Article – Naked Yoga
New York Spirit Magazine's Enlightened Sex in the City presents:
Making An Asana of Myself
by LiYana Silver
LiYana Silver explores Yoga in the altogether.
New York Spirit Magazine, December/January 2008
As I get ready for Yoga class, I begin mentally picking out what I am going to wear: are my favorite pants clean? It’s a chilly day, maybe I’ll need an extra layer for warmth?
And then I remember, where I am going, I won’t be needing clothes.
I am off to a naked yoga class, having decided if I am going to write a column on the burgeoning phenomenon, I sure better experience it firsthand. I have no idea what to expect, but I know for sure my bag is lighter that usual.
B.K.S, Iyengar, in his book, Light on Yoga says, “The word Yoga [means] to bind, join, attach and yoke, to direct and concentrate one’s attention on, to use and apply. It also means union and communion. It is the true union of our will with the will of God.”
For most of us, we understand Yoga to be a series of physical postures, designed to enhance strength and flexibility; to foster union between body, mind and spirit; to increase peace and well-being and decrease the physical and mental stress of daily life. Most of us, whether we do it or not, understand why yoga. But not all of us understand why naked.
Because for many of us, nakedness is equated either with the sexual or the shameful. The idea of public nakedness is horrifying, like the dream in which you are running for the school bus only to look down and realize you’ve forgotten your pants. Or nakedness is a way to bring someone down a notch, like thinking of your tyrannical, demanding boss in the buff somehow makes him less intimidating. And for most, women especially, the idea of being naked with strangers, is somewhere between uncomfortable, unfathomable and unconscionable.
I put down my mat, watching the other yogis do the same. I may not be an ideal test case, being a Yoga teacher myself, and having a background as a dancer, which lends me an unusual ease with my physical form. Nonetheless, I am a bit nervous. I haven’t shaved my legs in several days and a spider just recently had two nice nips on my right butt cheek…
One of Naked Yoga NYC’s mottos: “Expose Your Asana!” In their Hatha Vinyasa mixed-level, mixed-gender classes in the Chelsea flatiron district, Naked Yoga NYC consciously removes clothing, thereby removing layers one could hide behind, inviting spiritual nakedness. Naked Yoga NYC invites you to move deeper into who you are, rather than further under the restrictive labels we live with most of the time. “When stripped of clothes,” says teacher and co-founder Britt McMurray, “people are able to let go of judgment, both of themselves and of others.”
As says one avid, 66-year old male student, Sandy Kennedy who was part catalyst and part glue for the current incarnation of Naked Yoga NYC, “Yoga is about the body, about body awareness, body acceptance. All of that is enhanced when one is naked.”
For the other founder and teacher of Naked Yoga NYC, Isis Phoenix, it all started on her Yoga mat, one morning when she didn’t bother to get dressed before starting her practice. She had a sudden perspective on herself and her body that she’d never received before, and thought, “Why isn’t everybody doing this?” She started to do research, to see if there were any classes offered. What she found was targeting a mostly male gay population, and since she was excluded from both of those categories, she decided to start her own. She also wanted a class that would be non-sexualized, inviting rather than exclusive, and a space to celebrate one’s body and one’s yoga practice.
Some classes incorporate conscious disrobing, starting the process of mindfulness: noticing what thoughts and emotions come up and being with all of it, wholly and completely. Some classes start perfunctorily in the nude, acknowledging that this is how we were born, in fact we are naked under our clothes all the time anyway, so let’s just get to our practice.
I start taking off my clothes. I hope none of these guys get the wrong idea. I hope they’re not checking me out, except maybe for the only thing I am still wearing – my engagement ring.
Naked Yoga NYC creates a space where it is understood that nakedness is not an invitation to sex. In light of the shame, fear and guilt held so often in the body, students can experience being naked together as a sharing of vulnerability that enhances the meaning of the yogic experience.
However, in Naked Yoga NYC classes there are about twice as many men than women, whereas most clothed Yoga classes are predominantly women. The assumption is that what draws men is the promise of seeing women in naked pretzel shapes, and for some this may indeed be true. And perhaps part of the reason fewer women are drawn to Naked Yoga NYC is that they are not that enthused about the idea of doing downward dog with some leering guy behind her. To which Sandy says, “This is a challenging class, and anyone looking at someone else in Yoga will fall down. It’s about acceptance; it’s not a sexual environment. I hate to admit it, but I am harmless!”
