Article: The History of Nude Psychotherapy

By MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY, M.S.
Associate Editor

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/11/18/the-history-of-nude-psychotherapy/all/1/

It all started in 1933 with a paper by Howard Warren, a Princeton psychologist and president of the American Psychological Association, who spent a week at a German nudist camp a year earlier.

According to Ian Nicholson, Professor of Psychology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, in the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Warren’s article, “Social Nudism and the Body Taboo,” “was a qualitative and largely sympathetic consideration of the social and psychological significance of nudism.”

Warren “described nudism in therapeutic terms, highlighting the ‘easy camaraderie’ and lack of ‘self-consciousness’ in the nudist park, in addition to a ‘notable improvement in general health,’” along with the principal perspective to return to nature.

Soon after, other articles were published in psychology journals that highlighted the benefits of nudism in contributing to healthy, well-adjusted kids and adults.

But it was psychologist Paul Bindrim who actually pioneered nudepsychotherapy in 1967. Bindrim was no quack; to the contrary, he was a qualified professional whose idea was inspired by the well-respected and regarded Abraham Maslow. Nicholson writes:

Bindrim himself was a licensed psychologist with academic qualifications from Columbia and Duke University and he was careful to package his therapeutic innovations in the language of scientific advancement. Moreover, his therapeutic discoveries drew heavily on the work of the then-president of the American Psychological Association: Abraham Maslow. World-renowned as one of the fathers of humanistic psychology, Maslow had a long-standing interest in nudity dating back to his graduate work as a primatologist in the 1930s. Although he had never written extensively on the topic, Maslow’s work was the inspiration for nude psychotherapy and as APA president he publicly endorsed the technique as an innovative avenue for growth.

As a student, Bindrim became interested in parapsychology. He studied extrasensory perception (ESP) with J.B. Rhine at Duke University. (Rhine coined the term ESP.) When Bindrim moved to California, he started his private practice in Hollywood and also was ordained a minister in the Church of Religious Science.

Again, Maslow was a big influence for Bindrim. Maslow became disillusioned with psychoanalysis, behaviorism and the focus on psychopathology. He called for a focus on personal growth, authenticity and transcendence. And he viewed nudism as a viable path to those things.

In his early work, Bindrim created “peak oriented psychotherapy,” which involved four stages and was conducted in groups: recalling the peak experience, identifying the activities and things that contributed to peak experiences; immersing yourself in them; and extending these experiences into dreams. This was based in part on Maslow’s ideas about peak experiences. According to Nicholson:

Likening the experience to a “visit to a personally defined heaven,” Maslow (1968) described peak experiences as moments of maximum psychological functioning. “He feels more intelligent, more perceptive, wittier, stronger, or more graceful than at other times” (Maslow, 1968, p. 105). Not only was a person generally enhanced during a peak experience, but he also felt a heightened sense of oneness with himself and the world around him. “The person in the peak-experiences feels more integrated (unified, whole, all-of-a-piece) . . . and is more able to fuse with the world” (Maslow, 1968, p. 104).

The encounter group movement was another inspiration. Here, groups of people got together for the purposes of openness, self-discovery and honesty. (No doubt you’ve participated in something similar like the “trust fall,” one of the techniques used where people fall back and their partner catches them.)

The techniques were meant to produce strong emotions and thereby breakthroughs. Another technique was time. Some groups met continuously for 18 to 36 hours. According to Nicholson: “The lengthier format and sleep deprivation was thought to allow participants to build up a psychological momentum.”

The first session of nude psychotherapy took place on June 16, 1967 at a California nudist resort with 24 participants. Other sessions were held at swanky hotels that offered natural surroundings and great amenities. There were typically 15 to 25 participants. The cost was  $100 per participant for a weekend or $45 for a day. According to Nicholson:

Like other encounter groups, nude marathon participants traversed culturally anomalous emotional terrain. Most of the participants were strangers to each other, yet they were expected to share an unparalleled level of emotional and physical openness with the group. Aware of the anomaly, Bindrim moved quickly to create an ersatz community.“Basically, I conceive of the first half of the marathon as a means of producing a good functioning group in the nude” (Bindrim, 1972, p. 145).

Bindrim began this process by employing familiar encounter group techniques. Participants were invited to “eyeball” each other (stare into each other’s eyes at close range) and then to respond in some physical way (hugging, wrestling, etc.). After this ice-breaker, participants disrobed in the dark to musical accompaniment before joining a small circle to perform a “meditation-like” hum. This process, Bindrim felt, gave rise to the “feeling of being all part of one human mass” (1972, p. 145).

Like a psychological impresario, Bindrim carefully walked his “human mass” through a series of emotional displays. Freely blending psychoanalysis and Maslovian theory, Bindrim told his participants that they needed to reenact the hurt and frustration in their life in order achieved a psychologically hallowed state. “The idea is to regress, if possible, to the trauma that caused the distortion. That’s the way to start toward a peak experience” (cited in Howard, 1970, p. 95). Under pressure to disclose, participants offered up their intimate secrets and Bindrim masterfully sought out those human dramas that could deliver the greatest emotional payoff. During the first marathon, a participant “Bob” complained that his wife didn’t give him any love:

Paul grabbed a rolled package of magazines, pulled over a bench, shoved the package into Bob’s hands, and screamed to him, “Hit her, hit her, get it out. She wouldn’t give you any love.” Bob in a frenzy, started to hit the bench harder and harder, screaming and swearing vindictively. Paul cried with him. The group cried with him. We were all swept into it. . . . When it was over, we were all limp. (Goodson, 1991, p. 24)

The naked body was viewed as a window into the soul, into one’s true self. Bindrim devised uncomfortable exercises that would supposedly support the process of baring your soul.

