SLOW
Coherent breathing · 6 breaths / minute
The everyday one. A ring you trace with your thumb: up is in, down is out.
SLOW is the patch most people start with and most people stay on. The shape is a simple raised ring: your thumb travels up the right arc for five counts as you breathe in, and back down the left arc for five as you breathe out. One full circle is one breath. Ten circles is roughly two minutes, and that is a complete session.
Your thumb does the counting
- Start Rest your thumb on the raised dot at the top
- Breathe in Trace up the right arc, five slow counts
- Breathe out Continue down the left arc, five counts
- Repeat Keep going, the loop never tells you to stop
Do not try to breathe correctly. Move your thumb at the pace the shape allows, and the breath follows on its own.
Try SLOW now
Six breaths a minute is the pace most often used in the paced-breathing literature. It is slow enough to matter and just fast enough that you will not give up on it.
- Before a meeting you have been dreading
- Stuck in traffic, or a waiting room
- The 3pm slump
- Any moment you notice your shoulders are at your ears
Remember: this patch has no ingredients and does nothing to your body. It is a guide for a breathing exercise. See the research on the exercise
