Attention & Focus · “You Become What You Hold”
Innercise
Use a short calming-breath reset to lower stress arousal, then an Awareness–Intention–Action loop to interrupt habitual reactions and act deliberately.
Take 6 + AIA: When stressed, breathe in through the nose ~5s and out slowly through the mouth, 6–10 times, to calm down. Then run AIA — name what you’re Aware of, set your Intention, take one small Action. Do it about once an hour to interrupt autopilot and choose your response.
What it is
“Innercise” is John Assaraf’s branded term for short mental/neurological exercises done like reps in a gym. This entry covers his two foundational ones, which work as a pair: (1) “Take 6, Calm the Circuits,” a brief calming-breath reset, and (2) AIA — Awareness, Intention, Action, a metacognitive loop for interrupting autopilot.
Together they form a fast, repeatable pattern-interrupt: settle the nervous system, then deliberately choose a response rather than run a habit. It is distinct from one-pointed concentration practices (e.g. ) — the aim is state-reset plus deliberate choice, done many times a day, not sustained single-object focus.
The Method
Assaraf’s two Innercises, faithfully: Take 6, Calm the Circuits
- Breathe in through the nose for about 4–5 seconds.
- Breathe out through the mouth, “like you’re blowing out through a straw.”
- Repeat for 6 to 10 breaths. Assaraf says this “deactivates the stress/fear thought centers of the brain and recalibrates both hemispheres” — i.e., it calms you before you respond. AIA — Awareness, Intention, Action
- Awareness — notice your current “thoughts, feelings and emotional sensations and behavior.”
- Intention — decide what you actually want in this moment instead.
- Action — take “one simple and small action” step toward it. Assaraf recommends running AIA roughly once an hour so that you repeatedly “interrupt the habitual patterns that govern and run your life” and act on purpose. The breath reset is used first whenever stress or reactivity is high. (Sourcing note: faithful to Innercise (2018) and NeuroGym; “Take 6, Calm the Circuits,” “AIA,” and the quoted phrases are Assaraf’s.)
Source & Lineage
The practice comes from Assaraf’s 2018 book Innercise and his company NeuroGym (formerly Praxis Now), part of his post-Secret shift toward neuroscience framing. The breath reset draws on long-standing slow-breathing / parasympathetic techniques; AIA echoes metacognitive awareness and implementation-intention (“if-then”) practice from psychology.; (slow-breathing entries).
Common refinements
Forcing the breath. It should be gentle and slightly slow on the exhale, not strained hyperventilation.
- Skipping the Action step. Awareness and intention without a concrete small action is the common failure — the “A” is what changes the pattern.
- Doing it only in crisis. Assaraf’s value is in frequency (hourly), turning it into a default, not a fire-extinguisher.
- Over-investing in the brain claims. Use it because it calms and redirects you, not because of any specific hemisphere story.