4-Square Breathing AKA Box Breathing

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

Check out some of the resources to use for AKA Box Breathing Here.