The Secret Naturist Handbook

[MartinM]

‘Dark nights’ expresses much of what made me uncomfortable with the concept of SN - being done for the thrill, the need to ‘spice up’ the activity if it starts feeling a bit ordinary. I have often felt on the alert when out naked in the woods, and have appreciated some aspects of this, but not the feeling that ‘I might be caught’, that it is something illicit but rather that it makes be more aware of what is going on around me, that I become more mindful of animal activity, that I spot deer and learn to recognise sounds of the woods.

Initially, I felt best when I thought it least likely that I would meet someone, so that I could just enjoy being in nature. As I have progressed, I am more comfortable that it is ok to meet someone who is also out enjoying nature, if without the same degree of freedom as myself, and that it will be a positive experience for both parties, putting all guilt ‘back in the box’.

I resented feelings of guilt that I sometimes experienced in the early days, as philosophically I felt that what I was doing was natural and healthy, but was still fighting my social conditioning and my personal issues, lack of confidence in myself. I still resent concerns that get me thinking about anything other than what is around me and what I am doing, ie that hinder mindfulness.

I feel at my best when I feel gently alert, mindful, connected, aware that I might meet someone but not pre-occupied, confident that what I am doing is natural and that I can deal with the situation naturally, by covering up respectfully or simply engaging them and saying ‘hi’.

Of course, SN may be forced on some where nudity is seen as illegal. As a strategy for dealing with that it is understandable. As a means of better observing what is going on in the woods, some of the strategies are useful but skulking and hiding (from people) are the actions of the guilty in mind.

[BlueTrain]

I mostly but not entirely agree with those sentiments. I go hiking--or walking--for a variety of reasons but "to be in nature" is not one of them. I'm always in nature. In fact, I'm part of it. It's no more unnatural to live in a house make of ticky-tack as it is to live in a cave. When possible, I like to hike without clothing, even if I'm wearing something on my feet and on my head. Technically that would make me not nude but try to convince the casual observer of that. The chief reason for not wearing clothes is that it's more comfortable as well as to feel the air. I do not find it uncomfortable to wear clothes, though. I am not that sensitive.

With the exception of one nudist club that I visited, I've never been anywhere where nudity was legal. I'm not sure that being nude has ever made me more aware of my surroundings, not after the first five minutes at least, nor do I believe it makes animals less cautious about me, although some do. It might make me exercise more care in walking, since a fall would do more damage than if I were wearing clothes. This I know from experience. I have also decided, by the way, that using a walking stick does not always make walking on rough trails easier. But that's another story.

I have no guilt about any of the nude hiking I've done.

[jbeegoode]

MartinM, well put once again. I think that you communicated my position.

There is a difference, as you say about being in an illegal place. Here, it is illegal, so a stealth practice, a craftiness has its place. I use stealth, rather than feel oppressed. I gather a greater sense of freedom, as I overcome what has been handed to me. The more adept and confident that I am being nude in public the more free I am. So, these tools are of great value.

It also serves a continuity between safe legal situations and outdoors, for example trailheads, or getting through more populous spots on my way to a more remote position.

I used to value the game of it, but I don't miss it. I confess that I find myself often feeling like thumbing my nose at the oppression, simply by getting away with free nudity to the point that I am not breaking law and circumventing injustice.
Jbee

[jbeegoode]

 "It can all be quite thrilling if the locations are challenging or have an interesting atmosphere such as stone circles and graveyards!" from TSNH "Dark Nights.

In daylight We find special sites, spiritual connections, or energies. People show up for these things clothed, nude even better. It is an entirely different experience coming during the day as a tourist in droves from sneaking about at night alone with a special place.

Rattlesnakes put a damper on many of these nocturnal ambitions in Arizona.
Jbee

[jbeegoode]

FIRST STEPS: FROM TSNH:

Many new-comers to secret naturism often ask how they should get started as a secret naturist. My initial advice is for caution. Don't be tempted to go for the big stuff you read about in the Reports section, just start small and simple and safe. A few would-be secret naturists have taken on more than they could handle at an early stage, going too far and too soon, and have landed in trouble. Some never to return to secret naturism again.

The first step I would recommend any budding secret naturist to do is to download this web site and read it at your leisure. Take your time and don't try and learn it all by heart, just take in some of the principles involved and also try and adhere to the values we hold on nudity. There are quite a few Reports you can read about secret naturist adventures. These will give you an idea what can be achieved and also some suggestions on what can be done in similar situations yourself.

