It is Friday night, and the air is frigid. Torrents of rainwater are finding the gutters, and the streets are sparse of New Yorkers. As I exit the subway near Herald Square I can see my destination two blocks down the street. The heavily veiled windows of the fourth floor studio create a sense of privacy, a comfortable environment for escape. I cross the street, and approach the front door of the building. As I reach out to press the respective buzzer a woman pushes her way in front of me to press her respective buzzer as well, the second floor. And there we waited. I never figured out who was buzzed in first, but the woman entered before me followed closely behind by her female companion. We ascend from the ground floor, spiraling upwards, three hands lightly grasping the weathered wooded railing. One flight, and on the second the women abruptly come to a halt. They have reached their destination, Chelsea Nails. It is filled with all sorts of women—old, young, beautiful, those wishing to be beautiful, all of them indulging in some “me-time”. With a clear path now ahead of me, I follow the always welcoming, yet simple paper sign at the bottom of the fourth flight; black text on a white piece of paper, stating “yoga this way”, with an upward arrow penciled in providing clarification. I reach the fourth floor, and make my way towards the plain, unmarked door immediately across from the stairs. As I approach, the door opens, as if I am expected. “You must have ran up those stairs quickly”, Mark commented as he appeared on the other side of the threshold. “Or maybe that was someone else I just buzzed in.” As I enter the studio, Mark greets me with a warm, prolonged hug.

The room in which we are standing is comfortable—lights dimmed, an aged wooden floor, exposed brickwork. It is a studio split into two sections with a dividing wall, one part being the yoga space, and the other a kind of small foyer. On one side of the room is a series of cubbies for belongings—jeans, shirts, belts, underwear, socks, and shoes, while the other side of the space includes a coat rack for articles requiring hanging. “So you’re probably wondering when to take your clothes off,” Mark says, immediately confronting the source of my anticipation. Mark must have taken notice of my lack of direction, and nervousness as I looked around the room. One thing in particular did catch my attention however, a small wooden statue of a naked man in a sitting pose with a massive erection. “Take your time. You are welcome to keep your clothes over here,” he pointed towards the cubbies, “and once you are undressed please make your way into the studio.” It is funny watching other students take off their clothes. Some do it quickly, while others take their time. Some will take off their shirt, then use the restroom, or take the extra time to fold it perfectly. These people will take off one article of clothing at a time as if it is an art. Others whip off their shirts, and then their pants in underwear in one fluid motion. They are then left in their socks, and remove them from their feet as if they are restricting their freedom. Students also act differently as they enter the studio space where the yogis set up their mats. Some will sit down on their mats, layback and close their eyes in meditation. Other students will sit upright, and stretch assessing the other students in the room, or engaging in brief conversation. These students will gaze around possibly making eye contact with others and smiling. This process can be important in knowing whom to pick as a partner later in the class, if the teacher suggests partner poses. There is really no one-way to begin a nude yoga class at Hot Nude Yoga. Setting my forest green yoga mat against the wall, I remove my jacket, hanging it up on one of the many available hangers. Mark has begun to greet a couple other students who have just buzzed in, and walked up the stairs. My heart is racing, and I feel like the world is going to come closer to the end as I get closer to full exposure. I hesitate for a while, but eventually take off a shoe—one down six more articles of clothing to go. Then another shoe, a couple socks, heart racing and my shirt is folded, placed on the shelf. I unbuckle my belt, proceeding to slide off my jeans and underwear in one fluid motion.

“Full nakedness! All my joys are due to thee, as souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be, to taste whole joys.”
-John Donne

I feel uncomfortably exposed, yet liberated at the same time, mostly uncomfortably exposed however. The other students who arrived after me have begun to undress as well. I make eye contact with Mark, and he smiles. These people I have never met are seeing me completely naked, the purest form of myself. I have no shield to hide behind, and no form of expression but my own body and mind. All that is left is my yoga practice, a wonderful community, and I.

