Barefoot sandals on Shark Tank this week

The makers of Xeroshoes will be on Shark Tank again this week, on May 31. This is a great way to "meet" the owners of the company that makes a truly authentic minimalist running sandal that is tried and true.

Last week, we profiled Christopher McDougal's book Born to Run, which told the world of the hidden tribe of Native American super runners, the Tarahumara. The leather sandals that the tribes' people wear to run a hundred miles at a time were mimicked with rubber soles and nylon strings to create Xeroshoes.

American Master Sprinter Steven Sashen, together with his wife, Lena Phoenix, founded the company in Boulder, CO, where the shoes are now manufactured. The company is a committed supporter of the Tarahumara people.

Steven Sashen

Lena Phoenix

 Sashen and Phoenix first appeared on Shark Tank this past winter. While the investors turned them down, sales of their product skyrocketed, and that was in winter. A summer airing will likely bring it lots of attention, as summer is sandal season after all.

Xeroshoes give no resistance when your foot bends. They allow complete, unrestricted movement of the foot for walking and running. Photo by Vincent Gerbino.



The writer of this blog attests that these sandals are fantastic for running, especially for folks still a bit too skittish to run totally barefoot. The shoes will  allow your feet to move as freely as if unshod and insulate you against those pebbles you fear, or perhaps you're just bugged by the idea that the ground is dirty.

Whatever your view on running barefoot, these shoes are as close to barefoot as you can get without being totally barefoot, which I still encourage you to try.  Even as I run barefoot almost always, I encourage you to get a pair of Xeroshoes.  Unless you live in a warm climate, there will always be days with cold and wet pavement where you'll need the sandal in order to avoid skipping that run you just really want to take!

Besides, these shoes are cool enough to wear as regular shoes, and a great choice to wear when you must have shoes n even though you'd rather be barefoot!

Blessings!

Global Barefooter-Japan

Our readership continues to become more and more diverse! Thank you to all of our readers, including our newest followers from Japan. In our search of the web, we found mixed information about going barefoot in the Land of the Rising Sun.

As far as barefoot running is concerned, it is a brand new thing there. The Barefoot Runners Society has had a Japanese chapter at least since late 2010, when their Facebook page was established. In the same year, the popular running magazine Competitor  reported that a barefoot running club was established in Tokyo that same year.

 The club's founder, Tsuyoshi Yoshino told Competitor:

“We get new people whenever we’re covered on morning news shows,” Yoshino says. “But there we’re treated as an oddity. What I find strange is that Japan has a culture where we’re always taking off our shoes–people know that it feels good to go barefoot. But they draw the line when it comes to running.”

Yoshino started barefoot running while studying chemistry at a college in the USA.

Our research found that being barefoot in a Japanese home often depended on the owner's preference, various visitors to the country reported. Travel guides stated that it is still customary to remove shoes when entering a house but that most people put on house slippers. One person reported that one also removed slippers when entering the Tatami room in a Japanese home, the room where people have tea and important social interaction. Tatami rooms were originally found in the homes of Japanese nobles.

A Japanese woman meditates with Mt. Fuji to her back. The photo was taken in Yamanashi, Japan by Motoyuki Kobayahsi, who is well-known for photographing Yoga poses among other subjects. Photo source is Fotobank.



Nobility and the intricate nature of Japan's feudal social structure centuries ago may be contributing factors to why Japanese people tend to prefer being shod, but this is just a guess, as we did not do an anthropological deep dive for information.

Certainly, ancient martial arts are a signature of Japanese culture that remain as such in the modern era, and being barefoot to practice these ancient disciplines goes without saying.

We'd love to have comments from our Japanese readers, and we are grateful they have joined Almost Barefoot's readership.

Barefooters for combat boots-THANK YOU to our military service people.

source:  commandposts.com

I ran 10K barefoot this morning. There were many runners.

Hundreds of police officers in heavy gear were there to keep order and act if something had gone wrong.

