it makes me feel free

We went on our first barefoot trek. It was quite fun and my feet were experiencing so many different terrains and textures. Had a crappy camera with me but I got what I could...

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The left print is mine. I have flat feet as you can see.....

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Almost stepped on this bugger...

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This tree stood out from all the others.

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Me acting like my ancestors from a million years ago.....

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Felt a little vulnerable out there in the forrest at 5 in the morning. It was a bit dark and hard to see what's out there so I fashioned my lady a little spear from my hunting knife.

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We saw this little dude stand out from the group....

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It was a fun time and my feet are a bit worn. I have tiny poka dot bruises all over the bottom but expected that since it was my first trek. We walked about a mile or two up a long hill so it was quite a workout for our soles. I've been barefooting a while now but no long walks till today. I can't wait till my feet start adapting and I can go barefoot full time.

It took me a few seconds to see that frog :P

Nice spear :)

Glad you enjoyed it, looks like a great walk.

I didn't even see it. My lady said "you almost stepped on it!" and THEN i saw it lol. There were quite a few baby frogs out there.

Lookin forward to the 2nd one. Planning on going a little further and after the sun comes up so we can get some good forest pictures.

Isn't it great fun to feel a bit primeval when being barefoot? After all, this direct connection to the Earth is something we can share with past and present indigenous tribes living close to the Earth and their environment. Walking barefoot on natural ground is a great means to put all these demands of our so-called civilized world aside for a while and feel just human again.

They will adapt, for sure. The trick is now to keep barefooting and to slowly stretch that distance - within a few weeks two miles won't feel as taxing as they did on that trek. If your soles were tingling after that hike, that is a good sign of skin growth, one step to toughening your bare soles to "living leather" state.

I had similar experiences when walking barefoot in wet weather and slugs were emerging to cross the paths - on dark surfaces, the black ones are camouflaged quite well. The advantage of being barefoot is that even if you accidentally make contact with something like that, you can retract your foot fast enough not to harm the creature. Shod people are more likely to squish a small animal beneath their insensitive soles, while I was able to pull my bare foot back, when my toes touched a slug once.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

Heck yeah it is fun. I had no thoughts whatsoever about responsibilities, plans, work, money, etc while I was out there. I was concentrating on where to place my next step and admiring the environment. I remember what Cody, from Dual Suvivor show, said about being barefoot. He said it makes you pay more attention to where your next step is and slows you down so things aren't being rushed anymore. Something like that....but I totally agree with it. One thing for sure, climbing and balancing on trees is SO much easier than with shoes on. Your entire foot conforms to the shape of the tree instead of just a flat shoe. Excellent!

I did have some "hardcore" practice barefooting the past couple months when taking out the trash. I have to walk about 30 yards to the garbage at the end of the lot and they have fresh gravel down now. It's the very rough and pointy kind of gravel that really beats you up if you don't have shoes on. So painful to walk on that but It's getting easier each time I do it. Not in any way EASY right now but not as bad. I'm sure after a few long treks I'll be able to walk to the dumpster at will.


That's something I noticed too. I did accidentally step on a frog or two but you can actually feel them under your feet and step back before you crush em. Total opposite of wearing shoes cuz you have no idea what's under your feet.

We all know, that it is customary in Asia to take off one's shoes when entering a house for cleanliness and respect reasons. Especially the first reason reduces the sightings of barefoot people outdoors considerably. Considering this, it is quite a big step (pun intended) to hear about barefoot walking and barefoot running gaining followers in Japan, as can be read here:

Shoes that are barely there / 'Barefoot' running, walking gaining ground in cities : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

While it's encouraging to see that walking or running barefoot is recognized more and more as a healthy pastime and thus becoming a wellness trend, the increase in so-called "barefoot shoes" simulating, or rather, emulating the sensation of being barefoot is the downside of this. After all, walking barefoot is free, while these shoes are becoming big business, such as Vibrams or MBTs.

Perhaps one day, true anti-capitalist protest will be 100 per cent barefoot, too. ;)

Wiggling free and anti-capitalist bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

There's nothing wrong with VFFs. I wear them myself a lot, all the time where I can't be barefoot for one reason or another. Honestly, associating a choice of clothes with politics annoys me.

that said, as you pointed out, good to see it in Japan - I heard a bit before about the thing with shoes indoors. A lot of people have this phobia, despite the fact that bare feet get washed far more often than shoes, which many people never wash.

Maybe I should have put clearer irony-tags to that part of my posting. ;)
However, the weirdness of this world is that people make money out of things that are normally free... In Germany, there are wellness facilities offering courses for people to learn how to walk barefoot. One German example:

Barfußschule | nicoleborheier.de

She charges between 45.00 and 210.00 Euros.
It's a mad, mad world. :awesome:

Wiggling bare toes (not professionally trained but experienced ones) :cool:,

~*Txim Asawl*~

Woah, that's crazy. I love the idea of the toe shoes and how they're easy to wash and all, but I have flat feet so none of them fit on me :( And, like most, I'd also like to barefoot if the world weren't so full of sharp things on the ground D:

What makes them not fit flat feet? I have flat feet too and was going to get a pair but if they don't fit then I'm not gonna waste my money. I wanted a pair for places that do not allow barefooting.

They do, they just wouldn't be particularly comfortable at first and take quite a bit of getting used to - you probably shouldn't walk long distances in them for a while.
Barefooting and shoes like VFFs have been shown to improve arch strength significantly - they are the opposite approach to propping them up with supports, which does nothing to actually strengthen them, while walking without any supports will improve the muscles in them - just don't overdo it while getting used to it :).

If you aren't sure, find a shop that has them physically and try it out... or just walk barefoot for a while :)

The sharp things worry me mostly in the city - also the dirt. People spit on the floor there all the time. Disgusting. Some days ago i stepped into glass shards, but actually it did not do much. I guess with some training these just stick in the outer layers of skin and can be brushed off.
When i was in Thailand, they had that custom too. But they have a good solution - people who come with flipflops or barefooted just will be presented a bowl or bucket with water and soap :P

I got some discount toe shoes yesterday. They should be in next week. I am thinking about what you said HNM. I have completely normal toes, so that part should be okay, and really, no regular shoe is ever made for flat feet. They just give a little around the arch, and toe shoes should be no different, especially because of how flexible they already are. I'm excited.

I really don't worry about broken glass or anything. (probably because I haven't hurt my feet yet :P) I do look where I step when walking on asphalt or other hard surface, but on soft, natural surfaces it's difficult to hurt yourself. I've knowingly ran around on sand full of broken glass bottles. :D