Nude therapy was based on the idea of the naked body as a metaphor of the “psychological soul.” Uninhibited exhibition of the nude body revealed that which was most fundamental, truthful, and real. In the marathon, Bindrim interrogated this metaphor with a singular determination. Bodies were exposed and scrutinized with a science-like rigor. Particular attention was paid to revealing the most private areas of the body and mind—all with a view to freeing the self from its socially imposed constraints.

“This,” Bindrim asserted gesturing to a participant’s genitalia and anus, “is where it’s at. This is where we are so damned negatively conditioned” (cited in Howard, 1970, p. 96). Determined to squelch the “exaggerated sense of guilt” in the body, Bindrim devised an exercise called “crotch eyeballing” in which participants were instructed to look at each others’ genitals and disclose the sexual experiences they felt most guilty about while lying naked in a circle with their legs in the air (Bindrim, 1972; cited in Howard, 1970, p. 94).

In this position, Bindrim insisted “you soon realize that the head end and the tail end are indispensable parts of the same person, and that one end is about as good as the other” (Bindrim, 1972, p. 146).

Nude therapy had such a great appeal because people were searching for spiritual transformation and authenticity. According to Nicholson:

There was an extensive popular and academic literature on the “decline” of the self-made “inner-directed” man and the emergence of a feeble, mass produced self who passively responded to the blandishments of consumer culture (see Gilbert, 2005). Nudist motifs and nude therapy in particular promised deliverance from modern despair through a nostalgic invocation of an idealized biological self. Taking off one’s clothes would restore “authenticity” by taking the self back to its precommercial, biological foundation.

By the late ‘190s, Bindrim replaced nude psychotherapy with “aqua-energetics.” He became interested in Wilhelm Reich’s theories, specifically the idea of “orgone energy.” Bindrim oversimplified the concept and came up with the idea of life energy, which contributed to health, kindness and peak experiences. Reich also conceived of the idea of negative energy, which could be absorbed by water. So Bindrim adopted this as well, and took his therapy to the pool.

Reactions to Nude Therapy

Considering the cultural climate of the 1960s and 1970s, it’s not surprising that the media embraced nude psychotherapy, and many magazines published positive pieces. (But the tides would turn, and the media soon started portraying Bindrim as less of a genuine practitioner and more as an extremist in a weird movement.)

Even the professional journal American Psychologist featured a favorable article in 1969. Conservative politicians took issue with Bindrim and so did psychologist Sigmund Koch. Even the APA’s Ethics Committee decided to investigate him, but, again, due to the cultural climate and the fact that the nudity was consensual, the organization dropped it.

Also, Maslow, who was the APA president at the time, endorsed Bindrim and his work, even though he had reservations. Still, other psychologists and psychiatrists questioned and criticized Bindrim and his nude therapy. The American Psychiatric Association wrote a letter to Modern Medicine Journal opposing the therapy.

Other Uses for Nude Therapy

If you can believe it, in the late 1960s, a Canadian psychiatrist used nude psychotherapy for another purpose: to cure psychopaths in prison. Journalist Jon Ronson describes these nude sessions in his book The Psychopath Test. (If you’re interested, here’s my review of the book.)

At Oak Ridge Hospital for the “criminally insane,” psychiatrist Elliot Barker began conducting “the world’s first-ever marathon nude psychotherapy session for criminal psychopaths. Elliott’s raw, naked, LSD-fueled sessions lasted for epic eleven-day stretches,” according to Ronson. (He received the LSD from a government-sanctioned lab.)

Because the psychopaths seemed normal, Barker surmised that this “was because they were burying their insanity deep beneath a façade of normality. If the madness could only, somehow be brought to the surface, maybe it would work itself through and they could be reborn as empathetic human beings,” Ronson writes.

In the 1990s, several researchers looked at the recidivism rates for psychopaths in Elliot’s program and tracked what happened to them. According to Ronson, when released, 60 percent of criminal psychopaths will reoffend. The rate for the psychopaths in the program was 80 percent! And the crimes committed were horrific. Peter Woodcock, a multiple child murder who participated in the program, brutally killed another inmate and patient who rebuffed his advances. He said that the program actually taught him to be a better manipulator and to skillfully hide his “outrageous feelings.”

The Final Days of Nude Therapy

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, nude therapy fell out of favor. Social attitudes started becoming more conservative. Americans yearned to revert back to the moral climate of the 1950s. Bindrim’s private practice thrived, but his nude therapy, which was increasingly viewed as unethical, dissolved.

And Bindrim and his nude therapy largely were forgotten. “His death in 1997 was unacknowledged within psychology and provoked only a sharply worded obituary in the Los Angeles Times (Oliver, 1998),” writes Nicholson.

(By the way, I first learned about Nicholson’s insightful paper on the excellent blog Mind Hacks. You can find a link to the full piece in their post.) (Also here: Baring the Soul: Nude Psychotherapy)  pdf file

The Nude Hiker is still out there ...

