Naked yoga has grown in popularity quite a bit since the 1960s when it was first practiced in the West as part of progressive wellbeing programs on the West Coast.

History of Naked Yoga

naked yoga eagle posture

Made famous by the report in the San Franciso Chronicle, naked yoga was a highlighted class offered by the One Taste Urban Retreat Center. At the center yoga teacher Meredith Medland used intuitive body work, hands-on energetic healing therapy, vipasanna practice and sensuality to create “a sacred place where groups of people experienced highly transformational experiencing while tapping into their multi-dimensional energies”, as Medland put it.

In NYC in 1998 a Midnight Yoga for Men group started that included, you guessed it, naked yoga in the style of the sadhus. This naked yoga group inspired many other naked yoga groups to form.

Benefits of Naked Yoga

Along with greater range of motion and freedom of movement, naked yoga allows participants to step outside of society’s dictates for normalcy as well as superficial status symbols of expensive yoga clothing. There are many motivations for participating in naked yoga, chief among them a desire to develop acceptance of the body in its natural state.

Personally, I can relate to the desire to elevate everyone to the same plateau of equality by stripping off clothing and so all external and superficial status symbols. It seems naked yoga could be greatly freeing in both a social sense as well as a shared spiritual sense, yet I have doubts about the primary focus of the average seeker of such non-traditional yoga classes. Unfortunately I believe many are drawn by the prospect of a sexual encounter. That said, as naked yoga become more popular and is offered by community centers and the like, there seem to be corresponding rules of conduct geared to keeping naked yoga a sensual, not sexual, experience.

Who Participates in Naked Yoga?

naked yoga shoulder posture

While naked yoga is not yet quite mainstream, it is growing in popularity as many more yoga studios, community centers and private clubs are offering nude yoga classes.

Naked yoga classes offered at yoga centers are usually mixed gender and tend to focus on the benefits of nude yoga being freedom from confining clothing.

Is Naked Yoga Really Non-Sexual?

Practitioners who insist that naked yoga is non-sexual state freedom from restrictive clothing to be the main purpose. Also, proponents of naked yoga say that being able to see the nude instructor’s exact positioning and muscles being used helps them to model their own movements after correct form.

While there are many mainstream naked yoga classes and popularity of this clothing-free type of yoga continues to grow, where true non-sexual yoga is practiced, this branch of yoga also draws to it those subcultures where exhibitionism and pick-up scenes are the norm.

Are Naked Yoga Classes for Gay People?

The answer is no, but many private clubs offering naked yoga classes tend to cater to gay men. That’s not to say that one must be gay to participate in such classes, just that this is the trend in all-male private club settings where naked yoga is offered.

Whether or not one is interested in private club one-gender naked yoga classes, such classes often include partner work so a certain amount of comfort with touching other naked people of the same sex is required -this alone says something about the non-standard type of naked yoga class, as there are not many non-naked types where such partner work is involved. While most of these private types of gender-specific naked yoga classes are not known to become orgies, it is well known that such classes are commonly regarded as a type of pick-up scene.

How is Naked Yoga Different from Other Yoga Classes?

The style of instruction and yoga traditions explored are as varied as there are yoga types and yoga teachers. One difference is that oftentimes in naked yoga classes the lights are dimmed to help participants feel more comfortable in their nakedness.

Is Naked Yoga for You?

If you feel comfortable with being seen in your natural skin then you’ll feel at home participating in a naked yoga class. If you, like many of us, feel less than comfortable with the idea, rest assured that naked yoga is just the class to participate in if you wish to work on your body image, regardless of your shape, color or size.