Nude Yoga - My Experience

I know what you’re thinking.. Nude yoga?!

I can confirm I thought the exact same, actually, my thoughts were the same and so much more!

Let me start by saying.. This was never something I had imagined to do in my lifetime. Heck, let me tell you, it was embarrassing enough for me to get butt naked in front of my sister for a fake tan!

When I first heard about the Nude Yoga Workshop that founder Rosie Rees held, I had so many question marks fling around my head, so many weird images of NUDE yoga. Downward Dog? Savasana? Child’s Pose? In the nude?! I could NEVER!

It wasn’t until I accepted what the image of these poses would look like and after months of being intrigued and inspired by Rosie, I continued to be drawn to the idea of Nude Yoga. I knew this was something I had to do. I spontaneously purchased my ticket to her next Perth Nude Yoga Workshop. If I hadn’t of done this to follow my wild intuition, I would never have been able to reap the life changing rewards that I have. 

Making the decision to attend a workshop like this is something I did very personally without telling many people around me, mainly because I was afraid that their response would put me off completely.

But I did it. I got my ticket, I put my big girl panties on (and then took them off of course) and I attended Rosie Rees Nude Yoga Workshop all on my own.

Driving there I can’t even tell you the anxiety I was feeling. I had heart palpitations, I was wondering if I would be judged for my body and the way I choose to keep groomed down there. I walked in with a patchy red chest and one million thoughts of regret, like, what the fuck am I doing?

I wanted to turn around and drive home, I wanted to wrap my body back up with my sarong and cry of shame.

However..

I’m so glad I didn’t. I’m so pleased that I exposed myself to something that at first made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

When I arrived my anxiety didn’t subside, I had many intrusive thoughts, but the moment I built up the courage to lower my robe like the rest of the woman in the room, I felt no regret, instead empowered by the body I was in. I realised it wasn’t as much of a big deal as I had worked it up to be at all. The first initial moment that my breasts were showing, I knew that it would likely only take the other women in the room a second to acknowledge that (if at all), it wasn’t as though they would be awfully struck or surprised because my body was on full display, because theirs was too. It was at this point that there was only one thing left for me to do and that was to simply accept each roll in my stomach, my stretch marks, scars and cellulite and ever so gracefully just ‘be’. 

I let go of the disgust that I held on myself and for the first time since the age of 6 years old, I accepted my body. I released anger towards people who got me into a mindset of hate towards my body in the first place. I sunk into my womb space and accepted the loss my body had to endure for my growth.

I was in this moment and there was no place to go but self-acceptance, and that is the power of Nude Yoga.

The day after the Yoga I felt beautiful, I walked with confidence and I smiled to myself in disbelief of my own bravery and strength. I accepted that I actually deserved the loving comfort of my partner’s touch in the morning as he cuddled into me before I got up to go to work. I faced my day with a clean hydrated face, free of makeup - which for those of you who know me will also know how much of a big deal that is for me to leave my house without a touch of coverage at all.

I can’t explain the energy from such an experience that not everyone can say they will or have ever done, however I now feel that being comfortable with your naked self is key to firstly loving yourself, and then allowing others to love you. If you have ever thought of attending a Nude Yoga Workshop, this is your cue to go right ahead and do just that. It is exhilarating.

It is not as much of a big deal as it seems, it is not sexual or weird or shameful.

Instead, it is pure, raw, realistic, beautiful, vulnerable, personal and an opportunity to expose yourself to grow, flourish and thrive. 

“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” – Zen Shin.