Up until two years ago, Jessa O’Brien was like many other yogis.
While she knew the ancient practice was all about connecting mind, body and spirit, the Gold Coast local, 28, also felt something was missing.
Then, on a trip abroad, Jessa discovered nude yoga – something which she hopes to bring to the east coast of Australia via her upcoming naked yoga workshops.
Here, the 28-year-old – who goes by The Nude Blogger online – explains how practising nude yoga helped her to accept her body – ‘rolls’ and all – and love it more.
She also speaks of what nude yoga can do for you.
Jessa O’Brien, 28, from the Gold Coast (pictured), first took up nude yoga two years ago after a trip abroad led her to try it – she found the experience very empowering
The 28-year-old (pictured) spoke to FEMAIL about how nude yoga encouraged her to accept herself and love her body more; she’ll launch nude yoga workshops on the Gold Coast soon
‘Yoga is all about connecting mind, body and spirit,’ she told FEMAIL. ‘Doing it nude in a safe environment only enhances those feelings,’ she added (pictured)
According to Jessa, her love of nude yoga first came about when she was travelling in Portugal several years ago.
‘I’ve been doing yoga for about seven years and am now a certified yoga teacher, but it wasn’t until I experimented with a bunch of females in Portugal that I found just how empowering nude yoga was,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
While Jessa admitted that one person in the group was ‘initially quite uncomfortable’ about the idea of stripping off and practising yoga, she also said that ‘at the end she came up to me and thanked me for doing the class’.
Jessa (pictured) added that yoga is not necessarily what you see on Instagram – it’s more realistic than this
‘I’m quite a slim woman, but when I bend over, I have rolls. Nude yoga has helped me to accept myself and love my body more,’ she explained
Later this year, in October, Jessa (pictured) will launch her own three-hour workshops in Byron Bay, Brisbane and the Gold Coast
By the time Jessa got back to Australia, she searched far and wide for similar nude yoga workshops – finding very little except those led by her now-friend, Rosie Rees, in Western Australia.
And so, she started practising – both by herself on nudist beaches and with close friends.
Yoga is all about connecting mind, body and spirit
‘Yoga is all about connecting mind, body and spirit,’ she told FEMAIL. ‘Doing it nude in a safe environment only enhances those feelings.’
The 28-year-old confessed how good it is to ‘learn to be vulnerable’.
‘Learning to accept and love yourself is invaluable,’ she said. ‘Yoga is not what you see on Instagram – it’s not all perfect bodies and downward dogs.
‘I’m quite a slim woman, but when I bend over, I have rolls. Nude yoga has helped me to accept myself and love my body more.’
She said the classes will be about self love and body positivity – ‘no confronting poses, just facilitating people to be more comfortable with their bodies – whatever their shape or size’
Later this year, in October, Jessa will launch her own three-hour workshops in Byron Bay, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Aimed at both beginners and those who are more advanced, she said that the classes will not be just about practising yoga naked:
‘They are about self love and body positivity. No confronting poses, just facilitating people to be more comfortable with their bodies – whatever their shape or size,’ she said.
The classes will move between the physical and the psychological:
‘It can be good to delve into feeling vulnerable,’ she said. ‘It can help you to learn to love yourself.’
Jessa recently came into the news, after her body-positive Instagram profile was ‘deactivated’ by Instagram (left) – however, the profile was later reinstated (right)
Jessa recently came into the news, after her body-positive Instagram profile, The Nude Blogger, was ‘deactivated’ without warning by Instagram, because she thought it had breached Instagram’s nudity policy.
At the time, Jessa had amassed some 42,000 followers in less than a year – but she was swiftly unable to log in:
‘Nearly 10 months in, almost 43,000 followers later, and a hell of a lot of time, energy and effort… and they do this… Not one notification,’ Jessa posted on her blog about the experience.
Just over a week later, and after constant ‘pestering’ of the support team, Jessa’s original Instagram page was re-instated.
‘It’s a great victory for body positivity,’ she told FEMAIL of the return of her profile.
‘To those of you who have stood united with me… believed in me… who didn’t just sit back on the issue… who fought for something bigger… THANK YOU.’
To follow Jessa O’Brien’s blog, click here. You can also find her Instagram profile here.