Hey, welcome back to Practicing Human, the podcast where every day we're getting a little better at life.

I'm your host, Corey Muscara, and in today's episode I'm going to share a calming breathing technique called box breathing.

More to come on that in a moment, but first let's settle in together with the sound of the

bells. So in traditional mindfulness meditation We're not employing a specific breathing pattern.

We let the body breathe however it normally would and we bring our awareness to the process.

By doing that and not manipulating the breath, it allows us to take more of a passive

stance, stepping out of a sense of self and ego,

and instead just observing the experience rolling on.

So it's very effective for the practice of mindfulness

where we're cultivating a non-judgmental awareness of our experience.

However, there are other more specific breathing patterns

that you can do that will more actively and intentionally help to calm the nervous system in the moment.

Relax yourself, relax the body, and let go of tension.

I've shared a number of those breathing patterns on this

podcast. One in particular is the 478 breath where you breathe in for four

seconds, hold for seven, and exhale for eight.

Another one that I'm going to share today,

which is very popular, is called Box Breathing,

aka Square Breathing. And what this entails... breathing, aka square breathing.

And what this entails is breathing in for four seconds,

holding for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds,

and pausing for four seconds.

...