((What if when Simon asked for someone to keep talking, they did, but kindly this time?))

Simon knew he wasn’t the same anymore. He had known that since he looked in the mirror. But to be changed down to his fundamental basis? Simon felt his mind begin to careen as his breathing quickened.

“Hey, uh, Grace?” Simon tried to keep his voice casual.

“Yeah?”

“Can you… can you keep talking?” His tongue felt fat in his mouth, his eyes were beginning to burn with tears, and he could feel… a coolness beginning to spread on the side of his face. Like his skin was growing more sensitive to the air movement around him.

“Sure, are you getting bored in there?” Grace leans back in his seat to look at Simon. “Oh fiddlesticks! Are you okay?” Simon nods but doesn’t say anything else as he pinches his lips tighter together. “Yeah, Yeah I can keep talking. Uhm, back when I was on Earth, teaching, I had students every once in a while who would work themselves up so much over their grades that they’d be sitting in class and suddenly just start crying, and I mean bawling- not that you’re crying over grades! But- aw jeez, I’d have them do these breathing exercises.” Grace puts his hand on Simon’s calf as he speaks, “It’s called square breathing. You breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, and then breathe out for four seconds, and then hold your breath empty for four seconds, and we just repeat that. It’s like a square. I’ll do it with you if you do it with me.

“Breath in for one… two… three… four…”

Simon breathes in, shakily, with Grace for four counts.

“Hold for one… two… three… four…”

Simon holds his breath and watches Grace.

“Breath out for four seconds… two… three… four…”

Simon involuntarily lets out a puff of air as he starts to exhale. He can already feel his body coming back to itself.

“Hold for four seconds…”

Grace and Simon repeat this breathing pattern for about ten more breaths. Simon flexes his hands a few times and pinches his eyes shut for a moment. He’s feeling better but still feels stuck in this tube.

“You want me to keep talking?”

“Please.”

^^^

Hiiiii it's quite literally means, you might be familiar with it if you're meditating often, when you breathe in and out deeply, you take a breath, and hold it for a few seconds, and then exhale it, you don't immediately take another breath. A natural pause of a few seconds occurs. And as you keep repeating it, your muscles relax more and more. As you focus on breathing, the sensations of ur physical body fades. It soothes the brain and and aids getting into the void state. Later when you snap out of this serene daze, you clock that ur in void. "Prolonging those seconds" means relaxing all together in the void (and pre void) and forgetting that you're even breathing.. Hope you get it now! 🍁🫧🦢

“Box breathing” and similar breathing exercises that call for breath holding, even for a few seconds, can aggravate respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD. In some cases, even deep breathing can trigger respiratory symptoms.

(ID: an animated gif showing a diagram of box breathing, where you breathe in for 4 seconds, then hold for 4, then breathe out for 4 and hold for 4, in a continuous cycle. End ID.)

I didn’t learn this until a couple years ago, and a lot of people still don’t know! Talk with your medical providers about alternatives!

I personally use in through the nose, out through the mouth exercises (like “smell the roses, blow out the candles”). Inhaling through the nose is best for asthma, since the nose filters some particles and irritants, and warms and moistens the air going to your lungs, all of which can help reduce symptoms. I specifically don’t hold my breath in between those steps!

Alternatives to breathing exercises include techniques such as distraction, identifying 5 sensations, fidget tools, listening to music, putting on a favorite show, or guided meditation.