Staying calm

The 4-7-8 breathing technique is a 60-second exercise that helps you take charge of panic attacks, adrenaline highs or lows, night terrors or to help you fall  asleep and to up your Baseline. It can help you to get out of an emotional block (and the Involuntary Mechanisms that can go hand in hand with them) and be able to access your thinking abilities again. To up your Baseline, practise it twice a day, this will help accelerate the calming effects when you apply it in a stressful situation.


4-7-8 Video

You can access the video of Simone walking through the technique by clicking the above link, or you may prefer to use an audio version of Simone’s video to listen to in the moment if you think it is helpful.

4-7-8 Audio


How do you do it?

Before you begin, place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth just above your teeth, and keep it there throughout the exercise.

  1. Exhale completely through your mouth quite forcefully, so you make a ‘whoosh’ sound.
  2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly and softly through your nose for a mental count of four.
  3. Hold your breath and count to seven.
  4. Next, exhale completely through your mouth, making another whoosh sound for eight seconds in one large breath.
  5. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three times.

Remember: All inhaling breaths must be quiet and through your nose, and all exhaling breaths must be loud and through your mouth.

How does it help?

  1. Taking on more oxygen relaxes the parasympathetic nervous system and promotes a state of calm.
  2. It helps rebalance the nervous system, which can become over-stimulated during times of stress.

It helps you connect with your body and your breathing, and distracts you from the thoughts that are upsetting you or preventing you from sleeping. (Source)


Read about further use of the 4-7-8: The 4-7-8 Alarm – Simple Tool


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