Been a long time since I last posted.  Much of it has to do with my health and a goodly portion concentrating what free time I do have in supporting Scenic Hot Springs.

Healthwise, I continue to remain in remission and in the chronic phase of the leukemia.  The Glevec works but monthly treatments take their toll. Otherwise, I feel good and I'm able to get out and do most things.

As I said, much of my time has been involved with Scenic and the attempts to get better control over illegal access up there.  So I'm up there very often.  We have a number of trail cams on the way up to the springs (no, none at the pools).  Since I am the Nude Hiker, I hike Scenic nude almost all the time . . . and so, I've seen myself on the trail cam images many times.  So I've put together an album of just a few of those images and vids.  Hope ya'all enjoy it.  Doing my best to make clothing-optional the de facto norm at Scenic.

Examining the new Honor Box on the upper trail late at night.

The photo album is here.

No Clothes, No Problem on Some BLM Tracts

The public lands offer something for everyone in Southern California, including those who prefer to recreate in their most natural state.

The Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District this week issued new regulations for public nudity, drawing a line in the sand, so to speak, for where nudists may hike, camp and fish on public lands.

The final supplementary rules came in response to concerns from the American Association for Nude Recreation that BLM's interim rules issued last summer, which banned nudity at "developed sites" and areas open to off-highway vehicles, were too vague and could allow nudists to inadvertently enter developed areas.

"There was a concern that they could be hiking in an area and there could be a well or a fence or something that would allow the area to be classified as developed," said Lynnette Elser, planning and environmental coordinator for the agency's Southern California district, which covers some 11 million acres east of Los Angeles. "They could stumble upon it by accident, not intending to go into a public site."

The new rules clarify that wilderness areas, which cover well over a million acres in the district, are open for nude recreation as long as there are not large groups of people.

But public nudity in developed areas can create controversy and conflicts among users and cause crowd-control concerns, BLM warned.

The new rules prohibit nudity near campsites with picnic tables, toilet facilities or visitors centers, in addition to off-highway vehicle trails, BLM said.

"There has been some concern in some of the areas of high concentration of use when people are not fully clothed when there are families there with young children," Elser said.

Last summer's interim rule grew out of concerns over riotous and potentially dangerous off-highway vehicle use, including vehicle crashes and people falling off of overloaded OHVs. Nudists who ride OHVs risk more serious injuries when they fall off of vehicles because they're wearing no clothes, said Dave Graber, government affairs chair for AANR, who lives on a nudist resort south of Battle Creek, Mich.

"Nude recreation is increasing," he said. "As time goes by, it's going to be more acceptable. It's tremendously more acceptable than it was 15 years ago."

Tom Mulhall, who owns the clothes-free resort Terra Cotta Inn in Palm Springs, said nude hiking and camping are on the rise in the area thanks in part to the desert's dry, bug-free climate.

"You've got people who might want to camp away from the hustle and bustle of most campgrounds in California, who want to be out in the stars," he said. "Lots of people obviously do it clothed, but there's also a lot of people who do it nude."

Nude hiking trails, beaches

Mulhall said there are three nudist resorts in Palm Springs and a handful of nudist campground areas, in addition to travel nudist clubs that meet at members' homes or beaches.

He pointed to a growing acceptance for nude hiking in Germany, where a nude hiking trail was recently opened in Dankerode, according to Time magazine.

Mulhall said nude hiking is a favorite among locals at nearby Joshua Tree National Park, which features cultural sites and "surreal" geologic features, according to the National Park Service.

NPS also manages a "clothing optional" beach at its Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey across the bay from Brooklyn.

Muhall said he has lobbied BLM to set aside certain public lands in Southern California and elsewhere for nude recreation, but so far to no avail. He said more people would try nude recreation if it were legalized in more places.

"You'll find that most nudists want to live and let live," he said. "They want to get along, and that's why if they are going to be using public lands, they'll go away from where other people are."

Elser said BLM received more than 40 comments on last summer's interim nudity rules. Several commenters stated that nudity is not offensive, that the public supports nude recreation and that BLM should regulate sexual or lewd acts, not nudity.

One commenter urged BLM to adopt a the ruling of a San Francisco court that women have the same right as men to be topless, but BLM said the ruling does not apply to federal lands.

Last year's interim rule followed complaints from some about mobile strip shows, naked motorcycling and women flashing their breasts, according to the Riverside, Calif., Press Enterprise.

Copyright 2011 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved

.

David Govedare, “Runners,” Seattle's PI Building near Sculpture Park

Bare Buns Fun Run time yet?

These sculptures are seen at the south end of the PI Building on Elliot Avenue (just north of the Olympic Sculpture Park).  They've always reminded me of some of the essence of the Bare Buns Fun Runs.

Collins Beach on Sauvies Island: Inundation

Some aerial photos of Collins Beach on Sauvies Island.  Just ain't no sand exposed to enjoy at all with these abnormally high river water levels.  Credit goes to Lewis Clark for these images.

From the USGS Water Resources site here

A Little Bit of Nude Spring Cleaning

Cleaning up my Green House

Nude Rain Hike to the Sunset Mine Site

Emerging from Adit #2 of the Sunset Mine

Enough of waiting around for good weather.  I just had to get out for a reasonable length hike.  I've done a number of shorties (an hour or so) but always been held back because of a lack of endurance and bone pain.  Felt really good about this one so off I was on a jaunt to check out the route to the long abandoned Sunset Mine site within the Wild Sky Wilderness and up Trout Creek for a couple of miles.

