Coming To A Town Near You!
Nude Yoga Is The Latest Health Craze
Some fitness fads require sporty gear and equipment, but the practice of yoga requires only the bare essentials: loose clothes, a mat and time to do the exercises. But in some Amrican cities, the latest trend in yoga requires a lot less: just a mat and a smile.
Nude yoga's popularity is spreading across the world like wildfire. Only found in major cities in the past, courses are now being offered in smaller communities. Such is the case of Morristown, New Jersey, a sleeping suburb of New York City, where Dan Speers offers nude yoga classes as well as naturist kirtan (more on the latter at the end of this article).
By day, Speers telecommutes as a technical consultant for a California software company, but Three years ago he started teaching yoga at Sky Farm, a local nudist club. Nude yoga was a very natural idea for me. Even before I became a teacher I would often do my own yoga at home nude
, he told us.
More recently, Speers relocated the class to his home studio. Classes are generally small, Consisting of as few as two students and as many as nine. Most don't attend classes regularly, treating it as a special event
, according to Speers. More men than women participate, which Speers sees as rather odd given that women far outnumber men in the clothed yoga classes he teaches. All the classes are mixed gender: I've never seriously considered making the class for one gender as I don't really feel it helps with the idea of body acceptance - even though for some people it can be a big step to be nude in mixed company of the same sex
, he explains.
Most students are nudists, although not all might refer to themselves as such, Speers confided. When asked about how he screened students, Speers responded: I (also) like to know why they are interested in the class and how they think they will benefit from a nude yoga class. People who are not serious typically don't respond, and if I think someone isn't serious about it I may either turn them away, or suggest a clothed yoga class
.
As for Kirtan, Speers reveals, is basically where a leader sings a line of a sacred mantra or Chant, and the audience repeats that line
. Modern Kirtan includes contemporary music and singing, and a naturist Kirtan
obviously adds nudity to the mix, …which is simply in keeping with my naturist and yogic philosophy of body/self acceptance
, adds Speers.
Speers, whose spiritual name is Prithu
, along with his wife recently founded The Au-Natural Health SIG
, a special interest group within the Naturist Society. The main concept behind it is body/self acceptance taken to the next level: Taking care of yourself in a more holistic and natural way
, he told us.
In San Francisco, a local community center promotes a 90-minute naked yoga class on Sunday mornings. At the One Taste Urban Retreat Center on Folsom Street has both men and women participating completely without clothes. That's a concept that American culture, with its taboos on nudity, might find difficult to grasp. The center, which opened 10 months ago, offers dance classes and massage, has a small cafe and an art gallery, and hosts various events.
The class is about the challenge of yoga, and about the challenge of accepting — and even revering — one's own body. It's not a sexual experience,
said Rob Kandell, the center's business manager. It's a heart-opening experience.
On a recent Sunday morning, yoga instructor Meredith Medland, 33, gave students a sort of pep talk before entering the classroom, emphasizing the idea of the body as a vessel and getting them to calm their thoughts.
Five women and four men entered fully clothed, carrying their mats. Many were in their 20s and 30s, but some were decades older.
As we begin to disrobe, start to notice how you clothe this temple, this body, this thing you own, your home,
Medland said. As you take off your clothes, there's a level of precision, of consciousness, in the way you fold your clothes. We're honoring the preciousness, the sacredness, the delicateness of the body.
The first movements involved stretching arms above the head. Medland, as naked as the rest of the class, faced the group, arms over her head, her patter providing a point of focus for any student distracted by selfconsciousness.
When you lift up, remember you've got these limbs — now whoosh!
she said, exhaling. Bring the arms down, bring the head down.
In the unlit studio, two skylights sent soft shafts of white onto the students' bodies, highlighting the curves of their forms as if they were museum statues come to life, moving deliberately and slowly from pose to pose. Despite the variety in figures, some thin, some heavy, some taut, some sagging, there were no furtive glances at one another's bodies, no signs of arousal, just deep concentration on the tasks at hand: proper alignment, stretching and breathing.
Lying facedown on mats, students pushed themselves up at Medland's urging into the cobra pose, legs and pelvis still on the mat, back arching, torso erect.
Let yourself feel good,
she urged. This is the body you've been given… breathing… breathing… good! You look great!
Later, students stood in the warrior position, left knee bent, right leg extended behind, arms extended outward, parallel to the floor. Afterward, they shifted to the floor for a series of backbend-like moves.
With 30 minutes left in the 90-minute class, she had students lie down on their backs and place their left hand on their hearts. One taste, one touch, one life, one city, one world, one heart,
she said.
After class, fully clothed, participants explained the appeal.
Guy Jara, 36, a computer programmer from Brisbane, is getting back into yoga after an 11-year break from the practice.
"I like the sheer vulnerability of having no clothing and letting everything hang, he said. There's no concealing anything anymore. There's no place to hide.
A real estate investor who identified himself only as Ronaldo, 60, said being naked helped him to concentrate on bringing the mind, body and spirit together — the essential purpose of yoga. I've been doing yoga for 14 years and working two times a week with a private instructor, but my problem is monkey mind,
he said. I want to be present in the moment, and my mind wanders — ‘Is the class going to be over?’
For him, being naked helps to keep his focus on himself. I can see where I wasn't present before and be more with the instructions to guide me into the positions,
he said. I could stay in them longer, and go deeper. Being present gives a feeling of timelessness.
Others liked the fact that being unclothed meant they could see the proper body positioning more easily, and make adjustments more quickly, by watching Medland's husband, Ted McElwee, who acted as a model.
I wanted to approach yoga from a nonphysical, non-superficial way, because a lot of it is about cute outfits and competitiveness,
she said. Doing it nude, I thought there wouldn't be any of that. It would be internal, about me.
Without clothes, I was able to move even more,
she said. Man! Not having anything on is so freeing. I don't know if I could do yoga with clothes on.
Her classmates apparently don't take the naked truth too seriously. Everyone laughed.