Dancing Lotus Pilates

inspired by mind, body and soul

[allthingsdancinglotus]

“Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup”

- Ludwig Van Beethoven

After what was an amazingly long summer, the chilly weather has hit and the cold and flu season has begun. Everywhere I go someone is getting over a cold, in the middle of one or just about to get one. 

Colds are horrible because you can’t breathe and if you, dear reader, have read previous posts, you'll be well informed about how important breathing is.  

Because we live in a world where we are constantly interacting with countless people each day, getting sick is unavoidable unless you lock yourself in your house. There are little things you can do every day however to minimise the severity and length of an illness. Which brings me to the deliciousness that is soup. Soup is like a warm hug to your insides. 

This is my quick and easy Sweet Potato and Pumpkin soup, jam-packed full of germ busting goodness. 

Ingredients:

1 Small to medium sweet potato, cubed

Half a butternut or other variety pumpkin, cubed 

knob of ginger grated

Clove of garlic chopped

Turmeric - fresh is best but I didn’t have it so I used the spice

1- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Coconut Oil

Coconut Milk

Salt and pepper

Optional - cayenne pepper and/or chilli flakes

Method:

Chop the garlic and add it to a pan with the coconut oil, add the ginger and turmeric and fry for about a minute. Add the sweet potato and fry in the oil for two minutes, then add the pumpkin. 

Add enough water to cover the vegetables and bring to a gentle boil. Add salt and pepper as desired to taste, add the cayenne pepper and chilli if you like a little extra fire. 

When the soup comes to the boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer until the potato and pumpkin are soft and start to mash. Take off the heat and let it cool, add a little coconut milk for creaminess and use a hand mixer to blend to a smooth soup. Or if you like it chunky, use a potato masher. 

Serve with toast or as is, and eat with great company. 

What’s in this soup that’s so amazingly good for me?

• The sweet potato and pumpkin - apart from tasting delicious is packed with Vitamin A, C and D. Vitamin C helps keep cold and flu at bay as well as being an excellent cell re-builder keeping bones, muscles, teeth and gums healthy, oh and most importantly, keeps the skin looking youthful by helping collagen renewal. 

• Sweet potato contains Vitamin D, which you also get from the sun and is essential for bone health. Eating sweet potato in winter, when there is less sun, is a great way of getting your vitamin D fix.

• Carotenoids is what gives the potato and pumpkin it’s orange colour and is converted into Vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A helps strengthen the immune system with the added bonus of keeping eyes strong and healthy. It is a super anti-oxidant which helps ward off cancer and macular degeneration. Some people pay loads of money for Vitamin A at the beauticians because of its powerful anti-ageing properties. Just eat orange foods and save your dollars!

• Pumpkin and sweet potato is rich in Vitamin B6, which helps create blood cells

• This recipe is high in iron for energy and immunity, Magnesium for muscle health and anti-anxiety, Potassium keeps you feeling good and regulates your heart rate

• It’s good for diabetics because it doesn’t cause your blood sugar to spike

• High in fibre, which we all know keeps us regular and important for fighting against bowel cancer.

• Pumpkin has folate for heart health and for spinal cord health in pregnant mothers.

• Turmeric is a root that looks a bit like ginger if it’s fresh but it’s the yellow powder if you buy it from the spice aisle. Curcumin is what gives turmeric its yellow colour and has been shown to keep dementia and cancer away. Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory spice, useful for arthritis and joint swelling conditions as well as a strong immune booster.  

• Ginger - Immunity fighter, anti-inflammatory, aids digestion and settles the stomach.

• Garlic - contains allicin which is anti-bacterial and anti-viral - excellent for fighting cold and flu - anti-fungal and anti-oxidant. If you squash the garlic or chop it fine, allow it to sit for about 60 seconds before cooking, the allicin is released and has time to settle. Other compounds such as sulphur and ajoene along with the allicin help maintain blood pressure and prevent blood clots.

• Virgin coconut oil contains medium-chain saturated fatty acids (MCFAs), a healthier form of saturated fat.

• Coconut oil is made up of healthy fats lauric acid, caprylic acid and capric acid which contain anti-fungal, antibacterial, antiviral properties to boost the immune system. Great moisturiser!

Just be mindful if you’re on any medication to check with your doctor what foods you can eat because some foods can react with what you’re taking. 

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Breathe...

