Why @tiny.kirsty isn’t afraid to post nude yoga pictures for 31.5K Instagram followers

Kirsty Tavolacci isn’t afraid to post nude pictures of herself in yoga poses on Instagram. She isn’t afraid to fire back (with love, she says) at rude comments about her body. She isn’t afraid to delete or block those comments and followers, either.

“That is rude,” Tavolacci, 21, responded to one Instagram comment about the size of her breasts on a post of her doing a hand stand nude on California’s Avila Beach. “You would NOT like it if someone commented on your photos saying something negative about you. As a society we should be telling others they are beautiful and empowering them, not doing the opposite as you are doing right now.”

Tavolacci, who has more than 31,500 followers as @tiny.kirsty on Instagram, can take the heat in the social media realm. Besides, Instagram is what inspired her to start practicing yoga in the first place.

“I found women and men who were so inspirational to me and I wanted to be able to do even a quarter of the things they could,” said Tavolacci, who is from New York but grew up in North Carolina and has a background in competitive cheerleading.

She started practicing on the first day of 2016. She just completed her yoga teacher training in April during a 16-day immersion intensive in Pahoa, Hawaii.

“I wanted to be a teacher because I genuinely love to teach and help others find their passion,” said Tavolacci, a substitute instructor at Hero Fitness in Matthews. “Fitness and yoga for me has been a complete game changer in my life. It has inspired my personal development, and I hope to bring that inspiration to the world.”

One way she’s spreading inspiration is with her ebook, “HIIT to Invert.” She and fellow yogi Heather Barb filled the book with a combination of yoga and high intensity interval training guidance to educate readers about inversions such as handstand and forearm stand while increasing flexibility and strength.

“Our goal with the ebook is to continue to spread our love for inversions and to help others feel the empowerment of being upside down,” said Tavolacci, who spent a year in college before leaving it behind to focus on yoga and entrepreneurial pursuits.

Lately, naked Instagram posts are part of Tavolacci’s efforts to inspire, too, from Big Sur, to Santa Barbara, to North Carolina (in lingerie).

Tavolacci said it wasn’t hard for her to hit the “publish” button on those posts, and her intention is not to sexualize the human body.

“Honestly, I don’t believe confidence should be hidden and I am a firm believer that every single person is perfect the way they are,” she said. “I was prompted to post naked yoga photos because it was freeing, liberating, and truly a form of art that not many people had seen before. The purpose of the photos is to let everyone know that they are beautiful and to let everyone know that in their most natural state, confidence and self-love is everything.”

Plus, practicing yoga in the nude makes her feel powerful.

“It makes me focus on the pure physical and mental practice,” she said. “No distractions and no judgment.”

As for the spectacular backdrops for her latest Instagram posts, those are a natural result of her nearly month-long trek across the country with a teacher training “spirit buddy.” The two stopped in scenic spots like Arkansas, Denver, Colo., and Horshoe Bend and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, with Coronado, Calif. as the final destination. There, Tavolacci met up with friends she had made on Instagram.

“The purpose with my trip was just to simply explore — explore places and explore myself on a deeper level,” said Tavolacci, who returns Sept. 19.

As for what’s next? Tavolacci plans to start teaching backbend and inversion workshops. But for now, she’s still traveling, with a trip to Maryland to visit her best friend and a trip to Georgia to visit her boyfriend on the horizon.

“I never know what my life has in store, but I’m excited to take every opportunity this year to continue to grow,” she said.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 12:00 AM.