What is it like to be a barefooted hiker?
It is exactly as most people imagine but with benefits that they often can’t see. Yes, it is cold, and can be uncomfortable, wet and muddy. It is challenging mentally and physically. But the benefits experienced physically, and on the deeper spiritual levels are priceless.
1. When you walk barefooted you awaken pressure points on the bottoms of your feet. This helps to release tight facia throughout the body while gentle stimulating the different energetic and physical systems within the body.
2. It grounds you energetically and spiritually. When walking barefooted you are receiving a healing electrical charge from the earth and the negative ions from being in nature that our bodies need to feel balanced.
3. It forces you to slow down creating a deeper awareness to your body and your surroundings. Feeling into the earth and mindfully moving one step at a time. Going against our fast moving society, slowing down enough and to FEEL.
4. It connects you back to your inner child. Remember there was a time where all the sudden you were too old to play in the puddles and mud? That it became frowned upon and was unacceptable. Well, freeing yourself from that confining belief system is SO liberating! Being a kid again, feeling the mud between your toes and allowing yourself to laugh and have fun is healing to the soul and the inner child.
5. Connects you back to your ancestors. Walking the same paths, same fields, same beaches. This act of being in the presence with those who have left energetic imprints on the earth before us, feels comforting and reassuring.
6. It offers a different means of meditation. Practicing walking meditation is excellent for those who struggle with stillness but want the benefits of deep connection to self and this spiritual experience. Becoming one with all of our surroundings.