Take your shoes off before going outside
By: Brent Knoll
You mean, “take those shoes off before coming inside” right? Nope, you read correctly the first time.
As a child were you one of the lucky ones that got to run in the rain and play in the mud barefoot? To feel the coolness of the water and squish of the mud between the toes? To play in the garden and feel the warmth of the soil as you picked vegetables and of course, threw some at your brother? (pumpkins make great projectile objects) I was one of those kids and those were enchanting times.
I was fortunate to have grown up in the country, in the rolling plains of Nebraska, where shoes were an after thought and needed only for navigating the sand bur patches or going to school. To me, shoes were one more thing to do and undo. Even today, I rarely work in my own garden wearing shoes, as I donʼt feel as connected to nature with them on.
Kids seem to know this instinctively, that going barefoot not only feels better, but is better for the body. “Children with the healthiest and most supple feet are those who habitually go barefoot,” according to Dr. Lynn T. Staheli a prominent pediatric orthopedist. His studies show that non-shoe wearers have better flexibility and mobility, stronger feet, fewer deformities, and less complaints than those that wear shoes regularly.
So I invite you to ditch your shoes when outside in the garden, or at the park with the kids and feel the powerful connection of mother earth and the healing energy that sheʼs sending you. Revisit those childhood tendencies, where imagination rules the airwaves and the goal of the day is to have fun…
By: Brent Knoll from Brentʼs Organic Gardens
I just got some cool ‘yoga socks’ for wearing at work (massage therapy), as I’m one of those ‘habitual barefoot’ gals!! I even do some massage with my feet (Ashiatsu), & loved one of the u-tube vids I watched where another ‘barefoot massage’ therapist commented she was concerned about having plantar fasciitis, & being concerned that doing massage w/her feet might make them worse – on the contrary, they got better!! All that flexing! (one foot is on the table, the other foot on the body, doing long gliding strokes)
My kids could walk on gravel roads when little, to their cousins’ dismay!
I need to do more barefoot gardening!