A breath to follow
A circle grows while you breathe in and shrinks while you breathe out. No counting, no holding — set a pace you can keep.
In for four, out for six. No holding, nothing to count — just follow the circle.
Four is a good place to start. If you are fighting for air, three is not cheating — change it mid-session if you need to.
Breathing timer: box 4-4-4-4, 4-7-8, or four in and six out
A free breathing timer you can run in your browser. A shape moves with the breath — a square filling one side per phase, or a circle growing and shrinking — so there is nothing to count and nothing to install. Three patterns, your own pace, and a soft tone if you would rather follow it with your eyes closed.
What box breathing is
Box breathing — sometimes called square breathing or four-square breathing — is four equal phases: breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four, hold for four. The name comes from the shape: four sides of equal length. It is widely taught for steadying yourself before something demanding, and it is popular partly because the pattern is easy to remember when your head is not working well.
How to use this timer
Press start and follow the moving dot around the square, one side per phase. The circle in the middle grows while you breathe in and shrinks while you breathe out, so you can follow the shape rather than the number if counting feels like work. Breathe through your nose if you can, into your belly rather than your chest. Two to six minutes is a normal session; longer is not better.
If the holds are hard, they are hard
Holding your breath raises carbon dioxide, and for some people that is exactly what sets off the feeling of not getting enough air. If the holds make you tense rather than calm, the pattern is working against you and the honest fix is to drop them: four in, six out, no holding, which this tool also offers and opens on by default. That is not a lesser version — a longer exhale than inhale is the half of slow breathing with the best evidence behind it.
4-7-8, and why its numbers do not move
Four in, seven held, eight out — popularised by Andrew Weil and widely used for falling asleep. It is the most demanding of the three: a seven-second hold and an eight-second exhale are a lot if you are already short of breath, and it is worth having the gentler patterns as a way back rather than pushing through. Unlike the others, this one does not scale with the pace control. The pattern is named after its numbers, so changing them would produce a different exercise wearing its name, and the pace control simply does not appear when 4-7-8 is selected.
Choosing a pace
Four seconds a side is the textbook and a good place to start. Three is a legitimate choice, not a compromise — it is better to keep an easy rhythm than to fight a longer one. Five and six suit people who breathe slowly and comfortably already. If you find yourself gasping at the end of a phase or bracing for the next one, that is the signal to go shorter, not to try harder.
When to use it, and when not to
It suits the moment before something you are dreading, the gap between two tasks, or a mind that will not stop circling at bedtime. It is not the tool for an acute panic attack — during one, breath holds can make things worse, and grounding your senses is more useful. Skip breath holds entirely if you are pregnant, or if you have a respiratory or cardiac condition, without checking with someone who knows your situation.
What it does and does not do
Slow breathing at around six breaths a minute reliably shifts heart rate variability and most people report feeling steadier afterwards. The effects are real and they are modest, and they are for the next few minutes rather than the next few weeks. It is a way to take the edge off something, not a treatment for anxiety, and anyone selling it as more than that is selling something.
Common questions
- What is the 4-4-4-4 breathing technique?
- Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four, breathe out for four, hold for four, and repeat. Four equal phases, which is where the 'box' comes from.
- How long should I do box breathing?
- Two to six minutes is enough for most purposes — roughly eight to twenty rounds. If nothing has shifted after six minutes, longer usually will not help; a different pattern or a different approach might.
- Is box breathing good for anxiety?
- For everyday tension and anticipatory nerves, many people find it settles them. During an actual panic attack the breath holds can make the air hunger worse, so grounding is the better choice in that moment.
- What is the 4-7-8 breathing technique?
- Breathe in through the nose for four, hold for seven, and breathe out through the mouth for eight. It is mostly used for getting to sleep. The long hold makes it the hardest of the three patterns here, so if it leaves you gasping, four in and six out will do the same job more comfortably.
- Why do the holds feel uncomfortable?
- Holding raises carbon dioxide, which is the signal that makes you feel short of breath. If that is unpleasant for you, drop the holds and use four in, six out instead — it is the gentler pattern and it is well supported.
- Do I need an account?
- No. The timer runs in your browser, there is nothing to install, and nothing is stored.
- Can I use it to fall asleep?
- Many people prefer a pattern without holds for sleep — four in, six out at a slow pace, with the sound on and the screen turned away. Box breathing is usually better for steadying yourself while awake.