So, what should you attempt on your first secret naturist outing. The first thing you need to look at is the location and a good example would be a patch of thick woodland without public footpaths or trails. This should also offer complete cover and concealment from prying eyes. It need not be very large, as you will not be moving about to any great extent. You should, of course, carry out a thorough investigation of the area beforehand, mainly to ascertain if you might be disturbed. This should be done fully clothed.

For your actual first outing, I would suggest you stay in the same location, keeping your clothing close to hand and don't move around too far. Perhaps you might spread out a travelling rug and spend some time reading or whatever. The main purpose being to get used to being naked outdoors. Even if you have experienced naturism at a nudist beach or whatever, this can be something quite different. Try this simple approach a few times at different locations until you gain confidence and can manage not to panic and get dressed at the slightest noise. You will likely notice that your senses are heightened and you will see and hear far more than when clothed.

The next stage is to start moving about while naked. At this stage you should carry your clothing with you, perhaps inside a bumbag but I would recommend you have at least shorts in your hand. This will allow you to cover up quickly if required. It will also help you gain confidence. You don't have to go far at this early stage, only a far as you feel comfortable with or within the limits of your chosen location. You might also want to plan this part during the night when the risk of being seen is usually much lower. As you gain confidence in your abilities, gradually increase the distance walked.

As you gain confidence at your abilities, you might wish to seek out different locations to practice your skills at moving naked around the countryside. You may be quite surprised to discover just how many places are suitable. You may have to selective where you go and when you go there and the most unlikely locations can provide some challenging possibilities.

The next stage is really not for beginners but you will come across it often in the web site. I'll mention it here, as it is the next logical stage to become a true secret naturist. To my mind, the ultimate achievement for the secret naturist is to be able to explore without the burden of clothing, and indeed of footwear
.
Basically, this is exploring while leaving your clothing behind. This can be quite a challenge for even experienced secret naturists but again, start off small and build up. Begin by hiding your clothing and walking a few tens of metres away, go further if you wish. You may find the thrill quite exhilarating. Gradually increase the distance or duration of separation from your clothing. Soon you will be able to undertake considerable distances, even up to many miles.

To be honest, there are no magic formulae to becoming a secret naturist, it's really just a case of getting out there and doing it. However, one important aspect has not been mentioned, that of common sense. You need to apply good common sense to what you are doing. After all, being naked in public places is does have some risk of being seen, but with some care and attention you can attain some quite astounding achievements.

[jbeegoode]

"No backup," feeling "a little more naked," feeling more natural, all are attractive additions to being nude.
Jbee

[MartinM]

Bluetrain - I understand the argument that everything in the world is natural and, on one level, you are correct. But that is not the original meaning of the word and it ceases to have useful meaning if used like that.  Normally, it refers to what is not man-made, and certainly not made with modern technology. Mankind has changed the world fundamentally in the last few millenia, much of that in just the last century or two. Our evolution hasn’t prepared us for this technological world.

There is a fundamental difference between living in a modern house with all its appliances and living in a cave, or a timber shack made with basic technology. The modern house largely coccoons us from the outside world while providing a host of technologies to make life more comfortable. The many man-made materials contain a variety of chemicals and the electronics give off an array of unnatural magnetic fields. Some of these have known effects but many of the longer term effects are inevitably unknown.We have not evolved to live in this environment.

Going out in nature, woods etc, is proven to have calming effects and to benefit both physical and mental health. Feeling the air on your skin is one part of it, as is breathing in the fresh air laden with the truly natural substances that the plants and trees exude which science is only beginning to study.

Every response is personal but we all benefit from time in nature. Gyms are proven not to have the beneficial effect that outdoor exercise has. Not everyone is interested in the natural world around them, despite its benefits, but for me at least, the vulnerability inherent in being naked connects me more closely with my environment. How could it not when you can feel every breath of wind on your skin, the earth beneath your feet and the instant warmth of a ray of sunshine.

