In Episode 4 of Better Living Meditations, I’ll introduce you to box-breathing and/or as it’s sometimes referred to, four-square breathing. It’s a slower, deeper breathing exercise that focuses on inhaling to a count of four, holding the breath for a count of four, exhaling to a count of four and holding your breath for a count of four. Navy Seals are trained to use box breathing to stay calm and improve their focus in extremely tense situations. When practiced regularly, box breathing can improve our future reactions to stress by physically changing how certain genes are switched on— literally at the cellular level changing how our bodies respond to stress.