How to take it
Comfortable, first thing, before anything else.
Sit still for a few minutes. Breathe normally through the nose, then let a normal, unforced breath out. Pinch your nose and start timing. Stop the moment you feel the first definite urge to breathe: a swallow, a tightening in the throat, the first involuntary twitch of the diaphragm.
This is not a breath-hold competition. It is not how long you can last. Push past the first urge and you are measuring something else entirely, and the number stops being useful. Your first breath afterwards should be calm and through the nose. If you have to gulp, you held too long.
Reading the number
These are training numbers, not a diagnosis.
Your score reflects how sensitive your breathing centre is to carbon dioxide. A low score means the alarm goes off early, so you breathe more, more often. A higher score means a calmer, more efficient system with more room before that alarm sounds.
Under 20 seconds
Common in people who arrive stressed, poorly slept or anxious. Expect noticeable air hunger, frequent sighing, and a breath rate that sits higher than it needs to at rest.
20 to 30 seconds
The range most people can reach with steady, gentle practice over weeks. Breathing tends to feel quieter and easier, and there is more headroom before stress pushes it up.
Above 30 seconds
An efficient, tolerant system. Worth having, not worth chasing at the cost of forcing. Comfort and smoothness matter more than the number every time.
Moving it
It rises slowly, and it falls fast.
Expect a few seconds over a few weeks, not a jump. Also expect it to drop after a bad night, a hard week, or an illness. That is information, not failure.
- Light, gentle breath-holds. The Recovery Breath in your plan is the direct training: short holds, relaxed, with a mild air hunger you soften into rather than fight.
- Nose breathing as your default. All day, and while you sleep if you can. This does more for the number than any single practice session.
- Sleep and stress load. A poor night or a heavy week will show up in the score. Test at the same time of day, first thing, so you are comparing like with like.
- Never force it. Straining teaches your system that breathing is a fight. Every practice should end with you feeling calmer than when you started.
Skip breath-holds and check with your doctor first if you are pregnant, or have epilepsy, uncontrolled high blood pressure, a heart condition, diabetes or a serious respiratory condition.
Next short read
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What heart coherence actually is
Coherence is not a good heart rate or a relaxed mood.
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If you have a Calm Plan
Nothing here is required reading.
Your plan works on its own. These pages are for the days when you want to know why it works, not what to do next. If something in yours is not landing, or your numbers have stopped moving, that is worth a conversation rather than more reading.
Book a session with RichOr reply to the email your plan arrived in. It comes straight to me.