5.5 Breaths per Minute

Research suggests that humans' optimal breathing rate is 5.5 breaths per minute. This works out to be 5.5 seconds per inhale and 5.5 seconds per exhale. This meditation provides an original musical composition paced at exactly this rate with some initial guidance from me to get us started. Find a comfortable position, relax your shoulder down your back, and let your eyes gently close. Let's begin.

Transcript

During this brief time together,

We are going to breathe at an ideal rate for our bodies,

Which is 5.

5 breaths per minute.

And that equals out to be 5 and a half seconds for our inhales and 5 and a half seconds for our exhales.

We're going to breathe only through our noses during this meditation.

And we want to maintain a constant cycle of air.

So when we inhale on that higher tone,

We want to keep breathing until the exhale on that lower tone.

And keep exhaling until you breathe in and out through the nose.

And in and out.

And now we'll let the music continue to guide us with this higher tone and lower tone on the exhales.

And now we'll let the music continue to guide us with this higher tone and lower tone on the exhales.

And now we'll let the music continue to guide us with this higher tone and lower tone on the exhales.

And now we'll let the music continue to guide us with this higher tone and lower tone on the exhales.

And now we'll let the music continue to guide us with this higher tone and lower tone on the exhales.

And now we'll let the music continue to guide us with this higher tone and lower tone on the exhales.

Reviews

Love this and the longer ones and the newer ones!
The Best!

Great and simple to follow breathing exercise, however as a musician I do have a suggestion, I feel that it is a lot more natural for me to breathe in on the low note and breathe out on the high note (chord). For me it also makes a lot more sense because you feel the low note in your belly and therefore makes me want to relax and let the air go all the way down to my belly and on the high note just let go and let the air travel all the way up and out thru the nose. Just my instinctive feeling, however nothing prevents anyone to do just that on the other hand, you can do what ever you prefer 😊🎺🙏🏻

Great music and easy to follow with the breath!! Thank you 🙏🏻

Very helpful having the tone changes. I’m used to breathing out for six seconds, so was slightly off to start. Thank you. This is excellent 🎈🙃

Initially I thought the music was a little too loud. But once the teacher had explained what the music was there for, I was blown away. What a genius idea. Love it. Thank you! Bookmarked!

Enjoyed it, but a longer time would be even better

I learned about this practice in James Nestor’s book. Thanks for sharing this!

Having the high and low tones keep beat, 👏 brilliant.

Just what I need to keep me on track. The steady beat and alternating chords really helps keep the mind focused on the breath and the present moment. Thanks!

Wow wow wow! I was drawn towards this as a super quick meditation before bed but now I wish it was longer! The use of music was so powerful for me, at first I was unsure as I'm used to the teachers guiding me through but you allowed the perfect amount of time in the beginning to guide us with your beautiful calm voice and then left us to our freedom. This is my new favourite meditation!! I'm excited to see what other meditations you have, thank for you for creating and sharing such an incredible session! Namaste 🙏

Really nice, easy, relaxing rhymic meditation.
Thank you 🙏🏽🦋🙏🏽

I really appreciated the simplicity of the introduction and then quick transition into guiding the breath through music. Thank you!

Like the musical ones give me more time to concentrate on the breathing.

A really cool way to stay connected to the breath.

Thank you 💜

That squirrel is so cute that I just had to try this breathing practise. Nice music to set the paced. Feels very fast compared to 5 breaths per minute.
Thank you for charing 🙏

I’m reading the book “Breath” currently and wanted to practice the optimal breathing pattern. This was perfect!

The music is so helpful to maintain the rhythm. At the end I feel both calm and energised. Thanks 😊.

Invigorating! My body felt tingly after the session. After several cycles of in and out, the breathing started to smooth out and become more natural feeling. 🙏💖

Thank you 💜🙏💜