The weather was marginal . . . rain forecast.  So a hike would be chancy.  Good thing about the weather though.  Everybody else felt the same way and by the time I reached the trailhead where I'd begin the hike there were no other cars around.  Perfect!  So what if it was a little on the overcast, cool side.  I'd have the hike to myself.

Sunset Mine is a couple of miles inbound to the east along Trout creek as it wends into the Wild Sky Wilderness from the trailhead on the Index-Galena Road . . . right where the main road is closed from the 2009 road washout.  The mine access road used to be in very bad condition . . . accessible only by high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles.  What I noticed as I hiked up the switchbacks of the road was that gravel had been brought in to make the road much more navigable.  For myself, I wondered 'why'.  The first, lower leg made sense . . . as a lead-in to a new route for the washed-out Index-Galena road.  But further up?  The road only got better the further in I hiked.

The answer came when I finally reached the mine site, itself.  Posted on a tree was a Notice of Intent to Hold; a formal process establishing a mineral claim to the area.  Someone had staked a claim to the old Sunset Mine.

The Sunset Copper Company was formed in 1897 to mine and extract copper, silver, and gold from the Sunset outcrop. Mining operations expanded to cover 960 acres and 12,000 feet of tunnels, almost all of which have collapsed or been submerged. Ownership of the area changed hands a number of times before operations ceased and the property was ceded to the US Forest Service in 1985. By that time, over 13 million tons of copper had been hauled out of the ground. Today, all that remains of the production site is the crumbling cement foundation of the mill.

The mill site is about all one sees nowadays . . . unless you go looking for the three mine shaft adits and the two stopes that define what remains.  The mill site is a large open area that mainly sees a lot of target practice on old computer monitors lined up on the pock-marked cement foundation of the mill site.  Trout Creek runs nearby and you can still find rusting remains of milling and ore washing equipment buried under the ground.

A vigorous stream run down the roadway beyond.  If you follow the stream you are lead right up to Adit #2 . . . the easiest mine shaft to find.  I don't normally go into mine shafts, being slightly claustrophobic.  However, today I put on the headlamp and squeezed myself slightly into the mine shaft opening.  Not far because there isn't much to see.  The shaft is caved in just inside the opening.  Further up on the overgrown slope are other entrances . . . one of which is not caved in, and two open stopes that, frankly, I wouldn't want to accidently come across and fall into.  Stope 2 drops a great distance into the ground.  Today I didn't bother with trying to find them . . . no machete to clear the overgrown blackberry bushes that are the nude hiker's bane.

In any case, I was much more interested in the very recent brush clearing that had made new trails throughout the area.  I spent some time exploring a few of them, figuring whomever made them knew something I didn't.  Came across some old relics like rusting spring-metal bed frames embedded in the overburden of the forest.

I went up the road just a little bit further . . . to where there is a decaying log bridge spanning Trout Creek to other claims much further in on Gunn and Merchant Peaks.  But then it was drizzling enough for the skin to wetten, so I started on the way back, determined not to redress or seek out the flimsy emergency rain poncho I carry in the backpack.

Hey, and guess what?  I made it all the way back and just ignored the rain as it got heavier.  By the time I reached my car I was soaked thoroughly . . . and I figured, what the heck.  Right up to the car nude.  No one was going to be coming down the road in this weather.  A great tonic for the soul.  I enjoyed my hike.

The photo album of this hike can be viewed here

Shirley's Oregon Coast Nude Hike

Nude hiking in Oregon is at best challenging. Not because you can’t find a great location but because the weather discourages it. I am a warm weather hiker and it had been awhile since experiencing the joy and freedom of a nude hike. Rick's postings about nude hikes motivate and encourage me. Good gosh Rick hikes in the snow.

The coast is only about an 80-minute drive from my house. The old RV was cooperating in that it started without hesitation. The RV Park with cheap rates that I love is a 12-minute walk to the beach. On a previous trip I accidently found a very large BLM land park. Previously the park was enjoyed by ATV’ers and recently it appears any motorized vehicles are not allowed. I don’t own one nor do I want one but if I did this would be a perfect place to ride one. Now that the area is off limits to ATV’s it appears to get little use. The only sign at this park is one that says “no motorized vehicles allowed.” It would be a perfect place to set aside for nude use.

So around 10 am I entered the park and kept my eyes open for footprints in the sand. The only ones I spotted were a set of human and dog prints going in and returning out. So I felt fairly secure that I had the park to myself. I have only been able to find one entrance. No one was using the small space available for parking.. I believe that only the locals use this park as most people prefer to be on the beach.

I was able to spend almost two hours nude hiking. It was if the sun decided to give me a gift. The sand dunes blocked the coast wind and it was wonderful. Every once in awhile I would be at the top of a dune and the wind was strong and chilly. The silence of being there was a gift in itself. The blue sky and sunshine were like an added gift that I did not take for granted. I wish I had the skill Rick has at take pictues.

I own (lifetime lease) a RV site at the http://www.Willamettans.com and use it a lot in the winter. But come this time of the year I long for nude camping in the mountains, hiking the trails, and ending the day soaking in some hot springs. This hike will be added to the top of my favorite list. Such a visual joy and gift.

