why to walk barefoot?

i am sorry if i ask a stupid question but i am curious to know why some people go barefoot.. is it to be closer to the earth? i am not criticising, i just want to know the reasons, i never had the occasion to ask and i would like to understand..

 

It's Natural.

 

I can't speak for others but for me I hate shoes, I wear flip flops as much as possible but I'm beginning to go shoeless when practical for me.

 

I love being barefoot due to the comfort, the sensation is wonderful! Never really was fond of shoes and just love the way it looks as well.

That's just the way I am.

 

is it not painful? and in the winter not cold?and are not the feet dirty?i will like it just for the reason that we must be more in contact with the earth forces, but in a city it may be dirty and in the country the stones may hurt, so it is only on the beach i walk barefoot and i really like it..

 

Greetings,

When begining to walk barefoot after a long time of wearing shoes, our soles can get overwhelmed by the different tactile sensations encountered... after all, there are as many as 1,700 nerve endings in the soles of each foot - and they send a lot of signals and impulses. So, this enriched tactile sense might mean that some sensations are interpreted as pain, but that'll pass quickly.

I, personally, do indeed feel the coldth of winter on my bare feet, but with simple measures, I can be barefoot in dry conditions or even on hard-packed snow down to temperatures as low as -5°C/23F. That includes embalming my feet with bag balm, as an insulating layer and wearing warm clothing, including wearing legwarmers to keep my calves and ankles warm, combined with long underwear. Most important: do not wear metal foot jewelry, since the cold can lead to frostbite in those areas quite swiftly (I know that from personal experience!).

Anyway, the best thing is to listen to your body's reactions and find your own temperature comfort zone - not everyone is a winter barefooter or even snowfooter - and we're not on a contest here... it's all about personal pleasure and wellness when I walk barefoot.

Since your location reads "Jamaica", I doubt that your bare toes and soles will get in touch with snow and frost that often, though.
:sunny:

"Dirty" is an adjective I use for the color state of my soles when doing urban barefooting, since that is, as you wrote, an artificial environment. Whenever my feet are in touch with natural soil, sand, grass and mud (all of those being real treats for feet), I refer to the color of my bare soles as "Earth-colored".

Being in touch with the Earth (with a capital "E" as in our Great Mother) is my main spiritual reason for being barefoot - hence my personal preference for natural surfaces, too. I ned the feeling of those underfoot as a counterweight to living in the artificial urban world, entering "the machine" of my day job at an office, where I am sitting (most often barefoot under the desk) at a computer, crunching numbers and working with statistics, reports and spreadsheets on a daily basis... touching Mother Nature with my bare feet, using my feet as the nodes to tap Her positive power and let myself being filled up with Her love by means of barefoot walking meditation exercises is among the most beautiful experiences of my daily life.
Doing so for more than 25 years now, I couldn't imagine ever to go back to a fully shod life.

I hope I could give you a few insights on the mind of a barefooter (and one who's called "weird" and "wonky" by the mainstream, too...). Anyway, these are my personal views, and I guess there are as many on the topic of barefooting as there are bare toes out there.


Wiggling bare toes in greeting,

~*Ganesha*~

 

The simple fact is that your feet are MUCH easier to clean than shoes. Think about the shoes you have. When was the last time you washed them? Besides the dirt on the shoe soles, closed shoes can also harbor all kinds of bacteria and other nasties inside. If you step in anything like dog poo, it's much more difficult to clean off of shoes. And no you won't get a disease from it as long as you have no open cuts or sores.

I prefer to think of shoes as tools. I wear them when necessary, such as in hazardous areas (factories, construction sites), or when it's freezing outside. Otherwise I prefer to be barefoot as much as possible.

 

I don't think I've ever cleaned a pair of shoes. I buff my boots up but that's like once every few months. Shoes are shoes, wear em out, take em off at the front door. I go barefoot around home because it's way more comfortable. Don't trust the ground that much around town.

 

When I walk barefoot, every step feels different.

 

Going barefoot feels wonderful; it IS like a sport in that you have to develop a skill and an adaptation. In this case, truly---no pain, no gain!

 

Freedom!

 

Yep, and I bet you don't wash your hands after handling those shoes when you put them on to go out. So now you've picked up all the nastiness from your shoes onto your hands.

With bare feet, I generally wash them at least twice a day (morning shower, evening before bed, and any other time that might require clean feet), and generally don't touch them otherwise.

