Nine Ways to Find That Connection and Flow, in Life and in Business

Sloe berries hanging on a blackthorn branch under the full harvest moon at dusk

Last week I wrote about the why, what happens when your business drifts from your soul, your life vision, your purpose, and what it actually feels like to come back into alignment. And I know these things can seem quite fluffy and buzz wordy, and many people may be thinking ok but how? what is that? What does that actually mean in reality. So thought I would do a blog to tell you how I do it.

Firstly I would say consistency is always better than elaborate. Don't get me wrong I love a healing retreat, sound baths, organised ceremonies, something that can be used to expand on the connection, but unless you have that daily connection, turn up to a retreat and you may just spend the time finding the connection, not deepening and exploring it.

True flow happens when connection is embodied in your life, and that is best done with daily practice. In order to stay consistent the practice has to be realistic. You probably don't have hours a day to give to this, and you don't need them.

That connection is to your inner source, your soul self, your higher self, whatever you want to call it. It's energetic, not mental. And this isn't a fringe idea, almost every culture seems to have found its own word for it. In China it's qi. In India it's prana. In Welsh Druidic tradition it's nwyfre, the life force and animating spirit within everything living, distinct from the body itself. Among the Haudenosaunee, Indigenous nations of what's now the northeastern United States and Canada, it's orenda, a spiritual energy present in people and the natural world. In Yoruba tradition, West Africa, it's ashe, the life force running through everything, living and inanimate, spoken daily in greetings and prayers. Across Polynesia and the Pacific Islands it's mana. Different words, different cultures, centuries and continents apart, all reaching for the same thing.

My own name carries it too. Zoe is Greek, and Greek actually has two separate words for "life". Bios is the everyday, biological kind, where we get biology. Zoe is the other one, the deeper, animating life force itself, the kind the Greek New Testament uses for eternal, spiritual life. So the word I'm reaching for here has, quite literally, been my name the whole time.

Here are nine ways I stay connected to it. Try what fits, swap in your own version of anything that doesn't.

1. Meditation

This comes first because, really, meditation isn't a separate thing on this list, it's the state every other practice on here is a door into. Sitting still with your eyes closed is one way in, but it's not the only one. A proper walk, a swim, folding the washing, anything that doesn't need deep thought or concentration, can drop you into exactly the same state once it's practised. I'll come back to this at the end.

For the sitting-still version, I like at least two a day, morning and evening, ten minutes each, with more called on through the day if I need it.

2. Movement, the energetic kind

I try to do twenty minutes of yoga practice a day, or Qi Gong, Tai Chi is good too. But choose what works for you. Movement is flow, I think we really tap into the divine feminine through movement. Using the breath is what really connects you, more than the shape you make with your body.

3. Movement, the exercise kind

Walking, running, swimming, I use all of these. Cycling, climbing, surfing, anything that gets you moving works too. Personally, running, swimming and walking are the ones that work for me. It works best when it's something repetitive, something you can get properly into, the zone of flow.

4. Breathwork

I have to admit this is an area I'd like to explore more deeply myself. What I currently use most is box breathing, a long, deep inhale, a hold, a slow exhale, then a hold, each for an equal count. It's a genuinely well-researched technique, studies link it to lower cortisol, better focus, and calmer blood pressure, which is probably why it's used by everyone from athletes to the military.

If you want to explore beyond box breathing, two other starting points: 4-7-8 breathing (inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight) is built specifically to slow things down before sleep, and alternate nostril breathing, used in yogic pranayama, is said to balance and centre rather than simply relax. Different breathwork genuinely does change what state it takes you to, slower exhales calm you, faster or more structured patterns can sharpen focus instead.

5. Nature and grounding

I like to forage, wild swim, and I'm lucky enough to live by the river, so I try to get a daily dose of it. Barefoot on the ground is my go-to for grounding specifically, that energetic connection to mother earth.

Forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) has decent evidence behind it for lowering stress hormones and improving mood, and cold water swimming specifically is linked to mood lifts and better stress resilience.

6. A little act of self love and care

Whatever it does for you. A bath in salts, lighting a candle, incense, eating homemade nutritious food. If none of those land for you, other places to start: a proper skincare routine done slowly rather than rushed, soaking your feet, a few drops of a favourite essential oil, or simply stretching gently before bed. The point isn't the specific act, it's doing something that tells your body it's cared for.

7. Journalling

I love my posh journals, with a posh pen. If a blank page feels intimidating, a few lighter ways in: gratitude journalling (three lines a day on what went well), morning pages (three pages of whatever's in your head, unedited, first thing), or a simple bullet journal if structure helps you more than free writing does.

