Relief is closer than it feels.

Small, practical steps for the things that are hardest to carry. Every one of them grounded in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and in the research.

Or start here:worry that will not stop feeling flat marriage sleep

Two parents and four children sitting together in a stone doorway, talking and laughing.

If reading is too much right now, just be at the water.

It is moving, and you can turn the sound on. A minute of this measurably lowers stress, and on a screen it works about as well as being there. Nothing to get right, nothing to finish.

Things to do, not things to read

Each one runs here, with the pacing carried for you. None of them can be failed, none of them ask for an account, and every one can be left halfway.

Breathe with the tidetwo minutes

In for four, out for six, nothing held. That is about six breaths a minute, which is the rate most of the research uses, and the pace matters more than the exact counts. The sound swells as you breathe in and falls as you breathe out, so there is nothing to watch. You do not have to match it exactly; following it loosely is the point.

Ready when you are

Pattern

About the picture and the soundStrength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account. They are here to help you stay with the practice, not to treat anything.

The sound is generated in your own browser and is not a recording. No file is fetched, nothing is tracked, and it works offline.

In for four, out for six, nothing held. This is the rate most of the research uses, and the pace matters more than the exact counts.

The three rhythms, in full

Steady, about six a minute. In for four, out for six, nothing held. This is the rate most of the research uses, and the pace matters more than the exact counts.

Two in, one long out. Two breaths in through the nose, the second one short, then a long breath out through the mouth. In a trial that compared it against other breathing and against mindfulness, this was the one that improved mood.

Longer out than in. In for four, out for eight. Some people prefer a longer out breath. The evidence that it does more than the steady pace is thin, so take it as a preference rather than a rule.

Find five thingsthree minutes

Five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell, one you can taste. One sense at a time, at your own pace. Nothing to type and nothing to score.

Five senses, counting down. It works by giving your attention somewhere ordinary to be. It takes about two minutes and nobody can tell you are doing it.

5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste

Put a word on itone minute

Pick whichever words are closest to how this feels. The words are on the page so you do not have to go looking for one, which is the hard part when you most need it. More than one is usually true.

Which is closest, right now?

There is no correct answer, and you can pick more than one.

We built this

Inshirah is written and reviewed by registered health care professionals working alongside people trained in the sacred sciences. Nothing here is therapy, a diagnosis or a fatwa, and nothing here asks you to make an account before it will help you.

What this is, and who writes it →

Every design choice on this site, including the moving water and the breathing pace, is set out with what it rests on and where that is contested. What each choice is grounded in →

How can we help today?

Say it however it comes out. You do not have to know the name for it.

I need something in the next minuteNone of these? Look through everything, A to Z

When it is not you who is struggling

All of it →

Most of what is written for families is written about the person who is unwell. This is written for you: what actually helps, what to avoid saying, and where your part ends.

One man standing outside with his arms round another, holding him.

Someone I care aboutA friend, a parent, a brother or sister, your child.

My husband or wifeWritten for the two of you together, not about one of you.

Nothing here tells you what is wrong with them, and none of it is a guarantee. There is no checklist to match somebody against, and if things do not improve that is not a verdict on how well you did any of it.

Inshirah Academy

Every course →

Short courses you can finish. Six lessons, forty minutes, and each one says at the start what it will not do.

Three women in hijab standing together talking at the far end of a long sunlit arcade.

Worry that will not switch off6 lessons · 40 minutes · in review

The small things that hold a marriage6 lessons · 42 minutes · in review

When you are told it is weak faith6 lessons · 42 minutes · in review

Where this is up to

Inshirah is in development. The library is written and sourced, and it is in review. You are welcome to read it, and you should treat everything in it as a draft.