Why taking my clothes off changed my life!

I share the real story of how I became a naturist — from growing up on a Polish farm and discovering the human body through art, to meeting Trevor, visiting my first naturist resort, and eventually embracing naturism as a way of life. We talk about travelling to amazing naturist places around the world, from Croatia and Crete to Mallorca and the Big Nude Boat Caribbean cruise, plus what naturism has brought into our everyday lives. This is a warm, honest conversation about freedom, confidence, body acceptance, health, and why taking my clothes off changed far more than just what I wear.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to Slavic Uncovered Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Hello and welcome back to Slavic Uncovered. By the way, my actual name is Joanna. In Slavic languages like Polish, where I'm from, the diminutive or short form is Asha, spelled A S I A. But to make it easier for others to read, I put Asha. So this is called Slavic uncovered. As I talk about uncovering more things I like, literally like naturism, but I go on to uncover other layers like relationships, sensuality, and so on. Now, this week I'm joined by my partner Trevor.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Hi, I'm glad to be on your podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Glad to have you. And today we want to do something a little more personal because people often ask how I became a naturist. Some seem to imagine there must have been one dramatic turning point. Maybe some wild rebellious face, some shocking holiday, some grand statement against society. But the truth is far less dramatic and much more interesting. For me, naturism happened slowly, gently, and in a way that now feels completely logical when I look back over my life. I think the roots of it began in my childhood. I grew up on a farm surrounded by fields, animals, seasons, mud, wind, fresh air, long grass, and all the little rhythms of nature that country children often take for granted. Nature was not something you visited on the weekends. It was simply life. I loved being outdoors, going to forests, picking up white mushrooms. I loved uh staring at open skies, watching storms rolling in, birds singing early in the morning, the smell of rain, the feel of warm summer evenings, all of it. Even now I think that gave me a deep sense that human beings are meant to feel connected to the natural world. But uh although we lived close to nature, we were also quite a conservative family. We were not dancing naked in fields, bodies were private, modesty mattered, and that was just a culture I grew up in. I was a very Catholic girl, I would say. So I had nature around me, but I did not yet have naturism.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

And that's such an important distinction. I think comfort is not the same as showing off. Naturism is usually much closer to comfort than than people imagine, I think. My own background was was very different because I grew up with naturism from childhood. My my parents were naturists. My sister joined in too. So for us it was simply a normal family life. We we visited nude beaches in the UK where I'm from, and we belonged to Broadland Sun Club near Norwich in Norfolk. That place was part of my childhood world. People sometimes assume the growing up naturist must be eccentric or chaotic, but it was quite the opposite. I I think it was quite a wholesome, social, healthy, and well uh ordinary, really. Children playing games, adult chatting over cups of tea, and sometimes mowing the grass, sometimes reading a newspaper, people swimming if the weather allowed it there. It was very British, really, just with fewer clothes. Um at home, if it was hot in summer, I'd be naked too. And yeah, before anyone laughs, England can be occasionally hot on um in in the summer. I remember one day um my mum gave me some pocket money, yeah, and told me I could go to the shops to buy sweets. So I was ready to run down into the town immediately when my mum stopped me and said, Trevor, you haven't got any clothes on and I I I generally didn't understand the issue. I remember thinking, well, what's wrong with my nudity? She had to explain that not everyone accepted nudity in the same way. Even as a child, it struck me as just totally illogical. One bit of skin is fine, another bit of skin is scandalous. Oh you can wear a bikini on the beach and then cross the road to the shops and suddenly you're not allowed to wear swimming costumes. Where exactly is this invisible line? Halfway across the road, I used to think. Who decided it? It all seems rather arbitrary. And I noticed something else over time. Non naturists often sexualized bodies far more than naturists did. Naturists usually normalize bodies which removes obsession.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

That really resonated with me when we met. You spoke about naturism with such calmness and common sense that it challenged many stereotypes people carry. Then one day I remember you invited me to go with you to Valalta in Croatia, which is a huge naturist resort in the north of the country. Before we went, I remember you sent me a list of naturist etiquettes. So all the do's and don'ts, for instance, uh respect privacy, always sit on the towel, don't stare, be polite, and remember everyone is there to relax. I read it and I said to you, hmm, this all seems very obvious to me. Because it did. Nothing sounded strange. It sounded all civilized, sensible and healthy. Just natural. Then we arrived, and honestly my first thought was that I had landed in paradise. There was sunshine, sea air, pine trees, freedom, worm skin, laughter, and people everywhere of all ages and all shapes simply enjoyed life. Some were swimming, some cycling, some reading, some playing volleyball, some walking hand in hand. Nobody cared about perfect bodies, and I just loved it. Nobody was pretending. Nobody seemed trapped by self-consciousness. Everyone was authentic and equal. I was completely in my element. We stayed there a week and uh when it was time to go home, I remember I genuinely didn't want to go leave.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

I knew after about one day that you'd completely understood it, and and from then on, naturism really became part of our life together. We travelled to many, many places together, didn't we? We explored proper s sauna culture too, not the awkward swimsuit in a steamroom version, but the real sauna spaces where nudity is normal, hygiene is respected, and wellness comes first. I I remember we visited that huge sauna complex in Celaj near Kraków, where uh well it's still one of the most impressive places in Poland. Hundreds of people there. We went to naturist beaches too, including Schwinows in the north of Poland, near the German border, white sands, sea breezes, that lovely feeling of just openness. And one of my one of my favourite memories was taking you to Broadland Sun Club in the UK, the place from my childhood.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Oh yeah, that was very special for me too. It was set in woodland almost like a fairy tale hidden in the forest. And to walk nude among trees, hear birds bath, feel sunshine through branches, and watch you reconnect with a place uh full of happy childhood memories that felt beautiful and special to me. We also went to Nude Fest in the UK, which had around 600 people for a week of activities, and that was so much fun. There was a nude 5k run. I remember that was quite hard to do as a woman. Body painting, nude rambling through the countryside, social events, games, artistic activities, laughter everywhere. There was even a day trip to a cider farm to see how it was made, and some of the workers joined in wearing only aprons and smiles. Those experiences really show what naturism is about. Community, equality, humor to freedom, not taking life too seriously, and feeling happy in their bodies.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