“Clothing is armor”, says Aaron, the founder of Hot Nude Yoga. “Yoga is about disseminating the ego. Doing yoga naked takes this process to a whole new level because our suffering stems from our relationship to our image of ourselves. When you remove a layer of that image, you just get closer to who you truly are.”

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Aaron Star—former scuba instructor, and avid yogi since 1991—awaits the arrival of his students. His close friend is in the room with him, for support. Aaron is nervous. Today is the first class at his new studio, Hot Nude Yoga. He hears some students enter the space downstairs. His nerves have not subdued, and Aaron asks his friend to go downstairs to greet them. Aaron tries to collect himself, taking some deep breaths, in and out. He is already unclothed, and assumes Savasana, corpse pose, as he lies down on his mat. Aaron closes his eyes, keeping them closed as the new students come up the stairs, undress, and find places for their mats around the studio. Some time has passed, and Aaron finally opens his eyes, feeling collected. “As I sat up and turned around, to my deep and utter surprise, I saw that the room was filled with eighteen beautiful men. That moment will remain with me for a very long time.” His anxieties melted away as he began to teach his first class of many to come.

The studio at the Chelsea location was founded in 2001, and has grown more and more popular in the gay community ever since. Aaron didn’t come to New York City to open a nude yoga studio however. “I wanted to come to New York to teach yoga”, says Aaron, “and to start a yoga career, or business. I wanted to teach privately, and when I came to New York I realized I needed to create some other sources of revenue, and develop a client base.” He knew that yoga classes were a great way to do this, and everything fell into place in “a kind of progression”. First came the idea of yoga classes in a studio. Next, came the specific demographic the classes would be aimed towards—gay men. At this point, Aaron knew that he wanted to develop a series of classes that would appeal to gay men specifically. He also knew that nudity would be a way to approach this, as it was something different, that most other yoga studios do not offer.

However, the concept behind Hot Nude Yoga has developed into much more than a business venture. Aaron liked the idea of opening a studio directed specifically at men because he feels that celebration of masculinity is important, and that it has been sterilized in today’s world. This celebration of masculinity is not “in a sense of beating drums, and having fire rituals, but more in a sense of appreciation of the male archetype. Aaron feels that the connection between men, and other men has been present throughout history. And that it has modernly began to deteriorate. “Throughout history there has always been a celebration of masculinity. You know, through the games, or through sport, even war. There was always a camaraderie that happened between men, a deep familiarity that happens naturally, organically.” Now, the bonding between boys is even absent in the American school system. “You know, the boys would shower together with the boys. The YMCA even used to demand that people were naked when they swim because swimming wear was unhygienic. It was mandatory nudity. There is a lot of perversion that has happened in our culture,” says Aaron.

“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.”
-Katharine Hepburn

“It is this perversion that has taken away from the bonding experience between boys, who are now very isolated. Now, everything is very sterile, very proper.” Aaron is very negative about the absence of the community, and connection men used to share so frequently. He says, “The connection is there because we’re men, and intrinsically yearning for that connection. I don’t think it’s a sexual thing, maybe it’s a little bit of an erotic thing, but I think we have sterilized the camaraderie that used to exists in Ancient Times, and a little bit throughout the ages. That connection, that aspect, I think that men are craving for that connection, the connection to the masculine archetype to be nurtured even more.”

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I am alone on the other side of the divider in the yoga space as I roll out my yoga mat and lay down onto the floor in Savasana. This position is rejuvenating, and often used to begin, and end a yoga practice. My arms are away from my torso at a forty-five degree angle, palms up, and my legs slightly apart drifting over to either side. I can feel a release of tension from my shoulders, and hips as I sink into the wooden floorboards beneath my mat. Thoughts make their way in and out of consciousness. I think about the nail salon. Are they aware of the room filled with naked yogis two floors above? Why am I here? I’m naked? My penis is out there for the whole room to see, and I am not enjoying it. Savasana is meant to be relaxing, but at my first nude yoga class it was merely a way for me to become immersed in my wandering thoughts of nudity anxiety.

