6 beginner-friendly breathing exercises to try

When your mind is racing or you’re overwhelmed with stress, it’s easy to feel stuck or powerless. That’s why figuring out which coping strategies help you feel better is so important. With practice, you’ll have a handful of techniques in the back of your mind that you can turn to as soon as you start feeling anxious or stressed. 

Breathing techniques are a great place to start. Physiologically, they can help by activating your parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes the body, says Jasmine M., LCMFT. When you do deep, long exhales, it stimulates the vagus nerve, which signals to your body and mind that it’s time to calm down. It can also lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, she explains. 

Doing a breathing exercise is also a simple way to bring yourself back to the present moment—which is key when you’re experiencing anxiety. “I often find when people are experiencing anxiety they’re somewhere else mentally. They’re thinking, ‘What if this happens? What if that happens?’,” Jasmine explains. 

If you’re worrying about something—real or imagined—it can create a stress response in the body. By coming back to the present moment through something like breathwork, you’re reminding your body that it’s safe right now and there’s no immediate danger, which helps to counteract that stress response, she adds. 

Now that we’ve outlined two main benefits of breathing exercises, let’s go over some techniques you can try. Each of them can be done in just a few minutes which makes it easy to experiment and see which one(s) you like best. 

6 beginner-friendly breathing exercises

1. Box breathing 

This technique combines breathing and visualization. Inhale for a count of four while imagining drawing the top of a square, then hold your breath for four counts while picturing the right side of the square, exhale for a count of four while visualizing the bottom of the square, and then pause for a count of four, picturing yourself completing the left side of the square before you begin to inhale and start the cycle all over again. 

After repeating that process two or three times, you should start to feel your parasympathetic nervous system (aka the rest and digest response) kicking in and calming you down, Jasmine says. You can also play around with extending your exhales for six or seven seconds for a more relaxing effect, or decreasing the time you spend holding your breath if that makes you feel anxious, she adds. 

2. Diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as belly breathing, involves inhaling through your nose and exhaling out your mouth as you focus on your stomach, Jasmine explains. Think about your stomach expanding outward like a balloon as you inhale, and contracting inward as you exhale. It might help to place your hands on your stomach the first few times that you try this exercise so that you can feel the movement of your belly. 

Oftentimes throughout the day, we take shallow breaths (which don’t engage our diaphragm) or even hold our breath. Consciously engaging in diaphragmatic breathing activates the vagus nerve, which triggers the body’s relaxation response as we mentioned earlier. Diaphragmatic breathing also helps lower your heart rate, which is helpful if you’re panicking, and according to a 2019 systematic review, evidence suggests that it can decrease both psychological and physiological symptoms of stress. 

3. Alternate nostril breathing 

There are a few variations of alternate nostril breathing, but they all involve closing one nostril with your finger while you inhale, then closing the other one as you exhale. To try it, close your right nostril with your pointer finger and inhale through your left nostril for a count of six. Then hold your breath and count to three before closing your left nostril with your thumb and exhaling through your right nostril for a count of six. After that, breathe in through your right nostril while counting to six, hold for a count of three, then cover your right nostril and exhale through the left one. Repeat until you begin to feel calmer. 

A study published in the International Journal of Yoga found that men who practiced alternate nostril breathing for 30 minutes a day, five times a week for 12 weeks reported lower levels of stress. But you don’t necessarily have to commit to doing this exercise that often to notice results—just a few minutes is enough to activate your body’s rest-and-digest mode. 

4. 8-2-4 breathing

If you’re having trouble calming down or quieting your mind before bed, Ashley Kelly, LPC, recommends using what she calls 8-2-4 breathing. 

• Inhale and count to eight
• Hold your breath and count to two
• Exhale while counting to four. 
• Repeat that cycle eight times in a row.
• On the final cycle, hold your breath for as long as you feel comfortable before exhaling. 

The idea behind this exercise is that you’re doing a slower inhale followed by a more forceful exhale in order to get all the breath out. The more forceful exhales should feel like a calming release, Kelly explains.  

5. The physiological sigh 

Here’s a breathing exercise that you can do in under one minute if you’d like. The physiological sigh, also known as cyclic sighing, is very simple. 

• Inhale through your nose for as long as you can, then inhale a second tiny sip of air. 
• Slowly exhale all of the air out of your mouth. 
• You might feel relief after doing it just once, but if not, try repeating the process a few times. 

According to a study out of Stanford University, participants who used this technique for five minutes a day for one month reported reduced anxiety and better mood. They also had a lower resting breathing rate than the control group, indicating that their bodies were calmer overall. 

6. Mantra breathing

Sometimes, focusing on counts or specific techniques can feel a little overwhelming. If you want to stick to the basics, Kelly recommends adopting a mantra while you focus on breathing slowly and deeply. Depending on what you’re going through, pick a mantra that’s about breathing in a positive feeling or sensation and exhaling whatever’s bothering you. That could be “inhale peace, exhale frustration,” or “inhale calm, exhale worry.”