BEYOND NUDISM

"...sex must be brought up to an equal status as eating, praying, meditating, playing or any other of a variety of normal nurturing activities of which we partake..."

BEYOND NUDISM: Sexuality as the Next Step to Healing

By Daniel D. Ziegler

Social Nudism can be a healing balm for the soul weary of carrying around the burden of body shame. But at some point, if the healing soul longs for yet something more, something deeper, something even beyond nudism--perhaps even sexual--it is a sign that the soul is ready for a deeper level of healing. The soul is now ready to examine the real roots of body shame, and once these are discovered and discarded, the healing process of body shame can be completed.

What are the roots of body shame in our culture? When closely examined, shame, embarrassment and guilt over our bodies stems from thousands of years of religious-based sexual repression. We have been led to believe that our bodies are the cause of sexual behavior, of which most forms are considered sinful. It is this belief that lies at the bottom of our negative attitudes toward our bodies. To heal from this requires that a new understanding and appreciation of sex be adopted, one based on joy and celebration for life, not on shame and guilt. We can call it sexual acceptance. Simply put, sex must be brought up to an equal status as eating, praying, meditating, playing or any other of a variety of normal nurturing activities of which we partake--openly, either alone or with others. Once achieved and we are no longer wasting vital energy concealing unnecessary embarrassment, shame and guilt, we will finally be free to pursue higher expressions of the human experience. Until then, we are slaves to our own negative thoughts of shameful bodies.

Just as importantly as healing our minds of the negative attitudes toward our sexuality is the next step toward healing of our body shame, comfort with nudity is a prerequisite for healing our attitudes toward sexuality. The whole process of healing begins with becoming comfortable enough with nudity to take the next step toward addressing sexuality. If one stops at simply nudity, however, the healing process will not become complete because body shame originates in repressed sexuality; and likewise, if one tries to heal their sexuality without first becoming comfortable with simple nudity, body shame will surely get in the way. The two, nudity and sexuality, go hand in hand, yet, for obvious reasons nudity must be dealt with first. We can even call that Step 1. Then, once a certain comfort level is reached with simple nudity, sexuality can be addressed as Step 2. After that, healing can be completed. The result is healthy sexuality based on an attitude of wholeness of the body that has replaced body shame based on sexual repression. We now experience true body acceptance that includes sexual acceptance, as we accept ourselves as healthy sexual beings.

I have written extensively about healing body shame through nudism in my book NAKED BEFORE GOD: A Look at Healing, Self-discovery and Spiritual Growth Through Social Nudism. That book, containing my personal accounts with nudism as well as accounts of other nudists, serves as a guide to the first step in our healing. For some, however, it will be the last step too, for they will choose not to explore the idea that their view of sexuality may not be entirely whole or healthy. For them, at least for now, a line has been drawn which they choose not to cross. Such socially accepted and mainstream concepts such as marriage, monogamy, heterosexuality, privacy surrounding sex, silence about sex, etc., etc., etc., are deeply rooted in our psyche and, for some people, are not open to be challenged. Others, however, once they have experienced the healing power of nudism, will be ready for the second step--to question society’s and their own view on sexuality as well, realizing that their body shame, and possibly other neurotic issues, originate from thousands of years of sexual repression. Their quest for further healing, however, will sometimes be painful as they move forward to challenge deep-rooted ideas at the very core of their soul--ideas even beyond the level of the nudism challenge-- but the ultimate healing will be just as deep.

I have thought that since NAKED BEFORE GOD serves as a guide to Step 1, healing through nudity, I would have to write another book for Step 2, healing through sexuality. But after a little thought I realized that I would not have to write a single word. So much has already been written. One only has to go to a bookstore or look online for any number of books and websites dealing with healing our sexuality. With nudity, however, it was different story. One is hard pressed to find any literature on nudity or nudism except what is published by various nudist and naturist organizations, and seldom does any of it mention healing.

I offer the ideas presented here to those nudists, and anyone else, who sense that even though the nudism experience has changed their lives in a positive direction by freeing them up from years of body shame, there is still something missing. I urge them to honor this feeling. That missing something, in my estimation, is the issue of our repressed sexuality. The nudist community, for a variety of reasons—some having to do with survival of the movement itself and some having to do purely with the blinding effects of sexual repression--has not addressed the root cause of body shame—our negative attitude toward our sexuality; nor in all likelihood will it. It is up to us as individuals to continue on our own path of healing beyond nudism.


To receive a free e-copy (PDF file) of my book NAKED BEFORE GOD: A Look At Healing, Self-discovery and Spiritual Growth Through Social Nudism, go to http://less-onsfortruth.com/ or email me ddziegler44@yahoo.com