I hear the buzzer, and someone has arrived. After greeting Mark the man becomes visible through the space on the side of the room divider. He places his shirt on the shelf above my own clothes. He is shirtless, his toned yogi body glowing in the therapeutic lighting coming in through the curtained windows. He unbuckles his belt, and slips off his jeans and underwear placing both on the shelf. I am no longer in Savasana, but now sitting up on my mat. Not wanting to be obvious, I take a twist in his direction as if stretching, concurrently watching the man as he casually strolls towards me—mat under right arm, water bottle in hand. His body is toned, he is attractive, and seeing him naked sends my mind racing. Rolling out his mat on the floor next to me, the man arranges himself with his legs straight out in front, and begins to stretch. When someone walks into the room it is as if everyone notices, but doesn’t at the same time, a kind of passive noticing.

He moves as if clothed, confident with every aspect of his body: spreading his legs while reaching for opposite feet, laying flat in Savasana, and going through a couple flows—stand up, touch toes, hands on the ground, jump feet back, lower down to the ground with elbows at sides, keep legs on ground while pushing up through the arms, slide into downward dog keeping spine extended, jump feet forward, come up into a half-lift, bring the upper body into standing, and repeat. I watch him go through his flows. His body is beautiful, and I cannot help but admire him. It was clear that a lot of work had gone into sculpting each muscle to be aesthetically pleasing. Something I wouldn’t have noticed if he were clothed.

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“The only time nudity really becomes distracting is when somebody comes into the room that somebody or some people feel are really attractive. But I think it would still be distracting even if they were clothed”, says Aaron. “When I am in a clothed class, or a naked class, and someone attractive walks in, someone hot, or good-looking, it is distracting for me, but I just make it a part of my practice.” The classes are very sensual, as yoga in general is very sensual. “I don’t believe that most people think about the naked people in the room the whole time, or themselves being naked. I think it’s an issue for about thirty seconds, maybe a little longer, and then it’s completely forgotten,” comments Aaron.

Flowing from pose to pose, feeling the slightest movement in the fingertip, the smallest twitch of a muscle. Yoga trains the mind to pay attention to these often-unnoticed details, and is very interested in raising energy in the body. But when nudity is a factor, how is the line drawn between what is sensual and sexual? For a red-haired New Yorker whose name is undisclosed, “sensuality exists when there is an awareness of the body, and an appreciation of its movements and its existence within space.” This exists between two people when both, “are aware of one another and are sensitive to their shared physical presence.” In her opinion, the experience turns sexual when, “there is an attitude of invitation present. Its sexual when one or more parties view it in a context that turns to more of an erotic focus.” She further related this to the concept of nude yoga stating, “I think nude yoga can be sensual if that is the shared attitude, but once you get someone in the group who views the experience as one to make sexually stimulating connections, the entire dynamic shifts.”

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Waiting for Mark to begin class the two of us wait. I am stretching as he is finishing his flows. A few other men enter the space are setting up their mats wherever there is room. It is at this moment that my anxiety begins to rise again. Eyes are wandering, and I feel a clear sexual tension in the room. The man next to me, who I had been watching, is looking at me and I turn to face him. Our eyes meet. His smile is warm, and melts my anxiety away. He initiates conversation, and we casually speak, looking each other in the eyes. His name is Mike, and he took the train all the way from Boston for tonight’s class. “Three and a half hours by train, but totally worth it,” he says. As Mark enters the space, and begins to roll out his mat on the floor, I confess to Mike that this is my first time at Hot Nude Yoga. He asks me where I was from. “I’m from Switzerland, but my family lives near Detroit now,” I say. Mike tells me that if I was ever looking for a nude yoga studio in Michigan there is one in Ann Arbor. “It’s a small community, so when someone new shows up it is very exciting for everyone.” He travels a lot, and tries to find a nude studio wherever he goes.