[BlueTrain]

Even though we seem to have had a few similar experiences, our reactions have not been the same. But then, we may not have been out for the same reasons. The only stone circle I've visited was Stonehenge and I failed to have a spiritual connection while there. Maybe it was the rain that shorted everything out. Graveyards are something else, although there are only three or four that we have visited to visit graves of relatives, including Arlington National Cemetery, where my wife's grandparents are buried and also two of my son-in-law's relatives, one of whom was only buried a week ago. It was one of his grandmothers, who actually served in the R.A.F. in WWII. Visiting cemeteries is a very sad experience for me, although I don't feel any spiritual connections. Maybe I need to go at night or something.

I have actually hiked at night in Shenandoah National Park (not nude, though). Not difficult at all if the moon is out and if the trail isn't too bad. Much of the trails I've been on there have really been green tunnels, as they have been described, but they aren't all like that.

Now, responding to MartinM's post, which has appeared this instant. I've lived in a log house with a wood-burning range in the kitchen and a coal-burning stove in the other room. The house had no bathroom and no telephone. There was electricity, though, which was a relative recent addition (this was in the early 1960s). So, I've had that experience. It was all man-made, it is true. There was a large garden that required a lot of work and wood had to be split for the stove. The place was surrounded by the woods. No one there would have understood anything you were talking about and no one went to a gym. Everyone was just about as connected with nature as they cared to be. Me, I went to college and aside from my time in the army and the jobs I did getting through school (including work on a tobacco farm), I spent the rest of my life after graduation until I retired last year working in an office polishing the seat of my pants. Yet I do not feel disconnected from nature. The warmth of a ray of sunshine is nice sometimes but this time of the year it feels better to be in the cool and shady woods. I probably have about ten good years left to enjoy all that and after that, who knows?

I think it helps to have a definite goal for an outing, be it hiking or camping, although it doesn't need to be difficult or grandiose. In fact, making the rounds of a ten-mile circle hike is a minor achievement. But I generally have a particular thing I want to accomplish on any given outing. And in planning the next trip, I usually have something in mind that I want to do differently.

Although I'm not sure if hiking nude is ever the primary object of a given hike (it probably is, though), it is usually something I intended doing. In theory, I have more flexibility, if not freedom, for trips these days but that mostly means that I don't have to worry so much about rain--not that we've had much rain lately. Anyway, the possibility of hiking nude for a while is always part of my plans, at least in warmer weather.

[jbeegoode]

The experience of nature is more than being knowledgeable enough to survive. There has been terrific destructive insensitivity and ignorance in the settling of this country. Knowing how to survive in a particular way is not the end all be all in knowing nature, its spirit, or many values and blessings that it gives. Getting along as a farmer is generally very much the opposite.

A farmer may be closer to the land and the environment than the city's counterpart, but a farmer won't understand more than he needs to know. A big piece of my family tree were Kansan farmers. I spent plenty of time appreciating their food, homes, the ethic, the variety of skills, the social fabric, but past that, they were farmers, and about profit. Their spiritual orientation was go respectfully and responsibly to church on Sunday. It had nothing to do with the spirit of nature, or the ecology. For example, flowers, were there to be picked and stuck in a glass of water, not expressions of life. They were not in touch with their feelings, or their bodies. They repressed.
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

I disagree, naturally. Why should a farmer understand more than he needs to know? He probably doesn't understand as much as he needs to know in the first place and anyway, he actually has very little control over a lot of things that are important to him. He has no control over the weather, prices and in fact, much of anything. Some of my recent ancestors were farmers in places that were hard places to be farmers. So they ultimately left when the leaving was good, in a manner off speaking.

On the other hand, you are correct in that they did not visualize anything as "natural" or (in Frank Lloyd Wright's favorite word) "organic." They didn't build a house as if it were part of nature. They built a house, once past the log cabin stage, that was stark white, totally separate from the land. The land, that is, nature, is neutral in all of this. Going to church (in the wildwood) was a community affair more than anything, I think. Our community spirit is pretty weak these days.

My wife cuts flowers and puts them in a glass of water. But she grew them for that purpose.

[jbeegoode]

Going Public: from TSNH:

For most of my secret naturist career I've mostly kept my activities quiet, few people knowing about what I got up to. Even when I suggested to my wife that I actually walked naked when out in the hills, she didn't believe me. This led me to thinking about why I was keeping my activities a secret. Should I be more open or continue following my rule of keeping quiet?