Recently I went to see a talk at the Sydney Writers Festival and because I booked seats too late, my partner in crime and I were banished to the third level balcony where we had a king’s view over the auditorium. Once I got over my fear of the balcony collapsing onto the masses below (I have a terrible fear of heights) we both remarked on the hundreds of tiny little screens lit up into peoples faces. Everyone was on their smart phones. Hunched over, maintaining their contact with the outside world in some sort of panic stricken fear of missing out. And this continued through the panels discussion on the very interesting topic I went to hear.

I was struck by two things. Firstly, I am in the business of the human body and was appalled at the hundreds of slumped over bodies. And secondly, why was their attention not on the panel? Why aren’t these people present in the moment? The writers on stage were so intelligent and the conversation so interesting, even if you didn’t agree with it, why weren’t they engrossed? Or polite enough to put away their devices, if not for the panel, for the other audience members.

If you’ve ever been to a yoga, pilates or dance class or even another form of exercise class you might have noticed the emphasis on breathing. How silly this must sound since we breathe automatically, inhales flowing into exhales like waves on the beach shore. Why would you need to learn something so basic and intrinsic to our survival.

Because most of us don’t do it right!

Whenever I get a new client, the very first thing I explain is the breathing. There are three types of breathers: diaphragmatic or belly; costal or chest; and clavicular. Most people are chest breathers. Short, sharp, shallow breaths that gets stuck in the upper ribs. This can be attributed to a few reasons such as sitting at a computer or desk for long periods everyday, poor posture, stress, types of exercise and illness and disease. 

Here’s a very quick and very basic crash course on the respiratory system. 

When we inhale through the nose, the air passes through the nasal cavity where it gets filtered and warmed, into the pahrynx, down the larynx, trachea, bronchi which are the paths into the lungs and split into smaller bronchioles and finally into the alveoli. The alveoli are small sacs where the gaseous exchanges happen between the air and blood where oxygen is put in and carbon dioxide is removed.

In the picture above you can see that the lungs are divided into lobes, three on the right and two on the left. 

During inhalation the diaphragm draws downwards and expands the rib cage and lungs which draws air downwards and during exhalation the diaphragm pushes up, constricting the ribs and lungs, forcing the air out. 

The diaphragm is an important piece of connective tissue that sits between the lungs and the abdominal muscles. And this is why it becomes so important in pilates, yoga and dance to use our abdominal muscles in a certain way as we move. 

Now, getting back to the breath! It’s very hard to just break down bits of the body because they are so connected. 

If an individual is always seated in the same forward rounded posture, at the office, at home, at the dinner table, in the car while driving, the respiratory system is squashed and can’t function properly. Hence why most people are costal breathers. Clavicle breathers are people with respiratory breathing disorders such as asthma or high level anxiety. This type of breathing only allows oxygen into the top portion of the lungs which is not enough for the body to function properly. 

Try this little exercise yourself and notice what type of breather you are: Lie on your back on a flat surface, with your feet on the floor and knees bent up to the ceiling. Close your eyes and just rest your hands, one on your belly and one on your chest. Try not to change anything about your breath but just let it happen naturally. Where do you feel the most rise and fall? If you felt it in your chest, you’re a costal breather, if you felt it in your belly, you’re a diaphragmatic breather.

To maximise the oxygen entering the body, ideally we want to use the entire system. So we teach diaphragmatic and lateral breathing because this type of breathing uses the lungs to it’s maximum. The term “use it or lose it” applies to the lungs as well. If you don’t breathe fully, the little alveoli start to feel unloved and they go on strike. Less sacs, mean less oxygen in the blood, leading to tiredness, lack of focus, sickness and serious illness. 

What is diaphragmatic and lateral breathing I hear you ask...

It is the combination of breathing into the diaphragm and belly whilst also breathing into the sides and back of the rib cage. The belly expands outwards like a ballon and the ribs move sideways. We teach this because we want to draw air into all the lobes of the lungs. Try lying on your back again and place your hands onto your belly and chest and feel your belly gently lift and your ribs expand as you inhale. Then feel the belly and ribs contract as you exhale. You may feel a little dizzy if this is the first time you are breathing this way. 

During yoga and pilates, however, we want to maintain support of our internal organs and spine and therefore the full diaphragmatic breathing isn’t ideal. This is when we engage our “core” for support. But we still need to keep breathing and make sure we are using all the lobes of the lungs so we use the lateral breathing. 

What are the benefits of breathing correctly?