As we are speaking, Mike wraps his arms around his leg bringing his knee into his chest. The ceiling fans are on, countering the dry heat that is blasting out of the two space heaters located on opposite sides of the room. Though the air is hot whenever the heater rotates to face our direction, the fans produce a consistent breeze, as they rotate back and fourth. The other men in the class are casually stretching as well—knees into chests, downward dog, reaching for toes, the occasional comment, or question. “I like being naked for my yoga practice,” says Mike, “it makes me feel more grounded, and I am less easily distracted.” With this last word, Mark sits down on his mat, asking all six men in the room to follow suit.

Following Mark’s instructions we move into child’s pose—shins pressing into the floor, thighs stacked on top of calves, and torso resting on thighs, arms extended. Rhythmic breathing to keep the mind focused. Eyes are closed.

I am lying on my mat, stomach down, hands planted into the ground at either side of my chest. Pushing downward, I pull myself into downward dog—hands and feet rooted firmly into the ground, spine extended—my body is an upside-down V. “You’re a tall man Alex”, says Mark. He stands behind me placing his hands on either side of my hips, pulling backwards. My weight shifts into my legs, and Mark’s adjustment elongates my spine. “Use your height, take advantage of it!” He walks around my mat, kneeling in front of me. I raise my head to see what he is doing. “Relax your neck, you need to spread your finger, and really push into the floor beneath you. Really push and extend your spine.” He places his hands on top of mine, applying pressure, grounding me even more firmly into the floorboards. Mark runs his hand along my spine as he stands up, a tingling sensation, and walks back towards the front of the space. The six of us, with Mark leading, come out of downward dog bringing our knees to the floor, and hands to hips. “Bring your arms up above your head, and lean to the right”. I do so, feeling a deep stretch in my side oblique, below my ribs. “The tiny muscles between the ribs are difficult to reach. Feel your ribs growing further apart.” Mark encourages us to sink deeper into the bend. “Imagine a Dallas barbecue—all of the ribs you’d be eating—all of those tiny muscles in between.” He laughs, “I’m sorry if there are any vegetarians in the room.”

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A public shower in Denmark, and men are naked, showering in the company of other men. No shame; it is okay to be naked as nudity is natural. Aaron is in support of this “natural state”, and is highly critical of the changes that have been occurring in countries such as Denmark, and Sweden. With the onset of Islam, mentions Aaron, in these countries, places that were once carefree, and open when it came to nudity, a sense of shame concerning the human form has begun to develop.

“Because there is very little honor left in American life, there is a certain tendency to destroy masculinity in the American man.”
-Norman Mailer

Aaron refers to Islam as, “one of the detriments of our society”, specifically because of it’s views of modesty in regard to covering of the body. “It’s starting to happen especially in the younger generation [of countries such as Denmark and Sweden]. It’s starting to spread all over the place.” Islam is becoming more common throughout the world, and public showers are beginning to be replaced by their private, shameful, counterparts. This is quite contrasting to the mission statement of Hot Nude Yoga.

When Aaron first opened Hot Nude Yoga, he wanted to establish a community of no shame, and to make nudity a very natural thing. “There’s a lot of shame in men, and Hot Nude Yoga takes away that shame”, he says. “It’s ok to be naked. It’s ok to be naked, and erect. It’s ok to touch each other. It’s ok to be intimate with other men, and it’s not necessarily a sexual thing. This is the premise for the space that we hold.”

But what do non-nude yoga practitioners think the importance of same-sex bonding as a value, and of group nudity? Julie, a resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn says, “Sharing something as basic as a gender similarity creates an understanding on an elemental, physical, and primary level.” She also agrees that, “there is a gender standard where woman are allowed to be more physically expressive with one another than men.”

Essentially, she thinks, this “allowance” boils down to the idea that men are traditionally the sexual aggressors comparatively to women.”

Julie would do anything “that doesn’t compromise her character”, and would definitely give it a try. She does feel, however, that she would be distracted throughout a nude class by thoughts of others viewing her body, and how she measured up. “I see how it could be an incredibly freeing experience…when you finally let all those petty concerns go. But in a society so dominated and irrevocably linked to the glorification of the ideal human form, it’s hard to liberate your mind from such worries.”