Thousands of soldiers are at the ready around the world in preparation for even bigger issues we hope will never happen.

Millions of soldiers died or were wounded when bigger issues did happen, and which still are happening.

Those who served included my grandfather, my uncle, and many friends. And there was everyone else's grandfathers, uncles and friends whom I never knew. Ad now there are wives, sisters and aunts in the mix as well as husbands, fathers and brother.

We hope that humans will find better ways to solve problems without war and armed conflict. But until then, we hope that the sacrifices of our protectors will be enough to keep the peace, that we might continue to enjoy such luxuries as running barefoot on Memorial Day.

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, YOUR SACRIFICE AND YOU STRENGTH



Barefoot Running, The Movie!

I acquired a new barefoot running client this week and one of the questions she has is how to get supplemental instruction to continue on her own.

I have a good suggestion to every person who asks this question, and that is to get a copy of "Barefoot Running, the Movie!"

The movie summarizes the major points and techniques of barefoot running as taught by Michael Sandler. Sandler is the author of the best-selling book, Barefoot Running (Random House 2011), and co-authored (with Jessica Lee Sandler) Barefoot Walking (Random House 2013).

The movie is a very fun documentary that weaves great stories of Michael and Jessica's personal stories in with the running techniques, which Michael demonstrates live while he explains them. The explanations are well complimented by excellent running footage.

The added bonus is seeing barefoot runners in action amidst the stunning scenery of Maui, where the movie was filmed.



Born to run....Almost Barefoot!

The barefoot running movement remained in obscurity for about a decade more. Christopher McDougall released the book Born to Run in 2009 and it became an instant sensation with a cult following in the US running community. In the book, McDougall profiles a reclusive Native American tribe who have since gained fame. The Tarahumara, as the tribe are known, have dwelt for centuries in the savage North American terrain that comprises the desert region of the continent from Mexico into the southwestern USA.

Just what does this elusive, reclusive tribe do for fun? One might ask. They run, of course. They run competitive races, many are festive with a significance that would rival the Olympics if this tribe’s world were representative of the planet. They literally run races up to 100 miles, and not just the elite runners of the tribe This is a tribe of runners; it’s in the culture at least as much as baseball is in the culture of mainstream USA or soccer in mainstream Mexico.

Before Born to Run was published, the tribe’s only connection with “civilization as we know it” was an American runner named Micah True, who lived sporadically among the tribe but was mostly a loaner whom tribes people described as if he was a ghost. True, who passed away in 2012 during a run in the wilderness of New Mexico, was better known as “Caballo Blanco”, which literally translates from Spanish as “White Horse”.

The Tarahumara ran “almost barefoot”; they wore thin, leather sandals whose only real purpose was to protect the feet from the scalding hot sand of the desert. The sandals, which because the basis for the now-popular Xeroshoes running sandal, allow completely-unrestricted movement of the foot. The runner’s feet are able to bend and move as if the runner was barefoot.

In 2010, a group of Colorado runners who were part of a new Barefoot Running Club based in Boulder, CO began to experiment with Vibram material and nylon string to make running sandals modeled after the tribal originals. The Barefoot Running club had been recently formed by Jessica Lee and Michael Sandler. Sandler was about to become the nation’s most famous barefoot runner, and the club founded by Jessica would fuel the fire that finally moved barefoot running onto the mainstream running community.

The Tarahumara's sandals were mimicked with rubber soles and nylon strings that became the well-known Xeroshoes. Xeroshoes Corporation continues to work to support the Tarahumara, the tribe that gave us running sandals and helped us reconnect to our roots in the earth. 

You can work with Bare Foot Ken Bob

Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton is touring he nation and announcements say there are still opportunities to help support his tour and make a great connection with one of the greatest gurus of barefoot running! Keep reading below this picture of the original barefoot running guru to connect directly with Ken Bob and find out how you can support his tour as his direct representative!!!!!!!!!!!!!Read on....

