Breathing Pacer

Preset:

Start with Resonance, Box, 4-7-8, 7-11, or Custom, then adjust seconds.

Inhale:

Enter seconds, e.g. 4.5 for a smooth resonance inhale.

Hold after inhale:

Use 0 for no top pause, or 2-7 seconds for box or 4-7-8 patterns.

Exhale:

Enter seconds; 5-8 seconds is common for relaxed pacing.

Hold after exhale:

Use 0 for continuous cycles, or 4-5 seconds for box-style pacing.

Session length:

Enter minutes; 5 is a short practice, 0 disables the progress finish.

min

{{ err }}

Countdown:

Enter 0 or more seconds; 3 gives a short ready cue.

Audio beeps: {{ audio_volume }}%

Use 0-100%; start low before using headphones or speakers.

Beep frequency:

Enter Hz; 440-1200 is a typical audible cue range.

Beep duration:

Enter milliseconds; 80-200 marks phases without covering the breath cue.

Vibrate on phase:

Turn on for phone or tablet haptics; unsupported browsers ignore it.

Prevent screen sleep:

Turn on for guided sessions; the browser may ask or deny support.

Easing:

Sine feels smooth, Linear is steady, Ease-in-out adds soft acceleration.

#	Phase	Start	Elapsed (s)	Duration (s)	Copy
{{ r.idx }}	{{ r.phase }}	{{ r.startLocal }}	{{ r.elapsed.toFixed(2) }}	{{ r.duration.toFixed(2) }}
No data yet. Start a session.

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Paced breathing turns a vague instruction to slow down into a repeatable timing pattern. Instead of counting loosely or changing speed whenever attention wanders, each inhale, pause, and exhale receives a duration. The repeated pattern gives the body and attention something steady to follow, which is why timed breathing shows up in relaxation practice, sport cool-downs, focus routines, sleep preparation, and heart rate variability training.

A complete cycle may be as simple as inhale then exhale, or it may include one hold after inhaling and another hold after exhaling. Those parts are called phases. The same four-phase structure can describe many common routines: equal box breathing, exhale-lengthened relaxation breathing, 4-7-8 timing, and slow resonance-style breathing near six breaths per minute. The names are useful shortcuts, but the seconds matter more than the label because the sum of the phases determines the actual breathing rate.

Phase: One timed part of the pattern, such as inhale, hold, or exhale.
Cycle: One full repeat of the selected phases.
Breaths per minute: The target pace implied by the cycle length, not a measurement from the lungs.

Different patterns feel different even when the calculated pace is similar. A four-second inhale and six-second exhale gives a 10-second cycle, the same six breaths per minute as a five-second inhale and five-second exhale, but the longer out-breath usually feels more settling. Holds change the feel even more because they add stillness without moving air. A box pattern with four equal phases is slower than many people expect because four phases of four seconds create a 16-second cycle, or 3.75 breaths per minute.

Diagram of one paced breathing cycle with inhale, optional hold, exhale, and optional hold phases

Breaths per minute is the main pacing number, but it does not say whether the rhythm is comfortable or suitable. A slower rate can feel calm for one person and strained for another, especially when long holds are included. Dizziness, air hunger, chest discomfort, tingling, panic, or pressure to force the breath are signs to shorten the phases, remove holds, or stop.

Paced breathing is best treated as a guide for timing and attention, not as a diagnosis or a substitute for clinical advice. People with breathing conditions, heart or blood pressure concerns, pregnancy-related concerns, panic symptoms, fainting history, or neurological conditions should keep patterns gentle and follow medical guidance when it applies.

How to Use This Tool:

Set the rhythm first, check that the calculated pace makes sense, then run the live pacer only when the pattern feels comfortable.

Choose a Preset. Resonance, Coherent, Box, 4-7-8, Relax, Triangle, 7-11, and Soft Box load named timing patterns; Custom keeps the timing fields under your control.
Adjust Inhale, Hold after inhale, Exhale, and Hold after exhale. Use zero for a phase you want to skip, and watch Current rhythm update with cycle seconds, phase count, pattern code, and breaths per minute.
Set Session length. A positive minute value runs toward a finish time and progress bar; zero makes the session open-ended until you press Stop.
Open Advanced when you need setup cues. Countdown delays the first inhale, Audio beeps, Beep frequency, and Beep duration control phase-change tones, Vibrate on phase requests haptic cues, Prevent screen sleep requests a wake lock, and Easing changes only the ring motion curve.
Fix any validation message before starting. Phase seconds must be 0 to 30, session length must be 0 to 60 minutes, countdown must be 0 to 30 seconds, beep frequency must be 100 to 2400 Hz, beep duration must be 40 to 500 milliseconds, and at least one breathing phase must be longer than zero seconds.
Press Start and follow the phase ring. The center label shows Ready, Inhale, Hold, Exhale, or Paused, and the center time shows the current cycle length or remaining phase seconds.
Use Pause when you need to hold the current session state, or Stop to reset the live timer. Review Breath Phase Trace, Breathing Rate Gauge, Phase Share, Session Timeline, and JSON after you have run enough phases to create useful data.

