Naked yoga

Early advocates of naked yoga in modern times include the gymnosophists such as Blanche de Vries, and the actress and dancer Marguerite Agniel.

The order of Naga Sadhus, conspicuous in the processions and bathing ritual at the Kumbh Mela, use nudity as a part of their spiritual practice of renunciation.

[8][9][10] Marguerite Agniel, author of the 1931 book The Art of the Body : Rhythmic Exercise for Health and Beauty,[11][12] wrote a piece called "The Mental Element in Our Physical Well-Being" for The Nudist, an American magazine, in 1938; it showed nude women practising yoga, accompanied by a text on attention to the breath.

"[13][14] In the West since the 1960s, naked yoga practice has been incorporated in the hippie movement[15] and in progressive settings for well-being, such as at the Esalen Institute in California, and at the Elysium nudist colony in the Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles.

[13] She praises its "positive coverage" as helping yogis of all kinds to feel good, but is concerned about the contradictory message that yoga is simultaneously "liberating and sexy".

Nude Yoga: Celebrating the Human Body Temple,[22] featuring monochrome photographs of both men and women, as impressive, tasteful, and sensual but not erotic.

[23] Other film depictions include the 1967 I Am Curious (Yellow) with Lena Nyman,[24] the 1973 The Harrad Experiment[25] and that same year the short documentary Naked Yoga.