Shedding Clothes and Fears

Humans wear clothing for a wide range of reasons. Most importantly, clothes protect our bodies from extreme weather by keeping us warm in the winter and protect our skin from the Sun in the summer. Those are great reasons drape our bodies in fabric. Unfortunately, there are other reasons people cover our bodies that are less healthy. For example, we also cover our bodies due to body shame, fear of intimacy, nervousness about sexuality and a host of things we would be better off not having in our lives.

Fear of being naked around other people is common, highly personalized and comes in many forms. Some people are mildly uncomfortable with disrobing in front of others, while others can become practically paralyzed with dread at the idea.

Fear of nudity, either your own or other peoples’, is called Gymnophobia, which can also include an irrational anti-nudity bias. According to DoveMed, and others, there are three primacy causes of this irrational fear:

• Cultural or societal influences: Growing up in an environment that stigmatizes nudity or places emphasis on modesty can contribute to the development of Gymnophobia

• Personal experiences: Traumatic or embarrassing experiences involving nudity, such as public humiliation or body shaming, may increase the likelihood of developing Gymnophobia

• Body image issues: Individuals with underlying body image concerns or negative body perceptions may be more susceptible to developing Gymnophobia

It is worth pointing out that all of these factors are the result of learned behavior, various forms of social programming that result from living in societies that too often send the message that bodies are dirty, sinful, naughty and shameful. It can also result from societies that promote unrealistic expectations for what our bodies should look like. Unfortunately, in much of the modern world, people live in societies that constantly dish out heavy doses of both of those messages, resulting in Gymnophobia being one of the most common irrational fears.

Naked yoga instructors world-wide understand this, because, in part, we see a steady stream of potential new students who contact us, wanting to come to a naked yoga class, but who are fearful of doing so. The concerns expressed run the gamete between fear of being rejected by a room full of perfectly formed bodies because their own body isn’t perfect, to being afraid of getting sexually aroused in front of the group (the dreaded yoga boner). None of the worries have any basis in reality.

Yes. Some men sometimes get erections during yoga. But, no one cares. No yoga room is filled with “perfect pornstar bodies.” They are filled with normal, everyday humans whose bodies may not look like pornstars, but that are perfect in their own ways. And, no one gets shamed or rejected because of what their body looks like.

These irrational fears that many (most) people have about getting naked in front of other people help to explain the sense of freedom and liberation many people feel when they get up the nerve to embrace social nudity, because the act of shedding fears is freeing and liberating, just ask any sky diver or rock climber.

And, while taking a naked yoga class might not seem as extreme as jumping out of a plane, they are connected in various ways, most importantly because psychologists say that the more we learn to overcome fears, the easier it is for us to overcome other fears. Taking some risks, even if is as simple as getting naked for yoga, helps us to become better at conquering our other fears, and, therefore, makes our lives better.