Walking!

Regenerative Culture Health, Healing & Movement
#1

This could go under that Rewilding the Body thread, I suppose, but I think it’s such a big topic! It definitely deserves some attention.

After reading the Tribe of Anthropik’s article on walking (http://anthropik.com/2007/06/learning-to-walk/) I began to commit myself to the Fox-Walk, and it’s done marvelous things to me! When I compare it to my former, soul-crushing heel-stomp I see that I’ve just gotten much more of a desire to actually walk out and experiece things.

Walking is such a wonderful thing. Especially (and almost exclusively) barefoot. I love walking barefoot! Aaaah! ;D The sensations!

Haha, since discovering the real world I’ve become so much more excited about the little things.

I had a question, but I forgot it… In any case, I would love to hear everyone’s stories! About walking, about walking in the earth as opposed to on top of it…

#2

do you tend to go barefoot everywhere? i’d love to go barefoot more, but my usual commute (by foot) involves traversing the concrete jungle with broken glass everywhere.

#3

Glass is not necessarily a problem depending on the type and quantity. Depending what you mean by ‘everywhere’, really. The FAQ at http://www.barefooters.org is very helpful on this and other barefooting basics, as is the one at http://unshod.org/pfbc. If nothing else, remember to step down (no shuffling or dragging the feet) and that’s 99% of potential problems solved.

Having said that you should be prepared to occasionally (average about once a month for me) remove a splinter of glass from your sole, but I see that as a fair trade-off for comfortable feet that actually work :slight_smile:

(also, hi everybody)

#4

Personally, with barefooting I was always less concerned with glass and a lot more concerned with toxic chemicals. Feet are really absorbent, and there’s a lot of crap lying around that we don’t usually think about because we have a thick layer between us and the ground. So I think that’s an important consideration if you’re thinking about going barefoot in an inhabited area.

My wife is very chemically sensitive. One time she got hives after we went rolling down a grassy slope in a small urban park. Realized after that that they must have sprayed that hill down with pesticides. Yuck.

#5

Skimming through that article (I’ll read it fully later) I’m surprised to see that my feet more resemble the natural feet than the ones bound in modern shoes, considering my habit of wearing combat boots everywhere.

I’ve actually gotten very good at walking and standing without locking my knees, because I have to. My knees can hyperextend slightly, so if I’m not careful I tend to put a lot of strain on the tendons.

#6

I’ve run barefoot for a few years (I haven’t run since fall though). I can’t walk around here but where I’ll be this spring I think I’ll be able to. The running is great. I’ve gotten to where I could run on anything really, and I enjoy it much more and find it easier than running with shoes. I feel almost playful doing it… very free in a way I’m not used to.

My feet are fucked up now because I’ve been wearing shoes and steel toe boots for work. I hope they recover to where they were (which wasn’t perfect but pretty good for enduring a childhood of stupid shoes) this summer.

#7

I wear really thin shoes to try to help… which straightened up my back immensely within like 24 hours, but it doesn’t help my poor crushed toes much. My biggest problem is the cold. I lived in Chicago for a while, and unless I get consistently insanely good circulation, there was no way barefootedness there was even an option.

I’m kind of curious about how cold bare feet can handle (if someone is used to it/has good circulation, of course). I mean, in Chicago a few times even with insane insulated boots on my toes still felt like they were going to fall off after ten minutes outside.

I want to find something I can wear that is less destructive during snowy/insanely cold times in very cold places… or hear any advice anyone has on the matter. I mean for all I know a perfect circulatory system could mostly do the trick - I wouldn’t know!

Anyway though, I love being barefoot, though it’s a recent discovery, courtesy of the friend that showed me this website, so my feet still ache if I walk on even tiny thorns or in cold wet mud. But it is very freeing. I can’t imagine how it is once you’re used to it and can run, it must be really fun.

#8

at the height of my cold-tolerant period (college and shortly after), i would be fine wearing shorts and a t-shirt (maybe a long-sleeved shirt on top, depending on wind) during winter but if the snow on the ground was high enough to top my sandals, i would need to swap out for actual shoes. snow is cold. i mean really, really cold.

