Through a Naturist Lens

There is a naked Buddha in each of us. It is called Buddha nature. Unknown to some of my readers is the fact that I am oriented towards that Buddha within. In 2012, I became a Buddhist, or as it is spoken about by the Buddhist community I became a part of, I took “refuge” in Tibetan Buddhism. I was given a new name, Jetsun Rigzin Khandro, which loosely translates to the Unchanging Dharma Holder.

The only problem with all of this was the fact that I don’t, probably can’t hold to any belief system. Regardless, I did find peace as my meditation practice deepened and I learned more about the philosophy and psychology of Tibetan Buddhism, which curiously had many parallels with Jungian psychology which I have studied for almost three decades.

Now, it is hard for me to equate the philosophical and psychological principles to a religion. There is no god, no commandments, not much of anything really other than these principles. That said, it has become a religion with required reading texts, a hierarchy of a priestly caste and temples. This is where I parted company with what I can only call mainstream Buddhism which is more like a commercial enterprise. I left my sangha and focused on the Buddha within me, an aspect of self that is independent of a deity.

I approach naturism the same way. I have a hard time following rules that somehow come into being and the focus shifts for becoming a “better self’ to becoming a better community member. A real naturist, a real Buddhist, a real Christian, a real Catholic, a “real” anything that gets defined by “others” sets my radar off. Anything that takes me outside of listening to the resonances within me, becomes suspect. If it requires me to follow a creed of some sort, then I walk away. This isn’t to say that my inner compass is infallible, it isn’t. Yet, there is no “proof” that any outside authority has all the answers and is infallible. Who do I then trust?

Who do you trust? Do you give up your authority of self, over to some creed, some philosophy, some tradition, or whatever?

Many decades ago, I gave up my authority. And, it cost me. I was wounded, almost to the point of self-sacrifice through suicide. If I couldn’t trust God and his Church, all that was left was myself. I poured through various texts and found a philosophy and psychology that explained why I was drawn in. The container pointed to those words, but left them outside of their community, and focused on the words rather than the messages, the philosophy and the nature of humans, their psychological nature.

I am a naturist as self-described. I am a quasi-Buddhist and a quasi-Christian and a quasi-pagan. I am all of these, yet none of them. Who are you?

It’s April. There is no wonder that the month dedicated to practical jokes is April, think of April Fool’s Day. We had a hot spell of two days where I got to do hiking in the hills wearing a backpack and hiking socks and shoes. Hiking rewarded me with the sight of hundreds of crocuses, more than a dozen deer, and a few tiny white flowers, as well as a hint of red on my back. That was followed by two cold, windy days with snow making a reappearance.

Yesterday, it began to warm up a bit, not enough to again take to the hills, but warm enough to warrant another ten kilometre hike. Then today, it warmed up again for a pleasant twelve kilometre walk in the morning with temperatures reaching ten Celsius. This afternoon, the temperature continued to rise.

I got to meditate at the entrance of my garden shed where I could stay out of the strong winds. I was loathe to return to the house when done and stayed outside to enjoy some tea It was glorious. Tomorrow, it is again supposed to snow, with a repeat snowfall predicted for two days later. The cold spell is supposed to last only for four days. Then, double digit temperatures are promised.

I have taken a lot of effort to make my backyard naturist friendly. Between a strategically placed privacy fence [too expensive to wrap the whole yard with such a fence at this time of high lumber prices, let alone about availability of fencing materials] the garden shed, and a hedge, I have real opportunities for backyard naturism.

Of course, the neighbours to each side of our property as well as across the back lane are well aware of my tendency to be outdoors and nude. They’ve all seen me nude and accept it. Perhaps it has been the building of positive relationships with these neighbours that has had the biggest impact on my backyard nudity. Perhaps it has more to do with the fact that they have my autobiographical books and the Naked Poetry books. I don’t ask and they don’t offer.

A good portion of the adults in this prairie town have either bought or borrowed my autobiographical books with tell the story of how and why I had turned to naturism as one of my healing strategies for childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuses. Before these books appeared, I was the school principal in the town, a respected man.

Somehow, I get the feeling that I am still respected. Living in a small town can either make you or break you. Coming into such a town for the last leg of one’s working life makes the journey into acceptance into a tight agricultural community that much harder. My books are now placed in the community library, donated by myself. I trusted the town with my story and they responded positively in return.

