Ladder 5-10-15-20

How to do it

1. Sit tall with your back supported, or lie on your back. Breathe normally for a minute before you start. Don't take fast breaths to get ready.
2. First rung, 3 cycles: breathe in through the nose for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, and breathe out through the nose for 5 seconds.
3. Second rung, 3 cycles: in for 10 seconds, hold for 10, out for 10. Let the air in more thinly, as if through a straw, so it lasts.
4. Third rung, 3 cycles: in for 15 seconds, hold for 15, out for 15.
5. Fourth rung, 3 cycles: in for 20 seconds, hold for 20, out for 20. Each cycle takes one minute.
6. On any rung, if you get there straining, don't climb. Stay on the one below or end there. Climbing isn't the goal.
7. After the 12 cycles, drop the count, breathe at your own pace for a minute or two, and get up slowly.

What ladder breathing is

It's a breath of three equal phases, through the nose, that keeps stretching. The first three cycles take 15 seconds each. The next three, 30. Then 45. The last three take a full minute: 20 seconds to breathe in, 20 with the air held, 20 to let it go. That's 12 cycles in seven and a half minutes.

The first rung looks like triangle breathing with one more second per phase. After that it becomes something else. The pace drops from four breaths a minute to two, to a little over one, to exactly one. What sets it apart from the 1-4-2 ratio is that all three phases here are the same length, and what sets it apart from nearly everything else is that the pattern changes while you're doing it.

Where it comes from

This site's ladder doesn't come from a text or a school. It's a progression put together here: starting short and lengthening in steps is a simple way to approach very slow breathing, and the round numbers are a design choice.

The top rung does have a name of its own elsewhere. 3HO, a Kundalini yoga organization, presents a practice called the One Minute Breath and describes it as an advanced pranayama. A 2004 study from the University of California, San Diego spells it out: 20 seconds of slow inhaling, 20 of holding and 20 of slow exhaling. When it was first taught with those timings isn't in anything we could read.

What people use it for

As a practice in attention and patience. At one breath a minute there's no room to drift: your whole mind is on rationing the air. People who already practice holds use it to explore their slowest pace with a gradual way in, instead of jumping straight to the long counts.

It also works as a kind gauge. The rung where you're comfortable today says something about how you arrived at the cushion or the chair, and it changes from one day to the next. This is not a breath for calming down in a hard moment: it asks for a body and a mind that are already quiet.

What the studies say

There are no studies of this progression. There is one, very small, of its top rung. In 2004, Shannahoff-Khalsa and colleagues measured the circulation of four people, one of them highly experienced, during 31 minutes of 20-20-20 breathing. They reported large shifts in every heart and blood pressure variable while the exercise lasted. With four people you can't conclude anything about benefits. What it does show is that breathing this way is not neutral for the body.

The most cited review of slow breathing (Zaccaro and colleagues, 2018) gathered 15 studies of healthy adults breathing at under ten breaths a minute. It found higher heart rate variability and reports of relaxation and well-being, but none of those studies included breath holds.

As for holding the breath, a review by Michael Parkes in Experimental Physiology sums up what is known: an involuntary mechanism ends the hold, people last longer on full lungs, and no single explanation accounts for all of it.

What it feels like and what to notice

The first two rungs are usually comfortable. The real work shows up at 15: you have to breathe in so slowly it's almost silent, and by the end of the exhale you want air. At 20 you may notice warmth, a more obvious pulse and a strong urge to breathe toward the end of the hold.

The signs to step down are clear: gasping in after the exhale, tightening your throat, face or shoulders, or losing count from the effort. The signs to stop altogether: dizziness, tingling, blurred vision, pressure in the chest or fear. Let the pattern go and breathe normally.

Variations

• Half ladder (easier variation): only the 5- and 10-second rungs, six cycles, 2 minutes and 15 seconds. This is the sensible place to start.
• Three rungs (variation): 5, 10 and 15 seconds, nine cycles, four and a half minutes.
• No hold (gentler variation): breathe in and out for 5, 10, 15 and 20 seconds without holding. It's a different breath, and a much kinder one.
• Top rung only (Kundalini yoga variation): the One Minute Breath keeps 20-20-20 for the whole practice. That's for people who already know it well.

Common mistakes

• Climbing out of pride. The guide moves up on its own every three cycles, but you decide whether to follow. Staying at 10 is a complete practice.
• Filling up in the first few seconds. On the long rungs the air comes in as an even thread. If you're full at 8 seconds, the other 12 are a hold in disguise.
• Hyperventilating first. Fast breathing to last longer takes away the signal that you need air. That's how blackouts start.
• Clamping your throat shut on the hold. The air stays still with your chest open, no bearing down.
• Dumping the air at the start of the exhale. Twenty seconds out needs a brake from the very first one.
• Pushing on while dizzy. No rung is worth passing out.

How often and how long

One session a day is enough, and it doesn't need to be every day. Start with the half ladder for a week or two. Add the 15 rung when 10 feels easy from start to finish, and the 20 rung only when 15 doesn't leave you hungry for air.

Many people never use the top rung and lose nothing. Practice on a light stomach, well rested and unhurried, and leave a couple of minutes of normal breathing at the end.

Before you start

• Always practice sitting or lying down, never standing. If you feel dizzy, tingly, short of breath or your vision blurs, stop and breathe normally.
• Never do it in or near water, and never while driving.
• Don't hyperventilate before or during: fast breathing ahead of a long hold raises the risk of passing out.
• Ask a health professional first if you are pregnant or have a heart, lung or blood pressure condition, epilepsy, or a history of fainting or panic attacks.
• This is a practice for adults with experience in breath holds. The rungs are a ceiling, not a goal.