Rooted Sangha - Session 19 - Ishvara Pranidhana

Theme: Ishvara Pranidhana - Flow State

This week in sangha, we came together around Ishvara Pranidhana, the yogic practice of surrender — releasing our tight grasp on outcomes, letting go of control, and opening to what is larger than the personal will. In the conversation that unfolded, what kept rising to the surface was not the abstract idea of surrender, but the lived experience of flow - those times when we are carried, rather than steering. When we dissolve into something larger than ourselves.

Flow is the state where doing and being become one - where attention is both effortless and utterly present. Psychological research describes it as full immersion in an activity with intense focus, a loss of self-consciousness, and a sense that time itself reshapes around us. It arises when challenge meets skill in that just-right balance. In that space, the inner critic quiets and the self-referential noise drops away.

Neurologically, flow is accompanied by a cascade of neurochemicals that make it feel so deeply satisfying and alive — dopamine, endorphins, norepinephrine, anandamide and others flood the system, sharpening focus, enhancing creativity and bringing that sense of wellbeing that feels effortless rather than forced.

It was striking how we recognised this not just in tasks or creative pursuits, but in embodied experiences - the zones we fall into where movement feels guided rather than commanded, where the body and mind are not in conflict but in harmony. And as the conversation deepened, that sense of flow didn’t stay confined to tasks alone. It extended into the experience of connection.

Connection - definitely not limited to humans :)

Some of us spoke about moments of connection with another person where we felt carried, safe, open, and seen. And many other feelings that were so difficult to capture in words. Since sangha, I’ve found myself reflecting on how this expansive sense of flow reaches even further - into relationships with animals, with the ground beneath our feet, even with plants or places. Sometimes we enter a state of surrender not through effort, but through trust; not through control, but through being known and feeling safe in the presence of another. People, animals, nature - in these presences our edges soften and something deeper whispers that we are not separate.

This movement - from control to surrender, from self-will to connected presence - is the heart of Ishvara Pranidhana. The sutras invite a relinquishing of the small self so that something larger may be recognised; a shift of perspective that doesn’t reject the ego but sees its limits. In flow and in connection alike, the sense of separation blurs. The practice becomes visible not in struggle, but in attunement to the task, to the other, to life itself.

Surrender, then, is not giving up. It is giving in. It is letting the current of attention carry us into a state of engagement that feels alive and awake. It is learning that in letting go of the tight grip on outcome, we may find ourselves deeply present - with ourselves, with each other, and with the movement of life that we cannot engineer but can certainly attend to.

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You might like to gently explore one or more of these, in writing or simply in quiet reflection.

1. When have I experienced a sense of flow or surrender in my life, where effort softened and something else seemed to carry me? What conditions made that possible?

2. Are there people, animals, places, or moments of connection where I feel more myself, safer, or more at ease? What do I notice about who I become in those spaces?

3. Where might I be holding too tightly right now, and what would it feel like to loosen my grip just a little, without needing to know what comes next?

   
   

There is no need to reach conclusions. The noticing itself is the practice.

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Giving Back

After covering room and fuel costs, all proceeds from Rooted are being saved to support a local cause, to be chosen together later this year - as a small act of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion in action.

On 21st September, we made our first donation (£110) to Kettering Samaritans.

On 23rd December, we donated £100 to Johnny's Happy Place, a wonderful mental health support cafe in Kettering.

We agreed that our next beneficiary will be The Green Patch, Kettering. There is currently £35 in the pot!

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Going Forward

We take a break next week, and then return to begin a new book, which I am so excited to navigate with everybody. So if you would like to join us, we are opening our circle - do get in touch or book online. If you would like to buy the book, click the image below for options.

Thank you for pausing, for allowing yourself to rest into the practice of surrender.

May you notice where effort softens a,nd control loosens, and where life begins to move you rather than the other way around.

May you sense when it is safe to release old striving, trusting that not everything needs to be held, solved, or managed.

May you meet moments of flow, connection, and ease as reminders that support is already present.

May you tend your practices of movement, rest, and presence as ways of listening, not forcing.

And may you remember that each time you let go, even slightly, you are already practising Ishvara Pranidhana.

With love,

Vicki x