Host a presentation or book signing, and it will help your venue too! Ken Bob is a purist. this ain't corporate running, my friend. You will have personal contact with him, and will be considered his direct representative. Just be prepared for Ken Bob's dog to be wherever he is, especially if you're offering lodging.

Please visit Ken Bob's web site: barefootrunning.com  directly for all the great details.

This is a fantastic opportunity to promote barefoot running and work with one of its best teachers!

Barefoot running pioneers-Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton

Ken Bob Saxton is a pioneer among barefoot runners in the shod world.

He is the elder "Guru of Shoeless Running" and is the author of "Barefoot Running, Step By Step", published in 2011 and has been promoting the sport online since 1997.

Barefoot running exploded in popularity around the time his book was published; it was the same year that Random House picked up Barefoot Running by Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee.

At age 57, Ken Bob is actively running plenty of races, and while his times are usually short, his beard is long.

"Great Movements are started by men with beards," says Richard Stillman, creator of GNU/Linux computing systems, who appears on the Beginning Barefoot Running website. There, Stillman talks of what his escalades in the computer world taught him about barefoot running-unconventional, outside-the-box thinking that gave us stuff like Linux and countless prior computer inventions. Stillman smiles in a picture with his long beard.

Ken Bob and his long beard, a signature as significant as hi bare feet. Photo source: cecs.csulab
 

For runners, thinking outside the box means getting your feet out from being inside shoes, a movement started by another man with a long beard Ken Bob Saxton. His website is busy, but with an endless supply of good information.

Flush free radicals just by being barefoot

We all want to keep our bodies' systems clean, live long and avoid cancer.

So we all worry about free radicals-pollutants in our body that literally rust and corrode inside us and cause internal pollution that raises all the risks we seek to reduce, not to mention make us feel tired and weak in the present tense.

We relentlessly seek ways to get good antioxidants to get the free radicals out, but there's another way to kill free radicals:

Go barefoot outside each day.

Barefoot runner Michael Sandler calls it "Earthing".  He invented this verb that says go barefoot out on the natural ground each day to reconnect the body with the ionic charge of the Earth.

Why?   Our bodies accumulate a positive ionic charge in the human world, due to our electronic devices and other interferences from the non-natural world. The Earth has a negative charge. SO as we connect our feet literally to the ground, we are "grounding" the positive charge in a scientific sense and neutralizing the free radicals in our body so that they cease to be harmful inside of us.

To read in depth about the homeopathic benefits of Earthing, read "Barefoot Walking", the newly-released book by Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee. (Random House, 2013)

Barefoot Fitness Professional-Kriste Brushaber

If Kriste Brushaber isn't in her clinic teaching clients barefoot fitness methods, she might be out on a mountain trail or rock climbing-barefoot.

She is the owner of Homeostasis Movement, a unique and advanced clinic that provides many types of therapy and focuses on natural body movements, beginning with having the client go barefoot.



Kriste Brushaber out for a climb

"For any movement or health concept to become a natural part of who we are- becoming an integral part of the body-mind's subconscious communication system- a purposeful, holistic approach adaptable to each person's unique circumstances is required," says Kriste.

 

 

What's more natural than being barefoot?

 

More importantly, by having her client be barefoot, she is able to eliminate the constraints create by mas-produced shoes.

 



"For foot dynamics, this includes the willingness to go all the way: completely eliminating non-minimalist shoes, only wearing minimalist shoes when absolutely necessary, and choosing bare feet over all. And, this must become part of a wholehearted shift into living from a new level of body mind consciousness- a higher awareness governing our perception of ourselves and the environment at every moment which will ultimately determine our health potential."


Kriste began her fitness career as a Pilates teacher and expanded her scope and became a movement therapist. The foot is the foundation for all types of therapy that goes way beyond walking and running.


"Holistic barefoot dynamics is integral to the Homeostasis Movement™ program, meaning it's not all about the foot, albeit a critical part. Even when I present biomechanical, physiological, psychological, and energetic foot facts and experiential exercises for educational presentation, these concepts are reunited with whole body-mind dynamics as swiftly as possible."

