Frequently Asked Questions

Our app is built around the 5-10-15 breathing pattern: a comfortable inhale, a gentle pause, and a long, slow exhale. It's designed to help engage your parasympathetic nervous system, the body's natural "rest and digest" response.

The 15-second exhale is the heart of it. Research suggests that slow, extended exhales are associated with vagus nerve activity, which helps the body shift toward rest. Many people notice a slower heart rate and a calmer feeling during practice.

Absolutely! That's the beauty of this practice—you literally just breathe. No special positions, no mantras to memorize, no complex visualizations. The app guides you through every single breath with gentle chimes and voice cues.

Start with just 5 minutes. That's ten breathing cycles. You can do ten breaths, right? The hardest part is pressing "Start." After that, the app does the work—you just follow along.

If you can breathe, you can meditate. Everything else is optional.

No, you're doing it exactly right. Mind wandering isn't a failure—it's the practice itself.

Think of meditation like going to the gym for your attention. When you lift weights, the muscle gets stronger during the recovery between reps. Similarly, your attention gets stronger not by staying focused, but by noticing when you've wandered and gently bringing your attention back to the breath.

Every time you notice your mind has wandered and you return to the breath, that's one "mental rep." That's where the growth happens. So if your mind wanders 100 times in 5 minutes, congratulations—you just did 100 reps of attention training.

Many people feel calmer during their very first session. Like exercise or learning a language, though, the benefits tend to build with consistency. Everyone is different, but here's what many people notice:

Week 1: Moments of calm during the day, and an easier time winding down at night.

1 Month: A little more space in stressful moments. You may catch yourself pausing before reacting.

3 Months: For many people, a steadier everyday baseline, with slow breathing becoming a natural tool to reach for under stress. Your stress check-ins in History show how it's going for you.

The key is daily practice. Five minutes every day beats 30 minutes once a week. Consistency compounds.

No problem at all! The app has adjustable breathing patterns in the Settings:

Beginner: 4 seconds inhale, 7 seconds hold, 8 seconds exhale

Standard: 5-10-15 (the default)

Box Breathing: 4-4-4-4 for quick stress relief

Resonance Breathing: 5.5 seconds in, 5.5 seconds out, with no holds at all

You can also turn on Gentle mode to remove the holds from any pattern, or Build up gradually to start with shorter breaths (3-6-9) that lengthen as you practice.

Start where you're comfortable. There's no award for suffering through a pace that's too intense. Comfort beats perfection. As you practice, slower breathing usually starts to feel easier, and you can try a longer pattern when you're ready.

Box breathing (also called square breathing or four-square breathing) is a simple technique popularized by Navy SEALs and widely used by athletes and first responders to stay calm and focused under pressure. The pattern is easy to learn: inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, hold empty for 4 seconds.

Yes! This app fully supports box breathing. Choose Box breathing (4-4-4-4) under Settings → Breathing pattern, and the chimes will guide each phase.

Box breathing is excellent for acute stress management, focus, and emotional regulation. It's particularly effective before high-pressure situations—presentations, competitions, difficult conversations—or when you need to quickly center yourself.

Great question! We offer both because they suit different moments. Think of them as different tools in your mental wellness toolkit.

Use Box Breathing (4-4-4-4) when:

• You need to perform under pressure (before meetings, competitions, difficult conversations)
• You want to quickly center yourself and regain focus
• You want a quick way to steady yourself in the moment
• You're dealing with anxiety or panic and need a simple, rhythmic pattern to anchor to

Use 5-10-15 Pattern when:

• You want deep meditation and relaxation
• You're winding down before bed
• You want to help your body shift into rest and recovery
• You want a steady daily practice for calm and clarity

In short: box breathing is great for staying calm and focused when you need to perform, while the 5-10-15 pattern's long exhale is well suited to deeper relaxation. Both are well-established breathing practices; they just suit different moments.

Many users do box breathing during the day for quick resets, and 5-10-15 in the evening for deeper meditation. Experiment and find what works for you!

Navy SEALs, along with other military units, first responders, and athletes, use box breathing because it's a simple, reliable way to stay calm and focused under pressure. Here's why it's so practical:

Easy to remember: The four equal steps are simple to follow, even when your heart is pounding and it's hard to think clearly. A steady 4-4-4-4 count gives you something to hold on to.

