Psychological Health

[NudeJames]

Hi all,

I wanted to bring up the topic of psychological health, just to find out who else has felt an improvement in their mental well-being since practicing a nude way of life.  I definitely have, and especially so when shared with other people, as social nudism is something that I think many societies should have today as it was a core feature of many primitive nations, and I think that the loss of that has caused tension in our societies today.

Keen to hear from the rest of you!

[nuduke]

Speaking personally, I feel a profound sense of relief and freedom when I get my clothes off.
It's not just the confining nature of clothes.  Since I fully realised I was a naturist (about 2007), I have become aware of the difference in one's psyche when naked as clothed.  Although prolonged periods of being nude bring on a feeling of the ordinary, like this is not special it's just unnoticeably normal, nevertheless the joys of nudity suddenly re-establish themselves as soon as you have to put clothes back on (with the regret at getting dressed!) and when removing the burden of garments.
When out naked in nature, in woods, by water or stone, which is a rare treat for me these days, the joy of that is palpable and one feels refreshed and calm, happy and satisfied afterwards. 
So yes, being naked in nature has a strong effect on my feeling of well being at the time, so I suppose that generally affects mental well being positively.
I can't say, however that any general life changes have occurred since discovering naturism, it hasn't cured me of depression or anything (which I don't have as far as I am aware!) nor changed my general attitude to things. 
However, I think the reverse is true - that if you have the right approaches and states of mind to start with, along with a questioning and liberal outlook, this facilitates leading to things such as the discovery of naturism and the appreciation of its effects.  The right mindset leads one to approach new ideas, stimuli etc without prejudices or prejudgements which cloud the ability to take in new stimuli and gain from that.   
Does that make sense to people?
John

[NudeJames]

Hi John,

I enjoyed reading your reply.  There is definitely something interesting about our connection to the elemental surfaces when naked.  I myself have a natural inclination to stone and water, stone perhaps being a part of the earth element.

I would say though, and perhaps this is just a rambling, but I might think a conservative mind ought to espouse this lifestyle.  One may say a liberal mind in that it is a free mind, perhaps that's how you meant it, but the word liberal does contain the sociopolitical aspect.  Perhaps conservative does too, but I say a conservative mind because if we were to practice such a lifestyle, we'd be conserving a very old way of living, something that I would argue became eroded by the love of the material, an unfortunate state in which the world is in today.

[jbeegoode]

In nature especially natural in nature has been exceedingly important in my spiritual psych welbeing. When I lived in a natural area, it was wholly different from where I live now, in the city. I notice an extreme difference and a need to get out to quiet, to myself, into godliness every week. If I don't and remain with my to do list in town, there are ramifications for my serenity, my sense of wholeness, oneness, and ability to just be. It is grounding and nude there is essential. It is how we are supposed to be.

How can I be psychologically whole when my body can't function as it is supposed to, either in nature, or at home, or in my yard? I can't be present and self aware as my nature was intended to be, and through evolution.
Jbee

[NudeJames]

Jbee,

It's interesting in looking at many earlier nations, such as some native American groups, who didn't build cities because they felt that such a place so crowded and unnatural would create a distance between them and the Creator.  And I think most city-dwellers today feel this way too, some cognizant of how and why and what they feel, such as yourself, and others perhaps confused as to why they feel such a way in a city.

[nuduke]

Nude James,
I definitely did not mean 'liberal' in any political sense.  Just my slightly archaic turn of phrase, I guess.  I did indeed mean 'liberal' in the meaning of 'a free mind' as you put it and openness and open mindedness and of the dictionary definition i.e. "respecting and allowing many different types of beliefs or behaviour" and "willing to consider new or different ideas".  I don't do political!


Also interesting was your reference to your preference for stone and water.  In a previous forum, my avatar was accompanied by the epithet 'wood, stone and water' indicating my liking for being in natural surroundings.  I am particularly attracted to water.  Bodies of water in all their forms, flowing, leaping, still, wide, falling, narrow etc., offer me a peace, meditation and fascination like no other natural places.  Whilst I love woodland a lot, for me, proximity to water is the best and to be naked in proximity to water is the very best and to be in a wood at the side of some water, naked is the paragon of experience!!  


On that score, I had intended to take up wild swimming this year and found a place for safe lake bathing (unfortunately not naked as it was a popular group managed locale).  However, we are experiencing something of a crisis of our water providers in the UK at the moment because they are virtually unchecked in discharging raw sewage overflows in times of high rainfall, into rivers and other watercourses.  No river in the UK is now in a good condition free from such pollution and many delicate and rare habitats have been threatened or wiped out by this horrendous lack of ethics by the water companies and lack of regulation by the state.  Recently a database of river pollution incidents has been made public and the place I was going to use is fed by the river Trent which is one of the UK's largest rivers and therefore a large recipient of overflow sewage.  In other places such as the national water sports centre, which is also fed from the Trent, the athletes are reporting unacceptable levels of gastro enteritic disease acquired from contact with the water.  At 70 years of age the challenge of the cold water may be one thing but the prospect of coming home with gut rot is further than I wish to go and so has led me to demur on the venture into "natural" waters.  My decision was further reinforced during the subsidence of exceptional rainfall last autumn (fall) when the receding waters of the Trent (and our nearby smaller river) left behind the detritus of the pollution - tissues, sanitary towels, wipes and condoms, sieved out of the flow by overhanging tree branches and roots inundated by the high water. Yukk.
John

[NudeJames]

Hi John,

Yes I thought you may have used the term in its archaic sense.  I don't know if I am accepting of everything, there are some things one ought to not accept I think, and there are just some things that are incompatible.  But nevertheless, I think our aim should be to live as peaceably as possible.

Water is an amazing thing, I've always loved the idea of the dryad in terms of fantasy, considering its affinity to woods and water, and being nude at that of course.  I try imitate this myself, of course, with the aforementioned ponds on so on in my introduction post.  But I am saddened to hear about the state of the water systems in Britain!  To think that the idea of the dryad and the water sprite is so common in English history and folklore, and to see the state of the natural systems today, it does injustice to those lovely stories which so inspire naturism in my opinion.  But here in South Africa, you see similarities.  Our government has been very inept at keeping the natural systems in good order and we too have many polluted rivers and wildcards that also give rise to disease and just plain environmental dispoilation.  It's a pity, seeing that a lot of my country inspired the author Tolkien to envisage some areas of Middle-earth.

[jbeegoode]

"Yuck!" Very apt term there Nuduke. Back in the 1960's it took law suits to bring about the "Clean Water Act" in the USA. Entire water systems, like the the Great lake Erie were generally dead from pollution. Now, most are restored.

Arizona doesn't have quite the problem. Instead the water courses are just destroyed, gone, or gobbled up by development and non-profit cattle ranching, years ago. There has been mitigation about the larger perennial rivers. (big creeks to you).
 
Jbee