 

I wear flip flops a lot and go barefoot as much as possible. I like the way it feels and I feel that I am less stressed because of it. I Like the sensations that different textures give my feet. I started going brefoot because I had a tremendouse pain in my left foot. I wore work boots and tennis shoes most of the time. I didn't like the fix of using orthodic inserts in my shoes. After doing some research I found that many people had resolved their foot issues by leaving their shoes behind. I started to go brefoot regularly 15 monthes ago and my foot pain has gone away. My feet feel better and I can walk on most surfaces without pain and I really enjoy it too! No body gives me a hard time either for being barefoot. Try it out and see what you think.

 

My reasons:

• All shoes I've ever worn have caused me pain.
• Comfort.
• Grounding; puts me in the moment/Now.
• Physiological health.
• Relaxing.
• I can run really far and really fast without any footwear.

 

thank you for the explanations, so it is pleasurable to walk barefoot, ok, but it depends on the conditions..i suppose the stimulations we are getting on the nerves that are under the feet must be different when we walk barefoot, that is very interesting..as for walking in the snow this is really an extreme case!harder for me to understand that, because it seems less pleasurable..but to walk barefoot outside we must look good where we put our feet, so maybe it needs more attention.. this is true when you live in a colder place the feet are locked up in shoes and sometimes the shoes are hurting..i am almost of the year wearing open shoes but when i go back sometimes to europe it is always hurting me to wear again locked up shoes.. only shoes american indian style fit me!suple and large, otherwise i cannot wear nothing..i wonder how certain women can manage the high heels!but still the shoe is a protection sometimes!for the people that go barefoot outside: do you know other people like you , or are you the only one in the surroundings?people do not bother you with stupid questions like me?

 

Greetings and blessings,

To answer your last question first: as a rule of thumb (or, in our case, of the big toe ), questions generally aren't stupid, since they're the means of gaining knowledge. Therefore, serious questions about barefooting, such as yours, aren't stupid at all and most welcome, too.

I'm happy to be part of the barefooting group here who gladly obliges to share with you our knowledge on the barefoot miles we've clocked so far.

Well, yes, snowfooting is kind of extreme, but also a special kind of pleasure, once you've practiced walking barefoot in colder conditions. And with a few precautions it's possible to walk barefoot in snow without sustaining frost damage. For me, that includes leg-warmers, long pants and putting a fat-based skin cream such as bag balm on for insulation... and, as I mentioned already: do not wear metal foot jewelry, such as toe rings. If you do this, you can do that:



Bare feet have excellent traction on snow, by the way - I saw lots of people wearing shoes slipping and sliding in the snow, while I walked on it easily, without any trouble. Being able to feel the ground underfoot, especially in slippery conditions, enables me to react faster to possible loss of traction and to adapt my movement. It also helps, that when walking barefoot, I take smaller steps than when having to wear shoes.

Back at college, there were quite many barefoot people around in the warm seasons, and when I discovered the internet at that time, I also looked for people world-wide who share this notion with me, and came to know quite a few other barefooters via newsgroups and mailing-lists in my vicinity, too. I've also met a few in person and took barefoot strolls with them and once a real barefoot hike with a group of German barefooters near Berlin, too. And then there's the merry barefoot people encountered at Rainbow Gatherings... some of the Family live near my place, too. I meet lots of barefooters I know personally at open-air festivals (especially of the Goa/Psytrance kind) and at medieval-themed markets/renaissance fairs. So, my answer to that question is: definitely yes.

Any more questions...? Just ask.
:sunny:

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

i have no money to buy shoes

 

I do not like carrying things on my feet, not wear watches or rings on the fingers:2thumbsup:

 

you are all amazing!ganesha danke schon fur die erklarungen!it is truly and really helping me to understand you , it is also attractive but me i will be frightened to dirty up my feet! when you reach home are you cleaning your feet?i tell you that because normally we are taking out our outside shoes when we enter home..

 

Gern geschehen. Actually, getting dark soles from urban or nature barefooting isn't something to be afraid of, IMO... When coming home after a barefoot walk, I do a first rough cleaning by walking over a small trip of grass which is right next to the house I live in - Mother Earth's footpad, so to speak - and then there's a large doormat at the main entrance, as well as a smaller one lying in front of my apartment. So, this is the first cleaning and prevents me from trailing dirt into my apartment.

In case my feet have become Earth-colored on top or between the toes, I will turn to the bathroom, right after entering my place to rinse that off with water, using she shower tub as a footbath... but that might only be necessary, when I have played around with my bare feet in mud puddles or walked some very dusty trails...







See? Nothing to be afraid of... and in case of mud, it's fun to play in it with bare feet!

Wiggling bare and sometimes Earth-colored toes,

~*Ganesha*~