There are so many different types of yoga now offered in Toronto that it was only a matter of time before yoga instructors decided, or needed, to think of themes for students. I’ve seen postings for “Yoga for Couples,” “Acro-Yoga,” and “Yoga Noir” (yoga in the pitch-black.)
But what really caught my attention was “Chocolate Yoga.” Sure, Halloween may be nigh, but I pretty much think of chocolate every single day of the year. So naturally, I had to look into this. Would I get a chocolate treat after doing my dancer pose? How does this work? Yoga and chocolate are my two passions, so this yoga class seemed too good to be true.
Chocolate Yoga was founded by Alexandra Leikermoser, otherwise known in Toronto as Yogagurl, and the founder of Yogagurl studio.
“I was always snacking in between classes on raw chocolate and all my students were like, ‘How come I don’t get any of that?’ So I started bringing extra to class and sharing with the students,” she says.
Chocolate and yoga may seem to go together as well as eating a Big Mac and then going for a run, but that’s not, in fact, true. Raw chocolate is a superfood, which means it’s actually healthy for you, because it’s made up of natural cacao, instead of sugar. In fact, there is no sugar or dairy in it.
“It has all the benefits without that addictive feeling. You get energized without that sugar high,” Leikermoser says.
Like me (and most women I know), she has loved chocolate all her life. It has only been recently, when almost all health food stores now offer raw chocolate, when she began to hold Chocolate Yoga classes.
“As soon as you say the word ‘chocolate,’ people are interested. That’s the hook.” She laughs.
It certainly hooked me. Leikermoser had just returned from Maui when we meet (where she also teaches yoga on paddleboards; what can’t you do with yoga?) for my chocolate yoga lesson. We first start with a tasting of chocolates, and I learn about the history of raw chocolate. (Did you know cacao is a fruit? Or, how about the fact that chocolate was once used as currency?) But I will admit, I’m wary at first. Should I really be eating chocolate before a yoga class at 9 a.m.? It feels so … odd, like drinking a bottle of Coke at 9 a.m.
“The point of the chocolate tasting is to get people to slow down, to actually feel the chocolate on their tongues and feel how it melts. I want my students to be tuned in and be mindful of their feelings in their body, and that includes the chocolate texture on their tongue.”
The chocolate, rather the RAW chocolate, is delicious, and I find I only need a bite or two. I enjoy my chocolate, of course, but I don’t feel like I’ve had anything heavy.
“Sometimes instead of having coffee in the morning, I’ll just have a piece of raw chocolate and it gives me the energy I need. Or I’ll put raw chocolate chips on my cereal,” she says.
I don’t feel guilty, anymore, about eating chocolate at 9 a.m. before doing the class. It’s healthy! Leikermoser eats it for breakfast!
“There’s so much guilt for women around chocolate. But this is nourishment, a microcosm of life, to enjoy and have pleasure,” she says.
I take her word on that. Next, I’m asked to lie on a mat, before we start our actual yoga practice, in the shavasana position (in which you lie out on the ground, arms and legs out, and you simply relax with your eyes shut), and Leikermoser tells me to inhale chocolate-scented aromatherapy oil. It smells like, well, chocolate. She leads me through yoga poses — this is where it becomes a yoga class — and I find I’m smiling. This is new for me. Usually, I’m grimacing.
Leikermoser also offers chocolate meditation because often, if she’s doing a corporate team-building class, for example, many employees don’t really want to see their co-workers in spandex. (Why not? Kidding.)
I ask her to guide me through a short chocolate mediation because, hey, wouldn’t you want to try that, too? In a supersoothing voice, she tells me I’m in a forest. She tells me I’m walking down a path. She tells me I can hear birds. She tells me I see a chocolate tree. I almost fall asleep I’m so relaxed. I feel rested, yet energized after the chocolate yoga session. After the class, many leave knowing that, if they substitute a little piece of raw chocolate for a junk food snack, there’s nothing to worry about. In fact, they end up leaving excited about it. I’m happy to know this exists. And, mostly, not only did I nourish my body, mind and spirit by doing chocolate yoga, I also made my palate very happy.
Now, for the next 30 seconds, I’m going to enjoy my daily piece of raw chocolate. Hey, it’s good for me, so leave me be.
Post City Magazines’ columnist Rebecca Eckler is the author of Knocked Up, Wiped!, and her latest books, How to Raise a Boyfriend and The Lucky Sperm Club.