The best breathwork apps for beginners

Best overall app: Breathwrk

Short exercises by mood, guided classes on Pro, and it runs on iOS, Android and the web. Pro is listed at $4.08 to $5.75 a month on the annual plan or $9.00 to $12.00 monthly, depending on which of its pages you read. Free for Peloton All-Access, Guide and App+ members.

Best for music-backed sessions: Othership

500+ guided sessions set to music, sorted into energising, calming and all-around. $10.83 a month on annual with a 14-day trial, or $17.99 monthly. The priciest app here.

Best free option: Insight Timer

Over 300,000 free guided practices, breathing ones included, according to its help centre. It’s a meditation app first, so breathwork is one shelf in a giant library. MemberPlus is $59.99 a year if you want the courses.

Best to learn it once: Breathwork Babe

Ours. Not an app: a 7-lesson web course for $27, paid once. Box breathing, 4-7-8, alternate nostril, coherent breathing and breath of fire, each with a pacer that breathes with you, then a five-minute routine to keep. No audio, no daily classes, so pick an app if that’s what keeps you going.

Start with these, whatever you pick

Box breathing (in 4, hold 4, out 4, hold 4) and 4-7-8 are the two most beginner-friendly breaths, and our free guides have a pacer built in. Fast breathing and long holds aren’t for everyone: go gently, stop if you feel dizzy, and check with your doctor first if you’re pregnant or have a heart, blood pressure or seizure condition.