Connect with Nature Project #2: Rediscover Your Feet



My personal rediscovery of my feet came from three sources:








For more advanced studies, I recommend the Fox Walk.

How to Fox Walk







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  1. Before I married, I only wore shoes to leave the property. The yard and house were barefoot zones. He disapproved. I had soft-to-the-touch feet. But, I could walk on gravel with ease. He could not. I never got “tough” feet, just “accustomed” feet.

    I have spent too many years in shoes. I am allergic to grass, so if I want to put up with intense itching…I don’t, but I do. I, like you, enjoy the feeling with my feet. Friends think it is weird.

    Being out of touch with the ground/earth/floor puts elderly people at risk of falling. Wearing shoes is when I hurt myself, stub my toe, run into something, or fall.

    I saw a man spit on the sidewalk and grass at least a dozen times in a few minutes. Bits of glass, screws, broken nuts hardened like glass are all around this very clean small town. How do you deal with that? How do you deal with walking where there is chicken poop? I tried to dodge it as a child, but no longer wish to wipe my feet before going inside. How do you deal with stone bruises when you walk much?

    “Stone bruises,” for anyone who is not familiar with the term, is the bruise on the foot from stepping on a rock. You can get it from anything that will bruise the sole of the foot. The “bruise” will not show, but it hurts.

    Fox walking sounds like sneaking. It is also what I did to walk through the house in the dark at night in order not to turn on a light and when toy cars or Barbie shoes might lurk.

    It feels so good to walk barefoot. The foot sensations are so stimulating to the brain. I wonder how many elderly people would feel better if they did not have “diabetic shoes” tied onto their feet their every waking minute. I have been told that elderly people cannot balance well and the shoes help them stay on their feet, upright. I dread the day someone makes me wear shoes.

    At 67, I am starting to disbelieve all the information published about elderly people. I know foot care is important for people with diabetes. It seems that a healthy, stimulated foot might fend off little cuts to the feet. There might be more circulation if the foot could sense anything.

    Sorry I went on so long! But, barefootness is dear to my heart.

    • Oh, I just now read your barefoot and elderly post. I had come to the same conclusions you had. My greatest fear of being elderly is someone forcing me to wear shoes! I figure they will sedate me to make me shut up about their suffocating my feet.

    • I completely agree with you regarding bare feet and the elderly. Keeping in touch with the ground keeps our lower halves alive. I’ll definitely be a barefoot old lady!

    • Diabetic shoes are needed because many elderly diabetics have peripheral nerve damage and cannot feel their feet. Diabetes also makes it harder for the body to heal. A small scratch on a diabetics foot can quickly turn gangrenes and lead to amputation.

      My father (age 73) has had diabetes for 27 years, and has not been able to feel his feet for 10 yrs. Diabetic shoes provide both protection from injury, but their width also makes balance easier, which as you can imagine, balance with no sensation in your feet is difficult.

      I, however, am a die hard barefoot person. I once even researched if there were any religions that forbade shoes, so that I could convert and then go shoeless at work on the grounds that it was part of my religion. Alas I found none.

    • Jen,
      I know all the “reasons” for diabetics needing shoes. I just wonder if there might have been a better solution before all feeling left the feet. I know that the nerve damage is irreversible. I am always wondering if intervention and different tactics tried before this would have resulted in a better outcome. If I tied a board to my arm and left it like that for forty years with little relief, might the circulation there diminish with the onslaught of diabetes? Just my thoughts on how things don’t have to go the way they do.

  2. Once I found barefoot life I almost hate to wear shoes now. There is so much more going on in the world when I can connect to it so easily! I will have to try this fox walking though. Thanks!

  3. thanks for these ‘grounded’ follow-ups to the age of limits discussion.

    now that school’s out for the summer and everyone seems to be traveling somewhere, I was feeling depressed about not going anywhere. but walking around barefoot sounds like a good compensation adventure.

  4. Love that you are suggesting connection to nature as a healing balm for our times. I could not agree more.

    There is a book, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, that is full of engaging exercises for reclaiming our roots in the natural world. This book is written as a guidebook, and contains exercises such as the fox walk. It is the manual of trainers for nature awareness, written by the amazing folks of the Wilderness Awareness School.

    Here’s a link to the bookstore full of amazing offerings for study, including Coyote’s Guide:

    • I’ve heard of that book–but had forgotten to go find it. Thank you so much for the timely reminder!

  5. ive walked barefoot whenever possible since i can remember.

    My huge thing is i CANNOT drive with shoes on…..i always drive barefoot.

  6. Pingback: Time to Touch the Earth | Shawndra Miller

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