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I feel a space between my ribs, an openness that wasn’t present before. My breathing has become rhythmic, four seconds in, four seconds out, although I have stopped counting. I make my way into downward dog, and flow into a lunge, the muscles of my hip pulling, almost straining, and trying to release. I sink deeper into the pose, and hold my breath as the intensity of the stretch increases. “Don’t hold your breath, Alex”, says Mark. “Breath into the pose, sink yourself deeper, and keep yourself relaxed.” He makes his way over to my mat, swinging his arms calmly at his sides as he strolls. “Relax your shoulders.” He stands behind me as I am lunging, placing his hands at the base of my neck on either side. His hands are warm, and slip over the sweat that has gathered all over my body. “Release the tension.” He massages my shoulders, and I forget how to hold tension. The tightness in my shoulders fades, as they sink into correct posture. I am more relaxed than ever, my lunge is sinking deeper. My knee touches the ground, as my hip is releasing further. Mark is still massaging, and I have become erect from the stimulation. I’m aware of my erection, but my eyes are closed, and I am trying not to think about it. My heart begins to race, and my nerves skyrocket at my display of masculinity. I am embarrassed, but trying not to show it. My eyes open, and my eyes dart around to the other yogis in the room—most eyes are closed, and no one has reacted. It is only an erection. There is one man however, who is looking at me, and in response he slowly becomes erect as well. He closes his eyes, and that is all. For one student, an erection “is kind of like a side-effect.” He says, “There is a distinct aspect of touch as a special way to connect [in the Hot Nude Yoga classes], but that’s the sole focus rather than getting off.” In the classes, erections come and go, sometimes often, sometimes never. There is no pressure to have one, and no condemnation if a man does get hard.

We continue through the flow, moving into a lunge on the other side. As I swing my leg out in front—thigh parallel with the ground, foot firmly planted—I feel the unevenness in my hips: one is loose, the other quite tight. They begin to even out as I sink deeply into the “other” side. “A lot of emotion is stored in the hips”, says Mark. “When this part of the body is released these stored feelings can arise. Just be aware of it, and let it pass.”

The class progresses, continuous flows, adjustments facilitated by Mark. We make our way into sitting, and Mark asks each of us to find a partner. Mike had told me earlier that partnering was an option in the classes. “I’d like to say that I pick blindly, but that would be a total lie”, said Mike in conversation after class. He “tends to go more for people whom [he] finds attractive.” An undistinguishable feature for him is how the other parts of his prospective partner’s practice have gone.” He keeps an eye out during class in order to determine if partnering with someone will be mutually beneficial. When Mike attended his first class, he chose not to partner at all. He was uncomfortable with the idea, but did decide to try out partner yoga at his following class.

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“Partner yoga is a way to deepen your practice both spiritually, physically, and mentally. Everything just becomes amplified when you’re with a partner,” says Aaron. “Your breathing becomes amplified, your energy becomes amplified, and your posture can deepen. Partner yoga can amplify everything if it is done correctly, and properly.” The partnering experience at Hot Nude Yoga can vary from person to person however. For most it depends on who they are paired with. If the respective partner is someone attractive, in the opinion of the yogi of course, the practice can have more of an erotic, sensual feel. A deep connection can be felt if both yogis are benefiting from the experience. If the partner is not found to be attractive, the experience is often used to deepen further into one’s own personal experience—the stretch, the concentration, and self-awareness, while still being a good partner. If there is an attraction however, energy really begins to rise, and a trust, and companionship can be formed. It is about connection, but two people paired together may not necessarily feel this between each other. Mike says that no matter who he is partnered with, he “makes it a good experience for both, and respects his partner’s practice.”

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Touch is a form of communication. I immediately look towards Mike, and he raises his eyebrows, and smiles in a friendly manner. “What do you think?” he asks. “Don’t be nervous, it’s completely up to you.” Even the idea of partnering with another nude yogi is causing my knees to shake. I wonder, what am I actually agreeing to?

