If you find yourself having a mild asthma attack, force the air from your lungs until they are empty. Exhale quickly and forcefully. Push that air from your lungs with all that you've got! Inhale three times with short breaths, and then on the fourth one take a deeper breath so your lungs are full of air but still comfortable. Then breath out as hard as you can again. This creates a rhythm to your breathing, making you pay attention to the breaths you take. Expelling the air from your lungs in this fashion also allows you to breathe in deeper. It is okay that you cough up some sputum, you really want to breathe right again.