Australian Yoga Journal - April 2018

COVER YOGI

Om

20

april 2018

yogajournal.com.au

PHOTO: REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION COPYRIGHT NYG

OUR COVER YOGI IS NUDE YOGA GIRL

(NYG), a bona fide Instagram sensation,

attracting over 760,000 followers in just

over two years. Her beautiful, elegant

mainly black-and-white images have

been exhibited all over the world; her

account has generated huge media

interest from the mainstream media

and NYG has become a brand. Yet

despite the “fame”, NYG prefers to

remain anonymous. The image on the

cover was the image that started the

journey. The caption to the Instagram

image, celebrating the two-year

anniversary, explains how it started:

“I remember that Sunday when

we were lying on the couch in our

apartment. It was in the UK, where we

were temporarily living at the time.

We thought about a good name for

the account... where we could add the

photos that we had taken a few

hours before, in the morning.

“Nude Yoga Girl, [was] a

spontaneous name and account. The

same day, we added all five photos that

we had taken without knowing what

next. Captions were a sentence or two,

photos taken in our new little home

studio. I was just excited that I was able

to create photos together that I liked

and show nudity in a non-sexual way.

Creating new and different shapes with

my body became my passion....”

Pretty soon followers began to

aggregate, and what started as a side-

project and an expression of NYG’s love

of photography and yoga, became a

full-time business. Her art has been

both praised for its inherent beauty and

criticised, primarily because “it’s not

yoga”. Here then, to answer both

critics and fans, is Nude Yoga Girl

in her own words.

How long have you been

practicing yoga for?

I tried yoga for the first time about

12 years ago. I didn’t get really into

it immediately but I kept practicing

now and again. I fell in love with

yoga and started to practice daily

about three years ago when I

understood better what yoga is.

It’s so much more than just the

poses and asanas you can do. Now

it’s a way of life for me.

What styles of yoga are your

main practice and how often

do you do practice?

Vinyasa Flow and Yin yoga are my

favourites. I try to practice almost

daily, I practice mostly by myself.

As I travel a lot, I’m often unable

to attend classes but when I get a

chance, I always do! When I practice

by myself, I listen to my body and go

with the flow.

What inspired you to do nude

yoga and turn it into a business?

The feeling of freedom and to be as

natural as I can be. I practice also

with clothes on but in practicing nude

yoga there is something different, it

makes my senses more sensitive and

it’s easier to get a stronger connection

between my mind, body and soul. I

didn’t think about business when I

NUDE

yoga girl

The Insta-famous yogi shares her remarkable journey