Going Barefoot Is Really, Really...well...nice

Setting aside all social disapproval, cultural opprobrium, fetishism, and people's routine snide comments.....going barefoot is just plain going-for-it auspiciously especially-if-you're-inclined-to-do-it andd practiced-at-it...nice!

 

It's good that you've found something that you like. I honestly don't completely understand what motivates people to go around barefoot though.

 

I do not understand why some people do tightrope walks between mountains or bungee jump, but they do it anyway. Understanding isn't essential. It's what it is.

 

I see. Thank you, Sensai. lol.

 

Remember, I said "if you're inclined to do it." Not everyone is, nor should they be. And...you're welcome!

 

it's more comfortable, particularly when it's hot. it prevents foot odor. it saves the trouble of having to put on shoes. in certain situations, bare feet provide a better grip. many surfaces that you walk on feel better on the bottom of a foot than the inside of a shoe does.

there's really plenty of reasons to do it. i don't understand the point of doing it when it's uncomfortably cold (except to run outside real quick and get the mail or something), or in other impractical situations. and i mostly don't understand the people who want to be barefoot martyrs even though nobody really cares if they're wearing shoes or not.

 

I totally agree that when it's hot it feels nice to have shoes off. What baffles me is some of the posts about walking on hot or rough surfaces. That's when the practice becomes something completely different, in my honest opinion. Not to be judgmental of course, I'm just saying... often it makes good sense to wear shoes.

EDIT: Is it illegal to drive barefooted?

answer here? http://www.barefooters.org/driving-barefoot/

 

old wives' tale.

 

In my case, it has greatly alleviated the foot pains I get from wearing shoes. While I enjoy a good pair of sneakers with some blue jeans for that retro 1980's look, it's obvious you're not supposed to wear them for long periods of time. I seriously don't get why they're called running shoes, I can't imagine running for miles in mine. Just walking for miles wearing a pair hurts after a while.

Ploughing trough snow in my bare feet also cured a persistent case of nail fungus from my toes some years back, without any ointments or meds needed, and as an added bonus, I discovered a small boost to my blood circulation and immune system from the controlled cold exposure. Though I must point out that I can only speak for myself. Your mileage, if you choose to try any cold weather barefooting, may vary.

Overall, I never imagined before how satisfying it could feel to have toughened, well-muscled soles that can actually handle themselves in a variety of conditions without needing the protection of the shoe. The various sensations you can then absorb trough the sole really stimulate the body in many unique and positive ways.

 

In my areas, the most common surfaces are dirt when sidewalk ends or short trails, sidewalk of different colors and textures, asphalt of various textures and darkness, and occasional stretches of brick tiles.

Obviously in order to get used to rough, one has to keep walking, slower to start with, on rougher surfaces. Overstriding leads to sore arches, and can even cause scuff blisters when ignoring how much the soles are heating up from overstriding, but starting slower usually prevents that. In order adapt the soles to become more scuff and poke resistant, yes it takes practice. Even if sufficiently sharper gravel or embedded pebble surfaces still hurt, they are still doable without having to find a way around them. That's important because I have encountered both asphalt and sidewalk with sharp and fine embedded gravel, or even embedded thumb size pebbles. Checking the soles shows it was just harder pressure over a larger area when walking on the pebble embedded sidewalk.

Heat? Sidewalk still gets hot enough to burn the soles and keep building up after tenths of a mile on anything but the whitest sidewalk, so getting used at least that heat is important. Asphalt? It gets even hotter, even when not deliberately walking on it is unavoidable for crossing streets and in parking lots, and I don't rely on shade or painted lines because shade and painted lines can still be sufficiently hot. Some red and especially black bricks get even hotter than asphalt. Then add to it that standing burns faster than walking but here's the thing, for a prolonged distance of walking it can eventually heat up the soles up to how hot it got when standing.

So why practice? Remember, the point of going barefoot is to remain on bare soles. That mostly means going everywhere one would wear shoes, but without wearing shoes. All areas, all surfaces, all distances, during the same time of day. While some do not want to adapt their soles to much hotter heat, others do. For me, if it's going to be as hot as 105 degrees as the hottest summer day during that summer, then I better be sure I can handle up to 105 degrees F weather during the afternoon hottest hours on all surfaces, for however long of a time I will be barefooting that day and during future days about that hot, also because heat tolerance gets lost more than expected during the colder months. That doesn't mean I will always go out during in the hottest afternoon hours, but that doesn't mean I won't. If I don't gradually train the soles for that much heat, before it finally gets that hot, I can't go out barefoot in that much heat or I my soles will burn to fast and get to overburning too soon. The more gradually heat tolerant my soles become, the less risk of overburing the soles I have to worry about. Toughening by progressive burning is the only way to get the soles used to hotter and hotter heat for longer times and distances! And, for the one spot one my soles that keeps overburning year after year when I have to retrain the soles for the hottest heat, obviously it needs extra heat training. If that spot blisters, then that's a side effect of making sure the rest of the sole can tolerate that much additional heat. Once that one spot no longer blisters, the entire sole is used to that much heat. I am discussion any blistering no larger than the size of a US quarter coin in that most blister prone spot, and usually the rest of the sole is good or at most I blistered a toe pad or two.

Desert area heat is probably less realistic to unrealistic to get used to unless I lived in a desert area for several years, and even then still not during the hottest afternoon hours.

And that's that... some are fortunate to have cooler grassy areas, but in my area it's all paved surfaces. The soles have to adapt, or else I might was well keep wearing shoes and never go barefoot.