How to use the online timer
Five minutes of controlled breathing is short enough to do before a meeting, in a car park, or in the ten minutes between finishing work and starting whatever comes next. Slowing the breath deliberately and counting it is a small, ordinary thing that most people find settles them a little, and it requires nothing except somewhere to sit still.
Pick one pattern and stay with it: an even count in and out, or a longer exhale than inhale. Breathe through the nose, keep the shoulders down, and let the belly move rather than the chest. Set the five minutes so you are not counting rounds as well as breaths. The count runs in this tab, so leave the page open while it does.
Do not force it. Breathing exercises should feel comfortable, and if a pattern leaves you light-headed the count is too long for you at the moment — shorten it rather than pushing on. Five minutes daily is more useful than twenty minutes once, and the habit is far easier to keep if it is attached to something you already do at the same time each day.
Common questions
Which breathing pattern should I use?
One, consistently. An even count in and out, or a longer exhale than inhale, both work. Switching patterns every session means never finding out whether any of them suited you.
What if I feel light-headed?
Stop and go back to normal breathing. The count is too long for you at the moment, so shorten it rather than pushing on — a breathing exercise should feel comfortable throughout.
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