Naked Yoga and Other Exercises In Nakedness

       Naked yoga has arrived in Columbus, Ohio, and according to a September 13 article in the Metro section of the Columbus Dispatch,  in at least three different yoga studios taking it all off is really taking off.
     The purpose of naked yoga is the shedding of negative body image and developing a sense of freedom, confidence and self-acceptance, certainly all good outcomes.
    As several of us members of the Panera Posse are yoga aficionados,  we got to discussing the subject of  yoga in the buff.

     Our general reaction to the concept was, in a word, "ick".  In two words, "No way!!!"  One member of our group, however, a medical practitioner who looks at unclothed body parts all day long, was more nonchalant about the idea,  pointing out that we all have pretty much the same equipment.  Her objection to naked yoga was not so much that it was naked as that it was yoga, she being a tai chi gal.
     But after I'd thought about it for a while, it occurred to me that, even when practiced clothed, there's an element of nakedness to yoga, to walking into a class in yoga gear that doesn't look as good on all of us as it does on these youngsters,

​...in tandem with the poses,

...at which some are more accomplished  and look better doing than others, and that, even when practiced covered up, reveal every hill and  valley of one's body shape,

,....while one attempts stretches and balance exercises that require much practice and skill,

​...and that might well result in a clumsy or failed attempt.

     On the other hand, the point of yoga, clothed or unclothed,  is not to be watching what anybody else looks like or is doing and the only thing we're supposed to be focusing on is a point on the floor.
     "Leave your ego outside,"  says my yoga teacher, who also reminds us to refrain from judgement and, in fact, all thought. "For the next hour leave your mind between the last thought and the next thought," he often says.
      And so for the true practitioner of yoga under the correct guidance of a good teacher, clothed or unclothed should be irrelevant.
      And when you think of it, when everybody's naked then nobody is.  In fact the worst kind of nakedness has to be feeling alone, different, vulnerable, left out,  judged or laughed at by people who, in truth, are using their judgement of you to clothe and cover up  their own feeling of nakedness.     
      As for me,  I'd find it far and away easier to do naked yoga in a class than to sit alone in front of a audience and perform a piano piece, as I'll have to do next Thursday at my students' recital.

Reference:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/09/13/1-naked-yoga-participants-cite-feeling-empowered-shedding-body-image-shame.html