Picking the right pattern

Four patterns, one page. The value of this course is in choosing between them quickly, not in practising all of them daily.

The guide

Long exhale, four in and six to eight out. Anxious, wound up, can’t settle, ten minutes before something difficult. The default.

Physiological sigh, double inhale and long exhale out of the mouth. Acute, immediate, in public. When you have fifteen seconds rather than five minutes.

Brace, in to seventy percent and seal. Anything heavy. Lifting, pushing, carrying, standing up from the floor with something in your arms.

Low and slow with backwards counting. In bed, lights off, mind still going.

That’s the whole decision tree. If you’re unsure, use the long exhale - it’s rarely the wrong answer outside of the moment of a heavy lift.

The habit that beats all four

Notice your breathing three times a day. That’s it. Not a session - a check. At your desk, in a queue, at a red light: where is your breath, and is it high and shallow in your chest?

If it is, take three low breaths with longer exhales and carry on with your day. This costs fifteen seconds and, done consistently, changes your resting pattern more than a daily practice you abandon after two weeks.

Building the low breath back

If your chest-hand moves more than your belly-hand, spend a few minutes a day lying on your back with a book on your stomach, breathing so the book rises. This is genuinely just practice, and it takes a few weeks to start showing up when you’re not thinking about it.

What to do with this course

Don’t practise all four. Pick the long exhale, use it in real situations for two weeks until it’s automatic, and add the sigh once it is. Leave the brace for when you’re actually lifting something. Come back to the sleep version the next time you need it.

The person who uses one pattern reliably is better off than the person who knows nine and reaches for none of them under stress.