Regulate Your Nervous System Through Breath

Breathing exercises grounded in clinical experience and research, for calm, focus, and autonomic regulation.

Your breath is the most direct way to influence your nervous system. These techniques are backed by science and practiced for thousands of years.

Available for iPhone

About

What Is Breath & Calm?

Your breath is the bridge between your mind and body. It's the only part of your autonomic nervous system you can consciously control — and when you do, everything changes.

Breath & Calm teaches you clinically proven breathing techniques that shift your nervous system from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest. Each exercise is designed for a specific purpose: calming anxiety, improving focus, energizing, or preparing for sleep.

No mysticism, no pseudoscience. Just techniques backed by research and used by therapists, athletes, and meditation practitioners worldwide.

Techniques

Research-Grounded Exercises

4-7-8 Breathing

1 - 2 Minutes

Developed by Dr. Andrew Weil. Activates the parasympathetic nervous system, slows heart rate, and induces calm. Used for anxiety relief and sleep preparation.

Box Breathing

2 - 3 Minutes

Used by Navy SEALs to maintain calm under pressure. Balances the nervous system, improves focus, and reduces stress response.

Coherent Breathing

5 - 10 Minutes

5.5 breaths per minute aligns with heart rate variability for optimal nervous system balance. Improves vagal tone and emotional regulation.

2:1 Breathing

3 - 5 Minutes

Extended exhale activates the vagus nerve, signaling safety to the nervous system. Deeply calming for anxiety and rumination.

Wim Hof Method

10 - 15 Minutes

Controlled hyperventilation followed by breath retention. Influences stress response, immune function, and energy levels.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

3 - 5 Minutes

Belly breathing engages the diaphragm fully, maximizing oxygen exchange and activating the relaxation response.

Getting Started

How To Use The App

Choose Your Exercise

Select based on what you need: calm for anxiety, focus for work, energy for fatigue, or sleep preparation for bedtime.

Follow The Circle

Breathe in when the circle expands, out when it contracts. The visual guide keeps you on rhythm without thinking.

Practice Regularly

Even 2-5 minutes daily shifts your baseline nervous system state. Optional reminders help you build the habit.

Inside The App

Experience Breath & Calm

Home screen — breath and calm as two simple choices

The Whole App In Two Words

Your favourites live on the home screen. Tap one word — breath or calm — and the practice begins. No menu. No tutorial.

Breath library — five techniques with a favourite on top

Five Breaths For Five States

Resonance, 4-7-8, box, 2:1, diaphragmatic. Each has a specific purpose — sleep, focus, release, rhythm, ground. Your favourite leads; the others follow below.

Calm library — tools drawn from therapy research

Tools For When Something Flares Up

Five practices drawn from ACT, DBT, self-compassion research, and affect-labeling studies. Not meditation — precise techniques for specific kinds of overwhelm.

Breathing exercise in progress with visual circle guide

A Visual Anchor While You Breathe

The circle expands with your inhale, contracts with your exhale. The rhythm is held for you, so you can stop counting and just follow.

Features

Designed For Regular Practice

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Visual Guidance

Animated circle keeps you in rhythm without counting or thinking.

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Customizable Duration

Adjust session length to fit your schedule, from 2 to 20 minutes.

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Smart Reminders

Optional daily prompts with 4 intensity levels, from gentle to intensive.

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Minimal Design

Multiple calming themes that don't distract from your practice.

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Bilingual

Full support for Norwegian and English throughout the app.

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Track Progress

See your session history and build streaks to maintain motivation.

The Science

Why Breathwork Works

Your autonomic nervous system has two modes: sympathetic (stress response) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). Most of us live in chronic sympathetic activation — shallow breathing, elevated cortisol, constant alertness.

Controlled breathing directly activates the vagus nerve, the primary nerve of the parasympathetic system. This signals safety to your brain, lowers heart rate, reduces cortisol, and shifts you into a state where healing, digestion, and emotional regulation can occur.

Research shows regular breathwork reduces anxiety, improves heart rate variability, lowers blood pressure, enhances focus, and improves sleep quality. It's not relaxation theater — it's physiology.

Your Data

Your Privacy Matters

We Don't Collect Any Data

Everything you do in the app is stored only locally on your iPhone. We have no servers storing your information, and we have no access to data on your device.

Your practice is completely private and yours alone.

No registration or login required
No tracking of your activity
No analysis of your exercises
No sharing with third parties
Full control over your own data

Ready To Regulate Your Nervous System?

"Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again." Thich Nhat Hanh

Download On The App Store

The app is completely free — Breath & Calm is and will always be free. If you want to support development and keep the app available for everyone, you can do so via voluntary tips in the app. But it's not necessary — all features are available to everyone.