Interpreting Results:

The most important number is breaths per minute, because it tells you how slow the selected pattern is. Use the pattern code beside it to confirm which phases are active. A low breathing rate does not prove relaxation, and an extended exhale badge does not prove a calmer nervous system; those labels describe timing choices only.

Check the live ring for pacing, then use the result tabs for review. The charts and timeline describe the session that was paced, not airflow, oxygen level, carbon dioxide, heart rate, or heart rate variability.

Breathing pacer result interpretation guide
Output	What to Trust	What to Verify
Current rhythm	Cycle seconds, breaths per minute, active preset, pattern code, session length, and balance badge.	Make sure skipped zero-second phases and hold lengths match the breathing pattern you intended.
Breath Phase Trace	A live trace of the ring level over recent elapsed time.	Use it as a timing trace only; it is not a respiratory sensor reading.
Breathing Rate Gauge	The calculated target rate from the selected cycle length.	Compare it with the cycle seconds if a preset name or manual value seems surprising.
Phase Share	The share of cycle time spent inhaling, holding, and exhaling.	Long hold shares can make a slow pace feel harder than the bpm number suggests.
Session Timeline	Completed phase rows with phase name, local start time, elapsed seconds, and duration seconds.	Rows appear after phases complete, so a very short or immediately stopped session may have little history.

If the rhythm feels strained, trust comfort over the displayed target. Shorten the inhale or exhale, remove holds, lower cue volume, or stop the session before trying a slower pattern.

Technical Details:

The core quantity is cycle length. Each active phase contributes seconds to one full breath cycle, and zero-second phases are skipped when the live phase sequence is built. Breathing rate is then the reciprocal of cycle length expressed per minute. Because all pacing comes from the selected seconds, two patterns with the same cycle length can show the same bpm while feeling different in practice.

Phase composition affects interpretation. A pattern with most of its time in holds may calculate to the same breaths per minute as a smoother inhale-exhale rhythm, but the experience is different because less of the cycle is spent moving air. The exhale-to-inhale ratio is also useful because it separates an exhale-emphasis pattern from a symmetric or inhale-led one.

Formula Core:

The pacing math uses phase seconds only. The cycle must be greater than zero for a session to start.

\begin{array}{l} C & = & t_{inhale} + t_{hold1} + t_{exhale} + t_{hold2} \\ BPM & = & \frac{60}{C} \\ R & = & \frac{t_{exhale}}{t_{inhale}} \end{array}

Here C is cycle seconds, BPM is breaths per minute, and R is the exhale-to-inhale ratio when both inhale and exhale are present. For a 4-second inhale, 0-second top hold, 6-second exhale, and 0-second bottom hold, the cycle is 10 seconds, so the pace is 60 / 10 = 6.00 bpm and the ratio is 6 / 4 = 1.50.

Preset Timing Core:

Breathing pacer preset timing values and calculated rates
Preset	Inhale	Hold 1	Exhale	Hold 2	Cycle	BPM
Resonance	4.5 s	0 s	5.5 s	0 s	10.0 s	6.00
Coherent	5 s	0 s	5 s	0 s	10.0 s	6.00
Box	4 s	4 s	4 s	4 s	16.0 s	3.75
4-7-8	4 s	7 s	8 s	0 s	19.0 s	3.16
Relax 4-6	4 s	0 s	6 s	0 s	10.0 s	6.00
Triangle 4-4-8	4 s	4 s	8 s	0 s	16.0 s	3.75
7-11	7 s	0 s	11 s	0 s	18.0 s	3.33
Soft Box 5-5-5-5	5 s	5 s	5 s	5 s	20.0 s	3.00

Balance Rules:

Exhale-to-inhale balance rules
Badge	Rule	Meaning
Incomplete rhythm	Inhale = 0 or exhale = 0	The pattern lacks one of the two moving-air phases used for ratio comparison.
Inhale-led	R <= 0.75	The exhale is no more than three quarters of the inhale length.
Balanced rhythm	0.75 < R < 1.35	The exhale and inhale are close enough to read as a balanced pace.
Extended exhale	R >= 1.35	The exhale is at least 35 percent longer than the inhale.