Apart from the exercise the lungs, intercostal muscles and diaphragm gets, the benefits are huge:

You’ll have more energy

You’ll be more alert

Your spine will have more mobility as your rib cage moves freely

You’ll be sick less often

You will feel less anxious, calmer and more motivated

You will make better and more considered decisions

You will feel more present and aware

You will be able to asses a situation in more clam and considered way

The muscles, joints and connective tissues feel stronger, more responsive and you’ll have greater range of movement

Even if you don’t commit to a regular pilates or yoga practice, at least practice your breathing daily for a minimum of five minutes for a calm and present state of being.

[allthingsdancinglotus]

“LIFE IS A JOURNEY TO BE EXPERIENCED NOT A PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED”

Winnie The Pooh

This week has been an interesting one, with highs and lows. About a month ago I was reflecting on where to go with life and what direction to take. I felt I hit a crossroad and started to re-evaulate things. Maybe it’s an age thing, but thoughts started to spin around in my head like a hamster wheel. 

Should I grow up and get a grown-up job so I can buy a house like everyone else because that seems to be the measure of how well you assimilate into society? Or should I keep doing what I love even though I just make ends meet and can’t save for a rainy day? So I panicked and started applying for jobs I wasn’t qualified for, or to be honest, really interested in. They sounded like roles that if someone asked what you did for a living it would sound really mature and full of responsibility. And then I snapped out of it! I realised that this was not the path I wanted. I am good at what I do and love the satisfaction I get.

Then there’s the dancing and performing. This is what I’ve known since I was a small child. All I’ve ever wanted to do was to be on stage and dance. And sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t. So how do you overcome the self doubt that is ever present? How do you trust yourself that with 20 years of practice, you are good enough?  

And that’s when I realised that when I get negative, progress around me starts to slow down. I blame other people, the casting process, the lack of jobs, the fact that I’m European and don’t have “the look”, the government, myself, the weather, my body shape/size and the list is endless. So I got positive and decided that I don’t have to stop doing what I love just because I don’t own my own property. That is not a marker of how well I do in society. I just need to change routes. Perhaps branch out and look for opportunities elsewhere. To be honest, the body is not at it’s peak anymore and deep down I know this. I look at this as a relationship where one partner is blindly in love while the other is slowly pulling away and will eventually break up with you. 

I know it sounds like a cliche, but positive thinking has its benefits. I thought, just because I can’t dance, doesn’t mean I can’t perform. So I enrolled myself into an acting course which starts in a week. I started taking voice classes which funnily enough leaves me quite calm afterwards as the whole class is about the breath. Very interesting that everything always comes down to the breath. I got out of my comfort zone and started taking dance classes in styles I don’t usually do. I went to auditions and instead of going in with the attitude that I’m not good enough, I looked at it as an opportunity to learn how I can be better next time. And I applied for some job opportunities that sounded like the perfect combination of my skills and interests all in one. I thought my applications were pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

Oh and I also took on extra teaching work.

I wrote all this into my beautiful appointment diary which has space for monthly goals, weekly highlights and lowlights (yes, I have a paper diary, don’t judge me). And even if nothing comes of all this effort, I feel so much better for trying, for putting myself out there and I have a sense of achievement that I tried to make things happen with intention. It has only been a few days since my new found optimism so now, as my sister said, I have to practice patience as I wait for developments.

So all this comes back to what I learn in yoga and pilates. It’s not about making the pretty poses and looking like an instagram model during practice. It’s about the in-between steps and what happens after the yoga class. It’s all very well and good to set goals, but how do I get there? With each carefully considered step, with intention, awareness and calm. It matters how I place my foot in between my hands before inhaling into Warrior One (Virabhadransana Eka) because that will be my foundation in the asana. And this is what I learnt about myself on the mat (or reformer) that I can take into my everyday life. Move through life with intention and awareness and calm. Always with breath and mindfulness. 

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Why are you posting recipes?

This is what I was asked just after posting my second recipe. And my answer is because what you put into your body matters. Not to be slim or “skinny” to fit into the latest fashion but because what you ingest will determine how you feel and how well your body maintains a disease free state. And if I share my recipes, maybe you’ll share yours.

If you are a yoga practitioner you are probably aware of Ayurveda, the medicinal sister of yoga. More than 5000 years ago, the really smart yogis already knew  that what you eat, when and how has an impact on the physical, emotional and mental well being.  

I am not a dietitian or a nutritionist and therefore I am not saying what is right or wrong, because as we know in yoga there is no right way or wrong way, it just is. Obviously in the physical practice we focus on alignment so the breath can flow easily therefore our nutrition is just as important. 

