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I wanted to continue skinny-dipping but knew that swimming alone in a remote area was unsafe. Because nude beaches are not easy to get to where I live, I found out about a nude campground.
After getting the necessary information I decided to give it a try, but first I had a problem. At the Y I could go in swim, shower, and go home with no problem. At the campground I would not want to go for just a short swim and then go home. I also would not want to spend the entire time I was there in the water. That meant that I would have to do something I had never really done before -- go nude in mixed company.
At that time I was very comfortable going around my apartment in a bathing suit. I was not comfortable just being nude while I was eating or watching TV. After my morning shower I would wrap a towel around my waist and eat breakfast. I always had something on. Now my question was "How can I be comfortable going around nude in mixed company when I am uncomfortable just being nude when I am alone at home?"
For one week before I went to the campground I practiced. Practice being nude? Yes. Strange as it sounds I practiced. I would go around naked (no bathing suit, no towel) whenever I was home. Watch TV, do dishes, do cleaning, pay bills, what ever had to be done had to be done in the nude (well, shorts were ok for doing laundry as the laundry room could only be reached by going out into the public hallway).
When it was time for my first visit I had become comfortable with myself when I was just plain nude. I did not need a reason like I was showering or swimming, I was simply nude and I was more comfortable that way.
I went to the campground, removed my clothing, took the tour, swam in the lake, sat in the sun, walked in the field, and really enjoyed clothing freedom. When it was time to leave I took a shower and rather than try to dry off in a humid area I went outside in the sunshine and fresh air. With the light breeze I did not really need the towel. That convinced me - nude was the only way to be.
Now I'm clothed only when it is required.
From here out I am going to confine my stories to instances of NON-SEXUAL nudity in mixed company. It was at the end of my teenage years that I had my first experience with nudity in a mixed group. Here is that story.
It was the year that I graduated from High School. I went immediatly from my graduation to a 10 day intensive training program in small craft and aquatic safety. The school was put on by the Red Cross. Most of the people (like myself) were college students training for summer camp jobs. It was the first 2 weeks in June and the weather should have been glorious, but it was cold and rainy for the entire time that we were there. I was in the small craft instructor program. We were training to be instructors in sailing and canoeing. Because the total emphasis was on waterfront safety, there were frequent lost swimmer drills. During these drills it was the responsibility of the small craft class to search the shallow water. Add this to our regular training, and we were in and out of the water frequently, and often without warning. Since it was too cold to go around in swimming suits, most of us soon ran short of dry clothes. Many of us developed some very uncomfortable rashes. Trips into town were prohibited, but an instructor took pity on us and collected one set of clothes from each of us to a local laundromat, to wash and dry.
Sure enough, the very next morning, as we were sitting in class, all warm and dry, the waterfront alarm sounded. We stared at each other in horror, for a split second, when one of the girls in the class exclaimed, "To Heck With It." She then astounded all of us by quickly peeling off all but her panties. As she dashed for the beach, most of us followed suit. (Or should I say suitless?) Try to imagine the startled responses as we searched the swimming area Sans Clothing. When the drill ended we walked to the classroom and dried off before getting dressed again. This scenario was repeated several times throughout the session. By the time the school ended there was only one holdout who chose to remained clothed for the drills. He said that he was just too shy. We never really talked about the situation to any great extent, but we were quite the topic of conversation among the other classes. Nobody ever reprimanded us for our daylight skinnydips. I have often assumed that this was due to the concern over the rashes that we had been getting from wearing wet clothing. I do know that the whole experience changed my view of nudity. I no longer viewed nudity as primarily sexual. We had gone beyond that. Our nudity served a VERY practical purpose, and had no hint of sexuality.
After that experience, I went nude whenever I could get away with it. I went on to work at a summer camp. There were several of us (counselors) who went skinnydipping frequently throughout the summer. Out in the bay in front of the camp there was a skijumping ramp. Late at night my friends and I used to swim the quarter mile out to it and slide down it nude. In the middle of the night, we saw no reason to wear swimsuits (and we were better swimmers without them).
After that summer ended I didn't have many more experiences with nudity in a group for some time. As I got older, I missed the days of carefree skinnydipping and nonsexual nudity. I found a state park where I could go hiking nude without encountering anyone. These hikes were times of meditation in which I got closer to my Creator by relaxing naked in the midst of his creation. Even so, something was missing. Man is a social being. I missed those innocent nude experiences. Every now and then I would hear about nudists in the news. I even heard news stories about gatherings of Christian nudists. What I never heard was how to find these groups. This went on for a long time until one day when I was in a large bookstore in Lexington KY. I was going through the travel section when I found a copy of the ASA Guide to Nude Recreation. I bought it immediately. It changed my life. In it I found out how to contact people in both landed and non-landed clubs. Since it was wintertime in Indiana, there were no landed clubs open. There was a travel club several hours away that was having swims. I arranged to go to one of them.
