Prāṇāyāma
Guided breathwork in the browser.
No account, no tracking, nothing to install.
Square Breath
Sama Vṛtti · 4 · 4 · 4 · 4
Equal counts in, hold, out, hold. The place to start. Configurable ratios with presets for the Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā 1:4:2, 4-7-8, and free breathing without retention.
Open →Śūnyaka Krama
Progressive external retention · the ladder
The hold on empty lungs grows a little each round, climbs to a peak, stays there a while, then comes back down. With uḍḍīyāna cues and a release you can take at any moment. Experienced practitioners.
Open →Designed for closed eyes
- Every sound is synthesised live — inharmonic singing bowls, a tānpūra drone at 136.1 Hz, and pink noise that swells and recedes with the breath. No audio files, so it works with no connection.
- Everything is tuned from one root in just intonation, so no two sounds clash.
- Long holds stay silent through the middle, with a few soft pulses at the end so the finish never startles you.
- Timing runs on the audio hardware clock, not a JavaScript timer — no drift over a long sitting.
- Each layer switches off independently. Turn it down to a single bell if you like.
On your phone
- iPhone: if you hear nothing, check the ring/silent switch — iOS mutes web audio when set to silent. Add to your home screen (Share → Add to Home Screen) for the best result.
- Keep the app in the foreground. Locking the screen pauses the audio on most phones; the built-in keep screen awake option is on by default.
- Headphones are worth it — the drone and ocean sit low in the register.
Before you practise
Never strain. Retention should feel spacious, never desperate — if you come out of a hold gasping, the counts are too long. Ease off with dizziness or air hunger. Sit down, never practise near water or while driving. Do not hyperventilate beforehand. Skip retentions entirely if pregnant, or with uncontrolled blood pressure, heart conditions, glaucoma, epilepsy or recent abdominal surgery — ask a doctor first.
A note on the names
Pūraka is the in-breath, rechaka the out-breath, kumbhaka the retention. The hold on full lungs is antara kumbhaka; the hold on empty lungs is bāhya kumbhaka, widely called śūnyaka — "emptiness".
Equal-ratio square breathing is modern sama vṛtti. The Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā (ch. 5) actually teaches a 1 : 4 : 2 ratio — included as a preset. The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra (v. 25) points at the pause itself: by not turning back too soon from the two spaces where the breath pauses, the form of Bhairava is revealed.