These days there are so many different diets telling you what to eat, what not to eat, how to eat. But if you look at Ayurveda, it already incorporates all of that in a very sensible way. You may have heard of a diet based on blood type. This is where the food you eat and the exercise you do is determined by how it chemically reacts with your blood, for example if you are blood type A, you would be eating mostly vegetarian and practicing yoga. In Ayurveda the equivalent of this is the doshas (constitutions) based on the earths elements, Vata (Air), Pita (Fire) and Kapha (Earth). Through a consultation with an ayurvedic practitioner you would determine which of these types you are. The ideal is to have a balance of all three however through everyday living, one can become more dominant then the other. It is typical to be a combination of both, ie Pita-Vata, or Kapha-Pita etc. Then through diet, exercise and meditation the goal is balancing these doshas.

Then there’s the paleo diet. This one is based upon what the cavemen used to eat. So if it wasn’t available in the palaeolithic era, don’t eat it. Well, yeah, but as humans evolve so does our food and energy requirements. The good thing about the paleo diet is that it promotes eating unprocessed foods. Ayurveda tells us that eating foods as close to their natural state as possible will mean less chemicals in our bodies. Paleo is very high in meat consumption however and eating the flesh of animals also means you are ingesting their “emotions”. I know that sounds silly but if an animal is killed under traumatic circumstances, the chemical reactions remain in their muscles and that’s what you end up eating too. Who wants to eat fear and stress? 

There is also the 5:2 diet or intermittent fasting. In Ayurveda again, this is nothing new. Fasting regularly is part of the yogic tradition as a way of practicing detachment but also allowing the body the time to heal. I do not advise unsupervised fasting especially for long periods. Make sure you have an experienced practitioner guiding and no medical issues that can be complicated by low energy intake such as diabetes.

Ayurveda which translates to life (Ayur) science or knowledge (veda) is a set of guidelines. It is based on what to eat for different seasons and doshas and how to promote healing using common kitchen herbs, yoga and meditation. 

If any of this interests you, there is a fabulous book called The Path of Practice - A Woman’s Book of Ayurvedic Healing by Bri. Maya Tiwari. If is full of recipes, meditation techniques and her personal story of overcoming cancer. 

As with everything, you alone know your body the best. Anyone can give you advice and suggestions but it’s up to you what you do with that. And that is why I post recipes. Because what you put into your body is just as important as what you do with your body. And if the fuel isn’t quite right, neither is the performance. 

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Seriously quick and easy brekky

Here is the quickest and most delicious way to get loads of goodness into you if you only have five minutes before you have to rush off to work. I noticed that if I go to a dance class without having eaten, my brain doesn’t function and I can’t remember the combinations. But I also don’t like to have a full stomach when jumping around so I find this is a good compromise by being filling and nutritious. 

Here’s what you need:

3/4 cup Unprocessed oats, meaning not the Uncle Toby’s throw in the microwave stuff

1/4 cup Berries of any sort, I usually have frozen raspberry and blueberry and fresh strawberry

1 tsp Chia seeds

1 tsp Flax seed (linseed)

1 tsp Coconut - flakes or dessicated 

1 tsp Sesame seed

1/4 cup Almonds / Walnuts

Milk or yoghurt of your choice 

Optional: Sweetener such as honey, maple syrup if you need a little sweetness in your life

Put it all in a bowl and eat it! 

Here’s why this is great for you:

The unprocessed oats are awesome for your gut health and an excellent source of fibre. Very important for staying regular and warding off bowel cancer. Also because it’s unprocessed it takes longer to digest so you won’t get hungry too soon.

The berries are an excellent source of fibre, vitamin c, anti-oxidants are lower in sugar than other fruits. Plus they are delicious!

The seeds are a rich source of minerals such as magnesium which helps maintain your muscle health, lot’s of dietary fibre, protein and B Vitamins which are important for cell reproduction.

The nuts are a great source of protein, good fats and important minerals. The coconut has a good amount of manganese important for the anti-oxidant system; iron for healthy blood; phosphorus which is needed to transport energy around the body and zinc for skin, hair and nails. 

And if you choose to go with dairy milk you also get calcium for strong healthy teeth and bones, good proteins and minerals. And if you’re going for the yoghurt then loads of good bacteria to help break down the bad sickness causing stuff in the guts. So it’s win win all round. 

And in the winter time you can cook the oats and have it warm!

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Injuries and pain management. What’s best yoga or pilates?

