An Australian yoga instructor is leading a yoga revolution by holding classes with a difference – everyone is completely naked.
Rosie Rees, from Perth, started doing naked yoga in her own backyard after getting the idea when she moved in with a nudist, and now teaches hundreds of women to bare all and practice in the buff.
The 30-year-old relationship coach claims her uniquely intimate brand of yoga helps attendees relieve stress, develop positive body image and even improves their relationships and sex lives with partners by helping them embrace their imperfections.
‘When I first tried to do yoga practice without clothes – first in my bedroom and then in the backyard – I was shocked at how critical and judgmental about my body I was,’ she says.
‘I didn’t like the various scars on my body, rolls of fat on my belly and I noticed all the cellulite. But I also felt liberated and free.
‘As my practice progressed, I felt a lot more present with myself.’
Rosie says the more she did it, the more she began ‘loving my body as it was’.
She then approached a yoga studio with an idea to hold naked yoga classes.
‘I told them I wanted to desexualize nudity and wanted to help women overcome their body image issues.
‘They agreed to give it a go, and the first class was a sell-out. I haven’t looked back since.’
Rosie says that whilst it takes courage to go to a class – that courage ‘translates to better relationships at work, with family and most importantly, with oneself’.
‘When women learn to accept and love their naked bodies, it directly effects their relationship with their partners so men have become big supporters of mine.’
