Excerpt from my upcoming book - RAW Nude Yoga: Celebrating the Human Body Temple

Why Nude Yoga? I find that practicing yoga nude provides a new experience and knowledge of your body. This is specially so in a group class setting. So often we fear being seen naked. Often were afraid well be seen as ugly, and therefore be rejected or ridiculed. Were also just as likely to fear being seen as beautiful and being objectified by anothers lustful thoughts. In both viewpoints were objectifying ourselves. We break ourselves down to just a body; an aesthetic image. Nude yoga defies aesthetics. Its not about how each pose looks or how you look on the mat. Its about how and what you feel as you move through the practice. Yoga reminds us that our bodies are living temples. They are sacred places of learning; vehicles for gathering information and experience. Practicing nude allows us to feel our bodies in this honored context. So often we are only nude to bathe, be examined by a doctor or to engage sexual activity. To feel our own nudity in a non-sexual, non-medical construct can be new and very healing. To perceive other peoples nudity in a non-sexual setting can be healing not only for the individual, but also for the collective. It can open the pathway for feelings of similarity, equality and compassion. In a nude yoga class it doesnt matter how much money you spent on your yoga pants or what label is on your shirt of sweat-wicking fabric. Its of no consequence if you went to a boutique or if you bought them at a department store for ten dollars. All those social cues are gone. We leave our uniforms and masks at the door. However rather than just getting naked right away, I remove my clothes gradually throughout the session. I do this both in my personal practice, alone in my home studio; as well as when I am teaching class. One reason is to keep my muscles warm; as its best not to stretch cold tissue. This is a holdover from my dance background. The other reason is that I view my disrobing as a symbolic act. I am shedding my layers, letting go of pieces of myself, pieces of my ego, my projections. Im slowly stripping down to the bare minimum, to me. To whom I was the day I was born. I encourage my students to do the same; to get down to the essence of their Selves. When were all down to our essential components; body, breath, being, the illusion of separation begins to fade. This illusion is referred to in the Yoga Sutras as Maya. This is the idea that wereall alone in the world and separate. Those feelings start to fade as we take down some of our layers, our boundaries. Soon theres nothing left but the boundaries of our own skin. And skin is porous, breathing and permeable. Nude yoga allows your whole body to breathe; to feel the air on every inch of your skin. It allows you to indulge in your physical perceptions. And, while it is sensual, it need not be erotic. In practice we consciously engage all of our senses, all of our chakras, our entire being. Your souls experience of physicality is the yin/yang of the spiritual and tangible, the ecstatic and the mundane. And when you can feel the breath of everyone around you passing over you; feel your whole body breathing, thats when you begin to feel the connection. This is the union that we seek through the practice of yoga. The illusion of separation disintegrates and you can see yourself in the people around you. When you recognize that everyone is a reflection of yourself, you no longer fear being seen.