Kriste is referring to "re-educating" the body so it can learn or re-learn how to move so that a person can recover from an injury and break bad habitual movement patterns. Every case is as unique as the person she is helping.

 "Depending on the client, it can be a chicken-or-egg scenario: if they have disconnects within specific realms of the body such as the pelvis or shoulder girdle, are self-conscious about their feet such as feeling feet are icky or ugly, or a specific neurological block due to something like a closed-head injury, the communication from and to the feet won't be efficient. A foot can only behave as well as the communication it clearly receives from all sources through environment and body-mind. Barefoot practices can significantly help wire the missing communication network- what I call "blind spots"- throughout the body-mind, but must be integrated with additional practices that functionally and holistically 'map the territory'. "



Global Barfefooter-Wales

Cheers to our sisters and brothers in Wales.

It seems that advice comes right from their government to take a barefoot walk this summer, advise that's a good plan for everyone in the world.

And I had to add this since we're getting more and more reader traffic from the United Kingdom.

Thank you!

Photo comes courtesy of Wales Online and the National Trust. See link to article at:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/outdoor-activities-children-wales-full-3311699

Blessings!

The secret in the sidewalk: run barefoot for beautiful-looking feet

I've been stopped on the sidewalk by a number of people in the last month, all women, who want to know if running barefoot will make your feet look gross.

I showed them mine and asked them if they thought they looked gross.

They all saw the obvious answer was "no" they didn't look gross at all from running.

The secret  is in the sidewalk.

The pavement is the ultimate ex-foliant. Dead skin wears off naturally and the skin beneath thickens and becomes like pliable leather. Regular barefoot running is like a gentle pumice treatment that gets rid of the flakes without making your foot tender.

Ladies, if you'd prefer to hear this from a woman, then CLICK HERE. America's best-known female barefoot runner, Jessica Lee-Sandler, tells the naked truth, and it is very positive. The post is called: For women: the barefoot truth.

Jessica is president of the Runbare Company and is a wealth of positive knowledge.

Enjoy!

Global Barefooter-Denmark

Music is power. Making music and song requires a free-thinking, open mind and the heart to take yourself beyond the normal thinking constraints that define a person as "normal".

Danish Singer Emmelie de Forest is an artist who dared to take that step to assert herself on stage as the brilliant singing sensation that she is.

And when this strong and powerful woman took that step, she was barefoot, and barefoot she remains each time she sings to a bigger and bigger audience.

"Being barefoot makes me feel connected to the ground"

-Emmelie de Forest

De Forest was dubbed a front runner to win the 2013 Eurovision song contest, and she came through, barefoot and victorious, winning with her song : Only Teardrops

A review on her website says: "Although she did in fact win the national contest, she has never been a product designed to do so. Like her name suggests, she resembles a forest fairy – a natural child of the North, barefoot and with a sense of magic about her presence.

“I’ve never really liked singing while wearing high heels or any kind of shoes. Being barefoot makes me feel connected to the ground, and it makes me feel more relaxed,” she explains.

The career of this young, brilliant woman has just begun, and what can we say, we, too like to associate barefooting with good times.

"It’s always hard to pick one specific memory that marks the happiest moment of your life, but I have to say that winning the national final of the contest is one of them," Emmelie states.

 

Almost Barefoot wishes Emmelie many more successful songs, and also wises to thank Olga Gavva for spreading the news of Emmelie's success. 

Global Barefooter-Sweden

I see we are now getting readers from Sweden.  We'll be seeking more information on the barefoot perspective there.

We speculate there must be some value to barefooting there-the winters are long-all the more reason not to go barefoot in summer, and also because the country is famous for the best shoes a barefooter must wear when shoes are required: clogs. 

When a barefoot wear must wear shoes, clogs are absolutely divine. They allow your feet to be spread out in their natural shape and are comfortable for long stints. I have worn them for many years, including safety clogs for 12-hour stints in a factory without any aches.

