Put the Music On and Take Your Clothes Off

I’m going to suggest a wellbeing practice today that requires no yoga mat, no breathing technique and absolutely no ability to take yourself seriously.

Put on a song you love, take your clothes off and have a dance.

Not proper dancing. Nobody is judging your footwork. I mean that slightly ridiculous dancing you do in the kitchen when you think nobody is watching. Wooden spoon microphone optional.

Music is genuinely interesting from a wellbeing perspective. Research reviews have found that engaging with music can support aspects of wellbeing and emotional regulation, although the effects vary between people and circumstances. But I’m less interested today in turning three minutes of ABBA into a medical intervention than I am in something wonderfully ordinary:

joy feels good.

And our bodies aren’t only things to exercise, improve, weigh, hide or worry about.

They’re also how we experience fun.

That’s something I think naturism can remind us of beautifully. When you’re naked, there’s nowhere for the body to disappear. The tummy moves. The bum wobbles. Bits bounce that apparently didn’t receive the choreography.

Good. Let them.

You don’t need a dancer’s body because there’s no such thing. You’ve got a body and you’re dancing. Qualification achieved.

There’s something deliciously rebellious about enjoying your body without asking whether it looks attractive while you’re doing it. That isn’t about pretending everybody suddenly loves every inch of themselves. It’s simply giving the body a few minutes off from being inspected.

And as autumn pushes more of our naturist lives indoors, I reckon we need more ideas like this. Naturism doesn’t hibernate. Sometimes it looks less like a glorious beach and more like a naked person dancing badly in a warm kitchen on a Monday morning.

Frankly, I think the world could cope with more of that.

So today’s Wellness Wheel prescription, in the entirely non-medical sense, is one song.

Choose something impossible to sit still through. Shut the curtains if you need to. Turn it up. Strip off if you’re comfortable doing so.

Then dance like nobody’s watching.

Because hopefully nobody is.

What song would have you dancing before you’d even reached the chorus?