A light that travels, a ring that breathes, and six verses that fade in and out over a beach at sunset.
Move only your eyes — left to right and back, naming the color.
Breathe with the ring.
Runs as long as you like, and pauses every minute to ask what you feel. Nothing is recorded. YouTube Variations
Runs as long as you like. Nothing is being recorded.
What This Is Not
This is a regulation and focus tool, not a medical device and not therapy. It does not diagnose, treat PTSD, or replace care. If you have a history of seizures, severe motion sensitivity, or trauma that is easily triggered by eye movements, use Ring Only mode: dot stays in the center and only changes color, no left to right movement.
The problem it solves:
When you’re wired, stuck on a thought, or scattered, your brain is running the same loop in working memory. Trying harder to stop it keeps it active. This screen gives that loop less room to run, while giving your body a calmer rhythm to follow.
It does it with three channels at once. One channel alone helps. Three together help more.
You follow the dot with your eyes only, head still, as it moves left to right and back.
Why: Your mind’s eye and your real eyes share the same workspace, the visuospatial sketchpad. When you track a moving target, you tax that workspace just enough that a worry image, replay, or urge becomes less vivid and less sticky. You don’t have to argue with the thought, you just give it less screen space.
The dot changes color each pass on purpose. That small novelty is called soft intrigue. It keeps your eyes tracking without you having to force attention. When the color shifts, your brain naturally re-orients to the light, which is exactly what you want when your mind wants to wander.
You breathe with the ring: Inhale 4 as it expands, Hold 4 as it holds, Exhale 6 as it contracts.
Why: An extended exhale is a direct signal to your autonomic nervous system. Longer out-breath than in-breath increases vagal tone and shifts you toward parasympathetic, rest and digest mode. The hold in the middle helps CO2 tolerance so you don’t over-breathe and feel light-headed.
Counting in your head takes effort. Following an external ring outsources the counting, so breathing stays paced without becoming another task. Beat and ocean are synced to the same 4-4-6 so you get the rhythm in sight, sound, and body at once. Rhythmic entrainment is why it locks in fast.
Soft sunrise ocean, light through trees, mist, not a flat color.
Why: This is based on Attention Restoration Theory. Natural scenes with soft fascination - light moving on water, fog, gentle rays - hold attention lightly without demanding it. Hard fascination like scrolling or news grabs attention and drains you. Soft fascination restores the ability to direct attention again. That is why you feel clearer after 90 seconds, not just calmer.
We keep it low contrast and slightly blurred on purpose so the dot and ring stay in front. Alive enough to feel spiritual, faint enough not to compete.
A short phrase fades in and out as the dot changes color.
Why: When you are stirred up, abstract ideas don’t land. Pairing a simple phrase with a calm body state helps encode it. You see it, you breathe it in 4-4-6, you watch it go. Low cognitive load, high meaning. That is why people remember the line later when they need it.
Alone, eye tracking taxes working memory.
Alone, paced breathing steadies physiology.
Alone, nature imagery restores attention.
Together, you get:
Less vivid mental looping from the moving, color-changing dot + slower heart rate and steadier breath from 4-4-6 + restored capacity to choose what to do next from soft natural background.
That is the window where you can then apply the screen to a job: reset from stress, dim a worry image, fall asleep, start a task, savor a good memory, or rehearse how future you handles tomorrow. The 30 cards in Tips are the same engine, different intention.
You don’t need 20 minutes to break a loop. Working memory interference shows effects in under a minute, and one to two full 4-4-6 cycles is enough for most people to feel the exhale get longer and shoulders drop. Longer is fine, it runs as long as you like. Short works because it is easy to start, and starting is the whole battle.
Nothing is being recorded. No account needed.
Move only your eyes. Head still. Follow the dot as it changes colors. Breathe 4-4-6 with the ring. Let thoughts be in the background. When your mind wanders, bring eyes back to the light. That return is the rep.
The engine never changes:
What changes is the intention you set while you track and breathe. That is why the 30 look different but feel the same.