But I'll write more about clogs later. Now I must link you to an amazing video.....

of barefoot water skiing....in Sweden!!

Enjoy! 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-9si-ACHqk

Global barefooters-do leave comments!

In terms of what country has the most hits on Almost Barefoot, we're not keeping score.

But it is cool to look at the traffic and see where our hits are coming from.

As of now, Russian readers outnumber US readers 48 to 38. This is the first time ever that US readers aren't at the top of he list.

Last week, readers from Singapore were in third place.

We're attempting to do more research on barefooting in both countries. It appears that runners are again training barefoot in Singapore after a long absence. There were some findings that barefooting is frowned upon there and in most of Asia, but there weren't many details and we couldn't conclude anything.

We'd love comments and pictures from Singapore!

We found much more about Russia, although we'd love more details from readers willing to comment.

Russia has lots of barefoot models, and it seems that the tradition of summer barefooting outlived the stigma of serfdom created soon after surfs were freed in Russia in the 1800s and before the dark days of communism.

There's no doubt that the profile of

the lovely Olga Gavva, model, dancer and dance company leader helped increase our viewing. She's a great proponent of a responsible barefoot lifestyle and we thank her for her contribution to the arts as well as to the global barefoot community. 

 

Blessings!

 

Pardon my temporary absence.

I've been tending to demanding obligations the past few days and will be into tomorrow, but not to worry, publishing is not stopping.

Remember: if you're new to barefoot running, do 100 yards the first day. Do 200 yards the second day and work your way up to abut a half mile. Keep your barefooting down to that distance for at least a few weeks while your skin toughens, then you can double your barefooting distance.

If you were wearing minimalist shoes before barefooting, you can up your barefoot distance further after your skin toughens. But if you've been wearing traditional shoes, give yourself more time, a lot more time, so that the muscles in your ankles, made lazy by shoes, can develop.

I'll be back very soon! Catch you barefoot!

Barefoot teachers



I began going barefoot when I started practicing
Yoga. I was 30 years old and it was the first activity besides swimming that I'd ever done without shoes, and it was the first time I actually thought about how it felt to not wear shoes.

 



Being barefoot heightened my awareness in so many ways. Twelve years have passed and I am well-rooted into the Almost Barefoot lifestyle, meaning almost always barefoot. I've spent this week almost entirely barefoot, bringing shoes with me and putting them on only when required.

I was excited to read in the prior issue of Yoga Journal (May 2013, Article is "Stay in touch", by Sarah Saffian), about a very experienced Yoga teacher named Adi Carter who had, for the first time, decided to venture beyond the studio and go barefoot for the whole day. Some of her path was like my own and I could relate.

 

     Writer and author Sara Saffian, from sarahsaffian.com

Acro-Yoga teacher Adi Carter

I've been barefoot running for a long time, and I now hike rocky trails sans shoes, but being barefoot in the more urban parts of life creates a different type of awareness. I did some shopping without shoes this week, quite a bit actually, in places where it was acceptable, and it honestly had a whole new, wonderful, additional meaning.

I think I'll go barefoot someplace new today.

Blessings!

Barefoot celebrities talk of changing rules on shoeless shopping

Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee Sandler rarely wear shoes, and they recently spoke about how they helped change some rules on shopping barefoot. By trade, the Sandlers are barefoot runners, teachers of barefoot athletes, and authors who write on the popular subject of barefoot fitness. They are currently touring to promote their new book, Barefoot Walking, released by Random House this year. It follows their first book, Barefoot Running (Random House, 2011).

At a recent book tour stop in Boulder, CO, members of the audience asked about their experiences going barefoot in public and in stores and restaurants.

"In most all places, it [going barefoot] is not illegal; we did a lot of research on this," Michael Sandler said.



Michael Sandler lectures in barefoot running techniques. Photo by Jessica Lee-Sandler

He spoke of a restaurant in the eastern US that he went into, where the Maître 'D told them they would have to put on shoes or leave.

