| # | Technique | Qty | Cycle (s) | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{ r.idx }} | {{ r.techLabel }} | {{ r.qtyLabel }} | {{ r.cycle_s.toFixed(2) }} | |
| — | Prep | {{ session_prep_s }} s | {{ stepTimeReadable(session_prep_s) }} | |
| — | Cooldown | {{ cooldown_min }} min | {{ stepTimeReadable(cooldown_min*60) }} | |
| — | Inter-step rest | {{ inter_step_rest_s }} s × {{ Math.max(0, activeSteps - 1) }} | {{ stepTimeReadable(interStepRestTotal) }} | |
| — | Average cycle pace | {{ formatNumber(avgCyclesPerMinute, 2) }} cycles/min | {{ formatNumber(avgCycleSeconds, 2) }} s/cycle | |
| — | Total | {{ activeSteps }} step(s) | {{ totalDurationReadable }} |
| Phase bucket | Seconds | Share | Notes | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{ row.label }} | {{ formatNumber(row.seconds, 2) }} | {{ formatNumber(row.share, 1) }}% | {{ row.note }} |
Paced breathwork is easy to sketch and surprisingly hard to schedule once you mix techniques. A routine that looks short on paper can stretch once you add long holds, transition rests, a settling period before the first breath, and a cooldown at the end. This planner turns that timing problem into a concrete session outline.
The tool lets you build up to four breathing steps, pick a preset or enter custom inhale, hold, exhale, and second-hold timings for each one, and decide whether each step should be controlled by minutes or by cycle count. It then shows the full session total, a local finish-time estimate, a phase ledger for where the time goes, a step-mix chart, and exportable table and JSON views.
This is a planning tool, not a live breathing coach. It does not measure respiration, heart rate, oxygen, comfort, or technique quality, and the chart tab is a static time-composition view rather than a moving pacer. The page also stores audio-volume and tone-frequency fields with the plan, but it does not play those tones for you.
That boundary matters because pranayama can include long exhales and breath holds. Public guidance around breathing exercises is consistent on one point: if a pattern leaves you strained, dizzy, short of breath, or uncomfortable, make it gentler or stop rather than forcing the plan to match the numbers.
Each enabled step is modeled as one repeating cycle with four possible phases: inhale, hold after inhale, exhale, and hold after exhale. The tool first adds those phase lengths, then applies the global pace slider as an inverse multiplier, and finally turns the step into scheduled time based on either minutes or cycles.
The built-in technique presets are simply prefilled phase timings. At the default 100% pace, they map to the following cycle lengths and approximate breathing rates.
| Technique | Phase pattern | Cycle seconds | Approx cycles per minute | Planning use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coherent | 5 / 0 / 5 / 0 | 10.00 | 6.00 | Steady equal inhale and exhale with no holds. |
| Resonance | 4.5 / 0 / 5.5 / 0 | 10.00 | 6.00 | Slow breathing with slightly more time on the exhale. |
| Box | 4 / 4 / 4 / 4 | 16.00 | 3.75 | Even four-part structure with holds on both sides. |
| 4-7-8 | 4 / 7 / 8 / 0 | 19.00 | 3.16 | Short cycle count planning with a long hold and long exhale. |
| Triangle | 4 / 4 / 8 / 0 | 16.00 | 3.75 | Held inhale followed by a longer out-breath. |
| 7-11 | 7 / 0 / 11 / 0 | 18.00 | 3.33 | Long exhale emphasis without breath holds. |
| Nadi Shodhana | 4 / 4 / 8 / 0 | 16.00 | 3.75 | Alternate-nostril sequence planning with an optional start-side cue. |
The sequence presets are fixed bundles built from those timings. Balance gives you 5 minutes of resonance breathing, 4 minutes of triangle breathing, and 3 minutes of Nadi Shodhana, plus 10 seconds of prep and a 2-minute cooldown. Wind-down uses 8 cycles of 4-7-8, then 5 minutes of coherent breathing, plus 8 seconds of prep and a 3-minute cooldown. Focus pairs 4 minutes of box breathing with 4 minutes of 7-11, plus 6 seconds of prep and a 1-minute cooldown. Coherent 5-5 sets one 10-minute coherent block with 5 seconds of prep and a 2-minute cooldown.
| Step basis | Does pace change total step time? | What changes immediately | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minutes | No | Cycle length and implied cycles per minute change, but the step still occupies the same calendar block. | Use minute-based steps when the main goal is fitting the session into a fixed amount of time. |
| Cycles | Yes | Each repetition becomes longer or shorter, so the total step duration changes too. | Use cycle-based steps when repetition count matters more than the exact end time. |
The outputs are split for different kinds of reading. The Breath Sequence table lists each enabled step, its quantity basis, and its scaled cycle length. The Phase Ledger rolls the whole session into inhale time, combined hold time, exhale time, inter-step rest, preparation, and cooldown, then shows each bucket as a share of the total. The finish-time estimate is built from your local clock at the moment the plan is rendered.