We group the 30 by feeling so you can pick fast:
1. When You’re WIRED - Body is revved, breath shallow
Science: You need physiology first. 4-4-6 with extended exhale is the lever.
2. When You’re STUCK - Same thought on repeat, image won’t dim
Science: You need working memory taxation. Eye tracking competes for same space as worry movies.
3. When You’re SCATTERED - Can’t start, too many tabs, foggy choice
Science: You need attention restoration + external pacer + a clear start cue.
4. When You’re FLAT or Want PEACE - Need lift, savor, or anchor
Science: You need savoring while calm so good moments encode, not just pass.
Same 4-4-6 breathing ring. Same color-changing dot left to right. Same alive background. The difference is what you hold lightly in mind while you track.
Wired? We lead with breath.
Stuck? We lead with eye tracking to dim the movie.
Scattered? We lead with soft fascination to restore focus and a tiny start cue.
Flat? We lead with savoring while calm so good sticks.
All 30 instructions now say the same thing: Inhale 4 as ring expands, Hold 4 as ring holds, Exhale 6 as it contracts. Move only your eyes left to right and back. Notice the dot changes color each pass.
Bilateral Visual Taxation + Resonance Breathing + Cross-Modal Rhythmic Entrainment + Soft Fascination
You built a triple-channel working memory and autonomic hack. Here is what is actually happening:
You follow with eyes only, head still. A continuous horizontal saccade task.
A. Working memory taxation. Visual imagery and tracking a moving target share the same buffer—the visuospatial sketchpad (Baddeley's model). When you track, there is less capacity left to keep a worry movie vivid. The image gets dimmer and less sticky without you arguing with it. Andrade, Kavanagh, Baddeley 1997 showed this with eye movements vs visual imagery. That is the mechanism behind Worry Dimmer, Rumination Breaker, Thought Defusion, Post-Social Replay, Urge Surfing.
B. Orienting response. A moving target that changes color each pass is a mild orienting cue (Sokolov). Orienting triggers a brief parasympathetic shift: lower skin conductance, slight heart rate dip. The color shift is critical. Without it, the visual system habituates and you get Troxler fading. With a hue shift each pass, you get a small prediction error, a phasic locus coeruleus burst, and you re-orient to the external target. That keeps attention on the dot instead of drifting back to the thought.
C. Bilateral alternation. Alternating left to right drives alternating activation of frontal eye fields and superior colliculus. That is more load than smooth circular pursuit, which is why left-right is better for defusion. We make no trauma processing claim here. The effect we use is attentional load plus orienting.
A. Why 4-4-6. Inhale 4 + Hold 4 + Exhale 6 = 14 second cycle = about 4.3 breaths per minute. Resonance frequency for baroreflex and respiratory sinus arrhythmia is around 4.5 to 6.5 breaths per minute, about 0.1 Hz (Lehrer, Vaschillo). 4-4-6 sits just below that, close enough to drive high-amplitude heart rate variability without feeling forced.
B. Extended exhale. During exhale, vagal brake is on and heart rate slows. Longer exhale than inhale increases respiratory sinus arrhythmia amplitude, shifts autonomic balance toward parasympathetic (Thayer's neurovisceral integration). That is why Anger Cool-Down, Acute Stress Reset, Pre-Performance Calm, Sleep Wind-Down lean on breath first.
C. The hold. Brief retention at end of inhale increases intrathoracic pressure and stimulates baroreceptors on release, plus improves CO2 tolerance so slow breathing does not lead to tingling or air hunger.
D. External pacer. Counting internally loads the phonological loop. Following an external ring that expands, holds, contracts outsources the timing. You get paced breathing without a second mental task.
Beat: When on, Beat pulses at the same 4-4-6 cadence. This is rhythmic auditory stimulation. Auditory cortex, cerebellum, and thalamus tend to phase-lock to a regular auditory rhythm. When visual saccade rhythm, respiratory rhythm, and auditory rhythm are all near 0.07 Hz, you get cross-modal binding in superior colliculus and pulvinar. Feels locked in, less effort to stay on task. We do not claim binaural brainwave entrainment. The claim is rhythmic predictability reduces auditory gain and prediction error.
