Does conscious breathing help or nah?

If you’re curious about it or haven’t tried it, there is a technique that has helped me with anxiety a lot. It’s a very simple technique in yoga practice that is shockingly powerful, called “calming breathing” by my teacher. It is done thusly:

sit comfortably still

inhale for four intervals

hold for two intervals

exhale for four intervals

Repeat for as long as it is comfortable.

I did this for an entire jury duty selection process once, was one of the best days of my life!

Intervals can be a mantra, or a count, a beat, or whatever is calming in itself. I use the OM.