If you associate yoga with an ascetic life of vegan food and quiet sanctuaries, yoga instructor and self-proclaimed Deadhead David Romanelli may change that impression.

In 2003, he teamed up with his college pal, Katrina Markoff, owner of the designer-chocolate company Vosges Haut-Chocolat, to hold a class combining the pleasures of yoga and chocolate at a retreat in Oaxaca, Mexico.

"It was an experiment," says Romanelli. One that turned out to have a winning formula — he's now offered the experience from Pasadena to West Palm Beach.

Next weekend Romanelli will hold three yoga-and-chocolate sessions — open to all levels — as part of the Halekulani Living series at the Waikiki hotel.

How do the indulgent treat and the mind-expanding practice mix?

"The most important thing to understand is I really try to capture a bigger picture," said Romanelli by phone from Los Angeles, where he teaches at Exhale. He uses yoga — his own updated brand that he calls Yeah Dave yoga — almost as a tool to create memorable moments. The chocolate interludes are sensory markers of the heightened awareness that results from a yoga session.

"I was reading something that said the average person is subjected to 16,000 ads, logos and labels every day. The average person gets 50 e-mails a day," said Romanelli. "There's so much information and stimulation that entire days go by and you don't stop to just enjoy life." (He allows that maybe that's not as much the case in Hawai'i as it is in New York City or Los Angeles.)

"You'll never remember that day the rest of your life without carving out a moment of appreciation. You've got to stop and use the things you love in life."

Like chocolate and wine.

He might have something there. Halekulani publicist Erika Kauffman says she's received calls from women saying, "My three favorite things! I'm bringing my girlfriends!"

MAKING THE MOMENT

In the yoga and chocolate session, participants, sitting on their Halekulani yoga mat, first have a taste of Vosges chocolate. Romanelli said they have been starting with a Red Fire truffle made of dark chocolate, ancho chile and cinnamon (not just any cinnamon — the package says it's from Ceylon, which is actually called Sri Lanka these days).

Markoff, who has appeared as a judge on "Top Chef," will talk the truffle-tasters through "the experience of her chocolate," said Romanelli. According to him, about half the class responds with "Oh my God, what is this?"

Then Romanelli leads an ashtanga-based vinyasa flow class. For the uninitiated, that means doing a sequence of yoga poses connected by the breath. And he adds mainstream music to the session, "from Sinatra to Puff Daddy," said Romanelli.

After the class comes the second tasting (probably a Naga truffle of milk chocolate, curry powder and coconut). This time, said Romanelli, 99 percent of the class has a deep flavor epiphany.

"You taste so much more of the chocolate. Even the chemistry of your saliva is different when you're relaxed," said Romanelli. "The piece of chocolate is a metaphor for everything in life. When you're in the moment, everything is sweeter, richer."

In the third session offered next weekend, wine also will be added to the moment.

ADDING OR SUBTRACTING?

A spiritual practice, yoga is meant to be a way to naturally move to a higher state of consciousness. How do purists view the introduction of chocolate-tasting into a yoga class"?

"It's a very interesting combination. Traditionally, it would go counter to yoga, which is about how you manage your energy. So substances aren't necessarily useful. You want to generate your energy from inside," said Rupali Embry, a partner of Kaimuki's Yoga Hawaii, and one of O'ahu's longest-practicing yoginis.

In addition, "those substances are hard on the nervous system, which goes against the traditional aims of yoga," Embry said.

On the other hand, she said, workshops such as Romanelli's are a sign that "yoga's become so mainstream that it's appealing to a much more yuppie crowd — these are the things they're combining in their lives. If yoga's coming into a western world, you're going to see more of it." She acknowledges that your average yoga Joe views yoga as a "health thing," not a spiritual vehicle, just as they read in the media that chocolate and wine are good for them. She's just happy to see more people practicing yoga.

"Whatever works for you," said Embry. "You can't expect everybody to be on the fast track to God."

"I can say that I'm not preaching to the converted when I do this," said Romanelli. "I'm trying to get yoga out there to more people. For people who are doing it, it's a practical application of the ancient practice."

Romanelli isn't your stereotypical yogi. He used to work for Shaquille O'Neal and counts the late Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia as a hero. He's "a huge sports fan" ("Are people excited about the UH football team over there?") and often uses sports analogies in his yoga classes.

He's now at work on a book, "Livin' the Moment," slated to be published by Broadway Books in early 2009. "It's stories on the irreverent path through life, a little bit racy, kind of edgy," said Romanelli. "About going to Grateful Dead concerts, having weird experiences with psychics and the spiritual lessons I derived. It's a spiritual self-help book, but much more real."

He co-founded the At One Yoga studios in Arizona, and feels that "yoga needs to keep growing, (be applied) to different needs and demographics."

With At One Yoga, where he took everyday sensibilities and threw them into the yoga mix, "I said come in and try it, it'll make it easier for you. It's really for the good of yoga. For the purist who doesn't want to do that, I respect that."

And with the addition of chocolate and wine, "it's really fun," said Romanelli. "It's a very powerful experience. It's very rare that all five senses are so engaged. It's a beautiful feeling. I stand behind it."

Reach Lesa Griffith at lgriffith@honoluluadvertiser.com.