Validation and Session Rules:

Breathing pacer validation limits
Field or Rule	Allowed Range	Effect
Inhale, Hold after inhale, Exhale, Hold after exhale	0 to 30 seconds	Valid phase seconds feed the cycle, charts, phase ring, timeline, and JSON.
Total cycle	Greater than 0 seconds	An all-zero pattern is invalid, even though individual phases may be zero.
Session length	0 to 60 minutes	Zero is open-ended; positive values drive the progress bar and finish estimate.
Countdown	0 to 30 seconds	Delays the first inhale after Start.
Beep frequency	100 to 2400 Hz	Sets cue pitch without changing timing.
Beep duration	40 to 500 milliseconds	Sets cue length without changing timing.

Limitations, Privacy, and Accuracy Notes:

The timing model runs from browser clocks and user-entered settings. It is accurate enough for a guided practice, but it is not a respiratory monitor. The pace can drift slightly if the browser throttles background tabs, the device is under load, or the session is interrupted by sleep, denied permissions, or power-saving behavior.

Audio cues may stay silent until the browser allows sound after a user action.
Vibration only works on devices and browsers that support haptic requests.
Screen-awake requests can be denied by the browser or operating system.
Session timeline and JSON data are created from the values shown on screen; avoid sharing exports if local start times or practice history are sensitive.
The result is informational breathing guidance, not medical advice or a diagnosis.

Worked Examples:

Five-minute resonance-style practice:

Choose Resonance and leave the default 4.5-second inhale, 0-second top hold, 5.5-second exhale, and 0-second bottom hold. Current rhythm shows a 10.00-second cycle and 6.00 bpm. The Balance badge reads Balanced rhythm because the exhale-to-inhale ratio is about 1.22, below the extended-exhale cutoff.

Custom exhale emphasis:

Set Custom, Inhale to 4 seconds, Exhale to 6 seconds, both holds to 0, and Session length to 3 minutes. The pace is still 6.00 bpm, but Phase Share gives 40 percent inhale and 60 percent exhale, and the Balance badge reads Extended exhale because the ratio is 1.50.

Boundary check for an inhale-led pattern:

Set Inhale to 4 seconds, Exhale to 3 seconds, and both holds to 0. Breathing Rate Gauge shows 8.57 bpm from a 7-second cycle. Because the ratio is exactly 0.75, the Balance badge reads Inhale-led rather than balanced.

Troubleshooting an invalid rhythm:

If all four phase fields are 0, the validation area reports At least one breathing phase must be longer than zero seconds. Add time to Inhale or Exhale before pressing Start. If the message is about beep frequency, countdown, or session length, bring that field back inside the range shown in the validation table.

FAQ:

Is breaths per minute measured from my body?

No. Breaths per minute is calculated from the selected phase seconds. The tool does not measure airflow, heart rate, oxygen, carbon dioxide, or heart rate variability.

Why does a zero-second phase disappear?

Zero-second phases are skipped in the live phase sequence so a two-part rhythm, a three-part triangle rhythm, and a four-part box rhythm can use the same phase fields.

Do audio beeps, vibration, or easing change the breathing rate?

No. Cue settings affect how phase changes are marked, and easing affects how the ring moves. The calculated bpm still comes from inhale, hold, exhale, and hold seconds.

What should I do if a hold feels too long?

Pause or stop the session, then shorten Hold after inhale or Hold after exhale. You can also choose a preset without holds, such as Coherent or Relax 4-6.

Why is there no timeline data after I start?

The Session Timeline records completed phases. Let at least one phase finish, or use a shorter phase duration while testing, then check the timeline again.

Does my session upload breath data?

No. The timing, charts, timeline, and JSON are produced from the browser session values. Copy and download actions create files from the displayed data when you choose them.

Glossary:

Phase: One timed part of the breathing pattern, such as inhale, hold after inhale, exhale, or hold after exhale.
Cycle: One complete repeat of the active phases.
Breaths per minute: The calculated target pace, equal to 60 divided by cycle seconds.
Exhale-to-inhale ratio: The exhale duration divided by the inhale duration when both are greater than zero.
Phase share: The portion of cycle time spent in inhale, hold, and exhale categories.
Wake lock: A browser request that tries to keep the screen awake while the session is running.

References:

A Practical Guide to Resonance Frequency Assessment for Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2020.
Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis, Physiology & Behavior, 2022.
Controlled breathing exercise, NHS inform, updated December 9, 2025.
Breathing, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Whole Health Library, 2016.
How Box Breathing Can Help You Destress, Cleveland Clinic, August 17, 2021.