It’s interesting as a teacher and instructor that there seem to be “themes” amongst clients and students. No matter which studio I’m at the same issues seem to pop up. And lately it’s been the yoga theme amongst my pilates clients. Client’s that are in pain and feel “tight” and inflexible want to be taking up yoga because they’ve heard or have been told that the stretching will help. 

Well, yes and no. 

First of all it’s really important to know what sort of pain you’re dealing with. I always refer a client to a medical specialist if their pain has been ongoing and what we’re doing in the studio isn’t helping. If you’ve slept badly and have a tight neck, then a bit of rest and maybe a heat pack will resolve the issue. If you’ve been in a major accident and have been hospitalised and as a result have neck and back injuries, then bikram yoga is not your friend. And Don’t even get me started on Pilates mat or reformer classes at the gym! If you sit at a desk all day and you have tight hip flexors then, yes, stretching is a good idea.

My personal opinion of yoga and pilates is (and this may be really unpopular) that as it’s practiced in studios and gyms around where I live, it is an advanced practice, even the beginner classes. There are too many students in class with not enough instruction and personal attention to the individual student. It is impractical for a teacher to know the medical and injury history of every student and offer individual modifications when there are 30-40 people in a class. A yoga class therefore is a generalised practice and will not suit everyone. Of course there are exceptions to this and there are some awesome teachers out there that will modify the practice for you. 

So to answer the question, “What’s best? Yoga or Pilates?” Both! 

If you seek out an experienced teacher, choose a small class (less then 10), a private or get a couple of friends together and organise semi-private sessions. It is also really important to choose an appropriate yoga or pilates style of which there are so many these days and can leave you confused and ready to ditch the whole plan.

It is really important on your end to be open and honest with your teacher. In yoga (and pilates) there is no ego. You have to let go of any preconceptions and allow the body to heal in a smart way. An example I can share is that so often someone says to me “I’ve pulled a muscle, it’s tight so I’m stretching it a lot”. Well this is counter intuitive and makes the problem worse. Here’s why. A pulled muscle is actually a small tear in the muscle fibres. So if you think of this tear as a cut on your hand, would you then spend hours a day pulling the cut open to make it feel better? No, because this would make the cut larger and prevent the blood from clotting and the skin from healing. So as with a cut, we want to heal the tears in the muscle fibres. We want to form a clot known as scar tissue by first strengthening the muscle with specific targeted exercises. 

As a dancer I’m so aware of the frustrations that arise from not being able to perform at your best. But what I have learned is that working smart is the key to longevity. Push the body and this may work in the short term, but in the long term the consequences will be much worse. Trust me, I see it and hear it every day. “Oh this is an old rugby/tennis/swimming/golf/cycling injury I’ve had for years.” Well it doesn’t have to be if you’re clever. 

So, yoga and pilates are both excellent if chosen correctly and have it tailored to you. It is most important to keep moving because the moment you stop, that’s when everything goes bad. Even if you don’t feel like it, the pain is too much and it’s getting you down. It will be worse if you didn’t do anything. Remember that saying use it or lose it? Well that’s exactly it. As we age, we lose muscle so much quicker then we used to when we were in our 20s. Strength and flexibility are very important as we age so we can pick things up off the floor, tie our shoe laces, brush our hair or take things out of a cupboard. 

And now I’m going to take my own advice and go to a yoga class.

[allthingsdancinglotus]

What’s my pelvic floor? Why should I care?

Teaching yoga and Pilates, people often ask me how do I “find” my pelvic floor?  Or what the heck is this pelvic floor business and why should I care? Perhaps you’ve heard your grandma talking about her Kegel exercises while waiting at red lights. One of the more embarrassing reasons for caring is not weeing yourself if you happen to have heard an awesome joke and are in the middle of a hearty belly laugh. Oops! Or another more serious reason is the important role of the muscles keeping the contents of our body ie. intestines, stomach etc where they belong. Inside. These muscles also help the efficient delivery of a baby during childbirth. The pelvic floor is also the site of an important energy lock in yoga known as Mula Bandha which creates lightness in the body to allow for fluid movement but with practice it becomes less of a physical experience and more of an energetic one.

Just a little anatomy background to start with. The pelvic floor is made up of three layers of muscles inside the pelvis; Layer 1: bulbocavernosus or in men bulbospongiosus, ischiocavernosus and the superficial transverse perineal; Layer 2: urethral sphincter, compressor urethrae, vaginal sphincter, sphincter urethral vaginalis, deep transverse perineal, perineal membrane and the  external anal sphincter; Layer 3: the levator ani (which comprises of the  pubococcygeus, pubovaginalis, puboanalis, puborectalis, iliococcygeus), coccygeus, piriformis and obturator internus. You may have heard of these pelvic floor muscles being referred to as a “sling” or a “bowl”.

