Yogis Uncovered | Meet Bella
In this edition of Yogis Uncovered, we sit down with one of our long-time True Naked Yoga yoginis, Bella! You’ll recognize her from her programs including Beginner Yoga for Flexible Hips, Partner Yoga for Better Balance, and Yin Yoga for Better Posture. In this chat we learn more about her backstory and the interesting reason behind why she’s so comfortable being naked. Subscribe to see the full interview!
“I love being naked outside because it feels like you’re wearing the sun, like it’s on every inch of you. Doing naked yoga outside is like being really immersed in nature, getting to feel the wind and the sun as you’re moving your body.”
My name is Bella Fernandez and I live in Kona, Hawaii.
Where are you originally from?
I moved around a lot, more or less the Midwest. I moved to Hawaii from Kansas City, Missouri though. That was where I lived for five years before.
How do you like working with TNY?
[My] first time working with True Naked Yoga was in Joshua Tree and it was absolutely beautiful. I’ve been modeling for about 10 years and I work with all sorts of different people, but I love it when I get to work with a really professional team like this. There’s multiple people involved. They each have their jobs. My job truly is just doing what I’m [here] for rather than having to add on extra things. Which is why I was very excited to get to work with them again. I think I had just moved to Hawaii the first time I worked with them, so I kept in touch, making sure that if there was another [opportunity], I wanted to come back and work with them because it was very pleasurable.
What are some benefits of doing yoga naked?
I would say the biggest difference between naked yoga and clothed yoga is probably mobility. There is also, oh, what’s the word I’m looking for? Vulnerability, because without clothes, everything’s out there, it’s in the open, but if you’re okay with being vulnerable like that, doing yoga without clothing is just more freeing because you have more room for movement, especially when you do it outside. I love being naked outside because it feels like you’re wearing the sun, like it’s on every inch of you. Doing naked yoga outside is like being really immersed in nature, getting to feel the wind and the sun as you’re moving your body.
What’s your favorite yoga pose?
My favorite yoga pose is Pigeon, which is almost like a split, but your front leg is bent. I love it because of my hip flexors, that’s where I have the most tightness and where I work the most with yoga and stretching. Pigeon really opens up your hip flexors. For me, it feels really, really good.
What’s your favorite food?
My favorite food is cheese. Just cheese. (laughs) Added to anything, by itself. If a meal comes with cheese, I ask for more cheese. If it doesn’t come with cheese, I definitely ask for cheese to be added.
How did you get so comfortable being naked?
I actually wasn’t raised around nudity at all, but my mom is a scientist, first and foremost. And so, although I wasn’t raised in an openly naked [household], I remember from very young, we didn’t use ’hoo-ha’ or ’pee-pee’, it was vagina and penis, it was very scientific. My mom did normalize the body in [a way where] I was raised to see [nudity] as a scientific, natural thing. I went to an all-women’s college, and there I got more comfortable with bodies because it was a safer space for women to be, so there was more nudity there in a way because it created a safe space.
And really what made me more comfortable with being naked in front of people was my first outdoor naked shoot. I was just hugging this tree naked. I was like, wow, this is just really incredible. It just felt so good that as I continued to do photo shoots naked, I almost innately had a comfortability where I was like, this just feels so right. I could just get comfortable immediately. And sometimes one of the biggest compliments I get is when at the end of a shoot, someone [says], you’re so comfortable naked, I forgot you were naked!
*this interview has been edited for brevity and clarity