Breathing Exercises

Focus — box breathing, 4-4-4-4. Inhale four, hold four, exhale four, hold four. Equal phases keep the pattern symmetric and easy to track, which is the point: it gives attention a fixed, predictable target when nothing else will hold still. Five cycles is eighty seconds.

Relax — extended exhale, 4-6. Inhale four, exhale six. The asymmetry is the mechanism: a longer exhale than inhale shifts autonomic balance toward the parasympathetic side. Use this one when you're already past the linear range and the cognitive tools have stopped being available.

Why open loop matters. Neither pattern asks anything of working memory, planning, or self-talk. It's a fixed sequence applied without feedback — it runs whether or not you can think, which is the only reason it's useful at the moment you'd need it.