#9

I’ve found that I’m fine for a while (maybe not several hours) in thongs if it’s at least in the 30s F. If the ground isn’t cold or wet then I can go barefoot. I’ve read a lot of people say they can run when it’s 20 and there’s snow on the ground, but that scares me too much to try. I’m not like jhereg says a cold-tolerant person, however. My feet do feel very cold when I wear thongs all winter–it just isn’t a cold that feels dangerous most of the time.

I wish I had suggestions for shoes. Making your own is an option but not something all of us can do. You can buy tabi (split toe japanese socks) with rubber soles–I have a pair–but they’re cloth so don’t work unless it’s very dry (and will probably get some attention you might not want… but then so would most moccasins). If you don’t have large or wide feet you might be able to find a pair of racing flats that will work. Try old running shoes too. I had a pair of Asics Tai Chi shoes that I used for cross country races in high school which worked very well but were still a little constricting and still slowed me down and made running more difficult.

#10

I have a terrible problem with shoes, also. I started fox walking last spring/ summer, and when I had to put shoes back on in the winter, they felt way too tight. I’ve tried a couple of things: I bought a too-large pair of ballet flats, but they still crushed my toes a little, and felt too loose in other places. I bought some toe socks and just wore my flip flops year round. My children don’t know enough to feel embarrassed yet :D.

#11

I love barefoot running, or using thin soled shoes and “pad-striking” instead of heel striking. I find when I hike barefoot I sometimes kick the shit out of a rock or root and hurt my feet bad so I usualyl wear shoes in the woods. But maybe I’ll try some long distance barefoot walking on the AT this year.

#12

You have to make a habit of picking your feet up quite a bit, and spreading your weight as evenly and as smoothly as possible to avoid cuts and blood blisters and nasty stuff like that.

But yeah sometimes it’s nice to not have to watch the ground worried your entire run (although sometimes it does seem to just happen that I avoid stuff without thinking about it too much… usually before I’m very tired)

#13

I practiced fox walking, at least the best I could considering the environment, while at work today. I wait tables, and was amazed at how much quicker i could get around the restaurant and how much more graceful I felt doing so. Most of my nice-weather shoes have thin soles and they used to hurt my feet pretty bad during busy days, but after work today the only pain I had was the “good” pain from using muscles that have grown lax. I look forward to it becoming a habit!

#14

I practiced a little (…as much as I could given the environment, too) in Downtown Chicago once, when I was in school carrying a big stupid bag around, and found that even though my feet ached from not being used, my back didn’t hurt at the end of the day like it usually did from lugging stuff around. It was pretty cool. I wasn’t wearing the right footwear for it though, so my feet were REALLY sore.

But god what it did for my back! I had to carry stuff from downtown to the suburbs every day, and i was so used to my back and shoulders aching, but just walking differently almost completely got rid of it. Which says a lot about how bad my posture was… slamming my big fat shoe heels into the ground…

#15

I’ve never had occasion to lodge my stilts in a pair, but Vibram Five Fingers seem to be a road-ready version of what you’re talking about:

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.cfm

Spendy. Very spendy. But! Individual, independent toe-fingers! They certainly share the “dork factor” and standoutableness (also called antiinconspicuosity) that go foot-in-foot with wearing only socks or moccs in public, but they might offer more feeling and flexibility than sandals – thus allowing a more natural gait – while perhaps wearing slower than moccasins. I’m thinking they’d do quite well in urban environment and they don’t seem to mind water at all.

Edit: I think I missed the point of your post! The Five Fingers don’t solve the warmth issue (except maybe the neoprene-wrappy ones, but I’m thinking the breatheability suffers when you go that far) . I’ve walked barefoot in the snow and on ice (Alaska is my stomping ground) and it’s cold…almost like it’s frozen, or something…but when that goes away I don’t have any problems with warmth while barefooting unless I stay still too long.

#16

now that the snow is mostly gone in town here, it’s nice enough to carry sandals when outside (in the event i have to go into a building that’s not a friend’s house). and, when i go through puddles, foot prints carry on to the sidewalk, which i bet makes some people wonder who the hell walks around in this weather barefoot (or barefoot at all, for that matter).

my soles are still decently rugged that after a winter of being socked and booted while outdoors, it’s still no problem to walk on rocks and broken bottles and the sort for the first time in months. it’s so great and exciting to feel this way again.