Incredible that there is a place in Oregon where one can be nude, hike and be alone. One of Oregon's treasures for sure. I hike a lot in the national forest but this hike is one of my favorites.. no people, no dogs, no noise and no litter.

Shirley

What a beautiful area . . . you make me jealous, Shirley.  We are going to have to hike it together . . . prior to those promised hot springs trips we've been planning all these years.    Shirley has permitted me to publish the pictures of her adventure.  You can experience her hike here in a Photo Album I've set aside just for Shirley.

Rick

Going for a nude hike? Take that camera with you.

"There are times when the beauty that surrounds a nude soul goes unnoticed until the photos are reviewed."   

Ken Freehiker, recounting on his blog about several nude hikes (or freehikes) taken recently in the El Paso, Texas area. 

I could not agree more with Ken.  The experience of nude hiking (or as Ken and many others prefer to call it . . . freehiking) is sublime and not easily explained after the fact.  The experience is both physical and spiritual . . . lasting some time after a hike.  You just feel so good about everything, having immersed and involved yourself so intimately with nature.

Like Ken, simply going over images of the hike afterward immerses you into the experience all over again.  I'm often at a loss of words to convey to friends and readers the full extent of the experience.  Photos are like a time machine taking me right back into the moment.  I share them to share the same experience with my readers.

Ken's excellent blog on everything nudism can be read here.

February Nude Hikes

On the viewpoint atop the Upper Wall above Index, WA.
 It is a sheer 1,200ft drop from the edge.

So . . . the snows are back . . . la Nina doing her thing.  But we did get at brief warming spell at the beginning of the month and a few opportunities to get out and hike nude.

The highlight was the exploration of the Index Town Walls, a promenade of sheer granite cliffs and crags that is relatively unknown outside of the rock climbing community.  I came across them by accident while driving the Index-Reiter road route looking for possibilities to get in a hike . . . came across this small gravel parking lot full of cars and . . . wondered.  Was this the trailhead assemblage for the rumored-about cliffs?

It was but it took several trips and some exploring to figure out the layout . . . and an eventual hike nude to the top and a marvelous lookout over the town of Index and the mountains surrounding.  Unlike the brave folk who endangered their lives by climbing the sheer granite faces, I stumbled upon the trail to the top in a less technical fashion.  And I had it all to myself.

I did a few other hikes off the Index-Galena road plus a visit to Scenic Hot Springs and a logging road near Grotto.  Cold weather hiking but nonetheless, challenged and invigorating.

The jAblum of these hikes is here.

Article: Dare to be Bare (Western Washington State eZine from Bellingham, WA)

WRITTEN BY TESSA JOHNSTON

FRIDAY, 04 MARCH 2011 00:04

The thought of walking around nude leaves many feeling vulnerable.  But for some, nakedness is normal. Western senior Zac Robertson said living in the buff is something he has grown up with. “I grew up in a culture where people have sweat lodges, sing songs to the earth while naked in the dark to feel connectedness,” Robertson said.  “To me, it feels totally alright and normal.” Megan Santos puts the finishing touches on a set of wings for Western junior Chasse Gunter. She said she liked the club’s relaxed atmosphere and positive attitude toward body image. “It’s really pro love-your-body, and it makes you feel comfortable in your own skin. And that’s really important,” Santos said. Photo by Mark Stayton // THE WESTERN FRONT Robertson said he grew up in Eastern Washington and came to Western expecting to find an extremely liberal school. He said he was surprised there wasn’t already a nudist group established.  This did not stop Robertson from finding his niche. For a while he showed up naked more often than not to friend’s parties. “Some people started to join in at these naked parties,” Robertson said.  “I thought, ‘wow. when people do this they feel a lot more free so why not make a club?'” That's how the Students for Optional Clothing club was born. Where skin meets paint Living in the nude is empowering, Robertson said. Club president Gavin Gladsjo said their mission is to promote positive body image and to build faith with each other in a non-sexual way. The club meets once a week and the meetings typically include cooking dinner, hanging out and talking about body image and nudity, he said. Most recently, the club held a body painting party Wednesday, March 2, at the Alternative Library, at 717 N. Forest St. To start the club, Robertson went through the Associated Students board, which includes a process of consultation before creating a new club.  AS Club Coordinator Mikaela Trott said she liked Robertson's idea. “I like them because they provide a great outlet for that kind of lifestyle,” she said. One belief the club has is supporting the National Organization for Women who are trying to legalize women’s rights to being topless in public, Gladsjo said. The club members feel that women have the same rights as men to be topless. “We like to normalize nudity,” Gladsjo said. “I feel like in our society we have created a stigma with it. It’s a natural state, so it should be more of an expected thing.” The club meets at the Alternative Library every Wednesday night. About eight people consistently show up to the gatherings, and most people will start out partially clothed. The way Gladsjo sees it, it’s all about personal choice and how the individual feels.  He always leaves his socks on in case his feet get cold, he said. Connecting with nature Club members go hiking in the nude.  Non-members are welcome to join as well, he said. Hiking hits Robertson on a more personal note. “When I go hiking, I feel like my eyes are closed and my nose is clogged,” Robertson said (about being clothed). “I can’t see anything if my skin is clothed. I need to feel the earth and what we are doing to her.” Riding free Robertson co-created the annual Bellingham chapter of the “World Naked Bike Ride,” which is a separate entity from the club. The bike ride typically takes place during the spring.  For the past two years, about 30 to 50 participants showed up, Robertson said. Last year the bike ride was on graduation day, which led to two people being arrested on campus. Zoie Gaidos, Western graduate and co-creator of the bike ride, said her and Robertson had a permit set for their route.  However, once the bike ride was over, Gaidos said she headed to campus for her commencement ceremony. By the time she and a few others got to campus, the police were there and arrested two people, one of them being a Western student. Gaidos said the student involved was wearing underwear, but was still arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure. Robertson and Gaidos have written a formal letter to Bruce Shepard expressing the need for university police to have a better response to student activism. Robertson said normally when the club has outings like this, people are all smiles. "Really this is for people to have some fun," Gladsjo said.  “It’s not like we have dirty orgies.  There needs to be open-mindedness.”

