How naked yoga is paving the way for a new age of body-positive nudies.
Ok, so I wrote this piece for the September 2018 issue of TAN (The Australian Naturist) magazine…and now I want to share it with all of those of you who couldn’t get your hands on the issue. The article was targeted for those who purchase TAN magazine and most of whom already subscribe to a nudist lifestyle 😉 But here it is…I’ve been so excited to share this with all of you…so enjoy the read!
For you and I, naked yoga probably doesn’t sound all too daunting…well, not the naked part anyway!
Inspiringly, there is a wave of women taking the bold and courageous leap to shed the layers and get nude in downward dog! And! Hats off to them…they’re not even nudists! Just your everyday mother, sister, daughter, teacher, nurse, business owner…you name it! Your average textile beach-goer and, more often than not, someone that has never been nude in front of strangers before. So, leading a revolutionary movement to bare it all in the name of normalising nudity, body-positivity and self-acceptance, these women are leading the charge to improve their body image by trying their hand at some naked yoga. By doing so, they’re also helping to slowly change the stigma attached to nudity and a nudist lifestyle.
As a young female nudist, I am on a mission to spread awareness about the nudist lifestyle, non-sexual nudity and body-positivity. Having subscribed to a nudist lifestyle for over three years now, I am making a bold and concerted effort to normalise nudity in the mainstream. By breaking the mold, I am working to create change around the stigma that is attached to the lifestyle and its subscribers.
When our society has been conditioned to overtly associate the naked body with sex, shame or indecency, it’s no wonder they have a warped view of nudists and the lifestyle. Quite frankly, much of our society is yet to be able to differentiate between sexual and non-sexual nudity. Due to this lack of discernment, you have the masses assuming nudism to have a sexual agenda; and thus the apprehension that still presides over the matter.
When the current dogma serves the agenda of greedy corporations that relentlessly exploit sex and the naked human body for profits, it is unsurprising that our society is having trouble perceiving the naked body as natural and non-sexual. What’s even more is, because of this warped perception, it keeps the younger female demographic discouraged and further exacerbates the stigma that a nudist lifestyle predominantly consists of middle-aged to older men. In the community, we cannot deny that this is the case either…and this is one of the shadows cast over a nudist lifestyle, and one that I am trying to change.
Unfortunately, due to the deeply entrenched patriarchal norms we have been subject to over the centuries, women have come to feel overly-sexualised and constantly objectified. Adding to the challenge is that the current age of social media plays on this inherent insecurity and further breeds it, making many women feel that the only way to receive glorification from men is to sexualise themselves…and so the vicious cycle continues. As a result, we have an age where the innocence and purity of nudity has been forgotten. Where narcissism and self-loathing have become the norm, we are constantly bombarded with standards and ideals that are unrealistic and misleading! Campaigns constantly changing the definition of beautiful, making it forever out of our reach. The pressure on body image is all-pervasive and all too real. Highlighting this reality, one of the ladies that has attended my naked yoga workshop admits,
“I DON’T LOOK AT MYSELF IN THE MIRROR ANYMORE BUT I WANT TO BE ABLE TO PASS ON A HEALTHY BODY IMAGE TO MY DAUGHTER.”
Well…some of us are here to break the vicious cycle…to reinstate what is natural and that which has merely been forgotten.
My naked yoga workshops are a way in which I am able to offer women an avenue to integrate some social nudity into their lives and help them to become more body-positive. The workshops and the women that attend are setting an example and proving the cynics wrong. We’re proving to the public that communal nudity isn’t just for middle-aged to older men. We’re proving that getting naked DOES have benefits, as one of the ladies acknowledges,
“THE WORKSHOP ALLOWED ME TO DIG DEEP INTO MY OWN LIMITING BELIEFS AROUND MY BODY IMAGE AND MY OWN WORTHINESS, THIS CREATED A LIGHT BULB MOMENT IN WHICH I REALISED I CAN CHOOSE TO LOVE MYSELF ENTIRELY, NO MATTER WHAT MY APPEARANCE AND I DON’T NEED TO COMPARE OR LOOK DOWN ON MYSELF FOR NOT LOOKING A CERTAIN WAY. I HAVE A LOT MORE SELF LOVE FOR WHO I AM.”
