What this timer does
It counts your breath so you do not have to. The circle grows while you breathe in, holds while you hold, and shrinks while you breathe out. A soft tone marks each change if you want one, and your phone can buzz instead if you would rather keep the sound off.
Two dotted rings sit around the circle. The outer one marks a full inhale, the inner one marks a full exhale, and the live circle travels between them, so you can see how far through the breath you are without reading anything. The small gap at the top of the ring closes while you hold and opens again when the hold ends.
Your first three sessions run with nothing to sign in to. After that the timer is part of one plan: an account, three days free with a card on file, then $10 a month or $100 a year, cancel any time, with a fourteen-day refund. The only thing the site keeps on its own side before you subscribe is a count of completed sessions against a random first-party cookie, so it knows when the three are used; your settings and your session history are kept in your own browser and are not uploaded. If you close the tab and come back tomorrow, the timer opens on the pattern and the length you used last. The pages for anxious moments and panic attacks are outside all of this: they run the full timer for anyone, with nothing to sign in to and nothing to buy.
You can also add it to your home screen from your browser menu. After the first visit the page works with no connection at all, which matters more than it sounds: the moments you most want a paced breath are often the moments you are on a train, on a plane, or standing outside somewhere with one bar of signal.
How to use it
1. Sit or lie down
Somewhere you can stay still for a few minutes. Not while driving, cycling, or in water. If you feel light-headed at any point, stop and breathe normally.
2. Pick a pattern
Use the buttons under the circle, or the guide below if you are not sure. You can change pattern any time; the timer resets when you do.
3. Set a length
The settings button opens sound, vibration and session length. Three to five minutes is a good first session. Unlimited runs until you press Stop.
4. Follow the circle
Press Begin and match the circle. Press Space to pause and resume, S to stop, and 1 to 7 to jump between patterns without touching the mouse.
How to choose a technique
There is no single best pattern, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. What differs between them is the shape of the breath, and that shape is what makes one comfortable for you and another a chore.
If you want the exhale to be the long part — the usual reason people come here — start with extended exhale, four seconds in and six out. It has no breath-hold, only two numbers, and you can do it in a waiting room without anyone noticing. 4-7-8 is the same idea with a long hold added in the middle; some people find the hold settling, others find it a struggle. Try extended exhale first, then 4-7-8 if you want more.
If you want something very short, cyclic sighing is a full nasal inhale, a short second sip of air on top, then a long slow exhale through the mouth. It copies the shape of a natural sigh, and a handful of cycles is a complete session. It is the one to reach for when five minutes is not on offer.
If you want a steady rhythm to hold onto, box breathing is four equal counts in, hold, out and hold. The evenness is the point: nothing to remember, nothing to get wrong. Triangle breathing is the same idea with the second hold removed and a shorter count, which makes it easier to keep when you are already agitated, and easier to teach to a child.
If you want a long, slow sit, heart coherence is five seconds in and five out, about six breaths a minute, with nothing held. It is the slowest pattern here that most people can keep comfortably for ten or twenty minutes.
Energizing breath is the odd one out. It is fast rather than slow, and it is meant to wake you up rather than settle you. It needs a safety acknowledgement before it will start, and it is not appropriate for everyone. If you are here because you feel anxious, this is not the one.
The seven patterns
By situation
Before you start
Who should be careful
Breathing patterns that hold the breath, or speed it up, are not right for everyone. Ask a clinician first if you are pregnant, or if you live with a heart condition, uncontrolled high blood pressure, epilepsy or another seizure disorder, asthma, COPD or another respiratory condition, glaucoma, or if you have had surgery recently. If you live with panic attacks, breath-holds can reproduce sensations you would rather not invite; the patterns without holds are the safer starting point.
Stop if you feel dizzy, tingly, short of breath or simply unwell, and go back to breathing normally. Nothing here is medical care, none of it replaces treatment, and a timer is not a substitute for talking to someone. Read the medical disclaimer for the full wording.