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This Navy SEAL Breath Technique Can Help You Stay Calm When Stressed

What we can learn about breathing from people who are often under pressure.

Mike Peterson
3 min readMar 14, 2023
Photo by Pavel Lozovikov on Unsplash

If you want to stay calm when stressed and maintain your performance under pressure, then you need to try a nifty Navy SEAL breathing technique.

Breathing is something you don’t even think about for the majority of the day — and yet, it can have powerful effects on your emotions, nervous system, and overall well-being.

The act of using the breath to change your state of being is now commonly known as breathwork. But although you may associate breathing exercises with yoga and meditation, there’s a group of highly trained military professionals that also use the breath to stay calm under pressure.

Enter the Navy SEAL breathing technique known as box breathing. Primarily popularized by Mark Divine, former Navy SEAL Commander and author of The Way of the SEAL, the breathing method is obviously powerful enough to be used by special operations forces.

How to box breathe

It’s also simple to do. Here’s how.

  • Inhale for a count of four.
  • Hold the breath for a count of four.
  • Exhale for a count of four.

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Mike Peterson
Mike Peterson

Written by Mike Peterson

Writer. Yoga, meditation & breathwork teacher. Nature lover. | San Diego, Calif. | he/him

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