We have groups of women aged from twenty onwards getting together and shedding the layers, physically and emotionally. Letting go of limiting belief systems that they’ve unconsciously subscribed to for most of their lives. Freeing themselves of the emotional baggage surrounding their body image that has weighed them down for far too long. Following on from one of the workshops, one of the ladies opened up and expressed,
“I BELIEVE THAT WHAT I GAINED WAS THE FORGIVENESS THAT I’VE OWED MYSELF AND MY BODY FOR ALMOST 15 YEARS (AFTER THE STILLBIRTH OF MY TWIN BOYS I SHAMED MYSELF AS I BELIEVED THAT MY BODY HAD LET ME AND MY SONS DOWN). I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO SHED SOME OF THAT GUILT AND SHAME AND I NOW HAVE A NEW OPPORTUNITY TO SEE MYSELF AND MY BODY IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT.”
One common factor I have found that prevents many younger people partaking in nude social activities is a lack of body confidence and a preconceived notion of what partaking in a nudist lifestyle looks like.
Again, you and I are probably well-acquainted with getting nude around strangers in a social setting, but for most of society, including these very women, the thought alone is ABSOLUTELY daunting and something they had never previously considered…up until hearing about these workshops!
My FEMPOWERMENT womens only naked yoga workshops are a three hour empowering celebration of our naked bodies, open to ladies of all ages, shapes, colour and size. The workshops are a beautiful integration of yoga, breath work, mediation, mantras and affirmations. I offer these workshops as an opportunity for women to enter into a safe space in which they’re afforded the tools and techniques to do the work required in helping to rewire their neural pathways and help them to cultivate positive affirmations and mantras that can help them to detach from negative behavioural patterns that may be keeping them feeling self-conscious, unworthy and powerless.
It is a non-judgmental space in which they’re able to feel comfortable enough to explore social nudity and are able to be a support system for one another given that most of them are in the same boat. It is a matter of building confidence within a non-intimidating environment and respecting one’s own boundaries without becoming completely overwhelmed. The more we can perceive our own nudity as natural and normal, the better we are able to go out into the world perceiving others’ nudity as natural and normal. One woman says,
“BY THE END OF IT [WORKSHOP], BEING NAKED WITH A BUNCH OF WOMEN I’D KNOWN FOR THREE HOURS FELT MORE NATURAL THAN BEING CLOTHED”.
By the end of the workshops, the women are comfortable enough to remain naked as we socialise with one another, take photos, eat chocolate and exchange details. Any tension, anticipation and anxiety from the beginning of the evening seems to completely dissipate by the end of the workshops. There is a lightness and ease in the air. A shift takes place. Whilst being body positive is an ongoing journey, these women are living proof that naked yoga really can help to improve body image.
In our efforts to educate the public about nudism, we must be aware and respectful of people’s boundaries…especially if we are aiming to create lasting change.
So whilst I also teach mixed naked yoga classes for nudists, I open up these women’s only naked yoga workshops to females of the general public as a way to help them to more willingly accept, embrace and integrate nudity into their own lives and daily routines, hopefully inspiring a ripple effect.
I am learning that the more we can respectfully introduce and integrate nudity into the mainstream, the more we begin to normalise it. So, hopefully naked yoga is only the beginning of these womens’ nudie adventures.
Perhaps you can remember your first time going naked in public? Well imagine yoga being the first social nude activity you did…pretty brave, huh? It’s admirable if anything. These women motivate me to work even harder to spread the message of body-positivity and non-sexual nudity…because I know it’s working if they’re turning up to my workshops.
People are wanting to embrace nudity and incorporate more social nudity into their lives…some of them are just seeking guidance or an avenue that feels right for them.
Either way, we all have to start somewhere, and these women are pioneers in their own right. These women are an expression of hope and a reason to have faith that the tide is turning. Ushering in a new age in which nudity is more acceptable and embraced, and one in which a nudist lifestyle is better-able to represent even more diversity…hopefully inspiring future generations to jump on the nude bandwagon!
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The Nude Blogger
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