Boss Creek Nude Rain Hike

 . . . well, actually more of a stroll as it was short, aimless and I was certainly not in a hurry to go anywhere.

Anyway, working on my hiking legs and stamina and a real desire just to get out there and feel good.  Enjoy . . . I did.

The rest of the album is here.

My First Nude Hike of 2011-The Backtrail by Scenic Creek Falls

Entering the back trail on the way down to the lower Scenic Creek Falls

My fellow steward at Scenic Hot Springs has been keeping me up to date of the conditions up there (myself not able to visit because of cancer issues).  The other day he called to give me news on a landslide at Scenic.  The way he described the mess tempted me to attempt an impromptu visit to Scenic . . . so off I went . . . dressed against the cold.

I never did make it all the way up to the springs, dallying around the site of the slide.  The damage to the BPA road surfaces was significant as can be seen in my Scenic Hot Springs blog post, Winter Storm Damage at Scenic Hot Springs.

Coming back down I like to take the back route via the lower Scenic Creek waterfalls.  On a lark I decided to try the last mile or so nude.  So off came the clothes . . . heavy parka, fleece outers, thermal underwear.  It's been a long time since I've been able to enjoy hiking the way I like to so this was very refreshing despite the air temperatures hovering just below freezing . . . and dropping as the sun set lower.  What really surprised me was how easily my body took the cold weather.  No shivering or feelings of cold whatsoever.    I have no explanations . . . I haven't gone through any cold weather aclimization.  One note is, dressed as heavily as I was on the trek up, I did feel the chill.  Nude . . . colder out and minus all that unnecessary clothing, I felt entirely comfortable.  Makes one think . . . do we really need all those clothes, all the time to protect us from the elements.  Nude is entirely natural!

Anyway, I am now hungry for getting back out there and hiking nude.

The JAlbum Photo Album of this hike is here.

The photo album of the Winter Damage to the Scenic Hot Springs area is here.

Bagby Hot Springs (A Photo Treat): Construction of the Bagby bathhouses in 1983-86

From Mike Rysavy: A treat on the history of Bagby Hot Springs.

As some may know, Bagby has recently been threatened with being turned over to a private concessionaire as well as threats to enforce the No Nudity rules of the Forest Service.  These two issues are still under consideration with both AANR and TNS involved.  For the meantime, reports are that the Forest Service has no intention of citing bathers for mere, simple nudity at the hot springs . . . that these rules were meant for developed sites like the campgrounds.

Meanwhile, enjoy these photo albums that Mike has graciously put together and shared.

Open publication - Free publishing - More oregon

Open publication - Free publishing - More oregon

Open publication - Free publishing - More oregon

Open publication - Free publishing - More oregon


A similar treatment of the construction at Scenic Hot Springs can be found at here.

Canada: Nudity laws to be subject of constitutional challenge

Canadian laws prohibiting public nudity are an infringement of constitutional rights, an Ontario court north of Toronto will hear Tuesday.

Prominent defence lawyer Clayton Ruby was expected to argue current laws in Canada prohibiting nudity in public places, or on private property exposed to public view, are overly broad — thus they should be struck down and the laws under the Criminal Code updated.

According to the Federation of Canadian Nudists, these laws are archaic because they define nudity as generally "indecent" and intended to cause "harm" to those who witness it.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Nudity+laws+subject+constitutional+challenge/4158739/story.html#ixzz1C2hr4z5v

Bagby Hot Springs, AANR-NW eNews Alert

January 18 Open House Input requested concerning proposed management changes at Bagby Hot Springs

The U.S. Forest Service is hosting an open house on Tuesday, January 18 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the national forest headquarters in Sandy, Oregon (see directions in final paragraph). The purpose of the event is to host discussion on allowing private management of Bagby Hot Springs and a number of campgrounds in the Mount Hood National Forest. The Forest Service already put out the bid information and, although two management companies showed interested, no bids were received. The bid process, if completed, would add Bagby and 28 campgrounds and day-use areas to a concession permit that already covers three dozen recreation sites. Increasingly, as Forest Service personnel budgets have shrunken, private management has been looked at and contracts in other areas (including the Willamette National Forest) have been awarded.

