You know when you go on holiday and you wear nothing but flip flops or sandals or even no shoes at all for days on end? Then when you come home and must return to work it feels strangely uncomfortable wearing the shoes you previously wore for months on end. It’s all the proof I need that walking barefoot is better.

Cool grass, soft sand, warm concrete – things that you would usually never touch in this way.

Walking barefoot is another way to connect to the environment you’re in, touch becomes a language between you and the earth beneath your feet, making you instantly more aware of where you are. Shoes, I’m starting to believe, are a barrier to this. Another way the modern world keeps us disconnected to our place in the world.

I saw a video of three Aussie guys who in order to enter the supermarket without shoes on, put on black tape to look like flip flops. They probably could have just as easily put on actual flip flops but the feeling of rebellion against society’s rules or maybe just the freedom of being barefoot was enough.

It feels like being a kid again and discovering what things feel like. I never would have walked around barefoot back in the uk but in Australia it just feels so normal. Ok so maybe you have to pay a little more attention to where you’re actually putting your feet, to avoid things like glass or thorns or stones. But it is sooo much better for you on a level you definitely wont expect; it improves your balance, posture, circulation, stress, etc. It feels good, ok?

Ground yourself physically, mentally, emotionally. The earth is always beneath you, maybe the easiest way to reconnect is to simply take off your shoes.

~ Teya

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