Sandler said he would not put on shoes, but would not argue the point, either. He stressed that barefooters should remain polite in any such situation. While most states do not have lawas against going barefoot, they often specific that a business establishment can use its discretion on granting access to shoeless patrons.

The Sandlers lived most recently on Maui, where they filmed their documentary, "Barefoot Running, the Movie!". Jessica spoke about changes her husband helped bring to the policy of the local Whole Foods supermarket where they regularly shopped for groceries.

"Michael got to be good friends with the security guard at Whole Foods, where they wouldn't allow you to shop barefoot. Then one day, the guard told him that the store manager had decided to change the store's policy, and now customers are allowed to shop barefoot," She explained as she stood barefoot before the audience.

Diplomacy by barefooters is also stressed by Dr. Daniel Howell, PhD, better known as "the Barefoot Professor. Howell was once thrown off a plane for not having shoes, a bit ironic since passengers must all remove their shoes for screening prior to boarding.

"Confrontations led by emotions like these are bound to backfire. What started as a relatively minor incident (in the mind of the manager, not the barefooter who was already terrified in the parking lot) has now exploded into a major ordeal that Mr. Manager will not soon forget. Bare feet are now officially banned and on the radar. You, the barefooter, have blown it and you and your feet are not welcome here.

There’s a better way to handle these confrontations,"  Howell wrote on his blog, Barefoot Press.  Howell's blog and website have numerous links and interview clips.

 

The short version of Howell's advise to new barefooters: when confronted for being barefoot, "don't be a jerk; you just give barefooters a bad reputation," he says.

Barefoot holy figures, conclusion

Barefoot holy figures-Almost Barefoot

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Exodus 3:5

There are different variations of this passage, depending on which version of the bible one reads.

The message is God speaking to Moses. Moses is the prophet most universally-recognized by all three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). He is regarded in all three religions as a holy man, and he is barefoot on holy ground upon the instruction of God.

Jews and Muslims typically avoid producing images of holy figures, although our research shows that not all Muslim sects explicitly prohibit visual portrayals of Muhammad, but typically, visual representations will be limited to lesser holy figures such as Moses, and the same applies to Judaism.

In all three Abrahamic religions, "God Almighty" is not seen, only heard, so we won't find visual representations of deities, shod or unshod. 

We see visuals of Christianity's Jesus and Mary, of Wicca's many representations of Goddess, as well as goddesses of non-Wiccan pagan religions, and we see numerous representations of Buddha and the Hindu's acknowledged son of God, Krishna, and countless other manifestations of Hindu gods and goddesses all of whom are barefoot when inhuman form.

SO we conclude that no matter who the holy figure is that is represented, that figure is ALMOST always BAREFOOT.



A statue of the Goddess Sophia

Mary, appearing as Our Lady of Grace

Jesus, the Good Shepard

A popular portrayal of the Wiccan Goddess's three forms, or "Triple Goddess" , from left to right, the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone

Barefooter thrown off plane for being shoeless....

When you go through airport security, TSA agents will make you take off  your shoes. One would think, given this rule, which thus forces airline passengers to wear easily-removable shoes, that the last thing flight attendants would take issue with is being barefoot in your seat.

But Professor Daniel Howell was thrown off a plane for nothing other than being barefoot in his seat, buckled up, minding his business.

"You would think, in this day and age with shoe bombers, that barefoot passengers would be welcome, but not at U.S. Airways," he said.

Howell's website has many useful link.  At right, Daniel Howell, Ph.D

Howell is an Associate Professor at Liberty University and author of The Barefoot Book, where talks about how 90% of modern foot problems can be linked to shoes. He's an avid barefoot runner and educator.

The link below is Howell's interview on the Today Show about, you guessed it, the benefits of going barefoot, where he also explains his experience with attempting to fly barefoot.

http://thebarefootbook.com/press.html

This is a fantastic interview for a lot of reasons.

