The Barefoot Doctrine

This is the first of ten entries that comprise the barefoot doctrine.

Check each day for a new posting.  When the doctrine is complete, it will live on a website or blog of its own. Details to come.

THE BAREFOOT DOCTRINE

1. Go barefoot in your home forever more. If you already do, then take some time every day to slow down and be aware the you are barefoot. Feel, and remember how you feel and what makes it significant. 
2.  Go barefoot outdoors each day for at least a short time and make not of how it feels. What makes it different? What makes it significant? 
3.  Practice Yoga. If you already practice Yoga, practice a bit more. Make it a bigger part of your life. Yoga is the oldest surviving athletic discipline still practiced in its original form today. Olympic events might be just as old, but how many athletes practice them barefoot?  Yoga is always practiced barefoot. It gives you connection with the ground and reconnects you with the planet's magnetic pulse, which is the same magnetic pulse rate as that of your body and of all living creatures.   
4. Take a barefoot walk or a run. If you're not normally into taking runs or walks, you'll feel the significance easier becasue the experience will be so new.Take a walk to the mail box, around the block, or in a park.Venture beyond your normal boundaries while barefoot and your body will be stimulated to open your mind and heart to a newer, freer state. 
5.  When you must ear shoes, wear sandals. They're close to barefoot and help you keep your sense of freedom. If a closed-toe shoe is necessary, wear clogs. They can be worn without socks and you can kick them off under a desk and be barefoot for a while. 
6. Try an athletic activity that's done barefoot There are some wonderful sports and activities that are practiced barefoot. Beach volleyball. Swimming. Pilates. And of course, Yoga. An increasing number of fitness teachers are offering barefoot workout classes, Aerobics to Zumba, and everything in between, including new techniques. Once you try working out this way, you may never go back.
7. Try something barefoot that's not normally done that way. Create something new! Maybe barefoot soccer. The no one needs cleats. The choice is yours. The options are countless.
8. Going barefoot to be healthy. For your body, it helps end joint pain and develop muscles made dormant by wearing shoes. It also frees your mind and rekindles your natural awareness. 
9. Go barefoot in the summer rain this will give you a new sense of freedom that you'll remember whenever it rains in the future, even when your shoes are on. To do it is to require you to let your guard down and be alive. For many of us caught in the rat race, it can mean being born again.
10. Go barefoot to be stronger. Going barefoot means using every muscle in your feet and legs, something you don't do with shoes. It also heightens your awareness and strengthens your natural connection to the Earth, which gives spiritual strength and emotional stability. To be stronger, go barefoot more often!

More to come, and comments are very welcome!