Description
The Naked Yoga Effect
From cancer survivor to naked yoga teacher
Doria Gani
Assisted by Steve Robson
Enjoy the benefits and freedom that practising Naked Yoga can bring and discover your true self – with no barriers, limitations or social constraints. With this Naked Yoga guide, you really can learn to love your body and heal your mind.
Includes photographs and easy instructions for practising Naked Yoga either at home or in a group.
Naked Yoga expert Doria Gani recounts her own transformational journey to help you challenge your hang ups, combat shame and develop new body positive attitudes.
In this inspirational story, discover how Doria overcame critical illness, learned to deal with unexpected consequences for her life as a woman, and set out on a new path to reconnect with her soul through yoga and naturism.
Doria Gani
Doria Gani is a Naked Yoga teacher and an ambassador for body positivity. She started practicing yoga in 2010, as a form of rehabilitation after fighting cervical cancer. From that beginners class, she found that the clear, mindful asana instructions improved her memory, spatial relations, focus, and sense of connectedness with her mind and body. On a greater scale, the daily practice showed her the value of acting deliberately. Yoga was the key to her recovery and transformation, and now she lives her life with a greater sense of purpose and intention.
Eventually, her expanding yoga path led her to India and Bali to train as a professional teacher – she is now qualified in Ashtanga Vinyasa, Rocket Yoga, Yin, Mandala, and principles of Ayurveda and Shamanism. But it was after a liberating experience at Burning Man festival that she decided to start practicing and teaching Naked Yoga. There were no barriers, no inhibitions, and no restrictions – just like with yoga practice. Naked yoga finally taught her to accept her body and accept herself exactly how she is today, with all her imperfections. She now wants to share this feeling of calm acceptance with others.
Doria has been featured on the BBC and in many press articles including in Cosmopolitan, H&E Naturist, The Sun, Unreported London, The Londonist, the i and Dojo.
Steve Robson
Steve is a successful entrepreneur who came to naked yoga as a means of release from the stresses of business life. He has found that it enables him to be very present in his body, and allows him to develop a way of moving meditation and a way to slow down and notice the here and now. Steve worked with Doria to write the book and felt strongly that her story should be told.
Review:
«Doria’s inspiring story is the pathway for anyone wishing to explore the freedom of naked yoga. It’s a story of huge courage, of overcoming pain and hurt, and o f finding hope through the healing power of nature and the purity of self expression!» – Russell Amerasekera, life coach & stylist
Watch the booktrailer here
Watch a naked yoga session with Doria here: BBC feature with Cherry Healey
Read about Doria in The Times below
How naked yoga could transform your life
After a traumatic childhood, an eating disorder and cancer treatment, Doria Gani found liberation in naked yoga. Now she’s persuading people around the world to strip off and salute the sun. Jane Mulkerrins has a session
Jane Mulkerrins
Friday May 14 2021, 12.00am, The Times (extract)
“It’s a Monday morning and I’m naked on the floor of my flat, in front of a laptop, while, from the other side of the screen, a woman, also naked and whom I “met” a matter of moments ago, directs me into some pretty undignified positions.
There’s nothing remotely sexual about this exchange – in fact, if there were, I’d be in serious trouble. “This is not a space for sexual or sensual energy,” my flaxen-haired enforcer makes crystal clear. “If anyone misbehaves, I will block them and report them.” And it is not a venue for voyeurism. “This is not a popcorn-and-Coke, watching other people vibe – your camera has to be on too, at all times.”
I can safely say that I don’t think anyone would find what I’m doing right now in any way titillating. As the No 73 thunders past, I pity the people on the top deck. “This,” my instructor says, with admirable casualness, “is just yoga, naked – that’s it.”
The trend, which started in New York (obvs) and then predictably spread to Ibiza, does have celebrity devotees, including Matthew McConaughey and Lady Gaga, but still remains somewhat niche. My instructor this soggy morning, 44-year-old Doria Gani, is one of only a handful of UK-based instructors who run classes in which students literally let it all hang out.
“Naked Yoga can free you from the shame and embarrassment of feeling that your body is not good enough, and help you to feel good about being nude in front of others,” she writes. “Naked Yoga has also helped people suffering from unachievable ideals of bodily perfection, and it can help those suffering from eating disorders or obesity to learn to love their bodies and care for them.”
Read about Doria in The Sun here
In Cosmo here
In H&E Naturist here
In the i here
In 40 Now What here
“I was so inspired by her book… [it] is a good book to read yourself, or to give to a friend going through a rough patch” – Nude & Natural.
see more at doriayoga.com