Body awareness

This is something that just popped up in my mind at some point. Things have a habit of popping up and some of them are worth writing about.

Naturists are known to have less / no body shame. Some of them/us are still growing up to the point where it disappears, but it is clear to many that bodies are what they are. All different, all special, all good.

Nude darts, free as you can be.

Naturists are, as far as I know, very much aware of their bodies. That has nothing to do with shame but the mere fact that we know our body. We know when it’s comfortable, when it’s not so great.

People who wear clothes all of the time have lost that awareness (or perhaps they never had it in the first place, since they were ‘wrapped up’ before their mind developed enough to notice.)

It’s autumn now. Or fall. Name it as you want. Naturists in the northern hemisphere are wearing more clothes. I don’t know about you, but I am very much aware of that fact. I feel those layers of fabric. Of course, I know my body needs those things, otherwise I’ll be cold and that’s not nice.

Still, despite knowing all that, it sometimes is as if my body revolts against that stuff. As if I am not made for those wrappings. Heck, at times I feel like a mummy, especially when I have to bend or squat down to pick something up. There’s that direct awareness that something is cutting off my ability to move and also my blood-flow. Those are the clothes.

Summer of 2019
Summer of 2019

I’m certain many of you have similar feelings.

I, for one, am looking forward to the next warm days of spring and the next summer. Oh, sure, having 40C days this summer wasn’t extremely funny at work (that’s 104F) but without clothes I find those days much easier to handle than the days of -10C to 5C (10F to 40F) wearing the garments.

I just need to find a place that allows for doing the work in the buff. 😀

A writing update for a change.

One of the categories for this post is Nanowrimo. If you know what that is, glory to you. If you don’t: forget about it. It’s a bout of madness for people who like to write.

Most of you know this cover.

Yes, I’m working on book two of the Emma Nelson fantasy mysteries. I think it is going well, be it as slow as with the first book. Mysteries are hard to write for me because a lot of mysterious things happen (duh) and they have to fit and work on all sides. The next book will shine some more light on where Emma’s ability comes from (if I can make that work) and also Jo-Anne’s absence gets more attention (if I can make that work.)

I’m also still working on Naked Crow 9. Two big things for Sheila and Jeremy are: Canada and Vacation. And somehow these two are combined I’ll leave it to your mastermind to figure out how that can happen, I’m sure you can do this. Otherwise follow this link… And then there is something with a big rock and someone disappearing, but that’s just minor stuff.

And then there is a story I once started and never thought would get any traction or serious word counts. Well, how wrong can you be. Said story is over 42,000 words (think 120 pages of text) already and suddenly it is growing and going into a direction I hadn’t expected to happen. If you know anyone called John, pay attention. There might be more to John than you think. Of course most Johns are not like this one, but still…

This particular story will be bought by Marvel as it is about superheroes. Four of them. Marvel will make it a huge hit and that will make me disgustingly rich and adorably famous. Well, that is the plan, at least.

I’ll let you know whether or not the plan worked out.

Until it does, I’ll keep writing. Have a great week, everyone!

P.Z.

Daylight savings time.

You may be surprised but I sometimes think about non-naturist things. Feel free to skip this post if you’re not interested.

I hate daylight savings time.

Each time the ungalactic overlords start messing with the clock, I have problems for at least a week, and that can stretch up to 2 weeks. People who don’t feel that problem often shrug that off with the statement “You simply sleep a bit less/longer and that’s it.” If you are one of those, you’re a lucky person.

Here in the Netherlands, a majority is against DST or Summertime as it’s called here. Last Sunday I read a Slashdot article that 70% of Americans are against it. It’s not up to me to say it’s true but it would not surprise me.

Time warping should be left to experts like Dr Who, or the people who invented the Time Tunnel (who remembers that series?)

The Time Tunnel

Moving back and forth can’t be healthy

Here in the Netherlands we move back a week before the US of A does. I am still not back on schedule, which stinks as I have a job. More people I know complain about it.

Also, I doubt this is healthy and the way things should be. We’re still natural beings (‘naturist’ says so much, right? Tell me if I’m wrong) so we should adjust to nature, not adjust nature to us. We’re already doing that in too many ways.

Human health is too much under the table for the benefit of the economy. Let’s at least get rid of this one.

Indoor sports for the naked human

And perhaps not so human, but I shall leave that up to you.

Indoor sports are important

Naked volleyball – a naturist’s favourite, it seems.

Being naked and doing sports is fun for most people. Of course, there are always people whose body isn’t up to sports, either never was or isn’t anymore.

For those who enjoy it, having an indoor option is important. As you can see in the above image, the volleyball players have a lot of fun. In the sun. The times, they are a’changing though, as Bob Dylan already knew long ago. The times are bringing low temperatures, rain, cold things and a general unpleasantness for being outside. I am sure you see my point already.

So if you want to do indoor sports, what options are there?

This depends a lot on where you live and how many nude sport-folks you can round up. Going to a gym for a nude sports hour once a week sounds great but there’s hardly a gym that wants to open up for two people. Still, a nude gym hour is an option.

