What do your feet have to do with mindfulness?
“The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground” Gautama Buddha
How often do you walk around bare foot? I have worn shoes for the majority of my life, even inside the house. It is only in my latter years that I have actually enjoyed the sensation of the floor, earth, grass, concrete, etc beneath my feet – and I don’t just enjoy it – I prefer it! Just think about how many experiences we have dulled down through wearing shoes? It is thought we have up to 200,000 nerve endings in the sole of each foot (https://barefootr.com/tag/nerve-endings/), so no wonder many of us wear shoes. With our highly sensitive feet, it makes sense that having our feet on the ground would enable us to experience our environment on a fuller level. Granted our senses may be overloaded for the first wee while, however once they have dipped out of overdrive we can really start to enjoy our environment on a new level.
You could notice that you are:
- More stable when bare foot
- More connected within and feel calmer
- More present as your feet are continually given new information for your brain to process.
- Letting go of old thought patterns e.g., before walking on gravel …. “Ooo I’d better step carefully as this is going to hurt….” When your acknowledge and let go, you can actually experience it for what it is…
- Taking in your environment consciously on a physical level
- able to balance easily
So why not give it a go? Set aside your shoes for a few minutes, an hour, a day… and let me know of your experience….