Just wondered if anyone else has ever managed to get any of their friends or family to walk barefoot. I managed to get some of my friends at uni to take their heels off one night and now we always walk home barefoot together on nights out!
Well, I am not actively out there to convince or proselytize shod people to barefooting... However, when asked about my reasons for walking around barefoot (in a polite way, that is - I ignore the nosy type of inquiries), I will tell people about the feeling-well and fun aspects as well as the health benefits for me and then leave them to ponder and perhaps explore it for themselves. Sometimes people do respond quoting myths about "dangers" and the illegality of barefeet - which I gladly debunk, as they come up. Well, OK, there are certain dangers about barefooting... Just kitting, errr, kidding. :smilielol5: Wiggling happy (hopefully unstubbed) toes, ~*Ganesha*~
i think in ur mind you already know who is willing to go beare foot, when i get ask i just reply why not, little story i got stung by a bee the other day, im elerjic but it was a weird cool kinda felling walking around on my swolan foot, in summery i have had a few of my freinds join me in bear footing tho they have always been open to my thoughts and new ways of looking at life
I told my girlfriend about my love of barefooting and seeing other people doing the same, she was quite enthused about it. She walked out to her car barefoot and said she was going to think of some barefoot challenges for us to do, whatever that means!
"Conversion" is fun. I've gotten quite a few people to lose the shoes and be barefoot in public. Most recently has been the boardwalk at the Jersey shore and a supermarket. I'm proud of spreading the joy of dirty feet to others.. ;P
I think its cool for people to throw out the suggestion and tell people their reasoning on why should you go barefoot or whatever and be like yea, you should try it. Then just like go from there.
As a shoddie, I lived next door to a woman who went barefoot quite a bit during the summer months. Though she never actually suggested that I should go barefoot too, her actions made it clear that is was a heck of a lot more comfortable than shoes. Off the shoes and socks went. I've never enjoyed barefooting so much. Not long ago in an updated/keep in touch e-mail to my former neighbor, I made sure that I thanked her for getting me to go barefoot without her ever saying a word suggesting that I do the same.
I am not the kind of person to convince people of anything, 'live and let live' is my motto. I've suggested it jokingly a few times and often enough explained the benefits of going barefoot when people ask me about why I go barefoot or how I deal with the (perceived) problems, but I don't see myself trying to convince anyone to go barefoot. Or, for that matter, to do anything that affects only themselves.
I don't try to "convert" people, but once in a while i get the questions and "why aren't you wearing shoes?" and i just tell them. Some people try it after that, though.
Hey Make-love-not-war, I was just wondering where you are from?? To answer the question, I don't actively convince others to go barefoot but sometimes I do by example. Especially at school, every semester friends see that I never wear shoes to school so occaisionally they want to try it and will usually come to school barefoot for a day or two. Most of them say they love it but that it would not be practical for them since they have to go right to their job after classes or may be coming from work to go to class.
In all the years that I've gone barefoot, I've only been approached once by a woman who was curious about why I chose to be barefoot on this particular evening. I made a point of stopping and talking to her for several minutes. During that time she confessed that she was quite interested in the idea of going barefoot, but hadn't worked up the nerve to do so as of that time. Like other members of this thread have already stated, I wouldn't try to influence others unless they ask me for my opinion first.
Making up a barefoot sensation trail on a festival may be just an offer to enjoy barefoot walking. Several times I organized such an event on a big street festival in the city of Munich. Thousands of people tried it: -- and even TV got interested! Eventually lots of people strolled around without shoes on the streets of Munich Such an event is no missionary work but just a kind offer. And the effort is not so big for a little group of activists. Live good and unshod, Lorenz (all pictures form the street festival gallery of my website)
lately a friend of mine spontaneously left her shoes home in a deliberate attempt to 'emulate' me , but it was late in the night and we just made a short stroll around the block in which she lives. i did nothing to induce her into that.
What a great idea, and relatively simple to set up (looks like most of the materials aren't that hard to find, or very expensive). I think I'm going to suggest it to some of the Dutch barefooters, and see if we can set up a similar track at one place or another this summer!
Hi Myranya, Materials can be found in nature or bought at low price in garden or zoo markets, as well as fleeces, which I would recommend as an underlay. My standard version looks like that and is really easy to handle: You could also give your dutch fellow barefooters the link to the instructions I wrote for this kind if foot sensation path: http://www.barfusspark.info/en/path.html If this is placed in the center of an open-air event, you can expect that at least 5% of the adults and a much bigger fraction of the kids will enjoy it. And a smaller fraction will even stay unshod for the rest of the day .... like these girls, which I had seen on the sensation path some ten minutes before. Feel good, live unshod, Lorenz
