Discovering benefits of walking barefoot. Day 23 Caroline’s sunrise photo and health challenge

Here and now discovering benefits of walking barefoot in the morning at sunrise is very surprising experience for me and my kids. Have a look why it is an excellent idea to add barefoot walking into your daily health routine. Try earthing as part of Caroline’s sunrise photo and health challenge. Today I will tell you about my experience with walking without shoes on natural surfaces, few interesting things that I know from my childhood about our feet and some interesting links to articles that I found during my little research about barefoot walking.

Have you ever been on the beach during very warm weather? People naturally take clothes and shoes off, go inside the water to refresh from the heat and everyone naturally walk barefoot. Unfortunately people leave so much mess, rubbish and even broken glass everywhere, so it can be dangerous to walk without shoes especially inside water where you cannot see through.  There are many places in Ireland near the sea that are very clean and good for barefoot walking. One of the places in Ireland where I took my shoes off and walked in the sea was at Sea point.I wanted to get close to the waves and take picture. It was during one of my sunrise photoshoots. It felt so good: Sun shining, warming up my cheeks and the water cooling my feet and my legs. It was amazing healing and recharging power for my mind. Have you read my articles about Portmarnock beach? Yeah, I did it again few times last week. I walked barefoot together with my kids. (Magic at Portmarnock beach ) ( Enjoying photography at Portmarnock beach.) Yesterday I decided to walk on the grass everyday at least 5 minutes during my way home from my morning sunrise watching events. I am starting to feel real difference in my life thanks to barefoot walking. It has many benefits for me.

Have you ever seen a man in suit in the middle of the city to take his shoes off and walk barefoot on the grass? Ha, maybe we saw that in movies. Who would do that these days?

Would you go outside to take your shoes off and connect with the Earth during your lunch break?

People would go outside to have a smoke at lunch break, but not to rest their feet and relax mind by landing bare feet at natural surface.

 

My experience with earthing and barefoot walking last few weeks:

The biggest surprise for me was to discover that barefoot walking gives me pain relief for my back and neck injuries. My headaches decreased rapidly, I rarely have had any headache last week. My mood is always good after morning walk and feeling good last longer. If you know about depression from your own experience, you know how valuable is every moment when you can enjoy something. Happy moments usually doesn’t last long time for people who have depression, most of the days are dark, sad or without a spark of happiness.

( If you don’t know how it feels to be depressed and you want to understand how your friend or someone close to you who is suffering depresion feels, here is link to an article from blogger explaining it from her own experience: https://whoisfunnyleg.wordpress.com/2016/09/03/depression-how-it-feels/ )

I have been fighting my own fight with depression and Caroline’s sunrise photo and health challenge is helping me positively change my life and hopefully it will help others too. I can say from my own experience that barefoot walking is helping me fight depression and enjoy happy moments in my life more.

One of the bigest benefit of barefoot walking for me personally is good sleeping. I think it is earthing together with everyday exercise and watching sunrise that is helping me sleep better.

Earthing helps me to be more productive, I feel energised and I have less need for coffee.

Would you like to start walking barefoot and connecting with the Earth?

Try at least one or all of the following:

walking on the wet grass without shoes

walking barefoot on sand on the beach

walking in cold water in the sea or in river

walking on small stones on the beach

stepping into mud

touch with your feet different types of natural surfaces

Find five minutes everyday to connect with the Earth, recharge your batteries and do something for your health. All it takes is to take your shoes and socks off and walk on natural surface.

“Exercising barefoot outdoors is one of the most wonderful, inexpensive and powerful ways of incorporating Earthing into your daily life and will also help speed up tissue repair, as well as easing the muscle pain you sometimes get from strenuous exercise. A review of the available research, published January 2012 in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, agrees with the concept of reaping health benefits when connecting to the earth. ”

(cited from: http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/14/barefoot-running-bad-or-beneficial.aspx )

My experience with barefoot walking from my childhood and what my parents thought me about feet.

First of all I have to say that my parents made me walk without shoes very often. They always thought me that barefoot walking is very healthy thing to do for many reasons. My family was hiking often and as kid I was able to walk many kilometers in the mountains. My parents often took their shoes off and we all walked for hours without shoes in the forest and also on small stones. I remember there was glass on the floor sometimes and we didn’t make big deal out of it, we just walked around. Me and my brother got sting by bee many times and our feet survived it all.

Apart from walking barefoot we were doing special exercise for feet. We had to pick up objects with our feet without using hands. Try it. Its fun and very refreshing thing to do. We also tried holding a pencil with foot (between toes) and draw something. Me and my brother loved walking in the river without shoes. Walking in cold water is actually part of special water therapy that is used in the area where I was living with my parents.

“Regular daily ‘stork walking‘ in a pool with natural flowing cold water at 8°C is known as cold water-cure practiced by Vincenz Priessnitz.”

“Among the methods Vincenz Priessnitz used in his therapy there was not only cold water but also barefoot walks on grass.”

There is a place in my parent’s village where you can try one type of hydrotherapy. There is special pool for foot water therapy in hotel Helios in village called Lipova lazne (Czech republic). The pool has two parts. One is filled with cold water, one has hot water. There is about 30 to 50 cm of water, just below your kneels. You walk in the pool with cold water and when you arrive at the end, you move into the pool with hot water. The pools together create a circle so you keep going around, switching cold and hot water. Its amazing experience. The therapy pools are accessible for public in the same area with swimming pool and jacuzzi (entrance fees apply). All area is for parents with kids, so kids are allowed to use all pools and also the jacuzzi. Me and my kids absolutely love the place.

 

It is never too late to join Caroline’s sunrise photo and health challenge! Have fun with the sun, discover the beauty of the nature and experience something new during your morning walks to capture sunrise.

The rules of the challenge are wide open, you can pick your own goals, do it in your own time and even focus on the health part and use old photos.

Have a look at the list of goals and more details about Caroline’s sunrise photo and health challenge in the introduction article.

Caroline’s 30 days sunrise photo and health challenge: Introduction

Link your blog post about your day 23 of the challenge to this article by commenting below and by adding link to my introduction article to your blog post. Help spread the word by sharing and tweeting. Have a look at my Twitter and Facebook pages, I am sharing all your contribution to the challenge.

Have a look at articles from people who joined us for 23rd day of the challenge:

( https://purposivewriter.wordpress.com/2016/08/20/breakthrough-in-my-challenge-journey-day-23/ )

( When you will complete your day 23 of the challenge, I will add link to your 23rd day blog post here.)

I am looking forward to read your blog post and see your wonderful pictures.

Let me know what you think in comments.

Caroline

P.S. More about barefoor walking and its benefits here: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9099/the-surprising-health-benefits-of-going-barefoot.html

Please feel free to add link to your article about barefoot walking and earthing in the comments below.

( https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/healthy/ )

( https://dailypost.wordpress.com/discover-challenges/here-and-now/ )