A yoga school in New York wants to rid students of insecurity and self-doubt by letting them also shed their clothing.
"Bold and Naked" yoga studio offers nude classes to men and women. Although it might not be everybody's idea of relaxation, the practice is meant to be liberating and give students confidence.
. NEW YORK, United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
"Bold and Naked" co-owner Joschi Schwarz (pictured above, left) says that besides better physical alignment, naked yoga can improve mental stability.
"It is you, naked, sitting on the mat, moving your body, connecting with your mind through your breath work and hopefully everything mindful, with this concentration of what you do," he said.
. NEW YORK, United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Some female yogis say the naked class has an empowering effect on women, stripping away social norms and expectations.
"There are a lot of things that separate us in a normal yoga class, like what brand of yoga clothing you're wearing or how you look when you're wearing it. When we're naked, it's like we're all the same," said Vanessa Kennedy, pictured above in the centre.
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Yoga instructor Monika Werner, co-owner of "Bold and Naked," walks into a nude yoga session.
. NEW YORK, United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Vanessa Kennedy closes her eyes as she takes part in a naked yoga class.
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A woman sits in the class with her legs crossed.
. NEW YORK, United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Alisun Dellimore (right) takes part in the session.
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Participants in "Bold and Naked" yoga adopt "child's pose" during the class.
. NEW YORK, United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
Vanessa Kennedy adopts a posture during the session.
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Participants reach upwards during the class.
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Monika Werner, co-owner of "Bold and Naked," takes part.
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Participants in the "Bold and Naked" yoga class sit on their mats during the session.
"Avoiding getting shots of people’s genitalia and other un-publishable angles was the most challenging part."
When I was assigned to photograph a naked yoga session my first thought was: how am I going to illustrate this in a way that people will actually be able to publish?
I had to take pictures of a room full of naked people without showing any frontal nudity, and I wanted to do the job in the most artistic way possible without allowing the images to become voyeuristic.
When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find both the yoga students and the instructor were totally open to what I was doing. They didn’t seem to have any inhibitions about being photographed while naked – and while participating in a very strenuous yoga session at that.
It was a good-sized studio and there was space to move around relatively freely in the room, where the heat was turned up very high. The energy was palpable. Even though I wasn't actually participating in the class, I felt as though I had had my own little workout once the hour-long session was over.
Avoiding getting shots of people’s genitalia and other un-publishable angles was the most challenging part, but I found that, by keeping a careful eye on the viewfinder, it was possible.
After the shoot was over, I was confident that I had a nice set of images which portrayed the class in an elegant way and defined the positive, spiritual energy that emanated through the room. Everyone was clearly very comfortable with their nudity and being photographed didn't deter them as they focused on the class.
Following the session, I had the class sign a model release form that would give us the right to use the photographs for our Reuters newswire service. Everyone signed with no hesitation.
The edit was a difficult one – more difficult than actually shooting the pictures – and I spent several hours going through it with my manager Adrees Latif. As careful as I had been during the session to be aware of everything in the background, it proved hard to stop un-publishable items finding their way into the frames.
After some time though, we were able to come up with a set of images that met our guidelines and we put out a series of images that I was very proud to see with my byline.
During the process, someone asked me if I got naked as well. I politely said that I had declined.
. NEW YORK, United States. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