There is just one line I dare not cross too loudly. I keep my politics pretty much to myself and never get loud about being liberal oriented in a distinctly conservative community. In the larger naturist community, I try to do the same when in dialogue with those who are “conservative-minded.” I believe that this willingness to “live” authentically without being “in your face” has made the biggest difference in surviving as a naturist in a small prairie town.

The idea of testing the water is more about trying naturism out before making a decision whether a person decided to continue exploring the possibilities or to retreat back into what I can only call, normal life. Quite a few tell me that naturism is normal life. The idea is that naturists, or call them whatever, do normal things just like normal people. The only difference is that they do some of those things while nude. Now, you know as well as I do that “normal” is defined as that which is the “norm. If you live in a naturist year-round community, being nude is normal in all senses of the word. However if you are significantly in the minority then you aren’t “normal.”

All of that aside, things change and what is normal at one point in time is abnormal in another era. Men in tights with wigs and makeup was normal for one class of people several hundred years ago – for a minority mind you, but the peasants opinions didn’t count. Along the upper reaches of the Amazon River, being nude was the norm. But, as much as National Geographic might try to persuade you, it isn’t the norm anymore. The kids now go to schools and wear clothes. The adults do get nude, especially if there is money to be made from tourists. I got to visit one of these small tribes. It is still rustic and primitive for the most part, but civilisation has begun to change them.

It is with this hope that with some effort and encouragement, we might just get more people to test the waters of naturism with the result that we finally reach the point where nude people are closer to normal status. Will there ever be a time when clothing will not be a significant part of our culture? Not in my lifetime or the lifetime of my “as of yet” born great-grandchildren. Being honest with oneself about this fact lets us accept that what little time and place and space we have for nude time, is to be treasured. To waste time on becoming missionaries is just that, “wasted time.”

Even those of us who are committed body, mind and soul to the mission of enjoying as much of our time, whether alone or among others while clothing free, need to continually test the waters, safely as we push our own boundaries, pushing the envelope of just what is possible. Who knows? Maybe one day, being nude might just become the norm. Just don’t hold your breath until then.

Is it spring or is it winter? Snow one minute, sunshine and warmth the next, only to return to overcast and dropping temperatures. That is how I can best describe the Canadian prairies at this time of year. There have been days recently, that said, ‘maybe you can go free-hiking.’ The temperature is just about right and it is sunny. Yet, as soon as one steps outside to take such a walk, there is a prairie wind that subtracts between five to ten degrees. And so, I have to tell myself to be patient. The weather and time will come so that I can once again go hiking au naturel.

I woke up to snow this morning. Hiking while nude was not going to be on the agenda. Instead, I compromised and wore warm clothes to get in my daily walk into the countryside. Since the New Year, I have hiked more than 500 km [300 miles], all of them while wearing layers of clothing. I have to walk. It is the only way I can maintain some sort of fitness.

When I add in meditation, the two act in concert to lower my blood pressure and body weight. Of course, diet is vital in having this happen. By that, I don’t mean going on a diet, I mean eating healthy – vegetables, fruits, grains, root veggies, and a variety of meat choices. When I don’t follow my own rules, I suffer. A recent post spelled that out in detail. I can now say my body has regained some of what had been lost. As a result, my mental well-being is better.

Unsaid in the last post, was the role that being clothing free plays in maintaining better mental health. Nudity is therapy. One doesn’t need social nudity in order to gain psychological benefits that comes with nudity. If one is able to spend some time in the sunshine, even if through a window, the body responds. When the body responds, the psyche responds. Social nudity acts upon a different level of the psyche. Since humans are basically social animals, being able to be nude safely in the company of others who affirm and reaffirm one’s being part of the group, adds significantly to one’s sense of self-identity. Social nudity encourages one to set aside self-criticism. The need for protective camouflage and strategies in order to find a tentative sense of belonging, is unnecessary.

Yet, for those of us who have very little, if any, opportunities for social nudity, especially in this era of a pandemic, getting outside to be nude in the sunshine along some river, sea, or lake; or walking down some nature trail where people are rare and wildlife live in safety; that is the best psychological medicine one can get. For a lucky few, outdoor nudity, healing outdoor nudity, gets to happen in one’s own private spaces in a garden.

I realise that many, too many, live in urban areas that are distant from sacred forests, meadows, and waters. There are real barriers of an economic nature that don’t allow for making the necessary journeys to find these places. For these people, perhaps the best that is available is quiet meditation in a bedroom. Whatever one’s condition, one can only do what is possible. We take what we can get. No one is better than another. The person living nude 24/7 365 days a year is no more of a naturist than one who steals precious moments just to remain sane. We need to remember that.

