min readBreathing exercises at a desk
Discreet things you can do in an open-plan office, between meetings, or in the two minutes before you have to speak.
5 min readBreathing exercises and sleep
What a wind-down routine can reasonably do, what it cannot, and when the answer is a doctor rather than a technique.
6 min readAll guides last checked 14 August 2026. Written for a general audience — see the medical disclaimer.
Elsewhere on the site
All 13 techniques
Each pattern with its timing, who should skip it, and what the evidence says.
Browse the library →How the guided sessions work
What the voice, the tone and the circle are each doing, and every setting explained.
Read about the tool →Frequently asked questions
Safety, dizziness, whether any of this is real, and what happens to your data.
Read the FAQ →