Yogi Aaron

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Yogi Aaron
Born1972
NationalityCanadian
Other namesAaron Star
OccupationYoga teacher
Years active2001–2016
Known forHot Nude Yoga, Blue Osa
Notable workAutobiography Of A Naked Yogi

Yogi Aaron is a Canadian yoga teacher and author of the book Autobiography of a Naked Yogi. Under the name Aaron Star he founded a naked yoga movement in New York City that incorporates elements of both partner and tantric yoga, and is performed nude.[1]

Early life and career

At 18, Star began working out at a Vancouver community center. He became a student of yoga in 1991 and a teacher in 1997. He travelled across the world visiting numerous yoga ashrams and retreat centers, studying with yoga teachers including Bryan Kest, Rod Stryker, Swami Rama, as well as with other spiritual masters in the Himalayas.[2]

Star arrived in Manhattan in 2001 and within a short time was offering retreats in different countries. It was during a retreat in Hawaii that Star and his longtime student, Adam, first discussed creating "a community that is yoga-based… and where people can heal their spirits."[3] Six years later, they purchased property in Costa Rica and formed what is today known as Blue Osa.[4][5]

Star popularized the idea of practicing Hot Nude Yoga, which garnered a large following of men in New York's gay community,[6] and has since spread to Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston. He started the Hot Nude Yoga movement in Chelsea, New York in 2001 in the building on the Southwest corner of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue.[7]

Star speaks on various topics, most commonly on freedom of oneself, being comfortable with oneself, and fulfillment of life's purpose.[8][9]

Autobiography of a Naked Yogi

Star wrote Autobiography of a Naked Yogi in 2015, detailing his upbringing in 1970s British Columbia, along with a confrontational childhood, and a brutal boarding school education. Instilled with determination and a love for the great outdoors, he strove to understand himself in landscapes.[10][11] Reviewing the book, BroadwayWorld wrote that "Yogi Aaron's narrative is one of empowerment, imbued with a sense of adventure."[12]

Criticism

Star's Hot Nude Yoga classes received criticism for its heightened sensuality. The book Yoga in the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives calls Hot Nude Yoga a "promotion of sexual expression that would have scandalized the likes of Swami Sivananda",[13] while and described as "soft-core pornography" by Stewart J Lawrence in The Guardian.[14] Joshua Stein, editor for OUT Magazine, who has attended the class wrote that the quality of yoga was diminished by heightened sensuality[15] and according to The Associated Press, Hot Nude Yoga seems to be a "form of sensualized tantric yoga practiced nude."[16]

References

  1. ^ "Yoga Industry May Have Found a Few Good Men". HuffPost. 24 May 2012.
  2. ^ "One-Month Immersion Yoga Teacher Training".
  3. ^ "About Yogi Aaron".
  4. ^ "Confessions Of A Naked Yogi". 24 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Hot Nude Yoga Draws Fire". 12 April 2010.
  6. ^ "History Of Yoga". 26 November 2007.
  7. ^ "Hot Naked Yoga Class". The Hollywood Reporter. 28 November 2011.
  8. ^ "Yogi Aaron Blog".
  9. ^ "Bad Yogi Blogs".
  10. ^ "Blue Osa Yogi Aaron". August 2013.
  11. ^ "Founder of Costa Rica Retreat Writes About Naked Yoga". 17 December 2015.
  12. ^ "Yogi Aaron Shares the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A NAKED YOGI".
  13. ^ Singleton, Mark; Byrne, Jean (30 June 2008). Yoga in the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives. ISBN 9781134055203.
  14. ^ "The Guardian Naked Yoga". TheGuardian.com. 18 October 2010.
  15. ^ "Hot Nude Yoga Isn't About Sex". New York Daily News.
  16. ^ "Hot Nude Yoga Becomes Gay Trend". 7 April 2010.
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