It was a COLD Saturday when I had my first experience with social nudity. I had to drive several hours from my hometown. I have to admit that I was nervous. I had read a lot of ASA literature, and I had talked quite a bit with the head of the travel club, so I pretty much knew what to expect. We met in a parking lot at a hospital near to the swim. From there we drove to the swimming facility. After paying my admittance fee I went into the mens locker room. It was all very reminiscent of the old days at the YMCA. The big difference was that there were several wives and daughters in the room with the men. I felt like I had come home. We were all undressing and I could feel the barriers dropping. For the next 3 hours I swam and played volleyball, and socialized with a bunch of strangers. It was glorious. The letting down of barriers, and the freedom was something that I have been looking for all of my life. I drove home that night feeling wonderful. The drive seemed to take no time at all. I knew then that I was a lifelong nudist. After that I went to every swim that I could get to, and when warm weather rolled around, I started visiting the landed clubs in Indiana. Although there was nothing closer than 3 hours away, I enjoyed many quiet relaxing weekends. I chose a remote camp in Southern Indiana for its quiet and natural setting. Eventually I switched to a club in Southern Michigan because it was closer and because it was year 'round.
Sometime later I discovered the Internet. It didn't take me long to find Cybernude. It was there that I met Shelley, a lovely Christian naturist. The rest is history.
It led to me spending time around the house without clothes when my father was out (my mother having passed away two years before). I got into a routine of coming home from school, getting undressed and doing my homework nude before my father arrived home. The one problem I had was that I began to wonder if my behaviour was normal. Just why did I like taking my clothes off? Was I some kind of pervert? I knew no-one else who liked to do the same, and there was no way that I could discuss it with my father (and I still can't, twenty years later!).
After my father remarried, I had less chance to be nude around the house, although I started sleeping nude at the age of 19. However, when I left home at 24 and started living on my own, I found it convenient not to bother putting on a dressing gown after having a bath, and, living in the country and not getting many visitors unannounced, it wasn't a problem to sometimes hang around the house without clothes - only perhaps for an hour or two every week. But still I had this nagging doubt that there was something wrong with me. Was I alone?
Years went by. Eleven of them in fact, and I was into my mid-thirties. Then everything changed when I got on the internet in 1998. I set up my new computer, found a search engine and typed in the word 'naturism'. And there it was - hundreds of people, just like me, who prefer not to wear clothes! I was not alone!
A few months later, I'd joined British Naturism and decided to set myself some goals to do things in my new-found naturist lifestyle to make up for the years I'd missed out. So, in 1999, I was spending every minute I could at home naked (probably around 95% of my time at home is spent without clothes), visited my first naturist beach (NO problem!), and booked a holiday at Cap d'Agde! The weeks holiday was great - sooo relaxing, and having taken enough clothes for a change of clothes every day, I brought everything home with me unworn having spent the entire holiday totally naked, and meeting some really nice people as well! It was a fantastic feeling - being naked is so empowering, you feel that if you can do that, you can do anything! Since then, I paid more visits to my local naturist beach, and also visited a club which meets in a leisure centre, and have found that I really enjoy playing badminton in the buff! I now have absolutely no qualms about taking my clothes off in front of anybody in a naturist environment, and am trying to visit a club or a swim at least once a month, to 'keep my hand in' as it were. And I've also told some of my friends that I'm a naturist, who have all been really cool about it - I even ran into one couple I've known for ten years on the local naturist beach who turned out to be naturists too!
For those who are contemplating taking the plunge for the first time - I feel that I have achieved so much by living a naturist lifestyle in the last year that I recommend it to anyone. It gives you a huge amount of confidence and is just sooo relaxing and good for dealing with stress. Once the clothes are off for the first time - I guarantee you won't look back!
Years later, having achieved 'advanced amateur' status with my camera, I used to frequent a small lake upstate, and would sometimes take models along for some nude shots in the wilds. It wasn't until much later, however, when I moved to Santa Barbara, that I became interested in letting others see me without clothes. I saw an ad at the Art Department bulletin board at the City College, that was asking for people to model - draped or undraped - for the art classes. Having been in back of the camera so often in the past, I felt a strong urge to learn just what it would feel like to be in front of it - so I submitted my name and phone number.
The first class I posed for proved to be the most liberating experience I've ever had, and soon became a habit since the teachers seemed to like my work and called me back often. From there on it was all out for me. There are a couple of nude beaches in S. Barbara which I often spent time at, and a friend of mine graciously offered me the use of her fenced back yard to sun bathe in so as to get an all over tan. Her young daughter became interested when she saw me there, and with a little encouragement she too came out to sun with me in the nude, and eventually brought some of her girl friends along. I was concerened at first, about being nude in the presence of a few nubile youngsters, but that too faded very quickly.
