Day Three - Nude Cruise Questions Answered

OK, so I've received some interesting questions that are quite fun to answer!! (If you have some, I'm happy to answer them. And if I don't have the answers, then I'm more than entertained to go ask random nudists... hehehe!!)

1. What happens when men become sexually aroused? Do they just parade around like “that”?
   The truth is that they just don't become aroused. I've talked to lots of men about it who have been nudists for a long time and it just doesn't happen. Nudists just like being naked. They don't connect being naked and being turned on – which is really a huge connection that we make in the “clothed” world. We think that if we are clothed, then we aren't being sexual and if we are naked, then we are obviously into sex or something (broad brush I know, but it's something like that). You truly get used to seeing a lot of skin.
   
   
   One guy told me that if a woman came up behind him and brushed his shoulder or said or did something provocative, then sure, he would become aroused... So then you jump in the pool until things subside...
   
   
   We were just talking about this at breakfast actually, and our friend from California said that sometimes guys will bring a girlfriend to their nudist club who is shy about getting naked so she'll wear some skimpy little bikini. This woman in the skimpy bikini turns way more heads than if she was naked... So it's an interesting perspective that being naked makes things more sexualized...

2. Is the environment more sexualized?
   It isn't on this kind of nudist experience. Most nudists aren't looking for anything sexualized. There certainly are resorts like Hedonism in Jamaica where it is clothing optional plus there's all kinds of swinging, sex games and all of that. But the resorts are very specifically one or the other.
   
   
   This cruise is definitely the other. In fact, if anyone is caught doing anything at all that might make someone else uncomfortable, they are kicked off of the boat at the next port. Friends of our new friends actually did get kicked off a ship a couple of years ago because they pretended to take a picture of themselves giving oral sex on the deck. It wasn't real or anything. They were just being silly. But one of the staff saw them and Carnival kicked them off the ship because they couldn't risk any of that getting out!!
   
   
   The other thing about the sexuality is that it's not like you don't look at each other. You do. And sure you notice “nice bits” and stuff. But for some reason, it just isn't all sexually charged. It's like you can just appreciate something and get on with it. But in the clothed world, we just get all amped up about seeing nice breasts or whatever. Maybe it's marketing. Maybe it's old-school puritan training. I don't know. But it's really only in the clothed world that we're so weird about it.

3. What is the median age of the nudists?
   I'd say the range of nudists go from 30 to 80+. Average age? Probably 50.
   
   
   This also does something for the “sexualized” question. I mean, you can be sitting there and some young, buff guy is strutting along, all tanned, tattooed, whatever. And right beside him is someone's 75 year-old grandma who looks just like any woman that you'd find at any knitting circle in Goderich. The mix of ages and body types seems to kind of normalize the whole experience.

4. Jumping up and down? How does that work?
   Well, honestly, I was trying to figure this one out too. But honestly it depends on the person. Some women “keep 'em still” and others just give 'er... And the men? I kinda think that they like the sensation myself (I apologize to my children and their friends if they're reading this... :) )
   
   
   
   

I'm not sure you can have more fun than this!!

Funny Breakfast Happening:

So over breakfast today, we're sitting at the bar chatting away with a couple from Idaho... And this 70-yr-old guy walks over towards the bar... and my eyes are drawn down to .. you know.. because there were two yellow eyes looking at me!! It was some kind of clamp/jewellery-type thing that basically put one eye on either side of his penis... And yes, I couldn't stop looking at it. So, I said to “Laurie from Idaho”, “Hey check out those eyes!!”... As soon as she saw them, we broke into hysterics! Then it was just one line after another... Hey, you lookin' at me?... Hey four-eyes! ... Keep your eyes to yourself!... Whatchu lookin' at?... The husbands were going, “What? What?”... We could barely eat our breakfast!!

If you ever find yourself in a serious Fun Deficiency, then I would highly recommend going on a nude cruise!! I don't know whether it's because only people who take themselves lightly can go on nude cruise or the fact that as soon as ANYONE gets naked, they immediately become more relaxed, take themselves lightly and are just open to anything else that's fun...

