Naked Yoga - Doing Yoga All Natural

These days people are becoming more aware of the fact that they are needing to live a healthy life. This includes diet and exercise and many people are taking up various exercises. They are hiking up into the mountains, across the plains and others are cycling and going to the gym. Others who have a more spiritual motivation, or who need to do it slower, are practicing yoga. There are many styles of yoga, and certainly many different positions. However, most people do this clothes on. The styles vary according to the person wearing the clothes, baggy jogging pants and a T-Shirt for some, shorts and a bathing suit top for others. However there is a small crowd of people who practice yoga with nothing on.

When I first heard of this practice, I thought it was something new, another new fad that has hit the up and coming generation who walk around with their pants halfway down their legs and underwear (and sometimes more!) Showing, but I was wrong! This is nothing new! Of course it started around 1968 in both San Francisco and in New York. Merideth Medland and Ted McElwee are two teachers (One Taste Urban Retreat Center) of this method and are responsible for making this type of yoga known throughout the world, There even have been movies made about this topic Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1968), and Naked Yoga (1974)(a documentary).

There are a few things you must know about doing yoga naked. It has nothing to do with sex. It is more about being able to enjoy who you are from a totally different perspective. This type of yoga is often done in either male only or female only groups. There is meditation and the usual positions, hatha yoga or one of the several other types of yoga. The groups that are for men are also a way that men can form a bond with each other. Although, this method has often been connected with the gay community, that is and hasn't ever been a major thrust of the naked yoga movement.

This method can possibly be a great way for many sectors of society to come together and relate to one another, be that old, young, fat or thin, gay or straight, and whatever race you happen to be, without judgement of body type or lifestyle or fitness level. It is in my opinion that in some ways this could be something very good for society in general----that is IF we allow it to be.

I think it would be good if we occasionally stepped back and saw that both underneath the fancy dress and the torn and dirty jeans, we are all basically the same. All our body parts are the same. I actually had an opportunity to do this while I was in Korea at a teacher. I would go swimming and in the locker room I really felt all of the differences between us disapear (except for my lack of thier language skills) I would just be one of the women. there would be no judgement and no staring at me even though I didn't look very much like them. There were all kinds of women there (old, young, fat, thin) they had a sauna where all would sit naked and without shame and embarrassment and they would just chat away about a thousand different things that I could only imagine what they were. I couldn't understand them very well, so I didn't have much to say, so I just watched them interact and it actually felt good for no one to stare at me or beg me to teach them english. They went about their usual ways and it was all very natural and even relaxing for me, I really enjoyed it.