Couples of Naturism – Andrew and Lisa

We are asking couples of naturism some pretty intimate questions. No one blushed. (Okay, maybe one or two).

These aren’t your typical surface level Q&A. These are real questions for real naturist couples designed to go beyond “How did you find naturism?” or “What’s your favorite nude beach?”

They explore the heart of the relationship: How naturism changes the way you see each other. What it’s like to be emotionally and physically vulnerable together. How you navigate awkward moments, deep body insecurities, aging, flirtation, connection, and joy… all without clothes.

Some are serious, some may be funny, and some might surprise you with how honest they can be. They’re not about being perfect naturists or Instagram naturists. They’re for those of us living this lifestyle in real life, with love, flaws, routines, and a bit of mischief.

We ask these questions not just to learn about other couples of naturism, but to help new people understand what naturism can really feel like when it’s shared with someone you love!

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Hi Andrew and Lisa. Thank you for taking the time to complete our Q&A. Let’s start with your story.

Introduce yourselves and tell us: how did your two lives cross in the first place, and what made you decide to build a life together?

Andy: We worked together for a long time. We started working together around 2006.
Lisa: I took a job with your wound care center because I needed a job.
Andy: And I was the only physician there at the time.
Lisa: And like no other physician I’d ever worked with.

Lisa: Your personality. Your good looks. Your charm. Your faith. Your ability to… make me laugh. You’re just a nice guy.
Andy: And I think in your case, I can’t explain it. I just felt drawn to you. I saw who you were, I think more than you saw who you were at the time. And thought, well, we’ll just see how this goes.
Lisa: We were friends for a long time, and I think we became pretty good friends because I confided in you a lot about a lot of personal things. We were a very small group working there, and we all just had very close bonds with each other.

What do you love most about this relationship… not in general, but specifically yours?

Lisa: The sense of security I have with you and the knowing that even on my worst days, you still love me. I can be myself. I’m not afraid to be myself. That’s a big thing.

Andy: I also feel like I can really be myself and… I really geek out on academic stuff and try to talk to you about it. You tell me that you’re not interested in listening unless I get you a glass of wine. But then eventually you listen, kind of. Ha! But I can really be who I am, and it’s authentic.

How would each of you describe your relationship and your partner in your own words?

Andy: Well, you’re definitely not a Stepford wife, and I’m glad. You are uniquely you. And so… at least about those positive things, you don’t make excuses for who you are. I think that leads to a lot of frank and open opportunities between us. I would describe you as a woman of profound faith too. That covers over everything, all the bumps in the road along the way.

Lisa: Well, you’re definitely a very unique character, like no one I’ve ever met – your personality, your humor, your level of loyalty, and love of God. I mean, you’re just, to me, the ideal Christian husband. Just in everything you do, you don’t think about yourself at all. You just think of everybody else before yourself. You never put yourself before anybody else. You’re also very intelligent and people look to you around the world for your knowledge and wisdom.

And somewhere along that path, when and how did naturism enter the picture for each of you, either before or during the relationship?

Andy: I grew up in a community that had what we always called a “nudist colony”. It was just part of the community. I assumed every community probably had one. I was aware that my parents thought they were kind of weird over there, but it was no big deal. I would go fishing a lot with my buddy in the stream right outside the nudist colony. The nudist people would talk to us through the fence asking about fishing and stuff like that. They always seemed like nice folks. I was never surprised that there was such a thing as nudists because I just thought every community probably had them. And they were behind a fence. You couldn’t see through it. We weren’t really particularly interested in looking either.

Jump ahead now to 34 years ago, and I happened to be on a trip. You had a choice on this trip to go to one beach or the other. I went to the first beach, and it was so packed you couldn’t even sit down. The other one was a either a clothing option or nudist beach, and that was my first time experiencing that for myself in a social setting. It is a fond memory and one of those things that at the end of my life I will be glad I took a chance.

Lisa: Well, I knew that you were a naturist when I met you. You told me about it and answered questions about it. I didn’t know much about it because I’d never been exposed to anything like that. So, of course, I’m trying to wrap my mind around it, thinking, how does that work? You know, how do you interact with others? You said it’s nothing that doesn’t happen at a church picnic. There’s nothing sexual about it. It’s just people enjoying being in their own skin and enjoying being naked together, usually in nature.

On to the Q&A.

1. What do you remember most about the very first time you were nude together in a social naturist space? Not what happened, but how it felt to each of you.

Lisa: When we started our relationship, you took me to a place in Tennessee that was an AANR club. So, I thought let’s see what happens. On the way, I said… I might just take my top off. I won’t take my pants off, but I may just go topless. Once we got there and I started looking around at everybody and seeing people from the entrance gate to the cabin, I just thought, you know what, I don’t know anybody here. It seems safe. It looks like everybody’s having a good time. So I thought, what the heck?

