How I Gained Self-Confidence and Self-Love Through Nude Yoga

Click, the camera lens shutters as I stand barefoot in mud, waist deep in unprepossessed river water with lilies all virtually me, wearing nothing but a lace reticulum draped wideness my body. I’ll never forget how nervous I was the first time I was professionally photographed nearly naked. Something greater than my fear had tabbed me to do it.

When I was growing up, my father was unswayable for me to model or act. I went to several model castings and auditions and was plane in a eyeful pageant. But those paths led me nowhere. It was as if I was completely unnoticed.

I remember several times, without having photos taken for agencies, my father wouldn’t let me see the pictures. He would say, “They didn’t turn out good,” and I believe, to this day, that he was right and was protecting me. I was not photogenic in my youth. I was definitely a “late bloomer.”

Those experiences gave me the weighing that I clearly was not the girl people were looking for. That I couldn’t model, and I wasn’t pretty unbearable (no vituperation here on my father; it was the unshortened wits as a whole).

In my youth I was far from confident; in fact, I was extremely judgmental of myself and engrossed in comparing my life to the popular girls. This made me finger and act plane increasingly awkward, and I really grew to dislike myself.

Fast-forward a decade later, when I was avidly practicing and teaching yoga. Over several years I started to learn to be in my body, to accept my soul for how it was that day, in that moment. I moreover started to heavily meditate and learn to uncouple from my judgments and harsh hair-trigger thoughts.

During this time, I heard a woman talking well-nigh doing naked yoga. I couldn’t believe this… what?! Naked yoga!? It sounded so intriguing. I had to try it!

So, one day in my own home, completely alone, I undressed and stepped onto my mat. Seeing my naked soul in the poses I had practiced hundreds of times, but now naked, was so intimate. It was like seeing my naked soul for the first time. I’ll never forget how much I cried while moving from pose to pose and reciting the words “I love you” to the variegated parts of my body.

From there it all unraveled. During this time, several girlfriends who were photographers asked me to model for them. It was then that I really started to come squatter to squatter with all the parts of myself that I was so insecure well-nigh seeing, let vacated someone else seeing!

I remember the day I was asked to pose nude for the first time, I rose to the occasion. It really widow a deeper layer, or actually, it took all the layers off in my self-love journey!

I felt shy, timid, judgmental, and quite frankly, I had no idea what I was doing. But this feeling of ineligibility forced me to get grounded, to breathe, and to tap into the environment virtually me. I had to let go of what I looked like, and then I started to be playful and have fun!

When I first saw the photos, I was so embarrassed. It made me want to shrink and fade away. In time, as I unfurled to model, it became an ongoing journey of towers conviction and learning to winnow and love myself. I was drawn like a moth to a flame considering I was embarking on something vastitude my past experiences of fear, and it was transformative.

I went on to model nude several increasingly times, in various settings: the forest, the lake, the desert, the hot springs, and indoor studios. It became an act of self-rule to have my soul turned into art. A wild woman was born!

I felt so self-ruling while modeling nude that it became a literal quest to overcome my insecurities and radically step into self-acceptance. To love my imperfections, to expose the raw and the unpolished parts of me.

Now, all these years later, I see that these photoshoots are much worthier than just me stuff naked. It’s alchemizing shame into confidence, hatred into self-love. It’s well-nigh stuff a seed of inspiration for others to express self-rule and the power that’s found through vulnerability.

Naturally, we humans are creatures of comfort, but we do not grow and evolve when we stay in these zones. The power and healing that is on the other side of the familiar is immeasurable.

If you finger the urgent heart’s desire to step into greater leadership, share your talents with the world, take the leap in your life, and step into the weightier overly evolving version of you. You can pericope what I have talked well-nigh whilom and implement it into your life. This doesn’t midpoint you have to get naked too, although that’s one way to get radical well-nigh it!

Here are seven practices that you can implement into your self-care routines, morning or evening, to create greater self-love and uplift your confidence.

6 Self-Love and Conviction Boosting Tools

1. Do mirror work with affirmations.

Speak affirmations—positive “I am” statements”—into the mirror. I am joy. I am fierce. I am beautiful. I am ready.Notice and allow. What emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, or memories come up? Tuning into what these statements trigger inside you can help you identify areas for healing.

For example, if you don’t believe you’re beautiful, why? What does eyeful midpoint to you? When did you first start yoyo this? What happened, and who else was involved? What proof do you have that this is just a belief, not fact?

2. Practice naked yoga.

Roll out your mat at home, turn on music, light candles, and enjoy!

You might finger uncomfortable doing this. You might focus on all the parts of your soul you dislike and how you imagine you squint while doing the poses. Embrace the fact that it’s just you—there’s no one to impress or please—so you truly can just be in your body, without judging it. Connecting with your soul is the first step to unsuspicious it, and unsuspicious it is the first step to loving it.

3. Seek discomfort.

Do things that finger (just a little) scary, intimidating, and unfamiliar to you. If you’re naturally shy, start a conversation with a stranger. If you don’t usually speak in meetings, offer a suggestion. Put yourself in situations to stretch and impress yourself. There’s nothing that will create conviction faster.

4. Try something new.

Take a class, join a club, try a new hobby. Do something you’ve unchangingly dreamed of trying, or something you green-eyed other people for doing.  Plane if you’re not “good at it,” the fact that you tried builds courage.

5. Pamper yourself.

Get your hair/nails done, have a spa day, wine and dine yourself. Every time you take superintendency of yourself or do something nice for yourself, you reinforce that you deserve it.

6. Try a nude photoshoot.

This can be washed-up completely privately, photographed by you, or it can be as venturesome as you want. The nomination is yours! Just be sure to segregate a photographer you trust, someone who understands you’re doing this for self-empowerment and won’t pressure you into doing anything that you don’t finger well-appointed with.

Not only have these steps helped me cultivate a lifetime partnership of love with myself, but they are moreover proven practices of transformation!

I could have hands stayed in my repletion zone instead of stepping into that muddy, unprepossessed river naked, but I was so inspired it beckoned me to step into the unknown, considering I knew it meant stepping into greater power.

This is your sign to lean into those juicy discomforts, to find power in vulnerability, to say yes and live fearlessly!