Kava is drunk slowly, in company, with nobody in a hurry. If you have a shell in front of you, this is what to do while it works. If you do not, it stands on its own.
An even in-breath and out-breath at about five and a half breaths a minute. No holds, nothing to count wrong. The easiest place to start.
Studied as resonance-frequency or coherent breathing, usually cited in the range of five to six breaths per minute.
Four equal sides: in, hold, out, hold. The counting gives the mind something plain to do, which is most of the point.
Widely taught as box or square breathing, including in military and first-responder training.
A short breath in, a long hold, and a very long breath out. The lopsided exhale is the whole design. Start with four rounds, not twenty.
Popularised by Andrew Weil, who adapted it from pranayama practice.
In for four, out for six. Lengthening only the out-breath is the gentlest version of all of this, and the one to use if holds feel like effort.
The common extended-exhale pattern, taught wherever breathwork is taught.
For the start of the evening, before the first shell. Puts the day down and gets the breath long enough to notice.
Kava takes fifteen to forty-five minutes to arrive. This fills the middle of that gap, the stretch where people usually reach for their phone.
A longer exhale and no holds. Meant for lying down, with the lights already off.
Generated on your device as you listen, so nothing is downloaded and it never loops back on itself.
Kava is washed from the root in cold water, strained, and passed round a group one shell at a time. The waiting is not a delay in the ritual. It is the ritual.