Yogis Uncovered | Meet Marie
We’re sitting down with Marie in this edition of Yogis Uncovered, who you may recognize from her True Naked Yoga programs such as Full Body Morning Yoga Movements. As a young Canadian transplant, Marie has such an interesting life story, and we loved getting to know who she is behind the scenes. Read on to learn more about her background, spirituality, and outlook on life.
“You can understand the body and the pose way better. And it feels natural. You don’t have any layers and energy above your skin. It connects to the air. And that is magical.”
Tell us a little about yourself, Marie!
My name is Marie Pierre and I live in Santa Barbara, California. I’m from Montreal, Canada, which is on the east coast of Canada in Quebec. I’m from the East Coast too, Boston!
What brought you to California?
What brought me to California is the spiritual movement that is very natural here. [Being from Quebec where it’s so cold], I really enjoy the warm weather and the palm trees here, so I got to move to Santa Barbara. It was quite a long journey.
What got you into yoga and how long have you been doing it?
M: What got me into yoga was a back injury. I've been doing yoga for six years and at the beginning it was very challenging, very difficult. It really helped me get back to feeling aligned and muscular and strong. And even some of the yoga poses are physical therapy that really help the connection of your bones and muscles to realign. It just became my favorite thing to do. At least three or four times a week I go to the studio and practice.
What do you like about doing nude yoga?
It’s so good. What I like about doing nude yoga is actually being able to see the lines of the body, the muscles, and you understand better if you see the connection with the physics of what your body looks like. If you have clothes you don’t really get to see how the muscles of the legs or your shoulders react to each pose. So that’s a huge difference. You can understand the body and the pose way better. And it feels natural. You don't have any layers and energy above your skin. It connects to the air. And that is magical.
What's been the biggest changes you've noticed since doing yoga?
Probably [being] more in tune with what's going on in my life and the connection with the breath makes your body and your nervous system relax. So you just get a better life that you attract when you have a better connection with who you are. It has been a real shift. Energy, connections, and feeling good in general. Just uplifting the vibration.
What is your favorite yoga pose?
My favorite yoga pose is Pigeon. You get to open your hips. Why I love this pose is that for [women], the hips are very emotional, a lot of emotion [is stuck] in this area. And once you open one leg at a time You get to really release. For me, every time I have profound experience doing this pose.
What do you do for work?
For work I do mainly visual art and I do a lot of modeling gigs that are very creative. I really feel more empowered when I have no clothes and I love doing nude photography or nude videos. [In terms of art], I do short films where I act and I create all kinds of scenes. I like 70s art movies, so I watch these kinds of movies and then create looks and scenes, find studios or [locations] and then organize my own shoot.
What’s your favorite food?
Actually, [Wen’s] chinese pancake. She makes the best chinese pancake you will ever eat. I never had that before because in Canada we don't eat Chinese food that much, but when I went to her place she made me this incredible meal and it felt like wow, I didn't know something so simple could taste so good and you just want to eat that every day.
*this interview has been edited for brevity and clarity