Calm but alert: Unlike deeper relaxation patterns, box breathing is meant to help you feel steadier while staying awake and focused, rather than drowsy.

Quick to deploy: You can do a few rounds of box breathing in 60-90 seconds and often feel more centered. Perfect for pre-mission, pre-competition, or pre-presentation moments.

Clearer thinking: Many people find that a few slow, steady breaths help them think more clearly in stressful moments.

That's why we support both box breathing AND the 5-10-15 pattern in this app. Box breathing when you need to perform. 5-10-15 when you need to truly rest and recover. Both are well-established practices; they just suit different situations.

The best time to meditate is the time you'll actually do it. That said, different times offer different benefits:

Morning: Sets a calm, focused tone for the day. Your mind is fresh and less cluttered.

Midday: Perfect reset button when you're feeling overwhelmed or scattered. 5 minutes can completely shift your afternoon.

Evening: Helps process the day's stress and primes you for better sleep. Great for unwinding before bed.

Ultimately, the best strategy is to anchor your practice to an existing habit. After coffee? Before lunch? Right when you get home? Pick a trigger and stick with it.

Most meditation apps offer generic guidance, big content libraries, and multiple pricing tiers. Here's what makes us different:

Thoughtfully Designed: Our 5-10-15 pattern isn't arbitrary. Its long, slow exhale draws on research into slow breathing and the body's relaxation response.

Made to Fit You: Four breathing patterns, Gentle mode, gradual build-up, background sounds, stress check-ins, and milestones, all in one simple app.

Zero Distractions: No ads, no upsells, no "unlock advanced features." Just meditation.

One Simple Plan: Every feature is included for $4.99/month or $40/year, and every plan starts with a free 30-day trial.

We built this because meditation shouldn't be complicated. It should be effective, simple, and affordable.

Many people find meditation helpful alongside care for anxiety and depression, and research on mindfulness and slow breathing is encouraging. Slow breathing can help engage the body's relaxation response, which works in the opposite direction from the stress response.

Important: Meditation is a complementary practice, not a replacement for professional mental health care. If you're dealing with anxiety or depression, please work with a qualified therapist or psychiatrist. Meditation can be part of your toolkit, but it shouldn't be your only tool.

If you find that meditation makes you feel worse or triggers difficult emotions, that's valuable information—talk to a mental health professional about it.

If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US) or your local emergency number right away.

You can install Amity BreathWork as a standalone app on your iPhone! Here's how:

The app will appear on your home screen just like any other app. When you open it, it runs in full-screen mode without browser controls—just like a native app.

Android users can install it too! The process is similar:

On many Android phones it's even quicker: open Settings in the app and tap Add to Home Screen to install with one tap.

Resonance breathing is an even rhythm: 5.5 seconds in, 5.5 seconds out, with no holds. That's about five and a half breaths per minute.

Research on slow breathing at this pace suggests it can increase heart rate variability, a sign of how easily your body shifts into rest mode. Because there are no holds, it's comfortable for almost everyone.

It's a great choice before sleep, when you're feeling anxious, or any time the longer holds of 5-10-15 feel like too much. Choose it in Settings → Breathing pattern.

Gentle mode removes the breath holds from whichever pattern you choose. For example, 5-10-15 becomes a 5-second inhale and a 15-second exhale, and box breathing becomes 4-4.

Turn it on if holding your breath feels uncomfortable, makes you dizzy, or causes strain. It's also the safer choice if you're pregnant or have a heart or lung condition. If you have a health condition, check with your doctor before starting any breathing practice.

You still get the calming benefits of slow breathing and long exhales, without the holds.

Build up gradually starts you at a shorter version of your pattern. For the standard pattern, that's 3-6-9 instead of 5-10-15.

After every three completed sessions, your breaths lengthen a little: 3-6-9, then 3.5-7-10.5, and so on, until you reach the full pattern after five levels. Your current level and how many sessions remain are shown in Settings, and the session summary tells you when you level up.

Want to start fresh? Tap Start over from level 1 in Settings.

With Ease-in start on, your first three breaths are shorter and easier, then settle into your full pattern within about the first minute.

It's a gentle way to arrive in a session, especially if you sit down feeling rushed or tense. You can use it together with any pattern, Gentle mode, or Build up gradually.