So, I have to paint the picture for you... There's the Lido Deck – which is where most of the pools, hot-tubs, waterslides, etc are – where all the fun is!! There's a pool and a couple of hot-tubs in the middle. From there, there are tiers that go up all around for two floors that look down on the pool and hot-tubs. And all the tiers have various kinds of chaise-lounges and chairs on them.

So we're lounging on the top tier – overlooking the ocean flying by... Aaahhh... And all of a sudden, I hear all of those crazy songs that they play at weddings all of the time that are so desperately over-played it's truly painful when they play them... the Macarena, the Twist, ride a cowboy and of course YMCA!!!

The music is absolutely blaring, people are laughing and having crazy fun... So the macarena comes on... first my eyes instinctively roll. But then I thought, “Hey, when will I ever have the chance to do a naked macarena?” So I climbed down all the stairs down to the dance-floor and joined all of the other naked people doing a crazy-fun macarena... And then the twist... I really dislike this song... But the people I was dancing with were so much crazy fun, I just had to keep going... And the crazy dancing continued... I didn't even know that doing the naked macarena or the naked twist was on my bucket list... Who knew?

And then, I'm back up on my chaise-lounge, and the music starts up and it's this great song that I danced to in Jamaica that goes “Penny, nickel, dime, dollar...” And so I jumped up off of my chaise-lounge and became one of those crazy people dancing in the aisles all by themselves... and then the cruise director saw me from across the way and the two of us started doing this crazy Jamaican dance together from across the Lido expanse...

And then I lay back down...

Soon, this awesome salsa music is playing (blaring really)... I look up and my cruise-director-friend is doing some dance moves and sweating like a crazy man. So I get up and walk over to the railing and look down. The whole bloody place is dancing. Everyone in the hot-tubs were standing on the edges just salsa-ing like crazy. People in the aisles are just given-er!! I have to tell you that my inner smile was absolutely laughing hysterically!! It was completely overwhelming in the most awesome way!!

And then YMCA came on!! OMG!!!

Normally, this is where I run for the border. But the first few bars came on and the entire deck started cheering and now nearly everyone was on their feet. Hundreds and hundreds of naked people were just jumping up and down following “Victor” in really fun YMCA moves.

I'm totally on my feet dancing to YMCA like I've never heard it before and it's the best song ever. Even Wayne had to concede and started dancing too!! :) Now everyone is just going crazy. People in the pool are doing it! People on their chaise-lounges are doing it! Everyone was just groovin'... The smile on my face is killing my cheeks. It's definitely one of those “now-I-can-die-cause-I've-seen-everything” moments...

But most of all, it was just SO MUCH FUN!!!

We need to have fun like that.

Do we have to be naked? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not...

But to feel so free and so uninhibited – and not wasted (the drinks are crazy expensive and not included on the ship – so alcohol wasn't really a factor...).

It was absolutely wonderful.  So healing and fantastic!!

I tell you... I will never be able to hear these songs ever again without getting a crazy silly smile on my face and be jumping on the dance-floor dancing like a crazy person!!!

Such good medicine!!! Might be worth a try ;)

The Big Nude Boat - Day One

So here we are on a cruise with 3000 naked people. It should be a bigger deal. But strangely enough, it just isn't...

So, first of all, we made some awesome friends – Peter, Laura, Heather, Jerry & Marina from San Jose, California. Most of them are hard-core nudists. They belong to “naturist clubs” which are like golf & country clubs except for all of the events are naked. Before a year ago when they banned public nudity in San Francisco, they would walk down the streets naked for an afternoon stroll. They even have a big 10K running race where all the nudists would walk it together – just for a chance to walk naked outside in public together. (I'm not sure, but I don't think Goderich is ready for that yet! )

We got to travel with them to the ship and navigate where to go and all that. So nice to have friends!! It's also nice to have people to ask all the silly questions that we all want answers to. Plus, they're just the funnest people I've ever met!! So awesome!!

So, we all get on the ship – Carnival Freedom (such an appropriate name!!!) - at noon and it was absolutely crazy! Everyone was dressed because we aren't allowed to be naked until the ship is 3 miles out to sea... it's an interesting distance... as if anyone could see anything half a mile out to sea... but regardless, it's actually a really big deal for Carnival cruise lines to even have these nude boats and they want to make them as proper as possible. So, everyone starts out dressed.

