A Story On Self Nude Photography

I don't think that I really thought about how it was all going to happen, just allowed it to happen and to unfold. And I took one piece of clothing off and then I took a photo.

Thank you for tuning in your consciousness to the Naked Human podcast. I want to acknowledge your presence and what it took for you to be here today. Listening. My intention for you is that you receive what you came here for and find what you didn't know you needed. This podcast is about what it means to be a human being and what it really means to be naked and how our relationship with Mother Nature has the power to heal us.

My name is Carrie Cott and I'm a nude nature photographer, licensed physician of Chinese medicine plant guide and wild woman embodiment mentor. I help women heal from sexual trauma, awaken their authentic voice, and distinguish between fear and intuition so they can be led by their deep feminine heart. I bring to life in this podcast my own internal wisdom. I will only share what I've learned and experienced on a personal level.

As you listen, I encourage you to take from this what you need and just trash the rest. So happy listening. So this conversation is really a continuum of an earlier episode titled A story on nudity and Bondage. And it is a part of the origin story of why I facilitate nude nature experiences and why nudity is medicine and also why photography is an important integration into my experiences.

So along the journey of going to these classes with my partner and being naked and being in an environment that was non sexual arose some thoughts. So I was having this experience and I was really liking it. And unbeknownst to me, because it was healing and I felt safe and it wasn't confronting in the way that I was, you know, naked and being pressed for some sexual act. So it was this nice, inviting space. And as I continued to do that, I started to have some thoughts.

And I just remember one day getting this thought that I wanted to take nude photographs of myself. And I also had this image of sharing them, like creating a separate Instagram account and sharing these nude photographs. But they're like going to be very artsy and creative. And there was something about that energy that I really liked. And I just received the thought, you know, and I definitely didn't go looking for it and wasn't like, yeah, that'd be really cool, I want to do that.

And it's just the thought came in and I remember my partner at the time, I was telling him about it and this idea that I had and I was just really enjoying it and I think I took a few photographs of me doing something. And I had a trip planned to visit my parents in Michigan at this time I was living in Florida and had this trip planned to visit my parents. And I grew up and it's where my parents still live.

I grew up in the country with lots of wilderness, the Great Lakes, being outside, interacting with nature. Nature was just a part of my life. It wasn't a thing, it wasn't a thing to go to, to connect with. It was just existence. And I, I guess I say that so strongly is because I had this trip coming up and I had this vision of going out into the woods and taking these nude photographs of myself.

And I think I probably had like a few weeks of just preparation, like energetic emotional preparation of thinking, thinking about it. And you know, when you like are anticipating something and it builds and it builds, it's kind of like sexual connection or intimate connection and vulnerability and you can like connect and open and open and open or you're thinking about something yummy, you're gonna be eating in like five days and you're just like thinking about it and you.

It's just getting better and better and the juices are flowing and flowing well. Anyway, that's how I felt about these photographs was that like it was just building and I was opening to it and I was curious and had things preparing. I was preparing physically, emotionally, energetically by just playing in the thoughts and the energies of it.

So I come for my visit to my parents place and I think I was, you know, planned on being there for like five days or a week or something like that. So I was just anticipating when was the day gonna be, when was the day going to be that I was going to go out in the woods and take these photographs. And while I was there on that particular visit, a couple of days in, it was like, oh, this is going to be the day. Like I knew when the day was coming.

So I had another few days and that day arrived and it kind of reminded me like when I was a little girl waking up for Christmas and just being so fucking excited, so, so excited to have this experience. And I had never done this before. This wasn't something that I had previously thought about at any point, or at least that I remember I've thought about at any point. And it was just something that, like I said, it just came in and it was for me.

So I go out into the woods and I have my phone that was my camera that I was using and I wore something fun That I liked, felt good on my body. And I walked through the woods feeling, feeling for the. For the spot that was going to call me into it. And the spot is vivid, not just because I have photographs of it, because it's just so profound. And it was full of moss and I. I love moss so much. Like the texture, the smell, the moistness, its energy.

I found this beautiful mossy spot in the woods. And I don't think that I really thought about how it was all going to happen, just allowed it to happen and to unfold. And I took one piece of clothing off and then I took a photo. So like this was a timed like 10 seconds timer on my phone and I had it propped up and I took one piece of clothing off and I took a photo and then I went and I looked at the photograph and I looked at it and it was like I was taking it in.

I sat the phone down, that timer was still active. And I took another piece of clothing off and I captured another photograph. And then I went to my phone and I looked at it and I kept repeating this and I kept taking a piece of clothing off and one photo at a time. And I would look at each photograph and I was just taking it in and eventually I was naked because I kept taking a piece of clothing off and I would go and I would look at the photograph and I just.

Every photo I just kept feeling more and more connected.

And I think that this was the first time, you know, maybe this happened when I was a little girl, but this is the first time that I was naked outside in nature, like fully naked in this very methodical space that called me into it. And I'm connecting with the moss and feeling that moss on my bare skin. And I feel like I can still smell the air that day. It was warm and the sun was peeking through the trees and it was just smelled so earthy and moist.

And very shortly into it, I looked at one of the photographs and I just paused. And what came to me was, wow, I'm so beautiful. And it was a moment for me that I felt like I actually was seeing myself for the first time, but also in a physical way of actually looking at my body and having the thought that I was beautiful. Like really, like, wow, like I'm really beautiful, but also my body is really beautiful, which wasn't something that I would have said that I experienced before.

