in public places, that is. i went to the grocery store, walked around in the library, and went walking on a dirt trail through the redwoods. my partner was a little embarrassed to go into the grocery store with me barefoot, but he was really sweet about it. anyways... it was really awesome. i felt the ground and the floor in a way i never have before. i walked through the frozen foods section and noticed a difference in temperature of the floor. i noticed how smooth the floor was. i barely got any strange looks. my feet felt so free, and my spirit felt really good. i was impressed at how well my poor tender feet did on the dirt trail too. it got rocky towards the end so i put my sandals back on, but this was a BIG step for me. i don't know if i'm going to do barefooting in public all the time or anything, but today felt like a good day to connect my soul with my soles and feel some ground.
Totally sounds like my first experience. You're lucky your partner was so nice about it though My family is harsh about it. They don't tolerate embarrassment very well.
hi NTH, youre welcome! yep, my partners too use 2 give me a hard time about barefootedness. and yes, the refrigerators chill the pavement a lot, only we barefooters know, i guess !!!
Keep going! You'll find that it is easy to get hooked on the lifestyle. Your partner will get used to it, and won't even think about it after a while.
Congratulations on taking the first step to shoelessness! I believe most of us here can remember our first daring adventure walking barefoot in a store. One of my favorite surfaces is the smooth cool tile found in many food stores. The variating tempatures can create a wonderful sensory experience. You are lucky you reside in California, probably one of the most accepting parts of the country in terms of barefeet in my opinion. :cheers2: Oh, one word of warning: Going barefoot can be very addicting!
Well, it sounds like we have another barefooter in the making here. Nice to hear about your positive and nice experience when tasting the ground with your soles, so to speak. It is one of the easiest way to expand your consciousness and senses by using your natural tactile sense that comes with your bare soles. Taking drugs to enhance senses and consciousness can be expensive - going barefoot is all free. (Although I don't mind doing some herbs, at times, too...) And you've started at a good time to train those still tender soles, too, since fall offers still warm days, but not of the sole-scorching hot type, and also it is a great time for barefooting in the woods, as soon as the leaves turn all fiery colors during indian summer. I hope you'll feel more and more often that the time of connecting soul and sole has come and one day you might even decide that it was a silly thing to imprison your feet in those sh*$ things to begin with. Happy further barefooting, ~*Ganesha*~
wow, thanks for all the positive responses! hehe... part of the fun of it was i felt like i was "getting away with something" by not wearing shoes when i'm "supposed to be." it's kinda fun, and we'll see where this goes!
Southern California seems to be more accepting of bare feet in public, whereas Northern California isn't so much (my experience from living in both areas). If you want to experience a barefoot friendly part of the country, it would have to be Hawaii, hands (and feet) down.
I wish that the public's beef with the whole foot thing was the only problem with the public. I'd totally consider California if it wasn't for the grotesque number of people (hey, I'm a North Dakotan aspiring to live in Wyoming!), the economic crises, and the other things that I disagree about politically. ND doesn't seem THAT bad for barefooters, anyway, they're just rare. I'll live in seclusion, where there isn't anybody to care or not care. And no, I'm not Howard Hughes, nor am I his reincarnation.
essence, depending on where you are in NorCal, there are REALLY not a lot of people. lake county is pretty sparse. and certain parts of sonoma county, which is where i am. but my version of "sparse" may be different than yours, i don't know.
It is ironic how far we have come. Now we have Timberlands!!! In 1976 Mary Leakey found a trail of clear ancient hominid footprints of two adults and a child - some 3.5 million years old - impressed and preserved in volcanic ash from a site in Tanzania called Laetoli.
nakedtreehugger, your first experience sounds great. continue to free your your feet. i was great to read how positive your partner was to your barefooting. i had a relationship problems because of my barefooting. needless to say that guy is no longer part of my life.
yeah, he's a pretty easygoing laid back kind of fellow. i'm lucky to have him. i've been wearing slippers and shoes today though, cause winter seems to have come early to NorCal.
Well, over here (mid-western part of Germany) we have currently temperatures of around 17° C (almost 63F) and occasional rain... So, it's going to feel quite humid when taking my walk to the tram/subway later... highest temps today are expected around 24°C (75F), and the dark clouds are forecast to move eastward... I expect this day to be sweaty (I don't mind sweat, but there are more pleasant situations to be sweating, for sure, than being at work in the office... ). So, still perfect barefooting conditions over here. Wish I could send some of that warmth (minus the humidity) over to you. wiggling happy toes in anticipation of touching warm rain later... ~*Ganesha*~ P.S.: I am also looking forward to a supposedly sunny weekend, even though there are lower temps forecast... Low temps early morning: 8° C (around 46F), highest temps predicted: 16° C (ca. 61F) - still mild enough for my taste.
Sparse = less than 4,000 people in a county. I live in the 2nd largest city in North Dakota, with about 60,000 people. I think it's a pretty good size. I might move to Cheyenne, WY, or Rapid City, SD for college, which are both about the same size. They are both low tax states to boot. (Hey, going barefoot made me more susceptible to libertarianism I guess)
Wow NTH you rock my wife was always BF when we first met & in our early years of marriage, but in recent years she has become more reluctant to go BF because of a fear of meeting friends & workmates & what they might say we are lucky to live in a country were you can go BF virtually anywere without being hassled I just wish she would get over this silly hangup.