The very first ten minutes or so, in that first class I posed for, was the only occasion which I might consider 'uncomfortable'. I was worried about getting an erection in front of all those strangers, but I soon found out that it's almost impossible to become aroused unless one is sex obsessed, and never had a problem after that.
I got a chuckle from something I read on a web site - to the effect that the number of people who answer the door in the nude for the pizza delivery man went up by about 15% last year. How true that is or is not, is pure conjecture, but it indicates people's attitude about nudity when they are willing to confess they've done that. What I will say, using my own, empirical experience as a guide, is that no one can ever know the sense of freedom and exhileration which can come from being nude in public, among other nudist - in prescribed areas, of course. The law still takes a dim view of such proceedings.
Sadly, we divorced and I have not found anyone that enjoys the lifestyle as I do. I do visit a local resort from time to time and often swim nude at Padre Island.
So when I stayed home alone, I went to the bathroom (it was the only place where I used to be naked -- when bathing, so there was nothing special about it) and put my clothes off. All my clothes, towels, everything, that was in the bathroom I threw far away to another room in order not to change my mind about the test. So I HAD to go naked in that room. Believe me, it was very hard for me to exit the bathroom naked and to walk for my clothes to another room, but I did it because I had to. At first what I felt was a great shame -- I was ashamed with the thought that I was totally naked walking in my flat, that it was not just immoral, but was some kind of a sin for me. But really I was proud of myself because I COULD do this, because I was brave and courageous enough, and I could fight against this shame. It seems to be kid staff, but it is even now very special for me. So this way I tested and improved my courage. So in a couple of weeks I was able to walk in my home naked without any problems with the shame of myself, my body, my nakedness. I realized that it was very cool, I had the feeling of something like a neverseen freedom, I felt comfortable without clothes, so I started to do everything naked. I did all trivial things, my homework, morning exercises, tidying my room up, etc. naked, as it was possible of course. I liked this very much, so it continued for many years.
When I was 13, decided to try to be naked outdoors. I came to a public (non-nudist) beach just to do what other people do there and to see if there would be a possibility to try to be naked there and not to be seen by others, and in the same time not to be in a very remote place (not to be hurt by maniacs etc.) I must say that I am living in one of the ex-USSR countries, so we have no legal nude beaches, and so being naked outdoors, even on the abandoned territory means violation of law with all fatal consequences, if you are noticed by others, or, in the worst case, by a policeman. But I was a young hot boy, I had that idea and nothing could stop me. I was lying in the sun a bit on this public beach, swam (in pants of course) and came to the woods. I found a small meadow surrounded on all sides by trees. It was not far from the beach but at the same time there was nobody near, but in spite of this I was really afraid to be noticed by others. About half an hour I was just looking to all sides watching if there was somebody. But no one was there and I slowly, looking all around, took my clothes off... I felt a freedom I never got before, a quiet wind was blowing on me, I felt it with all cells of my young body, I sat on the ground and felt the pleasant touch of the grass. It was really cool. I spent about half an hour enjoying being naked in nature. I thought a lot afterwards about it. It seems to me enigmatic until now how a small piece of cloth can change your reception of the surrounding world. (I mean it seems to be -- what's the difference if you are in pants or not or, even, for example, have a watch on your hand or not, but when you are totally naked, you feel much different than you have something on yourself.)
I am 20 now. Maybe I can never repeat this. Firstly because I am afraid of being seen by others (people can understand a 13-year-old hot, young boy, but cannot 20-year-old man), so I cannot enjoy of nakedness in such meadows. Also, as I wrote above, I am afraid to be hurt by a maniac, gay, etc. in remote place (not a paranoia, there were lots of precedents in our city) and I afraid of being in nude companies because city police makes raids against nudists (they took about 50 persons last summer).
Nobody: my parents, friends, my girlfriend knows that I love this stuff -- to be naked. So I do not know how to be, what to do -- how to enjoy nakedness and at the same time not to have problems with society and close people, who do not accept nudism/naturism in any way.
I then tried being out in the sun and found that to be just as relaxing. I usually go to secluded spots that I have found. This summer though, I am going social. I am not sure if it will be a beach or resort, but either way, this will happen. I love the way being nude feels. At home, the minute I walk in the house, off come the clothes. It is a wonderful feeling that is not hard to express. Can't wait for summer to get here. As it is now, I feel restricted being nude in my house and want to get out.
Then I was at a high school camp in the mountains when I was 15. One of the teachers (a woman) just returned from the seaside and told us she was on a naked beach. She asked us if we wanted to try. Other teachers supported her and told it was a good idea. As boys were all for, the girls were almost all against. So we took a vote. How excited I was! My dream was to come true in a few minutes! But to my dissapointment some of the boys changed their mind and vote was lost by only one vote.
