Yogi Elephant In The Room: Naked Yoga Classes

However no-one speaks about it, the trend is gaining popularity: naked yoga classes. I’ve already mentioned it a little bit in my previous article about yoga styles that are different, but I’ve decided to talk about the elephant in the room: naked yoga classes. This because I feel there is a lot to gain from these classes, and besides that, it’s also very liberating.

So, if you haven’t tried your first naked yoga class yet, just read through this article and see if it could be something that you might be interested in. If not, there are many other styles of yoga that you can do, fully dressed ;).

Benefits of Nude Yoga

Let’s start by talking about all the benefits that doing a nude yoga class might have before we talk a bit more about some different kind of naked yoga classes. 

#1 No Clothes Required

Economically en ecologically it’s very great to do nude yoga. This is because you don’t have to buy those fancy yoga clothes that you see around you. It’s not a competition at all to see who’s got the best looking outfit. This also means that you don’t have to drag a yoga bag around with your outfits. All you need to do is strip down and be naked!

Besides that, wearing no clothes also means that there is no more status within the group. Do you remember those mean girls in high school who were always bragging with their new fancy bags and clothes? None of that is gonna happen within a nude yoga class! Therefore, everyone is at the same level as everybody else. And with the lack of status symbols, you’ll also start seeing each other in a different light.

However, remember that yoga is about yourself and your life. So, try not to focus on the other person. But still, these reasons above are already a great start to do some nude yoga.

And finally, after all of this, yoga clothing can also obstruct your yoga practice. During the beginning of my yoga practice, I had the ‘problem’ that I lost a lot of weight, this made that at some point my yoga shorts were way too big for me. This resulted in me being half-naked in my regular yoga class as the shorts dropped on the floor… And that was quite embarrassing too I have to say…

#2 Being Naked is Okay!

Over the past decades, there’s been a taboo on being naked. I’m not sure when it started, but for centuries people have been wearing clothes to cover up their special parts. Luckily, there is a movement coming that is promoting nudism and being naked. 

It is great to finally break this taboo as there is nothing bad about being naked. There’s this myth that being naked is something sexual. While you can also be naked without having to do any sexual activities. In Portugal, for example, there are more and more nudist beaches. Where people are just sunbathing and working on their tan.

As I said before, being naked is very liberating. Not just to set an example for others, but also yourself. Yoga is about self-awareness, and very often we are also very self-aware about our bodies as well. We’ve got a certain image (mostly this is the images we see on tv on how to look pretty) of how we should look and what the image of pretty is in this era. Therefore, our self-esteem might have a little dip if we can’t succeed to get the body that society thinks we should have.

Yoga is also about accepting yourself, which means that by doing nude yoga you’ll be exposed to all kinds of different bodies and you’ll see that no one has the perfect body. But these days we are good at hiding it behind our clothes. You might become more aware that the things that you don’t like about your body, just are the way they are, and by going to yoga classes you’ll also learn how to accept these.

#3 Throw Away Your Shield

Putting on clothes is quite literally saying that you are putting up your shield for everything that you are vulnerable to. Of course we don’t wear armor anymore as the dark days are quite done, but still, the reason why we wear clothes is a bit the same. This means that we always have this sense within us that we have to protect ourselves.

By doing naked yoga you’re throwing off your armor and you are the most vulnerable you can ever be. Which also will be great for your partner as well. By being naked you become more intimate as well. And no, yet again, not in the sexual kind of way. 

Being naked will be a doorway to open up yourself emotionally as there is nothing to hide anymore. Alright, this can be quite confrontational. But no one ever said it was going to be easy ;). That said, the moment you trigger that point in yourself where all your shame was stored away, you’ll start to find it easier and easier to get rid of the armor and open up yourself more emotionally.

The latter is highly beneficial if you’ve got some trauma stored away. These don’t have to be something very big, but it can be that you’ve been hurt before by someone. Your first intimate partner for example, if he broke your heart for the first time, well, that’s trauma as well. How you dealt with it, is something that depends on you.

If you don’t know how to visualize a naked yoga class just yet, here’s a video on YouTube about naked yoga.

Myths About Nude Yoga

Of course, with all taboos, there are a lot of myths as well about naked yoga classes. We’ll try to unravel a couple of them in this post and hope to get your warm for some yoga classes. And if you still feel a bit embarrassed to walk into a nude yoga class, you can always try it first at home to see if it’s something for you.