But what a party going on!!! I don't know if all cruises are like this, but we headed to the Lido deck (there was food) and the music was absolutely blaring – all seventies and eighties... (I think we're going to hear a lot of Prince and “Mustang Sally” this trip!!)... And people are up dancing in the aisles. They're laughing, they're happy, they're just having a blast! I mean, sure, they're on a cruise, why wouldn't they be happy. I was happy too, but I didn't just start dancing in the aisles... and in the pool ... and in the hottubs... According to our new friends, these nude cruises do tend to be a little more light-hearted and fun and the people are just totally relaxed and easy-going... Hmm...

Then an announcement comes over the loud-speaker that the captain will announce exactly when the "fun" will start... (when everyone's allowed to get naked). So then I start thinking, “What's going to happen when this happens?” Is everyone going to start ripping their clothes off and hooting and hollering? I was having quite a bit of anticipation imagining watching 3000 clothed people suddenly ripping their clothes off... And the more I thought about it, the more I just couldn't picture it at all...

And so, for a couple of hours, I kept imagining different scenarios of how this was all going to go down

But alas, it was all quite anti-climactic. We had to go for our emergency briefing about where to gather for our lifeboats... The ship was late to leave... It started raining... We had to go for dinner (where we have to be dressed)... So, by the time we were done dinner, we all went our separate ways and found hottubs around the ship (because it was bloody cold with the wind and rain...) and by this time, most people on the ship had simply become naked.

There were naked people walking down the hallways, on the ship's deck, in the hottubs, at the customer service counter, in the casino,... everywhere. There are also clothed people who just came from dinner, or for whom it was too cold to be naked. There are people walking around in bathrobes, sarongs, just t-shirts, and every combination of dress/undress, you can imagine.

But it's all pretty chill. Nobody looks at you funny... Not even all of the Carnival cruise employees who are fully dressed. They just say as you walk down the corridor totally naked, “Evening ma'am. Hope you have a good night.”... And life goes on...

Hmmm...  

And so, off we went to a hot-tub at the back of the ship and warmed up with a whole pile of people from all over the world... I sat and chatted with Dino from North Carolina for a while... talked about the weather... how this was our first time on a nude cruise... you know, basic stuff... And it was... really normal. 

In fact, so far, I swear it was even more relaxed BECAUSE we were all naked... No posturing. No pretending. Just totally there... chatting in the hot-tub... Very cool... Really nice :)

Aahhh... So we'll see how many pictures I can come up with from here on in... pictures are totally prohibited for obvious reasons... But we'll see...

The Healing Power of Love Meditation

I was recently in Jamaica at the Caribbean Yoga Conference and I made this video about how we can bring the feeling of love into our everyday life... partly through understanding how we push it away... and partly through practising a simple meditation.

I know that it sounds a little hokey... like every love song ever written... "All you need is love.." 

But one interesting point comes from people who have near-death experiences and the amazing sense of love that surrounds them when they're "in that other place". I have had this experience twice in my life. But I couldn't articulate it until I read Anita Moorjani's book "Dying to be Me".. and while she was clinically dead - her body wracked with cancer, she was having the most beautiful experience.

She felt completely happy, blissful and surrounded by love. The love absolutely permeated her entire being. There was no lover or child or anyone else there... just love.  This is what we forget "down here". We think that we have no love if our partner thwarts us or we're struggling with our parents or children. But that "love" that we think we've lost isn't really love... It's relationship expectations and other twisted versions if it.

But real love is a beautiful feeling that we experience. It's not rational. It's just there. And our biggest problem is that we actually only let it so far in... then we push it away - ever so slightly - or a lot!!

But this love has amazing abilities to heal us.

When Anita Moorjani returned to her body, her stage 4 cancer was healed. She was forever different. There's something to be said for that. (As a side note, we are super excited that Anita is coming to Blyth from Hong Kong on April 21st to speak about her book. More details can be found at: http://www.eaststreetstation.ca/coming-events/april-21-anita-moorjani.html )

And so, without further ado, here is the video from Jamaica. 

Enjoy!

Just follow this link: Meditation Video

Please share this with anyone you know who needs some love in their life... anyone who needs hope and uplifting... anyone who feels alone. 

Love always,

Katrina