Ocean: Pink noise, 1/f spectrum similar to surf. Broad low-level noise produces stochastic resonance, improves signal detection and masks sudden transients, lowering threat monitoring (Porges' neuroception of safety). Provides a safe context cue.
Both off = visual + interoceptive only. Both on = audio-visual-respiratory triple entrainment.
Soft sunrise, mist, light through trees, low contrast, slow drift. Based on Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan 1995). Directed attention fatigues with hard fascination like scrolling. Soft fascination holds attention bottom-up without effort, allowing directed attention to restore. That is why Focus Reset, Transition Ritual, Procrastination Launch Pad, Creative Unblock, Study Break, End-of-Day Letting Go feel clearer after 90 seconds. Low spatial frequency, low contrast keeps dot and ring in front.
Alone, eye tracking degrades imagery vividness.
Alone, slow breathing drives parasympathetic and higher HRV.
Alone, soft nature restores directed attention.
Together you get less vivid looping plus slower heart rate plus restored capacity to choose. That is the window where intention matters.
Wired: body revved. Lead with 4-4-6.
Stuck: image on repeat. Lead with color-changing dot tracking to tax imagery.
Scattered: too many tabs. Lead with soft fascination plus external pacer plus tiny start cue: "After 2 min, open doc 10 min."
Flat / Peace: want to savor. Hold good memory or phrase lightly while calm so state-dependent encoding sticks.
All 30 protocols in Tips use the same engine. What changes is what you hold lightly in mind while you track the color-changing dot and breathe Inhale 4, Hold 4, Exhale 6.
Working memory interference effects show in seconds. HRV ramps in 60 to 90 seconds. One to two full 4-4-6 cycles is enough for shoulders to drop. Longer is fine. Short works because you will actually start it, and starting is the whole battle.
Bottom line: Baddeley + Porges + Lehrer + Kaplan in one screen. Bilateral eye load to knock down imagery, resonance-ish breathing to drive vagal brake, pink noise + isochronic beat to lock cross-modal rhythm, and soft fascination background to restore directed attention. All timed to Inhale 4 Hold 4 Exhale 6 with a dot that changes color each pass so you don't habituate.
This is a tool for self-regulation, not a substitute for professional care. If you find yourself using it more than 4-5 times daily to avoid feelings, or if anxiety, sleep issues, or low mood are persistent, please reach out to a counselor, healthcare provider, or crisis line.
Bilateral Visual Taxation + Resonance Breathing + Cross-Modal Rhythmic Entrainment + Soft Fascination
You built a triple-channel working memory and autonomic hack. Here is what is actually happening:
You follow with eyes only, head still. A continuous horizontal saccade task.
A. Working memory taxation. Visual imagery and tracking a moving target share the same buffer—the visuospatial sketchpad (Baddeley's model). When you track, there is less capacity left to keep a worry movie vivid. The image gets dimmer and less sticky without you arguing with it. Andrade, Kavanagh, Baddeley 1997 showed this with eye movements vs visual imagery. That is the mechanism behind Worry Dimmer, Rumination Breaker, Thought Defusion, Post-Social Replay, Urge Surfing.
B. Orienting response. A moving target that changes color each pass is a mild orienting cue (Sokolov). Orienting triggers a brief parasympathetic shift: lower skin conductance, slight heart rate dip. The color shift is critical. Without it, the visual system habituates and you get Troxler fading. With a hue shift each pass, you get a small prediction error, a phasic locus coeruleus burst, and you re-orient to the external target. That keeps attention on the dot instead of drifting back to the thought.
C. Bilateral alternation. Alternating left to right drives alternating activation of frontal eye fields and superior colliculus. That is more load than smooth circular pursuit, which is why left-right is better for defusion. We make no trauma processing claim here. The effect we use is attentional load plus orienting.