And then this year came one of our biggest adventures, didn't it? The big nude boat cruise in in February of 26, about 2,000 naturists sailing from Miami around the Caribbean. It sounds surreal when you say it out loud.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Wow, it was amazing. Sun on deck, blue sea all around, beaches, parties, dancing, excursions, conversations with people from all around the world, and that same relaxed atmosphere nature is seen to create wherever they go. We made lots of new friends, and it was one of those experiences you never forget. We've also visited Cesar, Naturist Property in Bilskobiawa, where each year the first Saturday of June celebrates National Nature is Day. And closer to home, we've spent many happy days at our local Newt Lake in Krakow near Balitza Airport, meeting lovely couples, families even with children, solo visitors, and curious first timers. Often we've brought new people with us to those events and to those places. Then an hour later they relax. Two hours later they're smiling. By the end of the day, they wonder why they were ever worried. And this is another thing to witness.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

And there are some places that we just keep returning to because they just feel right for us, don't they? One of those was Vritomartis Naturist Resort in southern Crete. We've been there four times now, which really says a lot.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Yes, uh when somebody keeps calling you back, that usually means something. That place has truly stolen our hearts. For us, September there's just perfect. Not too hot, not too cool, just beautifully balanced. Warm sun shining the day, beautifully warm sea, lovely evenings. The setting is absolutely stunning and unique. Mountains rising behind you on one side and a sinew stretching out on the other. It has that feeling of space and peace immediately. Just ten minutes walk down is a gorgeous FKK nature's beach and a quaint tavern with amazing delicious Greek food of course. And the hotel also runs a beach restaurant and bar there, so you can spend the whole day swimming, sunbathing, eating wonderful food and never feeling rushed. There are also brilliant activities like nude yoga, some aqua robic, archery, lots of various artistic and sports activities. So no one can go no one can get bored and everyone can find something for themselves and it's also opportunity to mingle and get to know new people. There are often hundreds of people around through the season, but somehow it still feels calm, never frantic. We've had beautiful evenings there with entertainment, laughter, dancing, music and long conversations under the stars. We've also met so many lovely people there who became genuine friends for life.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

And it's not just lying on a sunbed either. There's nude boat trips, isn't there? Nude hiking in some of the nearby gorges and a little town, Hodisfakia. Um just about twenty minutes away from the hotel if you want shops, cafe or a change of scene. It really has a good balance of relaxation and adventure.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Exactly. Some places energize you and some places calm you down. Vritomartis somehow does both.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Oh another destination that became special for us was Majorca, because an old school friend of mine moved there and we visited three times, I think, and used it as a base to explore the island.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Oh yes, Majorca really surprised me. Many people think only of package holidays when they're a goal, but the natural beauty there is incredible. We visited famous nature's FKK beaches like Estrang and Kala Mesquida, and the water looked almost unreal, that turquoise clarity you normally only see on postcards. The beaches were sandy and spacious and in some places the sea stays shallow for so long that you can walk far out, almost a mile it feels, with warm, clear water around you. Swimming nude there with the colourful fish all around you, with sunshine overhead. Oh that was magical. And then you'd like uh and then you'd look up and see goats calmly walking across rocks nearby, completely unbothered by anything around. It was one of those moments where nature, freedom, and beauty all meeting one place.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Majorca gave us that lovely Mediterranean mix clear sea, good food, adventure and total relaxation.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yes, every time we left I wanted one more week. Naturism is now over into my everyday life. Whenever it's practical and private, of course I strip off. I sleep nude, I have always been sleeping nude. Um as I have already written before about it, why I think that it can be healthy. I decorate the house nude, I work in the garden nude. I am all the lone nude. If the setting is appropriate, why not? For me it creates a sense of connection with nature and beautiful sensoric experiences. I can feel the sun and breeze on my skin. It's less artificial, more real.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

And eventually we both realized we didn't just want naturism as a private lifestyle. We really wanted to create a place where others could experience it safely.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Ah exactly. That became Emerald Spa in Krakow. Today we host naturalist sauna nights, clothing optional events for beginners, accommodation space, jacuzzi evenings, swimming, massage, counselling and training. We wanted to create a space that is private, warm, respectful, and welcoming. At most of these events I talk with guests about the health benefits and ethos of naturism, like body acceptance, reduced shame, confidence, stress relief, honesty, quality, connection with nature. And I have genuinely seen lives changed. People who hated their bodies become kinder to themselves. People trapped in anxiety become freer. Couples reconnect, friendships form, people love more, people breathe deeper. That matters.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

So if someone is listening and is curious but unsure, well, just take small steps.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Start small, for instance, leave nude, sand bathe privately, visit a proper sauna with proper sauna culture, research what nature is places exist near you. Read some articles, ask questions, stay sensible and respectful. You don't need to leap dramatically into anything. You just need to begin.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

And if you'd like a beautiful place to start, come visit us in Crackle. Close optional, of course.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Naturally.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

I hope this episode gave you something to think about. If you'd like to go deeper for more personal and adult conversations, videos and photos, find me on Patreon, Vimeo, and other well known places. Take care and stay connected to your natural self.