Yes. In Settings → Sound you can set the chime volume and voice volume separately. When you let go of a slider, you'll hear a sample at that volume.

You can also add a background sound: Babbling Brook, Birds, Ocean, Rain, Thunderstorm, Wind, or Soft White Noise, with its own volume. Tap Preview to listen before you start.

Sound changes apply when you start your next session.

Yes. Each session plays like music, so the chimes, voice, and background sound continue with your screen off or while you use another app. You can simply close your eyes and follow the sound.

If you'd rather watch the breathing circle, turn on Keep screen awake in Settings. It uses a little more battery.

A note for iPhone users: Apple doesn't allow websites to use the iPhone's vibration, so haptic feedback only works on Android. The chimes are your guide on iPhone.

Before each session, the app asks how stressed you feel, from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very). After the session, you can rate it again.

Your answers are saved with each session. In History, tap any day to see entries like "Stress 4 → 2", and the top of the page shows your average stress drop across all your check-ins.

You can tap Skip and start any time, or turn the check-in off in Settings → During your session.

Milestones celebrate your progress: your first session, your 10th, 25th, and 100th sessions, streaks of 3, 7, and 30 days (all the way to a full year), and total practice time such as your first hour.

When you reach one, a short celebration appears at the end of your session. All the milestones you've earned are shown at the top of the History page.

Go to Settings → Daily reminder, choose a time and the days you want, and tap Add to my calendar. On iPhone, your phone will ask to add the reminder to your Calendar app. On other devices, a calendar file downloads; open it to add the reminder.

Prefer Google Calendar? Tap Use Google Calendar instead.

The reminder repeats on the days you chose and alerts you at that time. To change or stop it, edit or delete the event in your calendar app.

Yes. On the History page, tap Export to spreadsheet. You'll get a file with every session: the date, time, breathing pattern, minutes, whether you completed it, and your stress ratings before and after.

It opens in Excel, Apple Numbers, or Google Sheets. On a phone, the share menu opens so you can save it to Files or email it to yourself.

On the login screen, tap Forgot password?, enter the email you signed up with, and tap Send reset link. We'll email you a link to choose a new password.

The link works once and expires after 1 hour. If you don't see the email within a few minutes, check your spam or junk folder. For your security, resetting your password signs you out on your other devices.

When you sign up, we send a link to confirm your email address. You can start meditating right away; confirming just makes sure important emails reach you, like the reminder before your free trial ends and password reset links.

Didn't get it? Go to Account and tap Resend email. If you mistyped your address, tap Wrong address? Fix it to correct it.

Amity BreathWork has one plan with every feature included, billed however you prefer:

Monthly: $4.99 per month
Annual: $40 per year (save $19.88, about four months free compared to paying monthly)

Every plan starts with a free 30-day trial. Applicable sales tax may be added at checkout depending on where you live. There are no ads and no upgrade tiers.

Every new member gets 30 days of full access free. Create an account, choose a plan, and add a payment method through Lemon Squeezy, our secure payment partner. You won't be charged anything during your trial.

Before you start, we show you exactly when your trial ends and what you'll be charged. A few days before it ends, we'll email you a reminder.

If you'd like to keep going, you don't need to do anything. When your 30 days are up, your plan begins and your first payment is charged: $4.99 for the monthly plan or $40 for the annual plan, plus any applicable tax.

Not for you? Cancel anytime before your trial ends under Account > Manage billing, and you won't be charged at all. You can keep using the app until the trial is over, and your meditation history stays saved if you ever come back.

The free trial is one per person. If you've had a trial or a subscription before, you're welcome back anytime: a new subscription starts right away without a trial, and your history will be waiting for you.

Yes. Your subscription renews automatically every month (Monthly plan) or every year (Annual plan) and is charged to your payment method on file until you cancel. Annual subscribers get an email reminder 30 to 60 days before each renewal.

You can cancel anytime under Account > Manage billing, or by emailing support@amity.fit. If you cancel during your free trial, you won't be charged at all. If you cancel later, you'll keep access until the end of the period you've already paid for, and you won't be charged again.

Payments aren't refunded for partial months or years, except where required by law. If you think you were charged by mistake, email us within 60 days and we'll make it right. Full details are in our Terms and Conditions.