I generally don’t make much eye contact in yoga class. But I notice here that my usual diagonally-downward gaze puts me right at crotch level, so I go about adjusting that.
Naked Yoga NYC instructors are well versed in modalities of awakening and healing sexual energy; they acknowledge that our natural state is one of sexually functional, and therefore their classes tap into all the energies of the body, not just the sexual. Although the class is decidedly not sexual, it can greatly enhance the sensual. A regular female student, Abigail Ekue-Smith, feels more comfortable in Naked Yoga NYC classes than in clothed ones. For Abigail, doing yoga naked is just easier and simpler. She’d love to see more women in the classes, since they are the population, she notes, that have the most trouble taking off their clothes. “I describe myself as sensuous, I see things and smell them so clearly, I have heightened enjoyment of food, creativity, music.” For Abigail, there is a correlation between how deeply she experiences her sensual life and her comfort in her body. “I am an example that it is possible and I want the same for my sisters.”
I have to say it’s nice to feel the air on my skin, to feel my muscles and sinews stretch without any extra coverings.
As Isis says, “This is what we really look like, this is who we really ARE; we assume all these identities, we dress ourselves up in certain ways, but until we can adjust our inner outfit, our outer outfit isn’t always integrated in our truth.”
Naked Yoga is a practice that brings everything up – from nervousness about uninvited erections, to being on a moon cycle, to air being suddenly dispelled from the vaginal cavity. But bodies are not judged or shamed, simply celebrated; and in the process people are supported in healing from abuse and body issues, while greatly strengthening their yoga practices. Amazing things can happen when students experience that they do not need to hide their imperfections from each other; they find that, in accepting others, they accept themselves.
Although respectful and celebratory of the individual, this class, unlike some Yoga classes, is not isolating. With its sense of sub-culture and devoted regulars, Naked Yoga NYC is a small but certain community. Nakedness, something that can initially brings fear and trepidation becomes something that connects people, brings them closer, and eases the ability to communicate. Everyone is doing Yoga, being Yoga. As Isis says, “Nakedness is the great equalizer.”
It is first strange to take off my clothes with strangers, but it becomes strangely normal, easy and comfortable.
A large part of what inspired Naked Yoga NYC founders was the observation of how body and image conscious we are, especially in the West, how we attempt to live up to unattainable physical models, and they wanted to create a medium to help move past this. Everybody has a body, they ascertain, and they should all be celebrated, each unique, divine form. As Isis says, “We so often live our lives from the neck up and do not engage the body or breath consciously or holistically. Once you can do this, you can do anything!”
I think fondly about other brave things I’ve done: skydiving, climbing volcanoes, healing from anorexia, scuba diving, walking on hot coals, sitting joyfully with a Zen master for 6 weeks…
Some of the ultimate expressions of Yoga practice are liberation and bliss; moving through our self-consciousness into universal consciousness. For Naked Yoga, this is a movement about bodily reawakening, unconditional love, healing the divine feminine energy that has been wounded over the years; it is about moving toward men and women being equals, toward world peace. Increasingly, encouraged by the safety of the classes, more and more women attend, both the co-ed classes and the monthly all-women, goddess-centered classes. There is also a regular benefit class, where a portion of proceeds go to a charity that supports body-positive images, like the Muse Foundation, Safer Sex in the City, or Women for Women.
Isis describes Yoga as the experiential state of being whole, missing nothing. When I asked her one of her most profound moments, she says, “I remember one day in class when a Hasidic Jew took off all clothes and got slowly into downward dog, I wanted to cry.” Sandy draws inspiration from an extremely physically handicapped student who came regularly for two years, despite his inability to do most poses. For Isis, who grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, strapped into the bible belt, the strict conformity mentality she grew up with would stamp Naked Yoga NYC as not just taboo but something obscene. Of her long-term goals she says, “When these classes are in Tulsa, and when my Mom takes one, that’s when I’ll roll up my mat and do something else!”
I put my clothes back on, pack up my matt, and me and my body re-enter the world as one.
—–
LiYana Silver, CHC, RYT is a relationship counselor, teacher and contributing columnist to New York Spirit. Visit her website at: www.redefiningmonogamy.com. For more information about Naked Yoga NYC: www.nakedyoganyc.com. Since class location is kept private, to RSVP for a class: 646-460-9397 or info@nakedyoganyc.com.