How many minutes a day does it take to be a real nudist or a real naturist? It isn’t measured in minutes or hours or days. It is a state of mind. Tune out those voices who judge. Listen instead to your body, mind and soul. Those are the only voices that count.

The sun is shining and there is a breeze blowing across the prairie landscape. It is quite cool. I woke up to -4 Celsius. Yesterday afternoon and evening, it was a different story. There was rain, wind, and a +2 Celsius temperature when I got this photo taken by the fireplace for this post. Though it is now sunny out, there is very little sunshine that makes it inside of me for whatever reason. I blame it on physiological reasons, rather than mostly psychological reasons. Sometimes, it is hard to separate the two. It becomes a “chicken and egg” dilemma. Which came first?

Physiologically, over the past ten days, I have been having a headache, something I blamed on strong winds, snow mold, and whatever. I was trying to find a reason for the headaches. My psychological mood was very low. My self-esteem tanked. Relationship issues reared its ugly head creating tension. Why?

I had to go to a medical appointment because of an eye issue. A routine blood pressure reading was taken. The numbers were high, very high. He wanted me to begin taking BP meds and I refused. This had happened in the past and I knew I could get it all under control with determined effort. My go-to strategy in the past had been walking, meditation, and diet control. Upon thinking about it, my salt intake had spiked – baked ham, ham-pea soup, and a few other delicious but salt-infested foods. My body weight had risen as well over this very short period of time from 169 to 176 pounds. None of this is good news for an aging male.

Four days ago, I returned to meditation. Walking will continue. And now, I just have to begin watching what I eat – very little salt. Hopefully the headaches will disappear and the blood pressure will drop. With less salt, there will be less water retention and my body weight will return to its normal number. With the body back in control, hopefully the depression will dissipate as well.

Each of us, when faced with the need for change, needs to take stock and make decisions. The easiest route is through the body. Healthy body makes for a healthier mind. Naturists know this.

It has been quite quiet for me the past few days. I have to admit that it had nothing to do with Easter weekend gatherings or celebrations. Like last Easter, we were home alone. Traditionally, my second child brings her family to our home for Easter or we travel to her place in the USA. Borders are still closed and we haven’t been face-to-face with them since 2019.

It has been a long time and it is responsible for some of my depression. I have been quiet because of the depression. What I have noticed that in response to my quietness, those whom I could call my social media friends have also been silent. Is one responsible for the other? I will never know unless I ask, and even then, it would be unlikely that even that more than one or two would answer the question.

Along the way, I wondered about my presence on social media. Am I really seen? I can say without any doubt that a very small number that could be counted on one hand, are real friends. The rest? Most would likely be categorised as positive-minded acquaintances. It is no different in my face-to-face world.

Aside from family, how many of us have more than one handful of real friends? How do we know that they are friends? For me, it is has to do with a thought. If a person is on my mind, a pleasant thought, without being present in f2f interaction or social-media interaction, then I consider that friendship is real.

Yes, I do think of some of you who are likely reading this post are real. Because of past interactions and the passage of time seeing the interactions and dialogue continue, friendship begins to grow. With those interactions, a level of trust begins to emerge. Small tests, conscious or unconscious, of friendship either weakens friendship or strengthens friendship. The more the dialogue continues, the more friendship is tested.

It’s like f2f life. Some people are good friends in small doses, and others are more than welcome to fill in a larger part of one’s life. Friendship, for me becomes stronger when I can note the differences and yet feel the strength of shared values tilting friendship into a more vibrant level.

And then, silence descends, be it because of life’s circumstances or depression or … . A friendship doesn’t begin to slip away in the silence. And strangely, as I continue to learn, a few voices pierce the silence, unexpected voices. These unexpected voices shift my reality. I can hear/sense that I have become visible in a positive manner. It doesn’t mean friendship, but it does contain the seeds for a possible friendship should life on both sides of that nucleus provide for nurturing that possibility. One just never knows.

Just a final note. I wonder how many of you would see me as a real friend, or somewhere along the continuum of a positive acquaintance to friendship?

There is no question that naturists become vulnerable when they shed their clothing. There is a world which surrounds a naked person which more often than not, will judge and attempt social, economic, psychological, and sometimes physical harm. Knowing this, most naturists [or whatever you want to call people who feel more at home with themselves while nude] create safe spaces within which they can be themselves, be authentic. Within their homes with draperies closed, in private garden spaces where such exist, in gated communities, in abandoned bits of nature – there we believe we are safe.