Then I always tried to be naked at home when nobody was there. I felt comfortable with this but still did not dare to go at a public beach.
Then when I was 26 I met a girl that soon became my girlfriend. She told me she was a naturist and even showed me some photos from the beach. When summer began we decided we'd go for a naked beach. Then that day came. I was not afraid to strip in front of other people or to show my body naked. One of my fears was that I would be excited seeing naked women and that this would be clearly visible. So we got off the bus and headed towards the beach. After the road turned I saw a naked man. Than soon we entered the beach and many naked people of all ages showed in front of my eyes. As I was afraid I became excited, but luckily I still had my clothes on.
Finally we found a place. My girlfriend stripped and lay naked. I after a short hesitation did the same and lay on my stomach trying to cool myself. To my surprise after few minutes everything started to seem normal for me. Then, after a couple of hours we decided to walk around the beach. I was nervous again but nothing happened! We wandered several minutes then we returned to pur place. I felt comfortable with my nakedness, with wind blowing around my naked bottom. Then at the evening we returned back home.
That was how I became a naturist. Now I am planning my next naturist holidays in France, at Cap d'Agde preferably.
As I was looking around at various web sites for nudist clubs and activities, I saw they were organized and had activity programs such as sports, holiday celebrations, and fun things to do. I originally began looking at the web sites because I was mainly interested in looking at naked women in an outdoor carefree environment. As I was looking at various sites at different nudist resorts, I noticed the people were obviously enjoying themselves and I began to envy them. I started becoming very curious about what it would be like to remove my clothing in front of other people and just go around being natural.
I showed my wife some of the pictures and said to her how much they looked like they were enjoying themselves. Her reply was that they could also be enjoying themselves with their clothes on. Soon she became as interested as I was and before long she placed a call to a local nudist resort and began asking a list of questions we had written up. We wondered what kinds of people were nudists and who we might likely encounter. A misconception was that they would all be "beautiful people" with perfect athletic bodies. We were concerned about the character of the members and if they were either exhibitionists, voyeurs, or worse. We were assured that there wouldn't be a problem and if there was, that we could report any offensive behavior and it would be handled. That was very reassuring to us at the time.
My wife presented me with my birthday present for the "man who had everything". She would treat me to a weekend at a nudist resort. We asked what we should bring and were told to bring sunscreen, a couple of towels, and some sandals. We met a nice couple in the office who asked us some questions and we filled out some forms and presented them with photo I.D. We were escorted to a restroom and told we were to remove our clothes and we could wear a towel at first. I decided that sooner or later the towel would come off any way and this was a good time, so we carried our towels. We were given a tour of the entire resort in a golf cart. During our tour I felt conspicuous to everyone as a newcomer. We later learned the term is "cotton tail" because of the lack of a tan on previously unexposed areas. We were glad to be done with the hospitality tour and decided to go to the pool and meet some of the nudists. At first we had a difficult time finding someone to talk to. Eventually we met a couple who were very similar to us in many ways including age, occupation, children, and similar interests. We eventually met several other couples and were feeling very comfortable without our clothes or bathing suits.
The concept of nudity changed, as everyone was naked and there were no sexual overtones. There were several families and many children. We met families who were second and third generation nudists. Many had virtually grown up in a nudist environment. Now we envy them and our biggest regret is that we didn't try this years ago.
As the day and the weekend proceeded we encountered some very novel experiences such as coed showers. It is still an interesting experience to shower with several people of the opposite sex. We participated in several activities including water volleyball, shuffleboard, pool, as well as swimming, the sauna and spa. One entirely new experience was to go into a restaurant, place and order, sit down with, and socialize with others at the table, and have lunch and dinner, all totally nude.
My wife loves her opportunity to get out of her clothes and her shell, meet with our new friends, and participate in social and group activities we would previously not have done. Since that first visit we returned and eventually became members, met many very wonderful people, and now we are volunteers for the hospitality tours introducing new people to the world without clothes.
We are in our early 50's and thought that there would be blatant displays of sexuality and somehow some feelings of shame. This was not the case! We spent the entire day down there and we both felt that we had never felt so free and at peace with our bodies. It is a whole new way of living and we felt very comfortable with our nudity and new found freedom. My wife was raised very strictly and she was a bit of a prude even with just myself and her. She is accepting her body and finding a new interest in herself -- much to my amazement and benefit I may add. The people, about 300 were very welcoming and the whole experience was pleasant and gratifying. We will be going back and intend to try and find a nudist club in Alberta, Canada.
We both agree that it was one of the most rewarding experience that we have had. I am writing a web page about our trip and will post it soon.
Many more First Time Experiences with Nakedness
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Last updated: September 16, 2002