A healthy and well functioning pelvic floor provides stability in the pelvis and as the pelvis is attached to the spine, it plays an important role in maintaining a strong and healthy spine. The pelvic floor also provides support for the bladder, the intestines and for women, the uterus. And it’s a very important part of the body that helps maintain intra-abdominal pressure. 

Weak pelvic floor muscles mean that this support of the internal organs isn’t there and therefore we can have “accidents”, not only urine but faeces as well. After pregnancy the pelvic floor can become very weak and in some severe cases some women feel like their insides are falling out if they go for a run or an aerobics class. And this can actually happen, it’s known as prolapse.  

Then there’s the opposite problem for other people, they’re pelvic floor muscles are too tight. They may experience various lower back and pelvic pain symptoms, intercourse might be very painful and giving birth naturally may also be compromised.

So a good Pilates or yoga program can absolutely help to strengthen or release the pelvic floor. To find out if you have a weak or overactive pelvic floor, you would need to see a medical specialist before going to your instructor. After that a tailored program will have you happy and healthy and laughing again without fear!

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Feeling frazzled and disconnected.

I moved a week ago. We had been living in our previous home for ten years in which time we accumulated A LOT of things. Things we just threw into the spare room and mostly forgot about. We threw out or gave to charity a lot of these things we no longer used, as we downsized and felt there would be no room for our hoarding tendencies. 

We moved into our smaller apartment and it’s an adjustment period. There is no room or space or storage for a lot of our belongings and there are still boxes everywhere and furniture to be re-assembled. My routine has changed. Why do I feel so happy in a routine? Isn’t that a rut?

This state of change and limbo has left me frazzled and questioning do we need all this stuff! Is this what our life has become, a measure of what we own. Are we what house we live in, what appliances we use, what we wear? Whilst I was packing I also realised that a home is a container that holds a lot of memories, the non-physical things I have also hoarded in the past ten years. These memories are also things that need to be allowed to be “thrown out” so that our new home and suburb can be a set of good and sometimes not so good memories. 

This move has also got me questioning a lot about my chosen career and whether I want to continue down this path or change to another path completely. I decided to give up teaching my last yoga class and become once again a student. To learn about the endless possibilities of yoga. I have also decided to volunteer at a drop in centre and give back to the community instead of constantly taking. So where all this will take me, I don’t know, but as long as there is trust and awareness within ourselves to let go of the need to control and just let life unfold, everything will be all right. 

And if not, there’s always chocolate.

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Can it be true? Chocolate that's good for you?

Ingredients:

50g Raw Cacao Powder

25g Cacao Butter

25g Coconut Oil

15g Raw Cacao Liquor

15g Raw Honey (more or less depending on how sweet you like your chocolate)

Optional Nuts, coconut, dried fruit, cocoa nibs... get creative.

Method:

Rest a bowl in a pot above slow simmering water. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bowl. Add all the ingredients except the fruit, nuts etc and stir until smooth.

Meanwhile place additional flavours into a chocolate mould or ice cube tray. 

When the chocolate is smooth and lump free pour into tray. Before placing in the fridge knock the chocolate on the table a few times to get rid of any air bubbles.

Store chocolate in the fridge as all the ingredients melt at room temperature. Lasts up to a week in the fridge if you have enough self control to make it last that long.

Benefits:

Raw Cacao Powder is high in flavonoids, natural antioxidants which fight free radicals that cause disease and ageing.

Cacao is high in magnesium, an important electrolyte. If you cramp regularly in the muscles, try this delicious treat.

Cacao is a good source of sulfur, important for liver function and strong healthy hair and nails

Cacao is a mood enhancer, it makes you happy!

Virgin coconut oil contains medium-chain saturated fatty acids (MCFAs), a healthier form of saturated fat.

Coconut oil is made up of healthy fats lauric acid, caprylic acid and capric acid which contain antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral properties to boost the immune system. Great moisturiser!

Cacao butter is the fat from the cocoa bean and is very high in Vitamin E, an important antioxidant excellent for cell renewal. Excellent as a lip balm and moisturiser too.

[allthingsdancinglotus]

Hello!

Welcome to all things Dancing Lotus!  So excited to be sharing all the things we discover as we navigate through this journey called Life. You can find recipes, yoga pose breakdowns, pilates exercises, music, art and anything that makes us dance.