We find others with whom we share the same value for authenticity and nudity. After all, they have dared to be as vulnerable as us. Because of the shared value of nudity, a level of trust was given. With a community, the sense of being alone and isolated because of our nudity was lessened. Naturists share easily with each other based on the trust of a shared philosophy. With real-life experiences expanding our sense of community, moments with others shared at beaches or events at naturist venues, our personal well-being blossoms. We begin to like ourselves better, our bodies and our psyche. We accept others more easily without judging them based on appearances.

For some, that community is extremely limited, if it exists at all, in the face-to-face world. Social media sites, like Twitter, Facebook, MeWe, and cyber-gated communities such as Naturist Community and Naktiv [Nook] provide the needed sense of community and belonging. Because they are social media sites, there isn’t the same level of trust. Though there are images that proclaim the named as being naturist or nudist, the only certainty is that not everyone is whom they tell us they are.

It takes time to give trust. That trust only comes through dialogue. Needless to say, computer-mediated dialogue is less trustworthy than face-to-face dialogue. Missing are all the non-verbal cues we rely on to decode the real messages behind the words that appear on the screen. Yet, over time as we got to build trust, and we risk posting photos. And as expected, sometimes that trust backfires.

Somewhere along the way, we build attachments with these strangers turned into friends. Whether we do so in the face-to-face world or in the world of social media, these attachments bring the unspoken, sometimes unknown baggage of complex and complexed humans. Entering into relationship is always a risky venture. Though we know someone for years, there are somethings that don’t appear until one enters into a significant relationship. We all have complexes and triggers that set off those complexes.

Very few among us are aware of our own complexes. We only become aware that we aren’t okay when someone triggers one or more of our complexes. The storm that arises catches both parties in a relationship by surprise. Typically both parties blame the other for the storm. This is the same situation that exists for naturists or those that almost never expose themselves fully, even to their significant other, except in the heat of sexual passion.

However, for naturists, the issue of vulnerability increases the sense of unease and fear when confronted by these “storms.” Face-to-face storms rock the foundations of one’s psyche more intensely. Moving past these storms requires communication, a willingness to expose the hidden psychological inner warts and scars. That dialogue can rebuild trust. A lack of communication eats away at trust. Without trust, we are left wounded and alone.

There is a shadow side to being nude, wanting to be nude, even needing to be nude. Nudity isn’t a simple thing for most of us. There are a few who have found themselves private, gated communities where it is possible to live nude indoors and outdoors without having the eyes of of a disapproving community ready to pass judgment and likely call the authorities.

Yet for most of us, this is not a scenario that is possible, and it is very difficult to change where we live because of a host of real-life situations. By necessity, being nude is carefully timed and placed. And, when we dare to be seen, we often are conscious about what is seen and what is left to the imagination of those viewing our nudity.

One of the realities that most of us live with is that neighbours, work places, social-outing venues [when the world reopens after Covid19] such as pubs, restaurants, theatres, shopping centres, campgrounds, lakes and beaches, even walks through parks is the real world prohibitions about doing any of these things while nude. Nudity is not a natural or accepted state of dress. And in most places on the planet, it is illegal.

Life in our own homes is navigated with care, especially if nudity makes a partner or housemate uneasy. Going out into one’s own yard is fraught with tension that is partially relieved only if a high privacy fence is put in place. A privacy fence is only useful if the neighbouring houses can’t see into the yard. With taller homes, windows on upper floors make the privacy fences useless. For those living in apartments or condos or other variations of lodgings, there is almost no opportunity to be outside, even on balconies, while nude.

The best that can happen is to be able to look through the window, longingly, without being spotted by a person on the outside. No one said that this was ever going to be easy, yet still we persist.

We often hear about normalising nudity and how natural nudity is for naturists and nudists and other folk who plain enjoy being clothing free. Yet, the question remains, just how natural is nudity in our modern world? We hear responses such as “we are all born naked” and “we are all naked beneath our clothes.” However, that still begs the question. More responses come about bathing and showering while nude. There, we can safely assume that this is a truth, at least for most of the developed world. In the shower or in the tub, it is normal to be clothed in our bare skin.

There are no sexual connotations about taking a shower when solo or without an audience. Yet, should one post an image such as this one, the radars of the nude police are activated and knee-jerk reactions kick in. Regardless of the naturalness of the scene, it is too much for many people to cope with.

That unconscious response is nothing new. I remember an image from the late sixties of Frank Zappa sitting on a toilet. Though we all sit on toilets, the image wasn’t taken to portray a natural life scene, it was taken to promote Zappa’s first concert in 1967. If anything, the poster was a protest of disdain.