The first thing I considered was what effect would it have on me personally if it were widely known that I devised the term secret naturism, managed a web site on the matter and was also an active participant. I answered this by looking at what was already known by others about myself and the topic of secret naturism.

At home my wife, although I have not said specifically what I get up to, seems to be aware of secret naturism. Mostly her reaction is one of "I don't believe you". It's also well known in the family that I like to walk about naked but other than a few smiles, there is little reaction.

At my previous place of work someone discovered the web site and put two and two together. After I openly admitted I was actually "Corbie" there was again little by way of reaction other than a few smiles and odd looks. Nothing seemed to affect me in any way at work. I have always been regarded as somewhat eccentric anyway, so that might have helped.

To be honest, in my own circumstances, having it known that I was a secret naturist would have few if any serious consequences. Had I been working in a field other than IT, things might be different. At present, I suppose you could say I'm a semi-secret naturist. A few people are aware but most are not.

The next matter I thought about is would there be any benefits to "going public". Having a close family member who was aware of your activities might actually be useful. Should you wish to try some challenges such as cross country travel without carrying clothing, they might be willing to assist you with transport to and from location. Another possible benefit might be that you are approached by people intrigued by the idea of exploring the countryside naked. They may even ask to accompany you on an outing. Back home again, I think that coming out properly would make it easier to spend time working on the web site. As for assistance with the more extreme outing, I suspect not.

That still leaves the question of whether it would be wise to come out or to continue to keep things secret. Sadly, there is no easy answer to that question. It is very much down to the circumstances of the individual that will determine what the answer would be.

[jbeegoode]

She didn't believe him!
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

I think you've probably considered all the possibilities, JB. But I think there is more than either keeping something secret and making something public. That is, it's not either-or. It is a private activity, of course, but that only means that it's something you do that really isn't anyone else's business, no more than skydiving might be. It's entirely possible that some employers would frown on skydiving by one of their very valuable employees, something I probably never was.

The trick is, and it is tricky, to conduct yourself in the presence of others so that no one would be surprised by anything you do. If there's something you do that you don't want anyone to know about, then reconsider doing it. There should be no shame in telling anyone you're a nudist (they'd understand that but 'naturist' might need an explanation), if the subject just happened to come up. Just don't go telling everyone about it. Doing that gets on people's nerves. But people differ.

Some people are very open with their lives, sometimes to the point of being tedious. Others, while not in any way secretive, tend not to talk about their private lives very often. They may freely answer questions (like, "where did you go to school?"), stuff like that. Here I'm thinking of people you know at work, who typically you know better than your neighbors because you spend more time with them. The term for them might be "businesslike" in an office situation. Likewise, from the other side, there are those who are inquisitive about you and others who never express any interest at all. Here I am assuming you know your colleagues well enough not say the wrong thing to the wrong person. But chances are, you already know all this.

I'm not qualified to give marriage advice, however, my experience being so limited. 

[jbeegoode]

Yea, it is individual and depends on the situation. Work is different, if you work in say a school system. I'm retired, but I have spiritual activity groups that I just don't mention my naturism to. It doesn't mesh with my goals. It's not important enough to involve one with the other. One might even interfere with the goals of the other.

I don't talk much of my spiritual stuff unless it pertains to naturism among naturist and I don't go too deeply into it. Most don't care, a few are interested, it can be touchy.

I don't hide, but yea, sometimes, ain't nobody's business but ma own. I'm many things and I don't care to be categorized, or pigeonholed by others because of one thing that stands out to them.
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

I think I know what you're saying and I mostly understand. I would describe it as compartmentalizing your life. I think it's something that happens quite naturally and normally. When you have a job (that is, when you get up and go to work), it's like you live two different lives in two different worlds. It varies with different people but I talked a lot about my home life with some people, not at all with other people at work. And at home, I usually said very little about things at work. My father never talked about his job when he was at home. My wife was a schoolteacher until she retired two years ago and boy, did she ever bring her job home with her. She probably never got a chance to talk about her home life at school.

Another thing is where you meet people. My father, again, had jobs that had him traveling around the area everyday, first as a route man, then as a rural mail carrier. He knew people everywhere. Everywhere but at home, where he didn't know anywhere near as many people. It eventually developed that most of the people I knew were those where I worked. But most of those relationships are really pretty shallow and few of your own interests would ever be mentioned. So, mostly, there is no pressure to tell everyone much of anything, really.