Go Barefoot! Here’s 3 Reasons Why

There are 3 reasons to go barefoot whether around the house, the yard or around the camp. You may have more but these basic three are a common thread not just among the primitive skills practitioners but also the bushcraft community.

What Started My Reasons To Go Barefoot

As a child, I would run around the yard, feeling the grass or mud between my toes. Even though mom didn’t like me going out in the cold without shoes, I would sometimes sneak them off when I was playing outside.

At grandpa’s house, if I wasn’t helping him work in the shop, I was running around the yard and climbing the big oak. It was a fairly common occurrence to hear my grandma holler, “put your shoes back on”.

Eventually, I listened but rebelled on the inside.

As an adult, I don’t have to wear shoes but had conformed to societal norms for a long time until it happened.

It Feels Good To Go Barefoot

For a weekly challenge, I was running. I had an old pair of sneakers that still had some good miles on them. Day 1-5 went well but on the day after Christmas, I decided to go for another run.

Almost home, I felt a sharp pain across the bridge of my foot. The run turned into a jog which eventually led to a walk and then a hobble. And while I don’t like to go to the doctor unless it is absolutely necessary, I made a trip to the Emergency Room.

The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong and told me to schedule an appointment with my general practitioner the next week. I did and during the weekend leading up to the appointment my feet hurt even more.

What I realized is during the morning and evening times, when I normally wouldn’t have my shoes on, the pain would subside.

The discussion with my normal doctor was a bit amusing, especially since he had interns working with him. He always likes a good story and I told him the truth. When it came to both of them examining my feet and seeing the x-rays from the ER visit, he started laughing.

“You’re getting old”. While I knew that, I didn’t know the correlation to that and my feet. As you grow older, the bones in your feet deteriorate and cause pain. I was a little heavier so it made it worse and running did not help at all.

“What are you doing to ease the pain?” he asked. “I go barefoot” was my reply. To which he quickly said, “then carry on”.

So my solution to a pain in my foot and an eventual battle with the insurance company over what a distracted admin put in the computer as a workman’s compensation claim, was to simply go barefoot.

So reason number one to go barefoot is it helps your feet by strengthening the smaller bones as you get older.

I Don’t Like Shoes

As from the earlier story, you could read that I didn’t like shoes. I probably do own more shoes than a common man but I don’t like wearing them. Sometimes they are necessary, especially when meeting with a government agency or corporate client. And even when I am climbing up and down the Rocky Mountains.

But my second reason to go barefoot is simply, I do NOT like shoes.

Are You Grounded?

The third and most claimed reason that people go barefoot is called grounding. I truly lean towards this for multiple reasons which we will not get into via blog post.

Basically, it is the intentional feel of the earth to be closer to Mother Nature. The feel of the mud between my toes, gave me a sense of what this was and has always been close to my heart. Only after years of studying later, did I realize the root of it all and why I personally liked to go barefoot.

In many Native American cultures, going barefoot brings you closer to Grandmother Earth. Grandmother Earth is the substance of which all things potentially grow from. You may also hear Mother Earth which is considered the producer of all growing forms. While that may seem similar it is not the same.

The touch of the earth brings you to a point of feeling the life that is around you. The heartbeat, if you will, of the ground. The feel of the earth moving beneath your feet is what draws you closer along with the energy that is the end result.

While this is hard to explain in writing, it is truly something that needs to be experienced. Please understand this may sound like a bush hippie thing, but it goes way beyond that.

My Challenge To You

So this leads me to ask you for something. A challenge so to speak. Go outside, even in your backyard, pull off your shoes and socks if you are wearing them. Get down to where your bare skin can touch the earth. Close your eyes and stand there as if you were a tree planted many years ago.

Feel the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the ground as it starts warming underneath your feet. As a small breeze blows, you may feel the grass around you tickling the sides of your feet. And if a bug crawls over your foot while standing there, just let it happen. Enjoy the experience.

Then comment below what it was like. Let me know if I am off my rocker or what you really felt while doing this experiment. I think you will find that you will tend to go barefoot, just a little more often.

Until then,

Use your instincts to survive