It’s Amazing What Happens When You Get Nude In Nature

On our way across the country, Aroha and I stopped in Victoria for our furthest west location. While we were there, we met up with my buddies Misty Moss & Keira Leilani to have some play time on the coast. It was a magical evening where the 4 of us frolicked in the nude, photographed each other, and cooled off in the beautiful cove water. There’s not much I won’t do when it comes to being photographed and Aroha’s forte is photographing people nude in nature, so together we created these glorious images.

There was something magical about being held by the Mother of all Mothers, letting nature take the weight of my body along with the weight of my mind. I have read studies about the impact of nature on the human psyche, but experiencing it is chill inducing. While I wasn’t too stressed (aside from driving on really curvy mountain roads and driving around the weirdest roundabouts) I could feel any lingering stress evaporating out of my body as I just let myself be…held. I closed my eyes and tried to use my other senses to savour the experience. I felt the rocks under my skin, but surprisingly they didn’t hurt my body. I inhaled the smell of the earth and heard the waves lapping against the shore as the tide rolled in. The sun was setting behind us, giving that beautiful warm glow across the water, making it seem as though gold was hiding underneath the rocks. Between the playful creative experience of being with my friends in the heat of summer and the beauty of nature that surrounded us, I couldn’t help but lay my head down peacefully that night.

Now, if you follow me on instagram you probably have read some of my poems and prose that connect bodies to nature and nature to bodies and that’s because experiences such as this one seek to remind me that we are not different. The textures of my skin can be found in the rocks, the tree bark, the sand, the ripples on the water. The strength of my body is mirrored in the sturdy tree trunks and adaptable roots the twist and curve and stay resilient. The roundness of my body is mimicked in the pebbles that have been smoothed by eons of tidal water wearing it down and the way the sand and trees and rocks and breeze work in harmony together, reminds me that all the elements of my body are doing the same to keep me going on this planet.

So, here are a few things I took away from this amazing experience:

1)Whether I resist changing or not, nature implies I will be forced to

2)I can live harmoniously and resiliently to the World around me

3)I must respect nature and nature includes myself

4)Nature will find a way, and so will I

5)Having photos of my body alongside the very things I find magical about nature help me find my body magical as well

If you have a place near where you live that you can venture into nature (with mosquito spray and sunscreen lol) I highly recommend giving yourself the freedom, liberation and connection you deserve. Allow yourself to be held, to be witnessed, to be mirrored, and realize that as miraculous as nature is, you are part of it and therefore, are miraculous as well.

Also, I highly recommend hiring Aroha to photograph you in a way that helps you connect with yourself and the world around you. Reach out to her on instagram at @theuntetheredartist and let her know I sent ya!