Naked Yoga and Sharing

Saturday morning's schedule started early, so I got up at 6:30am so I could head out for a run around the 1100 acre grounds of Harbin before our 8am Yoga practice.

The place is pretty hilly, so I keep running up and down and around the area. I got back to the conference center with about 20 minutes before Yoga. I went to shower and worked out that in the dark I'd setup in the women's bathroom. Fortunately, Kim had about as much of a problem with me using those facilities as I did, so I just stripped down, while she was brushing her teeth, and I jumped into the shower. I hadn't taken a change of clothes to the shower, so I walked back to the sleeping area with just my towel and my sweaty running clothes. I walked through the main open area where LiOr was about to start Yoga. He asked if I was joining them because they were just about to start. Well, I've always wanted to practice Yoga while naked, so I put my dirty clothes against the wall and dropped my towel on the floor and stayed to practice Yoga naked. I thought that perhaps someone else would join me, but noone took up the hint. At least at that time. ;-)

Breakfast was granola and fruit, along with toast and other sundries.

After breakfast LiOr had us just walk in circles aroudn the room. Past each other, faster, slower, random direction changes. Then stop. Take the hand of the nearest person and now do some trust drills. Walk around leading the other person while their eyes are closed. Faster, Slower, random directions, switching which person leads. This exercise gave me some insight into how much trust my friend's blind running friend has in him when they are running marathons. She has to put complete trust in him that he will make sure that she doesn't trip and fall and that she will get back to where she came from. It's incredible when you're being led around. I knew there was nothing on the floor except pillows, but I kept thinking about my toes.

At the end of that piece, we had to sit down with this person that we really didn't know that well, and share some intimate knowledge. This stuff is really difficult for me. I have trouble opening up, but I gave it a go. I think if I'd gone second instead of first that I might have had courage and inspiration to say something meaningful. As it was, I think I simply waffled my 5 minutes away.

Grouped into two fours instead of four twos, we then had to share how we had felt about the previous heart sharing, amongst this new bigger group. I still wasn't with my wife in this group, and I think that helped me to relax into the sharing. These people don't know me, and have no preconceptions of my behaviors. It was pretty good.

Now, the slightly unusual part. What do we feel that we need to be nurtured? One at a time, the four of us had to tell the other three what we wanted from them to feel nurtured. We had massage oil. They had 6 hands. We all got naked. I had initially thought that I would embarass myself by becoming sexually arroused during my turn. However, although the touch of two beautiful women massaging my body, while I was laying naked on my back, the experience wasn't sexual. I really enjoyed giving massages to those same women, too. Still naked at the end of this, covered in massage oil, we all hugged and shared how the nurturing had made us feel. Pretty cool stuff.

Given a short break to cleanup before hitting the pool again for more water breathing, I followed my wife back into the shower to help her wash off the oil from her back. Of course, two of the other women were in there, too. I really like these clothing optional resorts. Everyone is so relaxed about nudity.