"From time to time, someone will get an erection": Benjamin Law gives nude yoga a crack. Photo: James Brickwood

We've had bikram, yogalates, even yoga with pole-dancing ... Benjamin Law takes the next step and strips for some naked downward dog.

Performing yoga in the nude does unkind things to the male body. The human scrotum looks miserable enough at the best of times, but I've never seen mine look as demoralised as right now. Our instructor - also naked - has told us to stretch our right leg tightly over our left, before twisting our torsos to flex out our spines. If I was wearing underwear, this would be easy. But because I'm nude, this scissored, clamp-legged position just bunches my equipment together and mashes everything upwards, until it resembles some sort of angry offal bouquet. And I thought yoga was supposed to be beautiful.

I've come to my first Naked Yoga Sydney class to suss out its appeal. Considering these classes requires everyone getting buck naked in a group to stretch in every conceivable position, surely it can't just be about the yoga, can it? Sessions run on the second floor of a warehouse in St Peters three times a week and, on average, attract around 15 men every session. No women are allowed. Nude co-ed yoga classes are taking off in the US and UK, but in Australia, only all-male classes exist.

Naked Yoga Sydney's instructor and founder, Steve Gee - who started his classes nine years ago - tried reaching out to women in the early days, but found there just wasn't the demand. "I've had a few enquiries from women, looking for either women-only classes or mixed classes," Gee says, "but not enough interest to justify running a full-time class."

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Nude Yoga USA in Arizona, which runs co-ed naked yoga classes three times a week, has some theories as to why women might be more shy. In their classes, men can outnumber women four to one. "Personally, I think females just aren't as interested in nudity as men," says co-founder and assistant instructor Lori Leatherman. "Guys just want to see something naked - they don't care! Plus, women are afraid to be judged. Women tell me, 'Oh, I'm just not comfortable with my body.' Even women who go to the hot springs nude still say, 'I don't know if I could do nude yoga.' They're afraid of the postures. Guys are afraid of getting an erection in class. Women are afraid of someone seeing everything. No woman wants to do downward dog with someone behind them." This is why Nude Yoga USA conducts its classes in an inward-facing circle.

Does this mean most of the guys at Sydney Naked Yoga are gay? Founder Steve Gee says he doesn't ask students about their sexuality, but suspects there are more gay guys than straight. Ultimately, though, he suspects most students are like him - nudists who just happen to enjoy a bit of downward dogging.

When I step inside the class, I baulk - not because everyone is naked (at least, not yet), but because there are floor-to-ceiling mirrors lining the front wall. Immediately, I lay out my yoga mat in the back corner, closest to the exit and as far as possible from my own reflection. This isn't out of shyness. Travelling in Japan and using traditional bathhouses demolished any problems I have with public nudity. I just don't want to inflict the image of my naked form bent over in cow position to a room full of strangers. It seems like bad manners.

Before the class starts, I ask Gee - a warmly spoken, strapping-fit bald man - the obvious question. What happens if you get an erection in class? It's the most common thing first-timers ask him. "From time to time, someone will get an erection," he says. "My take is, 'We're all guys, we're all healthy males, erections are a part of being guys. If it happens, just keep going with the yoga.' What you'll find is very quickly, the erection will subside. But it's nothing to be embarrassed about. I've never run anyone out of the class for getting an erection."

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Benjamin Law and the naked truth behind the nude yoga scene