Naked yoga ornude yoga (Sanskritnagna yoga orvivastra yoga) is the practice ofyogawithout clothes. It has existed since ancient times as aspiritual practice, and is mentioned in the 7th–10th centuryBhagavata Purana and by the Ancient Greek geographerStrabo.
Early advocates of naked yoga in modern times include thegymnosophists such asBlanche de Vries, and the actress and dancerMarguerite Agniel.
In the 21st century, the practice is gaining popularity, notably inwestern societies that have more familiarity with social nudity.
Yoga has been practiced naked since ancient times. In theBhagavata Purana (written c. 800–1000 AD), it is mentioned:
A person in the renounced order of life may try to avoid even a dress to cover himself. If he wears anything at all, it should be only a loincloth, and when there is no necessity, asannyāsī should not even accept adaṇḍa. A sannyāsī should avoid carrying anything but a daṇḍa andkamaṇḍalu.[1]
Alexander the Great reached India in the 4th century BC. Along with his army, he took Greek academics with him who later wrote memoirs about the geography, people, and customs they saw. One of Alexander's companions wasOnesicritus, quoted in Book 15, Sections 63–65 byStrabo, who describes yogins of India.[2] Onesicritus claims those Indian yogins (likeMandanis) practiced aloofness and "different postures – standing or sitting or lying naked – and motionless".[3]
The practice of spiritual nudity is common amongDigambaraJains,[4]Aghori sadhus,[5] and otherascetic groups in the dharmic religions. The order ofNaga Sadhus, conspicuous in the processions and bathing ritual at theKumbh Mela, use nudity as a part of their spiritual practice ofrenunciation.[6]
Modern naked yoga has been practiced inGermany andSwitzerland through a movement calledLebensreform. The movement had been highlighted since the end of the 19th century, highlighting yoga and nudity.[7]
In the early 20th century, the termgymnosophy was appropriated by several groups who practiced nudity,asceticism, andmeditation.Blanche de Vries combined the popularity of Oriental dancing with yoga. In 1914, she was put in charge of a yoga school for women in New York City. Five years later, she opened an institute for women, teaching Yoga Gymnosophy – a name that conveys the blending of yoga and nudism. She taught until 1982.[8][9][10]
Marguerite Agniel, author of the 1931 bookThe Art of the Body: Rhythmic Exercise for Health and Beauty,[11][12] wrote a piece called "The Mental Element in Our Physical Well-Being" forThe Nudist, an American magazine, in 1938; it showed nude women practicing yoga, accompanied by a text on attention to the breath. The social historian Sarah Schrank comments that it made perfect sense at this stage of the development ofyoga in America to combine nudism and yoga, as "both were exercises in healthful living; both were countercultural and bohemian; both highlighted the body; and both were sensual without being explicitly erotic."[13][14]
In the West since the 1960s, naked yoga practice has been incorporated in thehippie movement[15] and in progressive settings for well-being, such as at theEsalen Institute in California, and at the Elysium nudist colony in theTopanga Canyon, Los Angeles.[13]
Aaron Star, owner of Hot Nude Yoga, began his version of naked yoga in April 2001. The style combined elements ofAshtanga,Kundalini, and Contact Yoga with elements ofTantra.[16]Because of the success of Hot Nude Yoga, male-only naked yoga groups began to blossom all over the world, from London, Moscow, Madrid to Sydney, often becoming associated with thegay community.[17][18] Nowadays, there are also specific naked yoga clubs for homosexuals that are not simple yoga classes, but rather communities for keeping fit and sharing sexuality.[19] Star says that his practice affords men in cities a way to express closeness and intimacy without having sex.[20]
Schrank writes that "the most press" has gone to Joschi Schwarz and Monika Werner's Bold and Naked studio in New York. It provides classes in tantric massage as well as both male-only and co-ed naked yoga.[13] She praises its "positive coverage" as helping yogis of all kinds to feel good, but is concerned about the contradictory message that yoga is simultaneously "liberating and sexy".[13]
While naked yoga had mainly been the domain of male-only groups, from 2011, courses in Britain and the United States were offered to all genders.[21]
Schrank noted the popularity of naked yoga in 2016, with its simultaneous desire to experience one's own body in freedom, and a "troubling"sexualization of the body in yoga culture. She observed that in the United States, there is a connection between female nudity andslavery, something that has left a racist legacy. Schrank also noted the "uncomfortable" relationship of yoga and sex, not least in scandals ofsexual abuse by yoga gurus, and that feminists have written critiques of the "objectification of young, white women and exclusion of women of color."[13] On the other hand, she praises the naked yoga teacher Katrina "Rainsong" Messenger's bookR.A.W. Nude Yoga: Celebrating the Human Body Temple,[22] featuring monochrome photographs of both men and women, as impressive, tasteful, and sensual but not erotic.[13] Schrank personally tried a naked yoga class in Los Angeles, at first finding it safe and pleasurable because not sexualized, until after two months the experience was spoiled by a class which was sexist and "overtly sexually competitive".[13]
Esalen's naked yoga was depicted in the 1969 comedy filmBob & Carol & Ted & Alice.[23] Other films depicting this include 1967'sI Am Curious (Yellow) withLena Nyman,[24] the 1973 movieThe Harrad Experiment[25] and the 1974 BritishshortDocumentary filmNaked Yoga.[26]
| Nakedness and clothing | |
|---|---|
| Nudity and sexuality | |
| Issues in social nudity | |
| Naturism | |
| Nude recreation | |
| By location | |
| Social nudity advocates | |
| Depictions of nudity | |
| See also | |
| Topics |
|  | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| History |
| ||||||||||||
| Schools (Gurus) |
| ||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||
