The Chocolako Factor

A conversation with Chocolako: global meditation and yoga teacher committed to helping lifelong learners and change-makers create impact without burnout.

Chocolako is committed to working with forward thinking creatives and professionals, yoga teachers and yoga practitioners of all levels, who are open to embrace continuous awakenings, outperform limiting stories and reach more expansive versions of themselves. Her mission is to help people soften into their heart toward greater devotion to The Great Mystery and transformation from pain into power and pleasure. 

WE-AR: How did you come by such a delicious name?
CHOCOLAKO: It's actually a pretty interesting story. I'm named after my maternal Grandmother, Olako. It's very common in Nigerian families to be honoured and named after a relative. When I was a child, my Aunts and Uncles would tease me and call me their "chocolate baby", "chocolate candy", "chocolate Olako" and eventually Choc Olako stuck.  We are part of a lineage of female warriors, healers, and ground watchers of the soil in Benue State, the breadbasket of Nigeria.

WE-AR: What brought you to Aotearoa? 
CHOCOLAKO: During my junior year of university, I completed a semester abroad study program at Victoria University in Wellington. Immersing fully in a new culture and environment ignited an insatiable desire for continuous exploration of culture, travel, and the healing arts.
 

WE-AR: How did your Yoga journey begin?
CHOCOLAKO: I started yoga asana practice in 2005, while I was a graduate student at UC Berkeley in California. A classmate asked if I wanted a study break, and I agreed to attend yoga class with her. My first class was the first time I felt tears and sweat pour down my face without knowing the difference between both forms of release. Since then, my experience with yoga has centered around a self-discovery process that encourages me to explore myself within the four corners of the mat and beyond. It fascinates me how much is available to be revealed and held as part of my wellness and wholeness journey. 

I started teaching yoga immediately after the completion of my Ashtanga influenced 200-Hour Yoga teacher training in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2010, I moved from Boston to London to complete an MBA. I immediately set up The Yoga Club as a means for students to restore their vitality from within. The  success of the first yoga club at Cass Business School in London  helped me to feel confident about teaching yoga and meditation in Lagos, Nigeria. While living in Africa for over 6 years, I established a vibrant community of lifelong learners who fuse yoga, meditation, and African art into transformative awakenings. I love Africa, and am very happy to see how the benefits of yoga and meditation are being fully embraced.
WE-AR: From Lagos to Bali? 
CHOCOLAKO:
Yes I moved to Bali to study more about myself and how cycles and rhythms work. It was during my time in Ubud that I fell in love with WE-AR!
WE-AR outfits hug my curves perfectly and allow me to flow in and out of each yoga posture with ease and grace. It's as if the entire outfit was customised to hug my unique shape.


WE-AR has a very feminine, gentle, yin-like way of designing clothing for an embodied woman connected to soul energy. I love the softness of each garment and that WE-AR is located in two of my favourite parts of the world to restore and feel the lightness of being - Bali and New Zealand. A huge part of my healing journey has occurred in both of these magical parts of the world. 
 
WE-AR: Thank you for understanding our essence and gracing our clothes with your depth and beauty!
Tell us about your brand, The Innergy Collective.
CHOCOLAKO:
The Innergy is coined after a shamanic journey I experienced during meditation while I lived in Africa. Throughout the journey, I was encouraged to focus on my Source of Strength, the inner energy that freely roams through me, as me. It was from this experience that I received guidance to honor and name my school and collective offerings after the birthing portal of origination, Inner Energy. 
 

At Innergy, we specialize in creating bespoke wellness luxury with yoga retreats, teacher trainings, virtual and in-person workshops around the world. Our most popular and sought after offerings are African Drumming Meditation and Chakra Healing Innergy Masterclass. The Innergy Collective is also developing a responsible process for making jewellery, yoga and swimwear. 
To keep in touch and receive updates about our product launches, follow our journey on instagram: @chocolako @yogainnergy and @innergy  
  
My mission is to inspire the pursuit of wellness and wholeness, connect with many hearts, and walk in many shoes. I want to know better and be better, and help others do the same.
WE-AR: We are so blessed to share your radiance, love and wisdom here with our community Chocolako. Suk suma! 

Dive deep into this amazing woman's YIN class over on our IGTV @wearyoga.
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