Rebuilding Through Creativity: Lessons from Chocolate, Yoga, and the Slow Seasons

When the kitchen closed during COVID, the silence was deafening.
At first, I mourned the meals never served, the stories paused mid-sentence.
But somewhere in that unexpected stillness, creativity stirred.

Inside the Midunu kitchen, we turned inward.
We explored new flavors.
We blended cocoa with indigenous ingredients—building new stories into each truffle, each cup of drinking chocolate.
We decided to share them internationally—not just to survive, but to remind the world that even in isolation, African flavors move, expand, endure.

Creating wasn't just about keeping the lights on.
It became an act of personal restoration.
Each new flavor—a small defiance against despair.

🌿

Alongside that kitchen work, another kind of rebuilding began:
Hot yoga.

In those classes, I found a mirror for my own journey—through discomfort, breath, and patience.

I learned the practice of drishti:
finding one focal point to anchor yourself when everything else sways.

I embraced the philosophy of sthira sukham asanam:
that true strength must also feel steady and easeful. That resilience without grace is incomplete.

I trusted pranayama:
the power of conscious breath to steady, center, and energize.

I embodied tapas:
the discipline to lean into challenge—not with force, but with devoted, steady effort.

And perhaps most surprisingly, I came to appreciate savasana:
At first, the pauses between floor poses annoyed me.
I wondered why we were wasting time lying still when we could simply push through.
But as my practice deepened, I realized:
Rest wasn’t an interruption.
It was preparation.
It wasn’t about quitting — it was about asking:
"Have I rested enough to do my best work?"

🌿

Between the chocolate lab, the garden, and the yoga mat, I began to understand:

  • Healing isn’t passive. It’s active participation in your own becoming.

  • Growth isn’t linear. Some days, it’s simply breath.

  • Progress is often invisible before it blooms into view.

  • Creativity isn’t indulgence. It’s oxygen.

🌿

Now, when I walk through the kitchen, when I work the garden beds, when I fold ganache or plan a menu, I carry those lessons:

  • Focus on what anchors you.

  • Move with strength and softness.

  • Let the breath lead.

  • Trust the invisible seasons beneath the surface.

🌿

If you are rebuilding too—know this:

You are not starting over.
You are growing stronger in ways you can’t yet measure.

You are not broken.
You are building beauty the slow, enduring way.

➡ For reflections on African foodways, sustainability, and the future of flavor, explore the full archive.

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Selassie Atadika