Breathing for Performance Anxiety

Performance anxiety — whether before a presentation, interview, competition, or audition — is your body's fight-or-flight response misfiring. Your nervous system treats the performance as a physical threat, flooding your system with adrenaline and cortisol. The result: racing heart, trembling hands, blank mind, and impaired fine motor control. Box breathing interrupts this response within 2-3 minutes.

This timer is set to 3 minutes because that's the pre-performance window most people have. The box breathing pattern is specifically chosen because it produces calm alertness — you need to be relaxed enough to control your body but alert enough to think clearly and react quickly. Unlike relaxation techniques that might make you drowsy or disengaged, box breathing keeps you sharp.