Everything stays in the browser for this tool. Breath Sequence and Phase Ledger can be copied or exported as CSV and DOCX, the step-mix chart can be saved as PNG, WebP, JPEG, or CSV, and the full plan can be copied or downloaded as JSON. There is no server-side plan processor here.
The first decision is not which breathing label sounds best. It is whether you are planning by clock time or by repetition count. Minutes are better when you know the session has to fit before work, before bed, or between appointments. Cycles are better when you want a fixed number of rounds regardless of how long each round ends up lasting after pace changes.
The second decision is how demanding you want each step to feel. Equal or near-equal inhale and exhale patterns are usually easier to follow than routines with long breath holds. That is why coherent and resonance-style steps often make sense as starting points in a mixed sequence, while box breathing, triangle breathing, and 4-7-8 usually feel more structured and more intense even before the session gets long.
Slow-breathing literature often discusses resonance-style work in roughly the 4.5 to 6.5 breaths-per-minute range. This tool's resonance preset lands at 6 cycles per minute because 4.5 seconds in plus 5.5 seconds out makes a 10-second cycle. That makes it a simple planning reference point when you want a slow no-hold step without having to derive the cadence yourself.
The Nadi Shodhana option should be read as a planning convenience, not as a full alternate-nostril coach. The optional nostril cue only records whether to start left or right in the summary, notes, and exports. It does not alternate nostrils for you, add side-specific timing, or change the cycle math.
The warning list is there to prevent quiet planning mistakes. A step warns if its whole cycle is zero, if both quantity fields are zero, or if you entered both minutes and cycles for the same step. That last case is especially important because the tool resolves the conflict by using minutes.
The summary box is the fastest high-level read. It gives you the total duration, local finish-time estimate, number of active steps, prep and cooldown badges when present, the technique breadcrumb, the current pace setting, and the nostril-cue status. If that summary already looks wrong, there is no reason to study the rest of the outputs yet.
The Breath Sequence table is best for checking the internal timing of the plan. Each row shows the scaled cycle length for one enabled step. The separate prep, inter-step rest, cooldown, average cycle pace, and total rows make it easier to see whether the session grew because of the breathing phases themselves or because of the time around them.
The average cycle pace is weighted by scheduled step time rather than being a simple average of the preset labels. That means a long coherent step will influence the overall rate more than a short 4-7-8 block. It is a session summary, not a label for every single step.
If moving the global pace slider changes a cycle length but does not change the total session time, that is expected when the step is minute-based. The tool is preserving the calendar block and changing only how many cycles fit inside it. When the same slider is applied to a cycle-based step, the total session time moves because each repetition has been stretched or shortened.
The Phase Ledger is the clearest way to see emphasis. A plan built around 7-11 will push more of the total time into exhale. Box breathing and 4-7-8 shift more time into holds. Large prep, rest, or cooldown shares tell you that the session is spending substantial time outside the formal breath pattern, which can be useful or accidental depending on your goal.
The chart and JSON views answer different questions. The chart shows only how total step time is divided across enabled steps. The JSON view is the complete record, including raw per-step inputs, derived step rows, totals, phase-ledger rows, cue settings, and warnings.
Coherent 5-5 preset. This preset schedules one 10-minute coherent-breathing step, adds 5 seconds of prep, and adds a 2-minute cooldown. The total comes to 12 minutes 5 seconds. Because the step is minute-based, changing the pace slider alters the cycle length and cycles per minute, but the session still occupies the same 12-minute-5-second block.
Focus preset. Focus combines 4 minutes of box breathing and 4 minutes of 7-11, plus 6 seconds of prep and a 1-minute cooldown, for a total of 9 minutes 6 seconds. If you drop the global pace from 100% to 80%, the box cycle expands from 16 to 20 seconds and the 7-11 cycle expands from 18 to 22.5 seconds, but the total remains 9 minutes 6 seconds because both steps are defined by minutes.
Wind-down preset. Wind-down uses 8 cycles of 4-7-8, then 5 minutes of coherent breathing, plus 8 seconds of prep and a 3-minute cooldown. At 100% pace, the 4-7-8 block lasts 152 seconds, so the full session totals 10 minutes 40 seconds. If you lower pace to 80%, the 4-7-8 cycle stretches from 19 to 23.75 seconds, the 8-cycle block grows to 190 seconds, and the full session grows to 11 minutes 18 seconds. That is the clearest built-in example of cycle-based timing changing the end time.
No. It plans a routine, shows how the time is distributed, and exports the results, but it does not run a live paced-breathing session.
Because minute-based steps keep their scheduled block length. Pace changes the cycle length inside that block, not the block itself.
It records a left-start or right-start reminder in the summary and exports. It does not change timing and it does not walk you through nostril switching.
No. They are stored with the plan state, but this page does not play tones.
Because the tool resolves that conflict by using minutes. The warning is there so the active rule is explicit instead of surprising.
No. The tables, chart files, and JSON export are generated in the browser for this tool.