Box Breathing

In just 4 minutes, box breathing helps regulate your nervous system, ease anxiety, and restore clarity. This simple technique builds calm, focus, and resilience—one breath at a time. Box breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowers cortisol, and boosts vagal tone—building calm, focus, and emotional regulation through breath.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Amy.

I want to introduce you to box breathing,

Also known as square breathing.

It's just a pattern of inhaling,

Holding,

Exhaling,

Holding.

So you can imagine it forming a square or a box pattern as you breathe.

So box breathing,

Let's try it together.

Go ahead and exhale.

Now inhale,

2,

3,

4,

And hold,

2,

3,

4,

And exhale,

2,

3,

4,

4,

And exhale,

2,

3,

3,

4.

Now in,

2,

3,

4,

And hold,

2,

3,

4,

And hold,

2,

3,

4,

And exhale,

2,

3,

4,

And hold,

2,

Continue this pattern.

Inhaling,

4 second inhales,

Hold for 4 seconds,

Exhale for 4 seconds,

And then hold again.

Repeat this pattern several rounds,

3 to 5 minutes,

Until you feel centered and calm.

So when would you use this pattern?

Whenever you're in a high stress situation,

Before a performance,

Anytime you're feeling anxious about a presentation,

Or it could be just part of your meditation practice.

And then it also relaxes the mind,

So it's good to use this technique if you're trying to get to sleep.

Box breathing is a versatile tool.

You can use this anytime,

Anyplace,

Anywhere,

When you need some calm,

When you need to regain control of your breath,

I invite you to try box breathing.

Have a beautiful day.