Yes, you can! Naked yoga
Nude yoga? Gulp!
Nakedness is beautiful, sensuous, nurturing, joyous and fun.
One of the core concepts of yoga is self-acceptance. What better way to connect with, accept and even celebrate our own bodies than to be nude?
Nudity awakens the senses, enabling us to fully experience and enjoy our physicality: things such as the delicacy of the air moving over our skin and the deep strength and muscular engagement of a full stretch… and so much more.
Modern culture tends to disconnect us from our bodies. Practising yoga without clothes is one way to counter that. When we are invited to be aware of our bodies, it’s very often in a negative, self-critical way. There’s a pervading message that our bodies are not, and never will be, good enough. Naked yoga strips that away, simply and directly.
Many people find it very liberating to do yoga with no clothing, both psychologically and, because they don’t have to twitch at riding up hemlines or chafing seams, practically. It has also suggested that the outfits produced by many of the fashionable yoga labels are just as sexually revealing and provocative as nudity, if not more so.
The ancient yogis did their yoga bare.
What if I get turned on? What if you sneeze or hiccup or blink? These are all natural things that men’s bodies do. If/when you get an erection, please don’t feel embarrassed or shameful or that you need to hide it but rather enjoy it as a blessing and carry on with the yoga.
The ancient philosophies and spiritualities of the east (such as Buddhism and Hinduism), which have strong links with yoga, recognise and celebrate our sexual drive as an important life force.
I’ve been attending naked yoga classes as long as I’ve been practising yoga and I’ve never seen anything sexual develop. Another of yoga’s core concepts is (self) control. It’s one thing to enjoy a surge of sexual energy, it’s entirely another to turn it into a sexual action.
Is this tantric yoga/tantra? Yes, it is, but tantra is a difficult concept that weaves together body, sexuality, spirit and soul. Its roots are as long, deep and noble as yoga’s but in recent years the meaning of the word has morphed and, sadly, it is often now used as a synonym for sex and to imbue events and practises with a salaciousness that only really serves to cynically increase sales. So, if you’re looking for an orgy, you need to look somewhere else.
‘I’m inflexible and I have no balance. I couldn’t do yoga.’ Yes, you can!