It definitely had nothing to do with sexual titillation. The poster was in my home along with a number of his albums with the Mothers of Invention. I did get to see him in Edmonton in the winter of 1970-71. At the concert, Zappa pulled down his pants and urinated on the front row of the audience, much to their joy. I think everyone attending was stoned.

Another album in my collection was the Two Virgins album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Like Zappa’s image, the album cover had no sexual intent. It was a daring to be vulnerable. The two risked almost everything in their lives by daring to do the unthinkable.

The record sold well, but it had a brown paper bag hiding the album cover on the record racks. People didn’t take well to the image. It may portray a moment of naked trust, but that wasn’t and still isn’t, something that is acceptable.

Nudity is not normal in our world. For too many, even the thought of sleeping while nude with blankets hiding one’s nakedness, is too much to cope with. In our world, paradoxically, it is more acceptable to be nude in a porn flick [soft or hard porn] than it is to be nude during one’s normal day. Is the scene getting better as the years go by? Yes and No. The use of social media to attempt to normalise nudity has met with limited, but promising success.

Yet, more and more social media platforms are banning images that depict nudity even with all of the “sexual” bits unseen. For FB and its ilk, just the hint of nudity is enough to be banished from the platforms. Yet, in what can best be described as the “Internet Underground” there is a growing trend featuring images that are deliberately showing just how “natural” nudity can be.

For the foreseeable future, natural nudity will remain in the realm of deviant behaviour, with deviancy being defined as outside of normal societal behaviour.

What is it about a “selfie” that has so many people taking them? I turned to Psychology Today to see what they had to say about the selfie phenomenon. Here is what the author, Mark Griffiths, had to say, “the selfie is much more than a way to show your friends and family what you’ve been up to, or your new haircut or a celebrity that you’ve met, and it’s also the most efficient form of self-expression.” Also found in another article written by Griffiths was the reference to selfitis, which was also referred to as me, myself-itis:

“… the American Psychiatric Association (APA) had classed “selfitis” as a new mental disorder. According to the author, the organization had defined selfitis as “the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy”.

Now, to be fair there are a number of positives posited which Griffiths points out:

• Self-confidence (e.g. taking selfies to feel more positive about oneself)
• Environmental enhancement (e.g. taking selfies in specific locations to feel good and show off to others)
• Social competition (e.g. taking selfies to get more “likes” on social media)
• Attention seeking (e.g. taking selfies to gain attention from others)
• Mood modification (e.g. taking selfies to feel better)
• Subjective conformity (e.g. taking selfies to fit in with one’s social group and peers)

What does that mean for those who take nude self-portraits or selfies, a distinction that I need to clarify before going on? A self-portrait is an image taken by a photographer with the intent to convey a message. Though selfies are usually taken with a smartphone, they can also be taken with a DSLR, so it is not about the camera. The image above was intentional for the purpose of this blog post. There is a message imbedded in the image. Yet, most would call the image a selfie because it was taken using a smartphone and a mirror. The lines between selfie and self-portrait become blurred.

I can see and understand that there is indeed, subjective conformity as suggested by Griffiths. I post images here [rarely anywhere else] knowing that I am in a community comprised of readers who are choosing to come to this site and read my blog posts. I am sharing links to these posts on Twitter as well. There is a naturist community on Twitter that doesn’t focus on the idea of nudity equating with sexual activity.

As for attention seeking and/or mood modification, that may or may not be part of the rationale for taking and posting a selfie. Not all photos taken are posted. Likely for most within this community, my guess would be that only a fraction of the photos taken ever get posted, especially by those who are legitimately called photographers. Social competition? The race to garner more likes? That is another hard question to answer. It all comes down to the intention. Is the intention to grow the community? To inspire others to adopt yoga into their lives in order to have a healthier life? The intention is important. As my readers soon learn, my intention is to go beneath the skin, to look at the human psyche.

And there is another reason that I find that merits consideration. Those taking these nude self-portraits are creating a record over the years. Photos tell a person a lot about themselves. There is an authenticity with the nude photos that can’t be matched when one hides behind clothing, styles, activities, and locations. The journey of self-discovery is not an easy journey.

With all of that said, why do you take and post selfies? Or, equally as important, why don’t you take and post selfies? What are your motivations? What role does fear play in either path taken? Is there an element of defiance or hint of excitement? The questions are many. It’s your turn to talk.