The Coherent Breathing Practice: Your Simple Daily Reset for Calm and Resilience

What is Coherent Breathing?

Coherent Breathing, sometimes called resonance breathing, is a powerful, science-backed technique where you intentionally regulate your breathing rate to about five breaths per minute. This is achieved by slowing your breath cycle down to around 12 seconds per breath.

This precise 12-second rhythm is scientifically shown to create Cardiopulmonary Resonance, helping to synchronise your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and respiration. This leads to a deep state of physiological coherence—a powerful antidote to stress and ‘inner chatter.’

However, you don’t need to get scientific about the exact timings and ratio; simply slowing the breath and breathing in a balanced cycle through the nose, if you can, will bring about calming changes to the body and mind.

Coherent Breathing Practice Guide

Note: To achieve the target of 5 breaths per minute, you breathe for a total of 12 seconds per cycle (6 seconds in, 6 seconds out). What is comfortable depends on the person and their lung capacity, and changing the ratio can bring nuance and slightly different effects. For example, I tend to use a 5:5 cycle in the morning and a 5:7 in the evening (where the exhale is longer, giving a more relaxed response).

1. Get Comfortable: Find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Sit comfortably with your back straight but relaxed, grounding your feet (if sitting in a chair).
2. Set the Flow: Gently close your mouth and commit to breathing softly through your nose for the entire practice.
3. Inhale Slowly: Breathe in smoothly, using ‘belly breathing’—filling your tummy area and then up into the chest, for a controlled count of SIX seconds.
4. Exhale Slowly: Breathe out completely, emptying your lungs, for an equal and controlled count of SIX seconds.
5. Maintain the Rhythm: Continue this gentle 6:6 pattern for a minimum of 5, up to 10 minutes. If a six-second count feels too strenuous to start with, simply find a comfortable, equal inhale and exhale duration—the rhythm is key.

Even five minutes of this practice can make a noticeable difference to your day and dramatically increase your resilience.

Apps to Help

There are lots of apps for mobile phones that can help with the cycle, and many offer different ratios to be set for the inhale and exhale. My favourite is the ‘The Breathing App: Calm Daily’—available for both iOS and Android—which offers the ‘Resonance Breathing’ cycle for free and allows you to change the ratios (other options are available as a premium upgrade but I have never bothered with this).

Origin of the Practice

While the fundamental practice of slow, rhythmic breathing has roots in ancient traditions like Yogic pranayama, the specific, modern, science-backed protocol known as Coherent Breathing was developed in the early 2000s.

It was created by Stephen Elliott, whose research, documented in The New Science of Breath, revealed that aligning the breath to this specific rhythm (around 5-6 breaths per minute) is the key to achieving optimal Autonomic Nervous System balance, yielding benefits like enhanced Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and overall improved biometrics.

Elliot found that the target rate of 5 to 6 breaths per minute is critical because it matches the natural resonance frequency (around 0.1 Hz) of the adult cardiopulmonary system. When you breathe at this precise rate, it maximizes the efficiency of the vagus nerve, actively stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). This process achieves optimal Autonomic Nervous System balance and enhances resilience and overall well-being.