What is 4-Square Breathing?
A breathing technique that involves breathing while you slowly count to 4. There are 4 counts of breathing in, 4 counts of holding your breath, 4 counts of exhaling and 4 additional counts of holding your breath after your exhale.
4-Square breathing is also known as Box Breathing, 4×4 breathing, and 4-4-4-4 breathing.
How do Breathing Techniques Help?
Breathing strategies help to shift our mind/body out of fight-or-flight mode and into a calmer state. These techniques also increase mindfulness by having you focus on your breath.
Helpful Tips
- What helps you feel calm and relaxed may not work for other people–and vice versa. So if breathing techniques are not helpful for you, that is OK!
- With 4-square breathing it can sometimes be helpful to trace or look at a square in your environment while completing the exercise–such as a sticky note or square piece of paper
- Complete 4-5 rounds of the exercise
Resources
Learn Breathing Technique Box Breathing: Practice Breathwork for Focus and Anxiety with Dora Kamau
Guided Square Breathing Exercise in 2 minutes for Kids
Resources
Box Breathing Benefits and Techniques
Guided Square Breathing Exercise in 2 minutes for Kids
Learn Breathing Technique Box Breathing: Practice Breathwork for Focus and Anxiety with Dora Kamau