An environmental assessment evidently will be completed before Bagby and the campgrounds will be included in a concession permit. A public letter was issued by the Forest Service saying they are doing an Environmental Analysis (EA) regarding the possibility of a concessionaire at Bagby, and there will be a 30-day comment period soon for written public input. Here is a part of that 1 1/4-page 

letter:

"The Developed Recreation Site Concessionaire Permit Environmental Assessment (EA) is still in the process of being completed and no decision has been made yet. The Forest is requesting your comments on this project to help guide the final decision. Upon completion of the EA, there will be no further public comment period. As such, this 30-day comment period represents the final pre-decisional opportunity for public review of the project. Comments must be received or postmarked within 30 days of the date that notice for this comment period is published in The Oregonian."

The Forest Service is also apparently seeking some public input on Bagby at this open house. If you choose to attend, and are allowed to speak, please identify yourself as a nudist, be civil, keep your speech short and on-target. Our position is that simple nudity in and around the hot tubs, absent any other type of illegal conduct, is a long-time tradition at Bagby Hot Springs and should be allowed. We also intend to request and submit written comment during the 30-day period.

During a recent meeting of an AANR Government Affairs representative with Mount Hood Forest Supervisor Andrei Rykoff concerning Bagby, Rykoff stated that the existing anti-nudity order could only be changed by doing an EA. Perhaps the new Assessment could revisit the prior anti-nudity Order. At the very least, this will be an opportunity to make a strong statement that the 1992 anti-nudity Order is unnecessary and needs to be changed. Also, it should be emphasized that a major reason the Forest Service is not getting comments to change the Order is that most of the public still don't know about it.

Here is the Forest Service site with some information on what is proposed to happen concerning concessionaires at Bagby and other locations: 

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood/projects/nepa_project.shtml?project=32471

Update on Bagby Hot Springs physical site: Ranger Rykoff stated in the recent meeting that the old log tubs had been degrading for quite a while and the Forest Service had decided to replace them. The Forest Service installed a new round tub and one ofuro 2- or 3-person oval tub on the lower deck before winter weather set in. They will be installing two more ofuro tubs on the lower deck this year, to replace the three old log tubs.

Please consider coming to this open house if you care about allowing nudity at the Bagby Hot Springs area.

The Forest Service headquarters is located at16400 Champion Way in Sandy, Oregon. The headquarters is the first building on the right (coming from the west), about 300 yards before you reach the first stoplight west of Sandy. If you miss the turn off, you can turn right at the light and loop around on back roads to get there. 

Bagby Hot Springs, NAC Action Alert

**********************************************************************
                     NATURIST ACTION COMMITTEE
                           ACTION ALERT
**********************************************************************
                   http://www.naturistaction.org
**********************************************************************
Copyright 2011 by the Naturist Action Committee, which is responsible
for its content. Permission is granted for the posting, forwarding or
redistribution of this message, provided that it is reproduced in its
entirety and without alteration.

DATE   : January 13, 2011
SUBJECT: Oregon - Bagby Hot Springs
TO     : Naturists and other concerned citizens

Dear Naturist,

The Naturist Action Committee is asking for your immediate involvement and action on behalf of Bagby Hot Springs in Oregon. Bagby is a popular and traditional clothing-optional site on public land in Mount Hood National Forest.

U.S. FOREST SERVICE IS PROPOSING PRIVATIZATION OF BAGBY HOT SPRINGS

The Forest Service managers at Mount Hood National Forest have already taken significant steps that have changed the traditional character of Bagby Hot Springs. Without advance public notice, Forest Service personnel have removed the historic wooden tubs from the bath house at Bagby and have destroyed the tub materials by chopping them up and burning them. New tubs have been installed. The new tubs lack the leaks of the old ones, but they also lack the character and history.

The Forest Service management at Mount Hood has also prohibited nudity in the large common area of the Bagby bath house. Nudity is allowed now only behind the closed doors of rooms with smaller tubs.

The action is part of the Forest Service's preparation for finding a private concessionaire to operate Bagby.

NAC ASKS FOR YOU TO TAKE ACTION

The Naturist Action Committee is requesting that you
  1) attend an open house that's being presented by the Forest Service
     AND
  2) write to the Forest Service to express your concern

ACTION 1: ATTEND THE FOREST SERVICE 'OPEN HOUSE' ON JANUARY 18

If you're anywhere in the area of Mount Hood National Forest, NAC asks you to attend a public open house at Forest Service headquarters on January 18, 2011.

  DATE: Tuesday, January 18, 2011
  TIME: 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m
  LOCATION:
  Mount Hood Nat'l Forest Headquarters
  16400 Champion Way
  Sandy, OR 97055

If you're planning to attend the meeting, please contact:
  NAC board member Don Zirbel
  orcoba@live.com
  (503) 970-6674

or NAC executive director Bob Morton
  execdir@naturistaction.org
  (512) 282-6621

ACTION 2: WRITE TO THE FOREST SERVICE

Whether or not you're able to attend the meeting, you can still help. NAC asks that you write to the Forest Supervisor at Mount Hood National Forest. Send your comments by e-mail, fax or surface mail. Those who will be at the open house on January 18 are also encouraged to write.

WHO SHOULD WRITE?

NAC is asking ALL NATURISTS and other concerned individuals to contact the Forest Service, regardless of your place of residence. National Forests belong to all citizens.

Send a letter, a fax or an e-mail. Phone calls will likely be ineffective in this specific context.

   Acting Forest Supervisor Kathryn Silverman
   Mount Hood Nat'l Forest
   16400 Champion Way
   Sandy, OR 97055
   E-MAIL: ksilverman@fs.fed.us
   FAX: (503) 668-1794

NAC encourages you to send copies of your faxes and paper mail to:

      NAC, P.O. Box 132, Oshkosh, WI 54903.