Writing genuinely helps clear blockages, process what's going on, and manifest what you want. There's real evidence behind that last part too, a well-known study at Dominican University followed 267 people and found that those who wrote their goals down were 42% more likely to achieve them than those who only thought about them. There's something in the source, soul, mind, hand, material connection that opens something up. Something that feels almost magical.

8. Sound and vibration

I often play meditation tracks or classical music in the background, even while I'm working, it's not just for the sit-down practices. Vibration is everything, so it's rarely random. Instrumental, usually, or if there are words at all, something gentle, or genuine Indian devotional chanting, kirtan or mantra chanting, rather than anything with ordinary lyrics, which tends to pull the thinking mind back in rather than letting it rest.

The app I use for almost all of this, sound tracks, guided meditations, yoga, breathwork, is Insight Timer. It's genuinely my favourite app, I use it every day, there's a huge free library, and a paid subscription on top if you want more.

Binaural beats and specific frequencies come up a lot in this world too. Studies have shown they can bring on a genuine state of relaxation, measurable in the brain, and give a small boost to attention and focus. Something real in it, alongside everything you feel from the practice itself.

What sound in the background does for me specifically, while I'm working, is stop my mind wandering off and getting distracted. It keeps the focus where it needs to be, almost like a rail to hold onto, rather than something I'm actively listening to.

9. The deeper rituals

Then there are the bigger moments, the ones I carve out deliberately rather than reach for on the fly. I use an altar, light candles, and make offerings, often food I've foraged myself. The new and full moons. The solstices and equinoxes. The four cross-quarter festivals, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain, the turning points of the old calendar, each one roughly midway between a solstice and an equinox. These are slower, more deliberate, a chance to properly check in rather than just keep moving.

This is an area I'm always expanding myself. If building an altar feels like a big step, it can start as small as a single object on a windowsill that means something to you, a shell, a stone, a candle you only light with intention. Offerings don't need to be elaborate either, a foraged flower, a piece of bread left outside, is enough. Then build on that with practices that resonate with you, prayers, chanting, meditation, journalling, spell work. It's a personal thing.

The bit I don't love admitting

Here's the honest part. I know all of this. I've known it for years. And I still, regularly, convince myself I don't have time for it.

Every single time I skip it because I'm "too busy," I get less done, not more. My focus goes. My output drops. The work takes longer and feels harder. It's completely counterproductive, and I do it anyway, often several days running, before I notice the grind and realise I've not kept up my practice.

The practice was never the thing taking time away from the work. It's what makes the work flow in the first place.

Back to meditation

Once you've practised any of these for a while, something shifts. You stop needing to set time aside specially, because the state itself starts showing up inside things you already do. You step into it and step away from your thoughts without planning to, while you're swimming, walking, even washing the dishes. It stops being extra. It just becomes how you move through the parts of your day that don't need deep thought, consciously, rather than on autopilot.

That's really the whole point of all nine of these. Not more things to fit in, just more doors into a state you already know how to find.

Find your own flow

These are all just ideas, not prescriptions. What actually matters is being realistic, and building this into what you already love doing, rather than adding another task to your day.

If I had to recommend just one thing, it's this: meditate for five or ten minutes, twice a day, morning and evening. Keep that one practice going, and build everything else from whatever you already enjoy.

For me, that's foraging. I'd always wanted to do it, and now it's become part of my spiritual practice. There's something ancient about it, something primal, moving my body, picking things by hand. I can feel the ancestors who did exactly this before me. That connection is real.

It's also wild swimming, since I've always loved being in the water, and I'm lucky enough to live by a river where I can do it.

Find your own version. Use what's already on your doorstep, a park, a local walk, a temple if you live near one, whatever's actually there for you. The point isn't adding a chore, it's turning what you already do into something you do consciously.

My own daily shape looks like this: meditation morning and evening, a daily yoga practice of around twenty minutes, journalling at bedtime alongside the evening meditation and often again first thing, a walk and a forage when I can, and running as my choice of exercise. None of it feels like effort most days, because I chose things I already loved and just started doing them a little more consciously, right down to the music playing in the background.

That's really it. Get into the state however you get there, and let it run through the rest of your day.

I'll be sharing one of my own grounding practices properly, as its own piece, later in the week.

If any of this makes you want to go deeper, you're welcome to book onto this week's Pure Source session, free, every Wednesday at 11am.