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Naked Yoga: A Santuary and Source of Strength
Kevin Brett
I'm not exactly a "new age" kind of guy. My politics are definitely conservative. I have never expressed any interest in yoga or anything remotely touchy-feely. And I am a committed heterophile in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region that celebrates alternative lifestyles.
But in May my beloved wife of more than two decades was diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer.
I never felt so weak and powerless in my life. And yet I needed the physical and mental strength to support my wife, Robin, in her last days of life, care for our teenage daughter and summon the courage to start rebuilding my own life. We were both shocked and stunned and needed to find some way to focus.
Five days later I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about new "naked yoga" classes being offered at the One Taste Urban Retreat Center in San Francisco. Could naked yoga be a temporary sanctuary? Could it clear my mind at least for a little while? Could it be a source of inner strength?
If both genders were not well-represented in the class, I told myself, I was taking the first train back home. If the teacher turned out to be a Birkenstocks-wearing, incense-burning, aging hippie, I wouldn't care if the door hit my backside on the way out. As it turned out, I shouldn't have worried.
What most students seem to worry about in naked yoga is the "naked" part. For others, such as yours truly, it is the needed balance and flexibility. Meredith Medland, 33, was the first to teach Naked Yoga at One Taste. Medland is a very down-to-earth instructor with particular skills at putting her students at ease, while at the same time ensuring that everyone stays on task.
Why naked yoga? The idea was conceived by One Taste's founder Nicole Daedone, who teaches classes on sensuality and communication. Daedone approached Medland and asked her if she was up to actually teaching a nude yoga class.
"We did it on the fly," Medland said. "I am a yoga teacher and this class seemed like a natural progression. I want to teach students to be comfortable in their bodies, to be free in their bodies."
Jessica Hadari, a professional dancer and another yoga instructor at One Taste, said she needed a "good reason" to drive over the Bay Bridge from her East Bay home and naked yoga was that reason. I felt [that] naked yoga, the taking off of clothes, was really exciting," Hadari said. "It is incredibly freeing not to have any constraints. I don't feel any pressure because of the nudity."
Medland recalled how she had to make her own "huge journey" from being a young woman acutely aware of nearly 200 pounds of body weight to one weighing 70 pounds less and moving freely around the studio, teaching her class au naturel.
Medland's first naturist experience occurred on a vacation at Club Orient in St. Martin. "I remember looking at my toenails in the water," Medland said. "It was a moment of enlightenment. The thought of being naked was an obstacle to realizing how we are in our own bodies."
The Naked Yoga Experience
On an average Sunday, about 12 men and seven women gather outside the One Taste studio. Medland starts by asking us to straighten our backs, breathe in deeply and then exhale.
Calmly, she extols the virtues of the body. She asks her class to leave their worries, concerns and life struggles behind. I couldn't forget Robin and her losing fight against cancer, but at least I could concentrate on making a personal journey and on gaining strength and hopefully some wisdom.
We enter the yoga studio and lay out our mats and towels, still clothed except for bare feet. Medland asks us to assume an upright posture and to bring our hands into the classic yoga prayer position. She reminds us that clothes merely house the vessel, the body. And then it is time to remove these clothes.
Within 30 seconds the class is nude. Medland quickly extinguishes any self-confidence issues or meandering eyes with the first of her series of instructions. We start with arm raises and then Medland is calling for hands to touch toes and heads to face knees. The class lets out a loud "whoosh" as air is pushed simultaneously out of nearly 20 pairs of lungs.
Students of all ability levels are represented in this class. Some move effortlessly from one pose to another with incredible dexterity, while others (such as yours truly) are concerned about maintaining sufficient balance to hold the one-legged tree pose, or about pulling muscles that aren't often used. Medland is sensitive to the different skill levels and reminds us not to try to exceed our abilities.
Sweat beads build as the sun pours through the skylights and we move from high plank (a sort of push-up position) to downward dog (an upside-down V) to cobra (flat on our fronts with upper bodies lifted). We repeat this progression. Sometimes Medland commands the class to tighten our abs, squeeze our glutes or to stretch our quads. Any squeamish thoughts about being nude among total strangers are long gone at this point.
Next we lie on our backs, wrap a long strap around the ball of our right foot and pull back on the strap with both hands. Medland commands the class to pull the right leg over the left leg while extending the right arm in the opposite direction. The move produces incredible tension on the largest muscle in the body, the glutes. Next, Medland asks for the right leg to be thrust as far to the right as possible. Then we repeat these movements on the other side. The sequence of yoga poses prompted by Medland and demonstrated by her husband, Ted McElwee, has a purpose: to systematically work virtually every muscle in our bodies while temporarily trying to put aside personal worries and concerns.
Medland then asks each member of the class to rise up and throw the right foot forward with the right knee directly above. The left foot is stretched directly behind the right foot, although it is perpendicular to the right foot. The class leans into this position and thrusts their arms horizontal to the ground, assuming the classic "warrior" position. This may be the testosterone talking but the warrior position feels like the essence of naked yoga. One develops a kinship with the ancient Greek athletes as they competed in the nude. Taking a peak around the room, everyone looks like a classic statue.
As the end of the 90-minute class approaches, Medland provides the students with about five minutes to move as we wish and experiment with any yoga pose that comes to mind. For me, it was an opportunity for at least one more warrior pose.
Finally, Medland asks the class to clothe the vessel, the body, and to appreciate our newfound freedom to enjoy nudity in an urban setting. And then it is over; we roll up our yoga mats and gather our belongings.
My wife, Robin, passed away in her sleep on Sunday, July 10. Obviously, I did not make the naked yoga class that day. Overall, I have participated in more than one dozen Naked Yoga classes at One Taste, and no two classes are the same and each presents unique challenges in terms of strength, balance and flexibility.
Most of all, I know now that naked yoga can provide a temporary escape from the sometimes brutal realities of life. It can also be your safe container. It can be a tremendous source of inner strength as you strike your warrior pose and hope for better days to come.
THE ONE TASTE Urban Retreat Center is located at 1074 Folsom Street, San Francisco, 415-503-1100 or www.onetastesf.com.
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