Equal breathing (sama vritti)

How to do it

1. Sit comfortably, in a chair or on the floor with support, or lie on your back. Close your eyes if that helps.
2. Watch your breathing for half a minute without changing it. Notice which is longer today, the breath in or the breath out.
3. Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4 seconds. The air comes in smooth and continuous, no jerks.
4. Without stopping at the top, breathe out through your nose for a count of 4 seconds, as gently as the air came in.
5. Without stopping at the bottom, breathe in again. The breath turns like a wheel, with no corners.
6. Keep going for 5 minutes: that's about 37 breaths of 8 seconds each. If you lose count, pick it up on the next inhale.
7. To close, stop counting and spend a minute breathing however you like.

What equal breathing is

It's breathing so that the inhale and the exhale last the same amount of time. Here that's 4 seconds each, which comes to seven and a half breaths a minute: slower than the 12 to 18 an adult usually takes at rest, but nowhere near demanding.

It has no breath holds, and that's what separates it from triangle and box breathing, which start from the same idea and add pauses. It doesn't lengthen the exhale either, the way 4-6 or 4-8 do. All the work is in matching two halves that are almost never equal when you breathe without thinking.

Where it comes from

The name is Sanskrit. Sama means equal, and vritti, as yoga teacher Richard Rosen explains it, literally means course of action: an even movement. Rosen points out that the practice goes back centuries in India, even if it circulates today as something new, and he cites the Bhagavad Gita (5.27-28), which describes someone who evens out the breath going in and the breath going out through the nose.

In the 20th century, B. K. S. Iyengar gave a chapter to vritti pranayama in his book Light on Pranayama, published in 1981. In yoga, sama vritti can also name the full version, with holds of the same length after the inhale and after the exhale. That version is the one now known as box breathing, and Cleveland Clinic uses the two names as synonyms. This page describes the simplest form: just in and out.

What people use it for

For starting out. Someone who has never done a breathing exercise finds a pattern here that isn't intimidating: there's nothing to hold and nowhere to get to. That's why it's often the first step before other techniques.

It's also used for focusing without getting keyed up or sleepy. Counting four and four gives your attention something steady to lean on, a bit like a metronome. Plenty of people use it before meditating, at the start of a yoga session, on a work break or standing in line. Since nobody can tell you're doing it, it goes almost anywhere.

What the studies say

Whether it matters that the two halves match has been studied, though at a slower pace than this page uses. A 2014 study of 47 healthy college students compared breathing at 6 and at 5.5 breaths a minute, with an equal ratio (5 and 5) or a longer exhale (4 and 6). The combination of 5.5 breaths a minute with the equal ratio produced the highest heart rate variability, and all four patterns raised feelings of relaxation compared with spontaneous breathing.

On slow breathing in general there's a good deal more. A 2022 meta-analysis pooled 223 studies and found that voluntary slow breathing increases heart rate variability during practice, right after a session, and after a multi-session program. A 2018 review was more guarded: 15 studies, small and unlike one another, with psychological effects that didn't always show up.

Nearly all of that research uses paces close to six breaths a minute. The 4-4 on this page is somewhat faster, and there are no trials on it specifically.

What it feels like and what to notice

The first thing that tends to show up is the mismatch: many people have time left over on the inhale or come up short on the exhale. Don't muscle it into place. Within a handful of breaths, the two halves drift closer without help.

Then comes a sense of rhythm, like rocking. Yawning or sighing during practice is normal. If you notice dizziness or tingling, it's almost always because you're moving more air than you need: make the breaths smaller, not deeper, or stop and breathe normally.

Variations

• Easier (3-3 variation): in for 3 and out for 3 if four feels long or your nose is stuffy.
• Slower (5-5 variation): five and five is coherent breathing, at six breaths a minute. Rosen teaches equal breathing on a count of five, or four if five is too much.
• Slower still (6-6 variation): six and six, five breaths a minute, once five feels comfortable.
• Traditional, with holds: add equal pauses and you get triangle breathing 4-4-4 and box breathing 4-4-4-4.
• Walking: count steps instead of seconds, the same number in and out.

Common mistakes

• Breathing too deeply. Equal doesn't mean big. A medium, quiet breath is enough.
• Pausing without noticing. If you stop at the top or the bottom, the halves are no longer four and four.
• Breathing through your mouth. The pattern is through the nose, both in and out.
• Pushing the end of the exhale. The air goes out as far as it goes by itself. Don't wring it out.
• Counting at top speed. Four seconds is four seconds. Let the guide or a clock keep time at first.
• Scolding yourself for drifting. Losing count is part of the practice. You come back, and that's it.

How often and how long

Five minutes a day is a good place to start. Rosen suggests beginning with three minutes and working up gradually to five to eight, about four or five times a week, and he asks for patience: don't expect quick results.

This is a pattern that takes well to short repeats during the day, a minute or two at a time. If it tires or irritates you one day, drop it and rest. It'll be there tomorrow.

Before you start

• If you feel dizzy, tingly or short of breath, stop and breathe normally. It usually comes from breathing too deeply.
• If you close your eyes or get absorbed in the count, don't do it while driving or in water.
• If you have a heart or lung condition, or a history of panic attacks, check with your care provider first.
• It's a practice, not a treatment. If you often feel unwell, look for professional support.