#1 It’s About Sex

I already said a bit about this before, but the first thing that I’d like to help out of this world is that nude yoga isn’t about sex at all! You won’t walk into a class and find yourself humping each other suddenly. That’s not the point of naked yoga at all and I hope this myth gets busted very soon as well…

#2 It’s Just For Gay People

A lot of nude yoga classes are indeed for gay people, but it’s not JUST for gay people. Gay men are a bit more aware of their bodies and are more open to being naked, that might be true. But there are a lot of nude yoga classes that aren’t just for men or gay men. It might have started that way, but more and more men and women are finding their way into some nude yoga classes and therefore there’s also a bigger supply of mixed nude yoga classes.

I would encourage everyone to go to a mixed class, just because of the reason that within a nude yoga class everyone is equal, and gender differences should be banned out of this world.

#3 Only Fit People Do It

Even if that would be true, and it’s not, even those fit people are having issues with their bodies. It might be that they have a scar that they are ashamed of, or that they have a missing toe or a shorter arm. Nobody is perfect, so keep this in mind when you are going to your first nude yoga class. Everyone is at their yoga class for themselves, not to watch other people.

Nude Yoga Classes Near You

Are you ready for your first naked yoga class? Then here’s a list of places where you might be able to go to for your first time! It’s not a complete list, so if you’ve got more studios that I could add here, please let me know in the comment section below (and please provide the link as well).

Naked Yoga USA

Naked! In Motion – Naked Yoga New York

Bold & Naked – Private Clothed or Naked Yoga New York

Naked Yoga LA – Private and Group Naked Yoga Los Angeles

Naked Yoga SF – Naked Yoga For Men San Francisco

Naked Yoga Miami – Naked Yoga For Men Miami

Naked Warrior Yoga – Online and live yoga classes in Hollywood

Naked Yoga Europe

Yoga Kitchen Private Studio – Naked Yoga Brussels, Belgium

YOGANU – Naked Yoga For Men Paris, France (Offers Retreats for Men in India too)

Tantra Kriya Yoga – Naked Yoga For Men Amsterdam, Netherlands

Yoga Al Natural – Naked Yoga For Men Madrid, Spain

Naked Yoga London – Naked Yoga London, UK

Doria Yoga – Naked and Clothed Yoga London, UK

Altogether Yoga – Naked Yoga For Men, UK

The Bearded Naked Yogi (Naked yoga online for men) – Based in Spain and the UK

Nuda Yoga Classes at Home

And of course, if nude yoga in a group or with exposure to other people isn’t really your thing, you can always decide to do it in the comfort of your own home. For this, you’ve got to keep a couple of things in mind to make sure that you’ll get the best out of your at-home practice.

#1 Crank up the heat

The first thing you’ve got to do is to make sure that you find the perfect temperature for yourself. You’ll be naked and whatever exercises you’ll be doing, you’ve got to keep your body at a nice temperature.

It also depends on which style of yoga you’ll be doing. While vinyasa and ashtanga yoga are quite vigorous and create some inner heat, yin is very slow and your body will cool down very fast. This you’ve got to keep in mind as well when you are making the room enjoyable.

And don’t forget, even if you are doing a very fast-paced type of yoga, it’s good to keep the temperature up a couple degrees more. You might start sweating, but that’s fine. This you have to do because of the fact that you’ll be lying very still in savasana, and your body temperature can drop significantly when you are lying down.

#2 Find the perfect space

Even if you’ve got your own meditation or yoga space already, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. You might be good with being naked, but others might not be so fond of seeing your bare body.

You’ve got to be sure that you won’t be upsetting anybody and you’ve got to respect that not everyone would like to see a naked person. Make sure that you’ve got some blinds or drapes to create some privacy in your room. This might not just prevent people from being shocked, but it might also prevent a potential law-suit (and yes, people are suing for everything these days).

#3 Find the proper aid

If you’d like to give naked yoga at home a try and you don’t know where to start, there are some great platforms to get some help. If you are new at yoga or you just like to get some guidance in your yoga practice, you can decide to get a subscription from various websites. There are even naked online yoga subscriptions.

If you’d just like to try out some videos on your own, YouTube will be just fine. Then you just need a computer or a laptop installed in a place where you can easily have a glance.

If you are interested in an online subscription, you can have a look here. Yoga Download doesn’t offer nude yoga videos, but for a small price, you get some amazing videos.

And there are other platforms as well, like Naked in Motion. On their Patreon page, you can contribute to their naked yoga platform and get some videos. At this moment they are really low-priced, but at the same time, they don’t offer a lot of videos just yet. This will grow in the future of course.

Naked Yoga School has been around since 2009 already and they’ve got over 500 videos available. Which is amazing. They are focused on naked yoga for women but men can also just watch and follow the instructions of course. They don’t really work with a subscription but you rather pay per video or package.