It’s only a downward dog, but tonight, I’m being told to “play with it, feel it out.”

In the six years since I began taking biweekly yoga classes—in sauna-hot rooms, on beaches, in silence, with live musicians—I’ve never experienced anything quite like this. Even in New York. But by the time I’ve completed my first naked yoga class, a much-buzzed-about, hour-and-a-half session of unclothed poses laced with positive philosophical messages, I’ll be hooked.

“What I’m trying to get back to in these classes is more of our connection to the Earth,” says my teacher Isis Phoenix, the sensual, yoga-certified “shaman and healer” who launched Naked Yoga NYC with two other yoga instructor partners in May. “I’m uncovering the divine. It’s not like, 'One and two and three and four—breathe in and out!’ It’s about all shapes and sizes, all warrior ones as opposed to the right warrior ones.”

Twentysomething Phoenix is one of a handful of instructors around town teaching yoga in the buff. There are also several other classes, including the notorious, all-male Hot Nude Yoga classes in Chelsea (sorry ladies, those classes are “men only”).

And while a rooftop may not fly in other cities, it’s the perfect summer perch upon which to watch the sun set while folding over and curling back up. Until the end of the summer, yogis can choose this setting or the indoor studios for an evening class with Phoenix or another Naked Yoga NYC instructor.

Like regular yoga, all teaching styles in naked yoga are different. Phoenix’s colleague Britt, I’m told, is “more focused on physical alignment.” But Phoenix isn’t as concerned with proper balancing technique in tree pose as she is with the energy one conjures in the pose. Think more Rainbow Gathering, less Equinox Fitness Class.

For those among us who are at least reasonably comfy with our bodies, self-consciousness eases after the first 10 minutes.

But if you’re a shy girl, be prepared: Unlike regular yoga classes, Naked Yoga draws more men than women, a factor that’s intimidating enough to some that Phoenix plans to offer an all-women “Goddess” class soon. On a mid-August Monday night, I was the only woman in a class of 13 (and no, I didn’t try to guesstimate the gay-straight ratio).

Even experienced yogis (or those who think about last night’s party when they’re supposed to be breathing) aren’t likely to get bored. I don’t know if it was Phoenix’s sensual, pagan-goddess vocal delivery or the voyeuristic thrill of posing in the buff, but I was all ears after falling asleep at a Jivamukti class just two days earlier.

“New York is a very linear, will-driven city, and it’s very buttoned up at times,” Phoenix says. “It suffers in its spirit because it’s so linear. I think people are coming back to find freedom, to come back to who they truly are.”

Where: Lots is happening in Chelsea. Check Nakedyoganyc.com and Hotnudeyoga.com for a listing of classes at various locations. Rooftop yoga only happens in the summertime, so get going!

Whom it draws: Even though Naked Yoga NYC’s classes are co-ed, you can expect a mostly male, mid-30s to late-50s crowd. Hot Nude Yoga’s Web site sums up HNY classes as “naked gay men exploring tantra.”

Sweat factor: You might be nervous, but depending on your yoga background, this workout is as strenuous/un-strenuous as any other open vinyasa-style yoga class in town.

How you'll feel: By the end of class, exhilarated. Though even if you lift weights on an hourly basis, you’re bound to feel a bit self-conscious about your stomach...or that someone’s checking out your package. 

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