Send copies of your e-mails to:

      bagby@naturistaction.org

WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY?

When you write:

   a) Be polite.

   b) Be known. Give your name and address. If you are a frequent visitor to National Forests, be sure to point that out. Anonymous letters have very little impact.

   c) Be focused. Keep your correspondence brief and on target.

   d) Be productive. You may certainly express your indignation over the poor decisions made by the Forest Service concerning Bagby Hot Springs and the abrupt and destructive change to the tradition of benign nude use there. Who could blame you for being upset? However, you must do more than simply scold and complain. You must point out that the Forest Service has the opportunity and responsibility to manage FOR the historic and traditional clothing-optional use of Bagby Hot Springs.

   e) Be part of the solution. Volunteers and activist groups, including the Naturist Action Committee, have expressed a strong interest in working WITH the Forest Service for the benefit of the public and the preservation of treasures like Bagby Hot Springs. When the Forest Service ignores help from volunteer groups and fails to keep them informed, it squanders a valuable resource. Emphasize the value of involving the public in the care of public land.

   f) Be clear. Say that you OPPOSE the notion of privatizing Bagby.

Additional writing points:

   a) The destruction of the historic tubs at Bagby Hot Springs is just the most visible indicator of the intent to change the traditional nature of Bagby without seeking public input. Despite specific requests to be included in considerations at Bagby, individual volunteers and interested parties like the Northwest Forest Conservancy and the Naturist Action Committee were ignored. That's simply NOT a proper way to manage a public resource.

   b) The changes to the traditional configuration of the bath house and the nudity restrictions there are a slap in the face to naturists and others who understand that nude soaking is the historically authentic way of enjoying Bagby and many other natural hot springs.

   c) Like most individuals and other government agencies, officials of the Forest Service are presently faced with funding shortfalls. Shedding areas and features and assigning them to private operators may seem like an attractive solution, but it creates a long term policy that shortchanges the public and is not likely to be undone when economic hard times abate.

   d) Visitors to Bagby already pay for parking, and the reality is that the Forest Service is not likely to give up that revenue. A private operator will have to charge an additional fee to justify its own effort. A concessionaire will likely choose not to keep Bagby open during less profitable night time hours. Suddenly, a public treasure like Bagby becomes less affordable and less accessible.

   e) The Forest Service has already sought private bidders to operate Bagby. One of those that was expected to bid has said that it's not interested AT THIS TIME. That changes very little about the concern over the lack of public notice and diminished opportunities for public involvement.

MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

Additional information and links are available, along with this NAC Action Alert on the web site of the Naturist Action Committee.

   http:// www.naturistaction.org

Select "Alerts" and find this NAC Action Alert under Current Alerts.

PLEASE HELP NAC TO CONTINUE HELPING NATURISTS!

The Naturist Action Committee is the volunteer nonprofit political adjunct to The Naturist Society. NAC exists to advance and protect the rights and interests of naturists throughout North America. Fighting for the clothing-optional recreational use of public land is expensive. To do its job, NAC relies entirely on the voluntary generosity of supporters like you.

After you've contacted the officials on the list, please take a moment to send a donation to:

   NAC
   PO Box 132
   Oshkosh, WI 54903

Or call toll free (800) 886-7230 to donate by phone using your MasterCard, Visa or Discover Card. Or use your credit card to make a convenient online donation:  http://www.naturistaction.org/donate/

Thank you for choosing to make a difference!

Naturally,

Don Zirbel
Board Member
Naturist Action Committee

---------------------------------------------------------------
Naturist Action Committee (NAC) - PO Box 132, Oshkosh, WI 54903
Executive Dir. Bob Morton       - execdir@naturistaction.org
Board Member Don Zirbel         - orcoba@live.com
Online Rep. Dennis Kirkpatrick  - naturist@sunclad.com
---------------------------------------------------------------



Note:  See Also http://nudehiker.blogspot.com/2009/10/bagby-hot-springs-letter-to-acting.html   Rick

The Richmond Retreat is a clothing optional spa and retreat center located just north of Seattle in the Richmond Beach area of Shoreline Washington. It features an in-door pool, hot tub, sauna, separate quiet/social room, and private sunning lawn & patio. All areas have a spectacular view of the Puget Sound and the shipping lanes.

Outside the glassed-in pool area during an earlier swim.
Panoramic views of Puget Sound from this grassy area.

 More from the Richmond Retreat blog:

The recently renamed Richmond Retreat is, so far as I know, the only facility in western Washington which is open throughout the year to the area's nudists and/or naturists for clothing optional swims.  Yes, it IS possible to swim and hang out while being both naked & warm in the winter! 

 . . .

As of  January 1, 2011, The Richmond Retreat will open as a day spa on selected week day afternoons and will be available for group and club swims on the weekends.  Admission will be by appointment only and will be open ONLY to current members of:

•  The American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR)
•  the Naturist Society (TNS)
• OR any AANR recognized landed or non landed club (FS, LARC,  Bronson, SLUGS, Sun Meadows etc)

I hope to have a website and Facebook page open soon, but in the meantime, you can check back here, call Larry at (206) 369-6116 or email us at therichmondretreat@gmail.com for more information.