Find Your Calm in Seconds With This 5-Minute Intro to Breathwork

If you’re looking to get into breathwork, this one’s for you. Guided by breathwork specialist Kristina Joy, this 5-minute practice will guide you through a breathing technique called “box breath,” or “16 seconds to calm.” Once you master this quick and calming trick, it can help reduce stress any time and anywhere.

Joy will start the session off with a grounding breath, to establish a sense of presence and centeredness. Then, she’ll ask you to bring to mind something that has been troubling you lately. Following Joy’s lead, you’ll process that worry through the “16 seconds to calm” — inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, and holding again at the bottom.

The idea is that by the end of the rotation, you’ve forgotten all about that problem or at the very least, it feels minimized. “It’s like a pattern interrupt,” Joy says. “When you are focused on your breath, your mind isn’t on the problem. You’re just here in the moment; you’re breathing; you’re counting,” she goes on to say.

Don’t let stress get the best of you. Follow along Joy’s breathwork practice and learn how to find relief. “Sometimes all it takes it 16 seconds to find your calm again,” Joy says. Don’t miss new episodes every Sunday on the POPSUGAR Fitness YouTube channel.

Name: Kristina Joy
Outfit: lululemon
Instagram: @thevibealchemist

Chandler Plante is an assistant editor for POPSUGAR Health & Fitness. Previously, she worked as an editorial assistant for People magazine and contributed to Ladygunn, Millie, and Bustle Digital Group. In her free time, she overshares on the internet, creating content about chronic illness, beauty, and disability.