The Naked Man Effect: True Power
I was tracking down a fellow climber at our Alpine club to discuss an upcoming leadership trip. The only place I could find him was in the communal shower room. When I called out asking if we could talk later, he simply walked out of the shower—completely naked—and stood in front of me as relaxed as if he were wearing a three-piece suit.
While other people quietly shuffled out of the room, clearly uncomfortable, this man just didn't care. We talked business for several minutes, and then I went on my way. But I found myself reflecting on that moment for days afterward. Here was someone so comfortable in his own skin, so unaffected by social expectations, that he commanded respect rather than creating awkwardness.
That's when I realized I had witnessed what I now call the "naked man effect"—the ultimate demonstration of personal power.
The Locker Room Hierarchy
Think about the typical gym locker room scene. You'll see men scurrying around with towels clutched in front of their private parts, changing as quickly as possible, averting their eyes. These are not powerful men. They're constrained by what others might think, bound by shame and social programming.
But occasionally, you'll spot someone different. Someone who moves through that space with complete ease, unhurried, unbothered. That person has something the towel-clutchers don't: freedom from attachment to others' opinions.
This isn't about actual nakedness, of course. Our society has rules about clothing, and that's fine. This is about the mental and emotional nakedness—the ability to stand metaphorically bare in front of anyone without giving a damn what they think.
The Attachment Trap
Here's where most people get confused about power. They think power means controlling others, accumulating wealth, or dominating situations. But that's external power, and it's fragile. Real power is internal—it's the absence of constraints.
We all have tremendous power, but we're shackled by our attachments. Think of it like a computer program: every attachment is like a dependency that limits what your code can do. The more dependencies you have, the more restricted your program becomes. Remove the dependencies, and suddenly your code can run anywhere, do anything.
Your attachments work the same way. They're emotional dependencies that constrain your behavior:
- Attachment to being liked makes you people-please
- Attachment to being right makes you argumentative
- Attachment to comfort keeps you in your safe zone
- Attachment to your image makes you perform rather than be authentic
Each attachment is a invisible chain. Remove them, and you can move freely through the world.
Society's Hypocrisy Problem
Our culture talks a good game about authenticity, but it punishes those who actually practice it. Take teachers, for example. Society expects them to be moral paragons, so many teachers live far from their school districts so they can have a drink at a bar without judgment. They hide perfectly normal human behaviors because they're attached to maintaining their "teacherly" image.
A teacher operating from the naked man effect would live wherever they wanted, have that drink wherever they pleased, and say "That's fine, if you don't like it, stuff yourself" to anyone with a problem. They'd still be excellent teachers—probably better ones, because they wouldn't be wasting energy managing their image.
We see this hypocrisy everywhere. We pretend we don't want to look at naked bodies while the pornography industry thrives. We claim money doesn't matter while obsessing over our bank accounts. We preach authenticity while hiding our true selves.
The naked man effect cuts through all of this. When you have no attachments, you don't care about the contradiction between what society says and what it actually wants. You just move freely.
The Paradox of Letting Go
Now here's the part that seems counterintuitive: to let go of something, you must first hold onto it tighter than ever.
Most people think letting go means trying to get rid of feelings or memories. That's backwards. What you're actually doing is focusing your attention so intensely on the feeling that the attachment between you and that feeling dissolves.
It's like dealing with that annoying friend who keeps pestering you for attention. If you ignore them, they pester more. But if you sit down and give them 100% of your attention, they love it at first—then they get uncomfortable with so much focused attention and want to leave.
Your attachments work the same way. Focus intensely on them, and they eventually release their grip on you.
The Scanning Technique: Your Detachment Training
Here's the practical method I've developed over four years of practice:
Setup: Sit comfortably anywhere. You don't need perfect posture or a meditation cushion.
The Movement: Slowly turn your head from left to right, then right to left. One complete rotation should take 20-30 seconds.
The Breathing: Breathe in as you turn from right to left, breathe out as you turn from left to right.
The Focus: This is the crucial part. While moving and breathing, concentrate entirely on whatever feeling or attachment you're working with. Feel it as intensely as possible. Don't try to change it or analyze it—just experience it fully.
The goal is concentration training. The better you can focus on and hold that feeling in your attention, the more effective this practice becomes.
What Actually Happens
After working with an attachment using this technique, something interesting occurs. You don't lose the memory or the feeling—they remain completely intact. But the attachment itself dissolves.
For example, you might remember being angry at someone. After releasing that attachment, you still remember the anger, the situation, all of it. But it's no longer important. The emotional charge is gone. It's not that the feeling faded—the attachment between you and that feeling disappeared.
I had a food aversion from childhood that I couldn't even consciously remember. After working with that feeling of revulsion using the scanning technique, the aversion simply vanished. I still don't remember the original incident, but it no longer affects me.
The Long Game: What to Expect
I need to be honest about timelines. This isn't a quick fix. You'll start with your biggest, most obvious attachments because they're easy to identify and summon up. But as you progress, you'll become aware of subtler, deeper attachments you didn't even know existed.
Some of these medium-level attachments are actually more pervasive than the big ones. I discovered I had attachments around my posture that were affecting how I moved through the world every day. After releasing those, maintaining good posture became effortless—I no longer had to constantly remind myself.
Expect a long plateau. For the first 2-2.5 years, you might not see dramatic changes. But in the third year, real progress begins. I'm now in my fourth year, and I can't imagine functioning without this practice. It's become essential for my continued growth.
Your Starting Point
If this resonates with you, here's what to do today:
Pick one strong feeling—something that regularly bugs you, makes you angry, or makes you sad. Don't go for positive attachments like excitement at first; beginners see more progress working with difficult emotions.
Practice the scanning technique for 15 minutes daily with that specific feeling. Make it intense. Hold it in your attention as tightly as you can while moving your head and breathing.
Be patient. You're not trying to get rid of anything. You're training your attention while allowing the attachment to release you.
The Freedom on the Other Side
The naked man in that Alpine club shower room had something money can't buy and status can't provide: complete freedom from needing anything from anyone. He moved through the world unencumbered by others' opinions, expectations, or judgments.
That's not indifference or callousness—it's liberation. When you're not bound by attachments, you can respond to situations clearly, authentically, and powerfully. You can be kind without people-pleasing, strong without dominating, and authentic without performing.
You can stand metaphorically naked in front of the world and not give a damn what anyone thinks.
That's real power. And it's available to anyone willing to do the work of letting their attachments release them, one slow breath at a time.