A one-minute breathing practice

This practice takes about a minute: six slow breaths, each with an out-breath a little longer than the in-breath. It is a longer version of the pause the Inner Twitter chime prompts, for times when you have a minute to spare: before a meeting, after a difficult email, or when you notice you've been holding your breath at your desk.

It needs no equipment and no special posture. You can do it sitting, standing or lying down.

Before you start

Find a position where your breathing isn't squashed. If you're sitting, let your back be upright without being stiff and rest both feet on the floor. Let your hands rest on your thighs or the desk. If you're standing, unlock your knees.

Lower your gaze or close your eyes if you're comfortable doing that. Take one ordinary breath just to notice how you're breathing right now: fast or slow, high in the chest or low in the belly. There's no right answer. It's a starting point.

The practice

Count each in-breath and out-breath silently:

1. Breathe in through the nose for a count of about four.
2. Breathe out slowly, through the nose or through softly pursed lips, for a count of about six.
3. Let the next breath begin on its own. Don't hold your breath at the top or bottom.
4. Repeat for six breaths. At four seconds in and six out, that's one minute.

The counts are a guide, not a rule. If four and six feel strained, try three and five, or just make the out-breath noticeably longer than the in-breath without counting. Comfort matters more than the numbers. Your breath should feel easy, never like a workout.

If you're using the chime timer, the pause prompt shows a circle that grows for four seconds and shrinks for six. You can follow it with your eyes or ignore it.

Where to put your attention

While you breathe, rest your attention on one place where you feel the breath. Common choices:

• The air moving at the tip of the nose, slightly cool on the way in.
• The rise and fall of the chest.
• The belly moving out on the in-breath and back on the out-breath.

Pick whichever is easiest to feel and stay with it for the whole minute.

When your mind wanders

It will, usually within a breath or two. That isn't a problem. It's the normal state of a mind. The practice is the moment you notice you've drifted and come back to the breath. Each return is one repetition, like a single lift at the gym.

Don't scold yourself or restart the count from zero. Just note "thinking" if that helps, and go back to the next out-breath.

Why a longer out-breath

Slow breathing with a long exhale is a common thread in many traditional practices and in modern breathing exercises. A study published in Cell Reports Medicine in 2023 compared five minutes a day of different breathing exercises with mindfulness meditation over a month. An exercise built on long, slow exhales was associated with the largest improvement in daily mood and a lower resting breathing rate. It was one study, with a few dozen people per group, so it doesn't prove that one method is best. It does suggest that a short daily breathing practice is worth trying. The research guide has more detail.

For most people, the practical point is simple: slowing down and lengthening the out-breath tends to feel calming, and it is easy to do anywhere.

Finishing

After the sixth breath, let your breathing return to its own rhythm. Notice how you feel compared with a minute ago. Maybe a little calmer, maybe about the same. Either is fine. Then open your eyes, if they were closed, and carry on.

Variations

• Three breaths. When a minute is too long, three slow breaths still help you reset. This is what the timer's default prompt suggests.
• Hand on the belly. Resting a hand below the ribs makes the breath easier to feel and gives restless hands something to do.
• Walking. Match steps to breaths: three or four steps in, five or six steps out. Good for a corridor or a slow walk outside.
• Eyes open at a screen. Look at a fixed point above the monitor, not at the content on it, for the minute.

When to stop

Stop and breathe normally if you feel dizzy, short of breath, tingly or anxious. Some people find that focusing on the breath makes them more aware of it in an uncomfortable way. If that happens, put your attention on your feet on the floor or on sounds around you instead. Both work as anchors.

If you have asthma, COPD, a heart condition or any other condition that affects breathing, or if you're pregnant, check with your doctor before practicing breathing exercises regularly. And if stress or anxiety is affecting your daily life, a breathing practice can sit alongside professional help but shouldn't replace it.

Making it a habit

Link the minute to something that already happens every day: the first coffee, closing the laptop at lunch, sitting in the car before driving home. Do it at that moment for a week. After that it usually starts to happen without much effort.

The chime timer fills in the rest of the day with shorter pauses. Between the two, you get a few deliberate breaths spread across the hours, which is the whole idea.

Questions