--- title: "Breathe in Fours: A Four-Second Breathing Exercise" description: "A way of breathing slowly on a four-second rhythm that therapists at Lụa Spa use at the start of a session. One minute, seated or lying. Not a treatment." canonical: https://spa.thenexova.cloud/en/journal/four-second-breathing lang: en last-updated: 2026-10-04 --- [Body massage](/en/journal#than) # Breathe in Fours: A Four-Second Breathing Exercise > A way of breathing slowly on a four-second rhythm that therapists at Lụa Spa use at the start of a session. One minute, seated or lying. Not a treatment. Nguồn / Source: https://spa.thenexova.cloud/en/journal/four-second-breathing A way of breathing slowly on a four-second rhythm that therapists at Lụa Spa use at the start of a session. One minute, seated or lying. Not a treatment. [Nguyễn Thị Kim Chi](/en/therapists/nguyen-thi-kim-chi) · Herbal hair wash and face massage · Published 30 Sept 2026 · Updated 4 Oct 2026 · 4 min read ![Concentric rings spreading across still blue-grey water](/_astro/j-s10-tho-bon-nhip.BsandYqt_ZIw9E5.jpg) Four counts means breathing on a four-second cycle: in for two seconds, out for two, about twelve times. It takes roughly a minute, seated or lying. It is how we start and pace a session at Lụa Spa (lụa means silk), not a health method. If you feel unwell at any point, stop and breathe normally. I am Chi. I do the herbal hair wash (gội đầu dưỡng sinh) and face massage at Lụa Spa. At the start of each session, after the 5 minute talk, I invite clients to breathe with me for a minute on this rhythm. Enough people have asked how to do it at home that I have written it down. ## How to do it 1. **Settle.** Sit on a chair with your back supported, feet flat on the floor, hands on your thighs. Or lie on your back, arms by your sides. 2. **In for two.** Breathe in through your nose, counting “one, two” in your head. 3. **Out for two.** Breathe out through your nose or mouth, counting “three, four”. 4. **Repeat.** About twelve rounds. Twelve rounds of four seconds is 48 seconds; with settling in, about a minute. 5. **Come back.** After the last round, breathe your own way for a few breaths before you stand up. Three small points: - Do not hold your breath between counts. After “two”, breathe out; after “four”, breathe in. - No need for a huge breath. Just enough for two seconds. - If four seconds feels too quick or too slow for you, use your own pace. There is no correct rhythm for everyone. For something to follow, watch the second hand of a clock, or the photo at the top of our home page: it grows and shrinks very slightly, one cycle every four seconds. ## Seated or lying Either works. - **Seated** suits a desk, a waiting chair, or a foot soak. Keep both feet on the floor so you stay steady. - **Lying** suits the moment before a massage or hair wash, when you are already on the bed. On your back, with a pillow under your head if you like. Not standing. If you feel light-headed, sitting or lying gives you something to lean on. ## When to stop Stop at once and breathe normally if you feel dizzy, light-headed, tingling in your hands or lips, tightness in your chest, or anything else unpleasant. Sit still for a while before you get up. If the feeling does not pass, ask a doctor. If you have a heart or breathing condition, ask your doctor before doing any breathing exercise, this one-minute one included. In our rooms you can always say “skip it”. We start the session straight away, no questions. ## Why a four-second rhythm Lụa is silk: light on the skin, nothing rushed. We wanted the whole visit to move at one shared pace, and chose four seconds because it is easy to count: two in, two out. On our website that rhythm is movement: the top photo grows by 1.5% and back, the halo around the “Book” button brightens and fades, every four seconds. If your device is set to reduce motion, everything stays still. The rhythm carries no information; ignore it and you miss nothing. In the room, it is how a therapist keeps the pace of their hands. When I wash hair, each pour of herbal water (lemongrass, bồ kết and pomelo leaf, which I cook each morning) and each long stroke down the neck follows the four-second count, never faster. The minute of breathing at the start is so that you and I begin at the same pace. Bà Lệ, the mother of Ngô Quốc Bảo, came with a gift card her son bought her. She chose the 60 minute herbal hair wash with shoulders (480,000 VND) and the 60 minute herbal foot soak (490,000 VND), 970,000 VND in all, leaving 30,000 VND on the 1,000,000 VND card. She did her minute of four counts sitting up during the foot soak, because she does not like lying down for long. Bảo’s words: “My mother doesn’t like lying down for long. An hour of hair wash and an hour of foot soak is just right.” An illustrative story for a demo site; figures are made up. ## What this exercise is not It is a simple breathing exercise that sets the pace for a session. It is not a treatment, it does not replace seeing a doctor, and we make no promise about what it does for your body. We have no research to cite here, so we say nothing more. ## How we do it at Lụa Spa - After the 5 minute talk, your therapist invites you to breathe in fours for a minute, seated or lying. You can say “skip it”. - That minute is part of the session’s time. A 45 minute herbal hair wash is still 45 minutes, at 360,000 VND. - Anyone who feels unwell stops. Your therapist stops with you and waits. - If you are pregnant, have an open wound, or have a skin condition a doctor is looking after, tick the box when booking so the front desk can call first. Why the spa and the website share one breath is on [About Lụa Spa](/en/about). The session I do most is the [herbal hair wash](/en/treatments/herbal-hair-wash), 45 or 60 minutes. Not sure what to book? Try the [treatment finder](/en/treatment-finder); if you are, [book here](/en/book). _Updated 4 October 2026\. Prices include 8% VAT, no tip._ ## Book with Chi Herbal hair wash and face massage. Off on Wednesday. [Pick a time](/en/book?nguoi=chi)[Or answer five questions](/en/treatment-finder) ## Sessions in this article - [60 min · 480,000 VNDHerbal hair wash with shouldersAs the 45-minute wash, with 15 more minutes on the shoulders.](/en/treatments/herbal-hair-wash) - [60 min · 490,000 VNDHerbal foot soak and foot massage15-minute soak with lemongrass, ginger and pomelo leaf, then 45 minutes of foot massage.](/en/treatments/body-massage/herbal-foot-soak) - [45 min · 360,000 VNDHerbal hair wash, 45 minTwo herbal rinses, scalp and neck massage, towel dry.](/en/treatments/herbal-hair-wash) The main article on this topic: [Body massage in Ho Chi Minh City: which type and how many minutes](/en/journal/body-massage-ho-chi-minh-city-which-one) ## Read next - [Body massageChoosing a Male or Female Massage Therapist: How to AskHow to pick a therapist by gender, pressure and working day when booking online or by phone. We never swap the person without calling you first.](/en/journal/choosing-a-male-or-female-therapist) - [Body massageHot stone, essential oil or relaxing: three 90 minute sessionsThe three 90 minute sessions at Lụa Spa differ in tools, scent and pressure. 890,000 to 990,000 VND. What to choose if you react to scents or are pregnant.](/en/journal/hot-stone-essential-oil-or-relaxing-massage) - [Body massageBody massage in Ho Chi Minh City: which type and how many minutesHow relaxing, essential oil, hot stone and neck and shoulder sessions differ, 60 or 90 minutes, 2026 reference prices in District 7 and District 1, what to ask.](/en/journal/body-massage-ho-chi-minh-city-which-one)