Here in the Netherlands, many swimming pools have an evening per month for nude swimmers. Sounds like a good option too – unless you’re not in the Netherlands. Sorry.

Following swimming is the good old sauna. Nude in the heat, what is better?

The next thing I can think of is indoor tennis or badminton.

I know there is a location in the Netherlands (I am from here so… 😉 ) that offers naked badminton once a month.

What other options come to mind? Darts sounds like a good sport to do naked, and it’s something many people can do. It’s low impact and still it can be very competitive. And that brings me to pool or billiards.

I am not very good at this but playing this game can be a lot of fun. You will need a place that has a good table, which makes naked billiards a bit more complicated than nude darts, which you can do in almost every home if you have a sacrificial wall. (Not every dart hits the board, keep that in mind!)

Board games are an option too

I admit, you have to be a fan to play board games, but those are just as easily played and lost in the nude as in clothes.

And finally, if you want to take it to the limit, take your clothes off and play a game of chess with this set:

You can find it here. Be warned. This set is not cheap!

The beauty of the differences

Last week I had the joy of going to a sauna/wellness centre again. Always a delight, something like that.

The benefits of a wellness centre

For one, it’s good for you. At least for me, and judging from the number of people there, not just me. 🙂

Such a place is where I can wind down fully. Relax. No stress allowed there. Take it slow, go where you want to go when you want to go. And another good thing: no clothes needed.

This is the most important thing. Your towel. Have it with you to sit on, as any proper naturist knows. In a sauna that’s very important. With all that heat and sweating, you don’t want to sit where someone else has been perspiring a few minutes ago.

That’s a given, I think.

Another wonderful benefit is what you can see.

And no, that’s not the staring at the pretty people there. The same goes for a wellness centre as it is at a nude beach: no staring. Also: you’re there for you, not for the others – unless you’re there with friends, then you’re there with each other. And still, no staring.

What I mean is that you encounter the greatest variety of body-types at such a place. Again, just as you do on a nude beach. We are all so different in the way we are the same! And despite all our different bodies, we’re all the same.

At a wellness centre, nude beach, nude swim, you name it, everyone is there for the same reason: to feel good in their own skin. Perfect. Just before starting this post, I thought about how it would be to run into all the same kind of perfect, beautiful bodies in such a place…

Ehm. Nope. Not for me. I said ‘the same’, right? And that is what I meant. Not just everyone being pretty, ripped, toned, tanned, but the same. Just to add some more dullness to what’s nice to look at once in a while.

To me it would feel like looking at a stream of identical-looking robots.

Give me the differences. The big and the small, the thick and thin, the perky and the flabby, the dark and the pale. Those are the things that show people are people. Every kind of people.

Naturism on social prudia

Social prudia

I am sure you know what I mean. Prude social media. Did I hear someone say ‘Facebook’? Ding! Right in one. That one is, as far as I know, the most tight-assed, buttoned up place that allows murder and porn while being on a witch hunt against naturism, right?

Nope.

They are against nude images that show ‘too much’.

This up here is too much. Totally unsafe. You can clearly see body parts. Something that Facebook is against, unless – under conditions – it’s meant to be art. They decide what is art. Or unless it’s ‘educational’. They decide what is educational. (See, you’re picking this up quickly!)

This up here is Facebook-Safe. I hear what you say: this is bonkers, mad, crazy, bull-shit, BS, insane, unreal. In short: this is Facebook.

And still there is a way, but you may not like it.

Yes, there is a way to promote naturism on social prudia. And you don’t even need to deface (I mean de-body) images for that.

Victorian bathing fashion

The way is to be smart about your images, or forget about images entirely. You can write a good piece on naturism, add an image of someone in a bathing suit and detail how insane such a piece of cloth actually is.

If you are into blogging and you really want to post the links to your blogs on a social prudia, make sure you are careful with the imagery. The hard part is that it’s difficult to predict which image will show up on a Facebook page. When you use WordPress, you can assign an image to be the main one but Faceprude can select a different one. You can work around that by removing the preview from the link. Or add a prude-book safe image to your post there, which will remove the preview and still you’ll have something to show.

But I need my images to express myself!

I know there are lots of people who desperately want to show the world how nice it is to be nude, using pictures. Do so, by all means, in the places where you can. Diaspora is cool, Mewe is cool, Twitter, for now, is cool. Naktiv.net is a good place too. But Faceprude isn’t. You can spread the word there by doing exactly that: spreading words.

I thought I’d dump this info here, in case you are a dedicated Zuckerberger. I understand that – the whole world and their aunt is on Faceprude. If you want to tell the world there about your nudism, your naturism, your clothes-free lifestyle, use the right words and the safe images. Using images that show the opposite of what you want to tell the world is a good way, especially when they are funny.

Dedicate some words to the benefits of looking great in a bathing suit and how it keeps you warm in the water.

Sing the song of your people about the benefits of walking around in smelly, stinky clothes after a hike.

Be creative. Don’t hold back. Use what’s available.