Barefooting 2.0

What has become of my feet?

Three months ago, I moved into a home that is a few steps away from a quiet nature park, with miles of walking trails. Location, location, location! I am so grateful for this proximity to the protected park, and I generally spend time there near the start and end of each day. I don’t even bring my shoes…I just walk out my door, across the yard, down the sandy dirt lane, and into the park. Last week it was fun to have my daughter Hannah, who shares my joy of barefoot walking, joining me. I have no doubt her little son Marlowe will grow up with the same love of the earth-feel on his feet.

When my walking activity necessitates lots of asphalt or concrete, I do prefer the protection of shoes, but short distances on these very hard and sometimes hot surfaces is not usually a problem for me. Nature’s variety of differently textured surfaces, however, my feet CRAVE daily contact with. Over the decades of raw vegan living, it has even become emotionally difficult to allow shoes to prevent my feet from contacting the earth when there is an inviting natural surface available - much like a child’s natural response! I choose easy-on/easy-off shoes, so that I can take advantage of good opportunities when they arise.

I receive quite a few curious looks and comments when I am barefoot on the park paths, especially when I am on the pokey crushed-shell surface of the more manicured main path. I tell people it’s the best free reflexology session! I don’t know a lot about the clinical practice of reflexology, but the concept is that there are meridian points on the bottoms of the feet that correspond with various organs in the body, and pressure on these specific points can relieve stress and bring balance to the body, energy, and mind.

Some people have concerns about parasites entering the body through the bottoms of the feet, when walking outdoors in nature. Apparently, there are types of parasites that can do this, strongyloides or hookworms. They can be found in soil that is contaminated with human feces, so I suggest we don’t walk barefoot on sewage sludge! Even in the rare event of these parasites entering a body through the feet under normal conditions, healthy people may experience no symptoms, it will resolve on its own, or it is easily treated if needed. It’s not something I concern myself with, and I’ve had a strong habit of being barefoot outdoors for most of my life.

In my experience, the benefits of walking barefoot on the earth’s surfaces, in my hygienic lifestyle, far outweigh any possible negative side effects. The core concern most people have, it seems, is a fear of injury. While it’s undeniably true that shoes protect the bottoms of the feet from sharp objects, in most situations I can easily make a case for shoe-wearing increasing, rather than decreasing, the likelihood of injury or other negative side effects. Personally, virtually all the injuries my toes, feet, and ankles have sustained have occurred when I was wearing shoes outdoors, or when I was barefoot inside a house or other building. I have come up with several reasons for this:

1. Walking barefoot outdoors strongly encourages mindfulness and presence.

2. Wearing shoes outdoors encourages a kind of careless or reckless lack of awareness about what we are stepping upon, or the varying levels of ground.

3. Shoes may lift us unnaturally high off the ground, inhibit the natural use of tendons, ligaments, and muscles, and prevent us from receiving the full wisdom and energy of Gaia.

4. The unnaturally sharp corners and crowding together of walls, tight turns, steps, and furniture legs are hazardous to bare feet.

5. When we are moving around inside of buildings, we tend to be more ‘in our heads’ than in our bodies.

Even insect bites and stings have so far only happened when I’ve had shoes on! Once, a bee became caught between my toe and the flip-flop toe-divider, and it stung my toe. Another time, I was wearing crocs (those rubber shoes with all the holes in them), and I didn’t realize I was standing right on a fire-ant nest until they were trapped inside the shoe and frantically going after my foot. Of course, it is possible to accidentally step on a bee or wasp with a bare foot, but somehow in all these years I haven’t done it yet (knock on wood!). I do try not to walk on tiny ground-cover flowers where they might be feeding (for the bees’ sake and mine!). And as for fire ants, when I am barefoot I am quite aware to avoid ant nests and other crawling insects, and even if I did disturb some fire ants I would be immediately able to brush them off (without a shoe in the way), and would therefore suffer minimal pain.

So, what has become of my feet? Well, their bottom skin has become a little bit tough, calloused, and darkened. Their muscles, tendons and ligaments are quite fit and nimble, including in my toes and my ankles. My footprint has widened noticeably (to the point that I can only comfortably wear shoes that have a wide toe-bed). My feet have retained their natural shape, with no ‘corns’ or ‘bunions’ or other deformities, no plantar fasciitis or other strains. When I have had the occasional foot injury (like I said, usually from shoe-wearing or jamming toes on harsh corners inside buildings), I get my naked feet on the earth again as soon as possible, to speed the healing process.

My feet have regained their natural role as sensitive ‘antennae,’ and as energy collectors and transformers. My feet give me all kinds of messages from the earth, and are perhaps the most potent portal to a deep reciprocal relationship with the living being we call Earth, or Gaia. It’s as if I can feel a magnetic point of attraction between my feet and Earth’s surface. A love relationship that I cherish! My whole being feels one with the energy of Gaia when I walk barefoot on her sand, soil, mud, moss, shells, pine needles, leaves, dew-covered grasses, rocks and other groundcover.

My bare-footing habit has encouraged me to let go of all of the various braces and appendages I have sometimes attached to my body over the course of my adult years - various knee braces (I have a reconstructed knee that can be wobbly), lower back brace, wrist brace, special cushions, foot-lift (for a ‘shorter’ leg), and mouth retainer. I’m not throwing out the baby with the bathwater - one day there may be a true need for one of these kinds of supports (and I still love an ergonomic extra cushion for my terrible carseat) - however, I am finding that daily barefoot walking on Earth’s natural surfaces is more effective in helping my body find its preferred asymmetrical harmony, on its own. The braces (much like shoes) create a detachment, a sensation of separation, and the irritation of an encumbrance. Without them, I have to be more mindful, more present, more tuned into my body and its posture and movement patterns. And this attunement helps my mental state to become more relaxed and open, more present, and less tense. ‘Barefoot shoes’ are useful for situations where it’s not practical to have completely naked feet, but they block the foot’s direct contact with Earth’s magnetic and sensuous surface.

Connecting my bare feet with the earth’s surface every day is one of many equally important ‘spokes’ on my ‘wheel of health.’ Everything that is healthy for us is also pleasurable, and that’s why life is sweet when we live according to our natural design. If you don’t already walk barefoot on the earth every day, I invite you to start this practice, and I think you will soon find that your feet will begin to crave their contact with the earth as mine do, and that your whole being will benefit from receiving more directly of this life-supporting energy, and from a deepening knowing of Gaia’s loving and vibrant presence in your everyday life.