And while there was an aspect of it that I was like looking at my body, it was deeper than that. But also it was like this appreciation for My vessel that I hadn't ever experienced for myself to see some. Some part of. I mean, it was just a miracle, really, that moment. Honestly, it was like, holy. There was. There was some version of me being like, holy. I've never had this experience with myself before. I've never had this experience. I've never seen myself.

That's really what the was happening is. Holy. I've never seen this before. I've never witnessed myself in this way. I'm fucking beautiful. Holy. And I am now just seeing this. I just now have access to this. That was a big fucking moment. And it is a pivotal moment of why do the work that I do now of why it even exists and how. How it's become what it is. And it is definitely a pivotal, important piece of why photography is an important integration experience in the events that I do.

Because it's medicine. And it provides a portal to see that which we have been unable to see. And sometimes that's seeing parts of ourselves that we still don't like. And sometimes it's seeing parts of ourselves that we've never seen before that are fucking insanely beautiful, which are also those parts of ourselves that we might be judging. But it gives us access to see ourselves in a way that we've never seen ourselves before.

And so this journey that I was on and taking these photographs to stay in the woods, I continued. And it was. It was a slow process. I looked at one photo at a time and then dropped into some connection with the earth in a new way and took another photo and looked at myself. And I just kept doing it. And I mean, time, how long this whole process was, but I feel like I was probably out in the woods for like an hour and a half doing this.

And I ventured off into some other spaces into the woods, and I continued to take photographs. And again, just connecting more with the earth, connecting more with my body, witnessing myself, seeing myself. And it became quite erotic. I mean, feeling the sensations of the earth and all the smells alive and the warmth and just literally like tasting life through different parts of my body that have had been so covered up for so long and hidden and shamed and protected and just covered up.

And here I was in the forest, which is so alive and there's so much happening there and there's so many different types of energies that live in the entirety of a forest. And I'm there connecting and literally consuming the earth through my toes and through my thighs and through my elbow and through the low of my back and my womb, space and My nipples and, you know, just all the parts of me get to be soaking up this magnificent textures and flavors and smells.

And it was an insanely orgasmic experience of just drinking and tasting it all in through my body. And honestly, the whole experience culminated with this really profound orgasm. Like, the whole thing in itself was an orgasmic experience, but it just, like cultivated culminated is the word in this, huh? Like orgasmic release. And that's as obvious as I want to be about that, is that it was just like this orgasm ended in orgasm.

And it was still to this day one of the most unique orgasms I've ever had in my life. It is also like a very unique imprint of an experience of really declothing and becoming vulnerable and connecting, but also witnessing myself in this very intimate way and in hindsight. And some of the things that are just actually coming to me now is how healing that was for me as it related to my body and my sexuality and having had sexual trauma experiences where I've had violations in my body.

Like, I can see now and in this whole new way right now, as is happening as I'm recording this, and how healing beyond what I had seen, it was for me to be with myself and to have this intimate experience and to take my fucking time. It was a slow, slow process of undressing and taking each photo and going and going to all the different places I did in the forest. And I got to take my time, and it was on my own terms. And I was safe. I was in a space that it was completely safe.

And how healing, how healing all those layers were and are for me, which is a deep foundational component of the medicine that I share, which started with doing private nude photography with my clients and has emerged into retreat spaces with, specifically right now, women and holding that space and photography being a part of it. And because it was something that I was led to, that I was guided to through spirit and became a deeply healing medicine for me. But it also. I did that.

I did the photography with myself before I shared it. I think for like, I'm just gonna take a guesstimate here, but let's say like three or four years I did a nude self portrait journey with myself. And then, you know, spirit dropped in one day. Hey, how about sharing this with other people? So I did, and here we are. So that's. That's all I got for now about this, folks, because. Because that's just it.

This is deep fucking medicine. And what I'm sharing is really coming from my heart, from within, from listening and it's all serving a purpose. And what's available through tapping into this experience, this conversation for yourself and is that something's guiding you deeper. The fact that you're even listening means that there's something deeply available to you to connect you with your truest self. Through this, through this, whatever this is for you.

If it's you exploring your nudity on your own, if it's you taking starting to take some photographs with yourself naked, if it's you joining one of my online nude ceremonies, coming to an in person retreat, whatever that medicine is here is, it's here because you're yearning for a deeper connection. And that's what I'm here to share. So it may trigger you, it might not. Maybe you understand it at times and maybe you don't, but what's here at the heart is it's just everything I already said.

So I'm going to complete this transmission for now. So much love to you and if at any point you have anything that you need to share with me, you can always send me a private email just a few clicks away. Thank you for tuning your consciousness to this episode of the Naked Human. However you find yourself, whether it's relieved, enlightened, triggered, or as if the past minutes were a complete waste of your time, it's perfect. Be present to it and allow it to be the medicine you need.

I welcome your feedback and heartfelt reflections. Of how this episode impacted you. You can share with me online@thenakedhumanpodcast.com and if you're feeling called for a more personalized experience into your nakedness, I invite you to join our community of wild women in person or online. You can find more specifics@thenakedhumanpodcast.com and until next time, bye. It.