Managing Energy Flow

Published: July 22, 2026

Water rarely flows straight downhill, but winds and curves, cutting through the earth as it goes. I think of water when considering energy in both my daily life and creative projects.

It happens naturally - obstacles get in our way, prompting us to bend, pivot and change direction. However my thoughts recently landed on the intentional placement and timing of these prompts, taking actions that enable a change in energy state.

Where water bends because the ground tells it to, I am interested in becoming the ground - placing the bend myself rather than waiting for the terrain to supply one. The clutch, then, is the moment I choose to engage: a deliberate hand on a shift that would otherwise arrive by chance. Much of what follows is about moving from the first mode to the second.

For me, a few different ideas took shape.

Music

The first example that comes to mind is music. I work with music as part of my DJ practice and have long used sound as a way to modulate energy levels.

This can be seen as from two different perspectives: my own energy, and the energy of the mix I am focusing on creating.

The sounds of Ace of Base, Haddaway, Real McCoy and other 90s-era eurodance tunes were played during my youth. My parents (particularly my mum) had a real drive for movement, and these songs were a form of play. These transmissions of energy were absorbed, and I found myself (seemingly involuntarily) moving and shaking to the sounds played out of the small sound system in our lounge room. These were my first experiences of the power of music: the ability for sound to emanate through air and ignite a glow that needed to be worked through with flailing limbs.

Since then I have often utilised sound as a form of tonic and remedy. A harmonic ritual that can either revitalise or relax, depending on the dose.

As a practitioner, this translates into the flow of a set too. How the placement of (and transitions between) tracks alter the energy of the mix and affect the listener. Most important in this is track selection, with each being an element of the environment that the listener is moving through. The way these hit sonically can and most likely will affect the response triggered - where the lulls within breakdowns are just as important as the drive of a beat dropped in at the right moment.

Light

Our circadian rhythm is controlled by light, and the first time I felt the full effect of this was the jet lag experienced when coming back from Greece. It is amazing how the body can be tuned to light and that, previously, a trip across multiple timezones was impossible during most of our evolutionary history.

The use of light can dramatically alter your mood and overall feeling, either prompting alertness or inviting sleep.

For a rise in energy, light exposure to the retina has always been biologically linked to the start of a day. This is most often sunlight, although there are sources of artificial circadian light on the market. I first came across this idea when listening to Andrew Huberman discuss sunlight exposure early in the morning.

This is also why certain devices (like our phone) can be detrimental to our ability to go to sleep in the evening, as our body is getting the wrong physical stimulus for that part of the day. As humans, evening would have meant staring at a fire, so red (long-wave) light is best for prompting rest. Engaging that clutch is a matter of timing my exposure - seeking bright light early to start the day, and retreating to warm, low tones when I want it to end.

Breath

Breath work is something that always sounded a bit woo-woo to me. However lately I have been noticing more and more how my breath can affect how I feel. This includes depth, rhythm and quality (mostly of the air I breathe), and how this can influence me in each moment.

My first encounter with this was during a period of insomnia I experienced in my mid 20s. Laying for hours looking at the ceiling gives one much time to think. Besides circling over past conversations, problems that are yet to occur and to-do lists - I also had the time to witness my own breathing patterns. One thing that remained constant: the higher the frequency of my breath, the less likely I was to sleep.

Conversely, I recall standing in a crowd at a music festival at a fairly late (or early) hour. Safe to say those around me had some pharmaceutical assistance for their mood. After wondering whether it was time to head back to my tent, the thought of breath entered my mind.

I focused on my inhalation, holds and exhalations (as well as the DJ), and began synchronising these to the beat of the music. Little did I know that I was having an informal introduction to Holotropic Breathwork.

Besides these admittedly anecdotal examples, breath has been considered by buddhists as a tool for balance, an anchor to the present moment and a direct connection between mind and body for centuries. My own engagement with it has come through the work of Sam Harris and his Waking Up app. It is also the most immediate of these prompts - one I can engage in any moment, slowing the breath to settle or quickening it to lift.

Food

Another idea that came to mind was managing energy with food. Of course that which you eat gives you energy, but also the timing and amount eaten can affect how you feel.

As much as I love eating, sometimes it can get in the way of my energy flow. Rarely do I have the problem of not having enough to eat, rather it is too much. Eating more will often result in a distinct drop in energy levels (or crash) as my body directs resources towards metabolism. I could nap in an afternoon after eating a hearty meal.

In this case it is not always ideal to eat a large serving, and I want to focus more on serving size to adjust the level of energy I am able to utilise. Smaller, leaner portions during times when I want to remain focused and sharp, whilst staving off hunger.

Of course simply looking at serving size is one dimensional and another important consideration is the actual macro profile of your meals consumed. I find the types of food I crave will depend on which season we are in. Since it is winter now, I have been craving largely fats and salt (as well as some sugar).

Although broader than the scope of this article, I aim to curate the types of foods that are likely to result in energy shifts, as well as the duration of time where a certain energy level is required.

Seasons

Although more personal than the rest, the idea of ‘seasons’ affecting our wider movements is an interesting notion worth considering.

The act of simply living, will gradually reveal to you a greater sample of data that you can use to make decisions about the world and your life in it. For me this has manifested into two distinct poles in a calendar year.

A period of stasis and challenge for me seems to be in the month of March, with many of my life’s struggles either manifesting or coming to a crescendo at this time. Relationships ending, periods of doubt, failure, sickness and despair often coinciding with the stable, sunny days of Melbourne in Autumn.

This stage is ideal for doing internal work - training the body and mind, reading, focusing on diet, sleep and wellbeing.

August has often been a period of change, growth and opportunity. Even though the beginning of August is coldest, to me this looks like discovering love, starting journeys abroad, getting jobs, winning contracts and plans working out for the best.

This period is the best time for me to put action to work, making plans, attempting to change my situation and aiming to achieve goals. Keeping this in mind is essential in the months leading up (May, June, July), when the ground work is needed to bring these ideas to ripe development.

For each of these periods, I have found that swimming against the tide is foolish and a waste of my time and energy. Here the deliberate act plays out on a longer scale - timing my effort to the season I am actually in, rather than the one I wish it were.

Closing thoughts

For all of these, I wish to live closer in sync with the cycles that naturally occur - to read the terrain rather than fight it. But reading it is only half the work. The other half is adjusting the inputs I can reach, at the moments that matter, so the current carries me where I actually want to go. The energy we feel throughout our days can be managed (even if only sometimes).

- Stav Rose