Naked Men Talking: Yogis With Pride
In the conversation, we talk naked beaches, exploring the potential of collabs with other creators, and why yoga is all about the journey.
For our podcast, Naked Men Talking, I caught up with Richard and Daniele - together, they are Yogis With Pride.
Specialising in naked workouts for men, Yogis With Pride offer online classes, video tutorials, and workshops for men around the world.
In the conversation, we talk naked beaches, exploring the potential of collabs with other creators, and why yoga is all about the journey.
How is life in the world of naked yoga?
Richard: So good. I mean, if you were calling us in the middle of November, we would probably be depressed and freezing and wrapped up in a hot blanket against the heater. But here in the middle of August, life is good. We're practicing every day. Classes are full and we're just thriving.
I have been following your social media fairly hard and you seem to be nonstop travelling over the summer. Has your objective been to hit as many naked beaches as you can?
Daniele: We've been feeling a little bit guilty. We were just coming here on the boat and thinking, should we do this one? This is like the actual trip that we had planned as our vacation that we do every year, and we were like, do we need this?
It's been an amazing summer. We usually tend to spend time in the US or Canada to see Richard's family - this summer, we decided just to have a Euro trip. We travelled up north with a van and then we spent a week in Barcelona.
On Instagram and Twitter now, it's all about videos and reels of discovering places and showing the beautiful places that we have around the world. We're very happy to contribute to that.
I'm always inspired by your content because it feels like a really great way of sharing what you're doing with your audience. How much effort do you have to put into thinking the social media opportunities?
Richard: We have a pretty good rhythm because with Patreon we create a new class every week. And then for that class we always think like, Okay, we need to promote it. So okay, it's a flow class - give me a a plank pose, an up-dog and a down-dog. It feeds into that.
Daniele: It does take time. It does take a lot of effort to make things look good but keeping your personality and your brand.
Talk us through some of the beaches that you've been to this summer - which have been your favourites?
Richard: It depends on the mood. If I'm in social mode, we have Cap d'Agde which is two hours away from our house. Or there's Mar Bella in Barcelona, or Playa del Muerto in Sitges. You go to have a drink, to meet new guys, to maybe snap some photos - for the social aspect.
Daniele: When we were in Sitges, we connected with another creator - Julien, he's French but living in Spain. We drove an hour south to meet him at a beach in Tarragona. The beach is huge - super-secluded. There's naked camping. It was beautiful.
How has your relationship with yoga has evolved over time?
Richard: It represents where I'm at right now. Ten years ago, before I became a dad, before I was in my routine where I have to have a lot of structure to what I do, I was able to say, you know what, I'm going to Thailand for a month to meditate, or I'm going to Bali. And I was able to do a lot more of the mind rather than just the physical. Now, just with the rhythm of life, I often only have one hour to do my personal practice. So instead of doing yoga to get into that zone, that meditation, I have to go hard. So I've been doing more CrossFit, Hirox, like hard, hard. Because I'm going so hard physically, right now yoga is more mobility and breathing and fitness and resetting my body from everything that I just did - it's very asana focused.
Daniele: It's totally opposite for me. I've been finishing my seven hundred hours with Dharma this year, which is all all based on pranayama and meditation. I don't find the asana practice that challenging.
Who is the audience for Yogis with Pride? Who are you building this community with?
Daniele: We think our brand attracts people that are on a journey - whatever that means to you. It could be physical, it could be spiritual, it could be emotional, it could be all about connection. Whenever we do a yoga retreat, we gather different people together - the thread that pulls everything together is the journey.
Richard: We have a solid core group of online practitioners who support us with whatever we do. We now put a lot more effort into the pre-recorded content than than before - a lot more people are watching playbacks than showing up face-to-face.
What retreats have you got coming up?
Richard: We're visiting places and looking for the best match - we know people definitely want a space where they can relax and jump in a pool or be naked in nature. We know the food is very important. Then, if there's some yoga and some group activities, great.
Daniele: Having the right space for yoga is very important. In Europe, all the guest-houses are beautiful and they're like, you can do yoga by the pool but it's forty degrees outside and the sun is hitting very hard. We're brainstorming options.
What else is on your vision board for the months ahead?
Daniele: We started an OnlyFans this year - we're figuring out how is OnlyFans different from Patreon? How is Patreon different than Instagram? Which audiences and what kind of content should we focus on that actually brings in more engagement and more money? Where are we investing our time?
Is the OnlyFans audience potentially pushing your content in different directions?
Daniele: One of the main requests we get from OnlyFans subscribers is to see us doing collabs with other creators. We've tried but it's hard to make it happen - it's hard to find someone who aligns with what we do. We're still experimenting.
As a creator, you have to find your niche and be true to yourself. We'll keep posting what we want.
Gareth Johnson