Nude Yoga: What It Is, Why People Do It and How to Find a Class

What happens in a nude yoga class?

The same as in any yoga class. You arrive dressed, undress in the room or a changing area, lay your own towel on the mat and follow the teacher through the sequence. Teachers are usually nude too. Classes are often small, and many studios run men-only, women-only and mixed sessions so that people can choose what they are comfortable with.

Every reputable class has a code of conduct: no touching other students, no photos or phones, no sexual behaviour, and anyone who breaks it is asked to leave. Erections happen occasionally and are treated as a non-event; teachers tell students to change position or rest in child's pose.

Why do people practise yoga naked?

The reasons students give are consistent across studios and surveys:

• Body acceptance. Seeing ordinary bodies of every age and shape in the same room is, for many people, the fastest cure for comparing themselves to pictures. More on this.
• Awareness. Without waistbands and straps you feel the stretch and your breathing more directly.
• Freedom of movement. No fabric to adjust, nothing riding up in inversions.
• Community. Classes tend to be friendly and long-running, and newcomers are looked after.

Where can I find a nude yoga class?

Three kinds of places run them. Naturist resorts and clubs, especially in the United States, France and Spain, put morning yoga on the pool deck in their weekly programme. Naturist saunas and spas in Germany and the Netherlands host sessions on quiet evenings. And in big cities, dedicated studios and roving teachers hire ordinary yoga rooms for naked classes, usually announced through naturist organisations such as British Naturism or the AANR.

Search the map by resort or sauna, then check the venue's programme. NudistMap lists venues, not individual classes, because timetables change weekly.