QUOTES 10/31/2017

“I made a brash decision.  I'd do it.  I slipped my thongs off, dropped my bathrobe on the ground, and walked back into that room, now as completely naked as everybody else.  I picked my way through the pack, past men and women, young and old, taut and droopy, and found a space on one of the upper benches where I placed a towel down the way everyone else had and sat between a naked pony-tailed man and a naked middle-aged woman, and awaited whatever was about to happen to me next.  Welcome to Austria.  Welcome to sauna culture. . . There has never before been such brazen nudity in my version of saunas.  There have never been men and women together. . . But here there were all of those things and more.  The venue for this lesson in cultural difference was the Aqua Dome, a thermal spa and sauna complex in the Oetztal Valley in western Austria. . . I breathed deep.  I sweated.  I stole glances at all the naked people around me . . . staring calmly into the distance. . . I copied them exactly.  I lifted my arms when I thought I had to.  I stared into the distance . . . They then stood up, collected their towels and walked outside into the cold night, wandering around in the garden still as starkers as newborns, allowing the wintry weather to close their pores.  I have never, ever, seen anything like it.  I realized that night that I'm an uptight Anglo kid who's not used to public nudity.  I realized I'm immaturely titillated by the sight of so much bare flesh.  And I also realized I've been missing out on something great.” – Ben Grounderwater, http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/themes/adventure/77189967/Getting-naked-in-Austrian-saunas-What-its-like-being-nude-with-40-strangers?cid=app-iPad

“Swiss Government Supported Body and Freedom Festival (Video)” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYIwoGIpXNI

“Naturism aims at the well-being of the naked body in contact with the natural elements that surround us, like air, sun, light and water.  Ignoring any erotic connotation, naturism helps restore the body's proper place.  Naturist nudity should be seen as the original state in which each of us were born.  It is natural and healthy.  In search of authenticity, naturism allows you to free your mind from the restraints imposed by the weight of years of education and social rules and thus to discover your true personality. . . A true natural anti-stress therapy, naturism provides a real feeling of well-being allowing you to feel and experience forgotten sensations.  Naturally naked, a body which is free breathes, bringing euphoric beneficial effects for our physical and mental equilibrium.  Naturism is a source of health. . . Naturist values promote tolerance, respect for oneself and others.  Hence for example, people with disabilities find in naturism a way of being much more easily accepted.  Meeting these people invites others to have a proper look at themselves and others by a mirror effect.  The gaze of others is without curiosity or embarrassment.  Practicing communal nudity erases social barriers, thus facilitating egalitarian exchanges.  There is no place for appearances, everyone is acknowledged for being who they are. . . Such an environment allows children to be totally fulfilled and to live in perfect harmony with their bodies once they reach adulthood.” - http://www.leclapotis.co.uk/take-your-clothes/naturism-philosophy-life