A. Why 4-4-6. Inhale 4 + Hold 4 + Exhale 6 = 14 second cycle = about 4.3 breaths per minute. Resonance frequency for baroreflex and respiratory sinus arrhythmia is around 4.5 to 6.5 breaths per minute, about 0.1 Hz (Lehrer, Vaschillo). 4-4-6 sits just below that, close enough to drive high-amplitude heart rate variability without feeling forced.
B. Extended exhale. During exhale, vagal brake is on and heart rate slows. Longer exhale than inhale increases respiratory sinus arrhythmia amplitude, shifts autonomic balance toward parasympathetic (Thayer's neurovisceral integration). That is why Anger Cool-Down, Acute Stress Reset, Pre-Performance Calm, Sleep Wind-Down lean on breath first.
C. The hold. Brief retention at end of inhale increases intrathoracic pressure and stimulates baroreceptors on release, plus improves CO2 tolerance so slow breathing does not lead to tingling or air hunger.
D. External pacer. Counting internally loads the phonological loop. Following an external ring that expands, holds, contracts outsources the timing. You get paced breathing without a second mental task.
Beat: When on, Beat pulses at the same 4-4-6 cadence. This is rhythmic auditory stimulation. Auditory cortex, cerebellum, and thalamus tend to phase-lock to a regular auditory rhythm. When visual saccade rhythm, respiratory rhythm, and auditory rhythm are all near 0.07 Hz, you get cross-modal binding in superior colliculus and pulvinar. Feels locked in, less effort to stay on task. We do not claim binaural brainwave entrainment. The claim is rhythmic predictability reduces auditory gain and prediction error.
Ocean: Pink noise, 1/f spectrum similar to surf. Broad low-level noise produces stochastic resonance, improves signal detection and masks sudden transients, lowering threat monitoring (Porges' neuroception of safety). Provides a safe context cue.
Both off = visual + interoceptive only. Both on = audio-visual-respiratory triple entrainment.
Soft sunrise, mist, light through trees, low contrast, slow drift. Based on Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan 1995). Directed attention fatigues with hard fascination like scrolling. Soft fascination holds attention bottom-up without effort, allowing directed attention to restore. That is why Focus Reset, Transition Ritual, Procrastination Launch Pad, Creative Unblock, Study Break, End-of-Day Letting Go feel clearer after 90 seconds. Low spatial frequency, low contrast keeps dot and ring in front.
Alone, eye tracking degrades imagery vividness.
Alone, slow breathing drives parasympathetic and higher HRV.
Alone, soft nature restores directed attention.
Together you get less vivid looping plus slower heart rate plus restored capacity to choose. That is the window where intention matters.
Wired: body revved. Lead with 4-4-6.
Stuck: image on repeat. Lead with color-changing dot tracking to tax imagery.
Scattered: too many tabs. Lead with soft fascination plus external pacer plus tiny start cue: "After 2 min, open doc 10 min."
Flat / Peace: want to savor. Hold good memory or phrase lightly while calm so state-dependent encoding sticks.
All 30 protocols in Tips use the same engine. What changes is what you hold lightly in mind while you track the color-changing dot and breathe Inhale 4, Hold 4, Exhale 6.
Working memory interference effects show in seconds. HRV ramps in 60 to 90 seconds. One to two full 4-4-6 cycles is enough for shoulders to drop. Longer is fine. Short works because you will actually start it, and starting is the whole battle.
Bottom line: Baddeley + Porges + Lehrer + Kaplan in one screen. Bilateral eye load to knock down imagery, resonance-ish breathing to drive vagal brake, pink noise + isochronic beat to lock cross-modal rhythm, and soft fascination background to restore directed attention. All timed to Inhale 4 Hold 4 Exhale 6 with a dot that changes color each pass so you don't habituate.
This is a tool for self-regulation, not a substitute for professional care. If you find yourself using it more than 4-5 times daily to avoid feelings, or if anxiety, sleep issues, or low mood are persistent, please reach out to a counselor, healthcare provider, or crisis line.
Add Still to your home screen for quick access to breathing sessions anytime.