We agree to use my mat, and Mike makes himself comfortable sitting across from me, legs crossed. We are staring into each other’s eyes, and I am shaking. Mike puts a hand on my knee, “It’s alright, don’t be nervous”. Everyone in the class has a partner, and Mark is left to instruct us through this sequence of the class, the intricate descriptions begin. “So, first decide who will go first.” I look at Mike, and gesture that I will take the lead, for what, I do not know. “Ok, so whoever has decided to go first, stand up, and the partner on the ground lay down in Savasana—arms and legs relaxed, out to the sides.” Mark continued with descriptions of what to do, and I followed. As Mike lay on his mat I picked up his left leg, and pushed it into a ninety-degree angle with the ground, my body resting against his hamstring, calf, resting my forearms on the arches of his feet. I lean forward until he tells me to stop. I am unsure of where to look. Should we hold eye contact? Is this the more “sensual” thing to do? Is it weird if my penis is touching the back of his leg? What is weird about it though, it’s all the same skin, right? My thoughts begin to wander, and I can’t help but to fantasize where the poses could go. This naturally results in an erection. I am standing above Mike, and he is gazing upwards. I feel surprisingly comfortable as we hold the pose for a few minutes. I feel his muscles loosen, and he closes his eyes, and focuses on his breathing. The poses continue in this manner—using the weight of the partner to push stretches further, going beyond what could be accomplished in an individual practice.

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We continue through the partner poses, and once the anxiety of touching another naked man subsides, the experience becomes pure. I can’t say if everyone in the room is feeling the same, but I felt a deep connection with Mike, a connection I believe could not have been reached in any other way, a trust. I feel sexually aroused; yet have no intention of initiating any sexual action. The focus of the class is on the connection, an exploration of this sexual energy. The two of us have shared the purest aspects of our bodies with each other, and both became slightly aroused, though just noticed the sensations and let them pass. The poses brought up energy, a specific kind of energy. Aaron does not like to use the word sexual when referring to the energy that is raised in a yoga class because the classes, which his studio teaches, do not involve sexual intercourse. This tends to be the assumption that people make. In yoga, “energy is energy”, says Aaron. “It doesn’t matter if it’s sexual, creative, or physical. There’s no differentiation with sexual energy and the energy it takes to build a house. The definition of a yogi is one whose spine is filled with light, or filled with energy. What is this energy? It’s primal sexual energy. But you can’t really say that because people really have no understanding [of energy in the body]. They’re thinking is too small, and they’re thinking is perverted. People think they have to have sex, and this is completely the wrong idea.”

A friend of Aaron’s took a yoga teacher training course, and was shocked when her instructor used the word “sensual” to describe the practice. “Are you kidding me?” says Aaron. “We have become so sanitized that we can’t use the word sensual? We’re sensual beings!” According to Aaron, the energy that all yoga teachers are concerned with raising in a class is “raw, sexual energy”. This does not mean sex, however, maybe passion, heat, “the fire inside”. It is really all the same thing.

In some ways the marketing of Hot Nude Yoga does scream sex. The website is adorned with full nudity, and Aaron sells DVD’s of his classes with titles such as “Afternoon Delight”, and “Tantric Erotic Flow”. In this sense, a purely sexual experience may be what draws some people to the classes rather than the opportunity for a “raw” spiritual practice. It really depends on the individual, and what he is ultimately looking for. Aaron finds that the studio attracts a diverse group of men, yet they all hold “a similar thread”. He says, “There’s something that’s very similar about most people that come”, yet he cannot quite put a finger on what this similar aspect actually is.

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The last partner pose is restful—no intense stretches, no bending. Mike and I are back-to-back, sitting on my mat. Our spines are aligned, and I can feel my partner’s rib cage expanding as he deeply inhales. Legs are crossed, hands palm up on knees. We take a few deep breaths together, in and out, in and

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September 2010

Naked yoga may sound more porno-hot than couple-friendly to you and your hunk. Classes do, after all, feature you stretching unclothed among undressed, flexible studs. However, naked yoga emphasizes practice, spirit and self-esteem over horny, hung hotties. In other words, more downward-facing dog than going down.

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