Hi all, I'm new here so apologies if this has already been discussed. I'm a teacher and often kick off my shoes and teach in bare feet. I'm wondering if I'm alone in this or if other people take their shoes off at work also? I guess for me it's linked to anxiety. As a teen, I suffered panic attacks and a therapist I saw when I was 19 suggested grounding exercises to help me relax when anxiety hit. The idea was to connect the soles of my feet to the ground and focus on sensations etc. It really worked for me and it's something I do daily now regardless of weather - head outside with my morning coffee and a cigarette and walk a few laps around my garden. I guess, somewhere along the way, I've associated bare feet with calmness and I find that it helps me relax while I'm teaching. I've had the odd questions from students and staff but nobody seems to have an issue with it and it's not as though I spend the whole day without shoes or walk around the building barefoot. Anyway, I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else does this?
My shoes often come off and get left under my desk. I will also wander around the office without them. No one seems to care.
sure, sometimes. of course, work involves swimming and boating so there's times that it would be real weird to have shoes on anyway.
I work barefoot in summer, so it doesn't look strange to people when i do. I feel so much better when earthing my barefeet to the ground
I was always the first kid to doff the shoes. Later, I discovered walking meditations, and doing them with shoes generated a feeling of interruption. I work barefoot (or just in socks) fairly often. I mix it up to give my feet several positions. Make those muscles work! I'm on my feet all day, so the varying positions help. As for grounding, I'm on the third floor, and the first floor is off the ground by a half flight of stairs (this is US reckoning, where ground floor is first floor/storey) Any grounding I'm doing is all metaphysical. I walk on average, 22 flights of stairs a day. Just at work. Having extra input about the condition of the stairs, how slippery the carpets are, etc., is useful. The only downside is the occasional stub or rolling my stool over a toe. I do that far less, but I can get lost in my work, and forget.
