Vlad Munteanu When it helps: When your body is racing: before a difficult call, after a panic spike, when sleep won't come.
When it doesn't: If slowing your breath consistently makes you feel worse (it happens), stop and try grounding instead.
Slow breathing with a longer exhale tells your nervous system, mechanically, that the emergency is over. You don’t have to believe it for it to work.
The default pattern here is the one I use in session: in for 5, out for 7, no holds. Five breaths per minute, in the range where heart rate and breath start to move together.
This feels silly the first three times. That's normal. The pattern matters more than the feeling of doing it right.
Why this pattern: a longer exhale than inhale nudges the nervous system toward "the emergency is over." Five breaths a minute is the range where heart and breath start moving together.
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