Andy: So I said to go ahead and check out the cabin. I’ll unload the car. I hadn’t gotten the suitcase out of the car yet to take into the cabin, and you walked out completely naked.

Lisa: I thought, this is it for me. I just thought, well, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it. And right away… Frank, our neighbor, came charging on over and there you were – naked to the world. It was no longer just you and me; it was social nudism. Everybody talked to you. Nobody’s eyeing you up and down. They’re looking at you in your eyes as they’re talking to you. You’re just standing there having a conversation with somebody. I just felt like it was not a big deal. Everybody just kind of was going about their business. I think everyone was more open because you have nothing to hide behind without your clothes on. I mean, this is who you are, so you’ve got nothing to hide behind.

2. What surprised each of you the most about your own body once you stopped hiding it, especially in front of other people?

Lisa: I don’t look that bad. And your first time 34 years ago?

Andy: I just don’t really remember. I remember it felt great to feel the wind blow on your skin and feel the ocean on your skin and all that kind of stuff. But how I felt about my own body, I think I grew up in an era where the locker room was just one big communal shower. There were no stalls or anything like that. At the YMCA they still had the men’s swim and that was without clothes. I guess I didn’t think that terribly much about it.

3. Do either of you still carry any body insecurities? If so, how does your partner help soften them and support you?

Lisa: Oh, I think as I age, I start getting some insecurities just about how my body has changed. But my partner is very supportive and always tells me I look good. So that’s really all that matters because… He’s the only one that I’m really looking to impress anyway. Really I don’t feel insecure when I am in a naturist setting, but sometimes I still feel critical when I am in front of the mirror by myself in the bathroom. That all goes away when we’re in a social setting though.

Andy: As far as body insecurities for me, I’m aware that now into my 60s and that I no longer have any butt at all. But you still chase me around.

Lisa: I do.

Andy: That helps soften and support that body change where I think, well, at least my wife still thinks that I’m attractive. But for me, that really has virtually nothing to do with naturism. Naturism is a whole different thing for me. I just never think about my body when I’m in those social environments.

4. You’ve both chosen to be visible about your naturism. Was that an easy decision, or did it take time and courage for each of you in different ways?

Andy: I did it from the very beginning. I did it because I learned somewhere in my very early years, let’s say when I was in grade school, that to not be honest about stuff always ended up being a hassle. You always end up being found out. It was just easier just to be honest and deal with the repercussions right then. And it just makes my life so much easier just to be forthright. Now, I don’t force the conversation on anyone, but if it comes up in conversation like, “oh, where’d you go this weekend?”, I’ll tell folks. When we first worked together you wanted to know where I went on vacation, so I told you all about my trip to Orient Beach. It was just a conversation. It was just part of my life. It wasn’t anything that hid.

Lisa: I wasn’t ashamed or afraid to tell anyone. I think my upbringing was not so much that way. I never grew up around “nudist colony” or anything. But when I told my mother, she was kind of like, “oh, okay, if that’s what you want to do”. I haven’t hidden it from my family. No, I wasn’t ashamed of it. I just said, “well, guess what I did this weekend?” I just kind of told them. They had no idea that there were even places around to do that. Also, with the kids and the grandkids, I let them know that if you don’t want to be surprised when you come over, then call first – otherwise, come on in. And they’ve come on in before, and we’ve been naked.

5. How do your professional lives shape the way you think about nudity, bodies, privacy, or vulnerability?

Lisa: As a nurse, you always try to be respectful when people are naked. But when you’ve seen so many naked bodies in your job, nothing’s really surprising. This is beyond a job. This is our mission. This is what we do. This is how we live out our faith: by serving folks in this way.

Andy: If people are naked on the operating room table, you’re respectful. I’ll step out of the room because they might not be comfortable if they were awake. Most people aren’t comfortable in those situations to be naked around people they don’t know. I try to treat others as though they haven’t specifically given consent for that, so I step out until they are all draped. Yet at the same time, the naked body is nothing to be ashamed of. It is fearfully and wonderfully made, and it is in God’s image, and it is perfect, no matter how it’s shaped or how many scars it has or what disease it has, it is still perfect. I think as a healthcare professional, you just have a different outlook on bodies.

6. Has naturism ever felt in tension with other parts of your identity (faith, work, family), or has it mostly felt integrated?

Lisa: No, I think it’s perfectly fine with my faith because that’s how God made me. I mean, we were all naked. Adam and Eve were naked until the fall. How about work?

Andy: Regarding faith, I could get on a real soapbox about this, but I guess to really keep it brief, I feel like the covering of the human body, except for reasons of climate, but the covering of the human body is covering the image of God. And I think that one of Satan’s big victories is to convince folks they need to cover up. It is absolutely not in tension with my faith at all. My family were raised in a naturist positive environment, and the grandkids all know this. It’s just part of our lives. It’s integrated.

