Breathe

A circle that grows while you breathe in and shrinks while you breathe out. You
follow it, and that is all.

FOUR PATTERNS

• **4 · 7 · 8** — in for four, hold for seven, out for eight. What most people
mean when they say "the breathing exercise".
• **Box** — four, four, four, four. For steadying rather than for sleeping.
• **Coherent** — five and a half seconds each way, no holds: about five and a
half breaths a minute.
• **Calming** — in for four, out for six. Longer out than in.

Sessions from one to ten minutes, with the breaths counted.

HOW IT IS BUILT

The circle has no animation of its own: its radius **is** how full the lungs
are according to the pattern, computed from the elapsed time. There is no
second opinion about where the breath is, and that is why following it with a
body works.

The curve is a raised cosine rather than a straight line: a breath that changes
speed abruptly at each end cannot be followed, and the point of the circle is
that it can be followed without thinking.

A short buzz at each turn of the breath, so it can be followed with the eyes
shut. The screen stays on while a session is going.

THE SOUND

A bed the app **composes for itself**, note by note: six long notes of a minor
pentatonic over a low A, started at drifting intervals and left to overlap. It
is not a loop going round: two minutes never sound like the two minutes before.

Under them a drone holds the room; over them two bells, one as the inhale
begins and one as the exhale begins — never during the holds, which are the
part of a breath where nothing should happen.

There is **no audio file in the package**: all of it is arithmetic, worked out
while the app starts. Whatever you were already listening to is not stopped —
it is turned down, and comes back up when the session ends. The silence switch
is next to the start button, and it starts on.

**This is not a medical device and gives no medical advice.** It is a circle on
a schedule: what it is worth is what following it is worth, and that is between
you and whoever taught you the pattern.

WHAT IT DOES NOT DO

• It asks for **no permissions at all**.
• No account, no sign-up.
• No servers, nothing collected, and no network except for the ads.

PERMISSIONS

Internet only, and only for the ads that keep the app free.

Privacy policy:
https://mindcontact.app/mcma-breathe/privacy/