Breath — a guided breathing circle

Breath is a guided breathing exercise online, a quiet visual guide for your breath. A glowing circle expands as you inhale, holds, then contracts as you exhale. Three patterns: 4-7-8 (the classic Andrew Weil routine — inhale 4s, hold 7s, exhale 8s), box breathing (4-4-4 used by Navy SEALs), and a slow 6-6 for general calm.

How to play

Pick a pattern and breathe with the circle. The phase label tells you what's happening: INHALE, HOLD, EXHALE. Tap anywhere to restart the cycle from inhale — useful for syncing if you join mid-breath.

Box breathing, 4-7-8 or slow: which one?

Box gives every phase the same length (inhale 4 s, hold 4 s, exhale 4 s), so it is the easiest to follow and a good place to start. 4-7-8 has a long hold and an even longer exhale; it feels much slower, and many people keep it for the minutes before sleep. Slow drops the hold entirely: six seconds in, six seconds out, about five breaths a minute. If holding your breath feels uncomfortable, use slow. There is no wrong choice.

Why it's satisfying

Slow controlled breathing shifts the autonomic nervous system out of fight-or-flight. The visual cue removes the tiny mental load of counting seconds yourself. Three minutes here genuinely lowers heart rate.

About

Breath is part of Alcy, free contemplative micro-games. For more meditation-adjacent: Zen Rake, Ripple, Snow.