Some have questioned how we can be naked in front of others without it leading to impure thoughts – lust. We certainly accept that people struggle with all sorts of temptations, but that does not make nakedness the cause of it. Others will say, “Good for you, but that’s not for me. I’d be too self conscious.” They do not condemn our naturist life, but need to remain clothed to control the environment around themselves.

Many are curious and wish they had the courage to try naturism. Especially after we discuss naturism from a Biblical perspective, they are compelled to research it on their own. Those are the ones that usually end up trying social nudity with us. We have not yet experienced any outright condemnation for our recognition that social nudity in the proper setting is pleasing to God.

7. During the intake, you mentioned the “freedom found in naturism itself.” What does that actually mean in your day-to-day life? And has that sense of freedom changed over the years as you’ve aged, changed, or moved through different seasons of life?

Lisa: I have to say that that freedom found in naturism, I think, has shown me maybe how to be more open with folks in relationships that I have because I learned a lot about being open in social naturist settings.

I think I feel more freedom now as I’ve aged. So, it has. It just keeps growing.

Andy: I learned way more about honest relationships in naturism than I ever learned going to an office Christmas party or medical conference.

That freedom starts to compound on itself and grows and grows, where you’re thinking… This is what I am. That spill over into many aspects of our lives – our expressions of love for family, friends and patients, the depth of our relationships with other couples, and the honesty we are able to share through our faith.

8. Has being nude together in everyday life changed how you experience physical closeness or touch as a couple? Has it made your intimacy feel more natural, more relaxed, or more connected… or did it not change that much?

Lisa: When we decided to enter into relationship, we went in very quickly experiencing a naturist attitude and environment. Our relationship as a couple has always been with naturism as part of it. It was part of your life, and I wanted to try it to see if it might be part of my life too. I think it made our intimacy more relaxed and more connected.

Andy: I don’t know because our intimacy was never apart from naturism. It kind of developed after that.

9. How do you maintain a sense of intimacy and specialness between you as a couple while also being nude around others?

Andy: When we’re at Fern Hills Club and we’re around all sorts of other naked people, I think sometimes just our comments and our body language toward each other are still very private and intimate.

Lisa: I would say it’s conversation, like, you say, “you really look beautiful in the moonlight tonight” or maybe it’s a glance, or a look, or a smile. But being nude around others does not keep us from having a specialness between just you and I.

Andy: I could see where a lot of folks would think that you’re sharing your nakedness with other people. True, but you’re not sharing intimacy with other people. It’s very different.

10. If each of you could leave readers with one honest truth about being a couple in naturism, not a slogan, not a defense, just something real… what would it be?

You are in a position that society would consider very vulnerable with no clothes on. I think that because of that vulnerability, it leads you all the more to trust that the other person really has your physical and emotional protection in mind. That actually extends beyond us as a couple and becomes true of the community of naturists you are interacting with. You’re in a safe space. As a couple, society would think you are so vulnerable, but you’re not actually. Society’s most vulnerable situation (being naked around others) leads to an affirmation of trust and even greater intimacy between the couple and the community.

Last question. What is one small, ordinary moment in your naturist life that feels especially meaningful to you as a couple?

Lisa: Walking on the beach together naked in the mornings – watching the sunrise, feeling the breeze, and being in God’s creation.

Andy: It would be when our friends said, “hey, we’d like to go with”. We’ll go to the clothing side of the beach and you can see how you feel about it as a couple. Our friends immediately went to the unclothed side and they’ve never looked back. So I think it was fun introducing them to naturism.

Thank you, Andrew and Lisa, for trusting us… and all of us… with your story.

Not just the highlights, not just the easy parts, but the real ones. The hesitations, the adjustments, the quiet realizations, What you’ve shared here is a lived example of what a long, honest, affectionate relationship can look like when it’s built in openness, respect, and comfort with yourselves and each other.

And that’s exactly why we created this series. Not to collect “success stories.” Not to showcase perfect naturist couples. But to make visible what usually stays invisible: the emotional texture of sharing this life with someone you love.

If you’re reading this as someone curious about naturism, we hope this helped you feel what it can be like. Not as a fantasy, not as a stereotype, but as a relationship practice rooted in normal life, real people, and real love.

And if you’re already living this life as a couple, we hope you saw a little of yourselves in this too.

You can also follow them on Bluesky.

If you enjoyed meeting Andrew and Lisa, we invite you to meet another naturist couple… Nick and Hannah… and experience how differently (and beautifully) this same philosophy can be lived.

If you and your partner have your own story… whether it’s just beginning, still uncertain, deeply settled, or somewhere in between… we’d love to hear it. You don’t need to be famous, flawless, or fully figured out. You just need to be real.

Because this series isn’t about how naturism should look.

It’s about how it actually feels when it’s shared.

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