The famous count is not automatically your count. One teacher finds that adding a pause after the inhale wakes her up, while the plain long exhale has her asleep within three breaths.
Protocols get passed around because they worked for someone, often someone with a large audience. That is not the same as fitting you. Keep the shape of the thing, which here is a longer exhale, and treat the exact numbers as adjustable. Noticing that your version differs is not a sign you are doing it wrong.
Qur’an and Sunnah
who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down (Quran 3:191). The posture is left open and the remembering is what counts.
ٱلَّذِينَ يَذۡكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمࣰ ا وَقُعُودࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمۡ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقۡتَ هَٰذَا بَٰطِلࣰ ا سُبۡحَٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth: ‘Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose- You are far above that!- so protect us from the torment of the Fire
Qur’an 3:191read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
When 76 stressed adults were randomised to self-help physical activity, mindfulness meditation or heart rate variability biofeedback for five weeks, all three reduced stress and related symptoms by a similar amount. Different routes, similar destination, which fits the idea that the branded specifics matter less than doing something steadily. It was a small trial of self-help formats, so it cannot tell you which one will suit you.
van der Zwan JE, de Vente W, Huizink AC, Bögels SM, de Bruin EI. (2015). Physical activity, mindfulness meditation, or heart rate variability biofeedback for stress reduction: a randomized controlled trial.. Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
The same instruction meets a different body every time, so the result varies even when the technique does not.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Go slowly enough to learn something about yourself, rather than only a technique. What is worth keeping is knowing which breath does what in your body.
To find the soft ocean sounding breath, breathe out through your mouth as if fogging up a mirror. Then keep that same slight narrowing at the throat with your mouth closed, and let the sound get quieter and quieter.
Breathe in for about five and out for about ten, and do not hold at the top. Go straight from the in breath into the out breath, five to ten times over.