Coherent Breathing: 5 Breaths Per Minute

This is a 10-minute, guided, coherent breath session. Your breath will be guided in 12-second cycles, meaning 6 seconds for your inhale and 6 seconds for your exhale, for a total of 5 breaths per minute. 

Things to remember: 
1. Breathe in and out through your nose (nasal breathing) 
2. Breathe slowly and evenly across the full 6-second inhale & 6-second exhale 
3. Initiate each breath by activating your diaphragm (diaphragmatic breathing) 
4. Keep your breath quiet (the breath you hear in the video is merely to help you keep a rhythm) 

Some of the potential benefits of creating a slow and even breath are:

• balanced autonomic nervous system
• reduced sympathetic response (stress response)
• increased parasympathetic response (relaxation response)
• improved vagal tone
• improved heart rate variability

Possible translations? 

• less stress
• less anxiety
• increased sense of inner calm
• increased sense of overall well-being
• vasodilation (which means decreased blood pressure)
• greater oxygenation of muscles, tissues and organs
• better quality sleep
• better quality digestion

If you need more of an explanation, please click here.

If you would like to try breathing at 6 breaths per minute instead, please click here.