No sign-up. No app. Nothing to download.
Take a minute.
Sixty seconds, starting whenever you are ready.
In for four, hold for two, out for six. The longer out-breath is what does the work — it is the part that tells your body the emergency is over.
One minute. That is all this takes.
Five slow rounds. In for four, hold, out for six.
Why the long out-breath
Breathing out for longer than you breathe in nudges the vagus nerve, which is the body's own brake pedal. Heart rate settles. The shoulders come down half a centimetre. It is not a cure for an unreasonable workload, and it will not mark a single book for you.
But it does interrupt the loop. And on the days when everything is a bit much, an interruption is often the only thing on offer.
When to use it
- In the car, before you walk into the building.
- Between a difficult meeting and the next class.
- Before you open the parent messages.
- At 21:00, when you have decided the marking can wait until morning.
Keep this page. Bookmark it, or send it to a colleague who needs it more than you do.