His two, high-heeled hostesses give him a warm welcome, and one even confesses to having had foot operations in order to continue wearing her high heels.

He does wear shoes to work as required, but says he often goes to restaurants barefoot.

"Lot's of places welcome me [barefoot]; f they don't, I'll take myself and my money somewhere else."

He credits Old Navy clothing stores with being barefoot friendly, and it was at Old Navy in the Roanoke, VA airport that he bought a pair of flip-flops in order to make himself be considered flightworthy.

Barefoot running with Seven Sashen

Funny one-liners are something that Steven Sashen is famous for.



Steven Sashen running in Xeroshoes

Of course, those who know Steven realize that the comedy he brings to conversation is just coincidental perk that comes with any running lesson he teaches.

Steven is a professional All-American Masters sprinter and is among the fastest men over age 50 in the U.S. He is also creator of Xero Shoes. (see banner in this blog).

Xero Shoes are sandals that allow a runner's feet to have completely- unrestricted movement; they mimic the same movements as running barefoot.  But even as Sashen sells more an more sandals, he's quick to tell you that "nothing is barefoot running except barefoot running," and proceeded to open Sunday's lesson with that same remark.

Sashen stressed the importance of not working too hard when learning to run with or without shoes.

"It should be easy" he said and he then proceeded to demonstrate weight distribution of the runner's body head-first. "Watch kids run; their heads tend to tilt forward and the body follows."

A child's head grows to adult size long before the child is grown, so the head tends to fall forward when a child runs. But also, a child has not been conditioned by running habits that are taught, and by emphasizing this point, he is able to re-teach students. He then had the students tilt their heads in a particular direction and then run in order to feel the body gravitate in the direction the head was tilted.

Barefoot running form includes slightly tilting the entire body forward with a straight spine while hinging at the ankles. Gravity then pulls you forward as you begin to take your strides. Sahsen also encouraged shorter strides to keep balance. By not having to recover your balance like you do from an over-extended stride, you actually use less energy to run, even though you may be taking more steps.

Sashen is now teaching barefoot running classes in the Boulder/Denver area. More information is at the following link:

https://dabble.co/denver/fitness/classes/get-started-with-barefoot-running-with-steven-sashen

                                                  Lena Phoenix (left) with Steven Sashen (right)
                                                           on Shark Tank earlier this year. 

Xero Shoes can be purchased directly from the manufacturer by clicking the banner on this blog. They are manufactured in Boulder, CO. The company is owned by Sashen and his wife, Lena Phoenix. The couple and their well-known product were profiled earlier this year on the network show Shark Tank.

Almost Barefoot update

Greetings global barefooters!  I apologize for the lengthy absence, which I should have announced. But on the positive side, I gathered much new material to write about.

I attended a wonderful talk on Friday by America's most famous barefooters, Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee-Sandler, authors of the new book, Barefoot Walking (Random House, 2013).

I attended the Global Barefoot Running Day event in Boulder, CO, where Steven Sashen taught a barefoot runners class.  The day was a great success and the barefoot 5K was a blast.

The best thing about both events was meeting new, wonderful people, and finding out how many new people are trying running and walking barefoot!

This week, we'll also be concluding our series on barefoot holy figures.

Blessings! We'll be posting very soon!

Thanks for over 1000 views!

Hello readers-thanks for over 1,000 views. Sorry for the absence of new material!

I expect to change that tonight. Lots of personal stuff at the moment.

Blessings....look forward to International Barefoot Running Day, Sunday, May 5!

Barefoot holy figures in history

We can still debate why holy figures are seemingly always barefoot. We can also just accept is as natural, since if we believe we come from God-whose identity is up to you and your beliefs-then we realize that we were made before we even made shoes.

Being barefoot has an inherent connection with holiness in every culture. Hindu deities are almost always barefoot, as are Wiccan goddesses (except certain Norse and Scandinavian archetypes, but even in that context, we can find images of barefoot goddesses in winter. One could interpret the idea of a barefoot goddess in winter to be one whose holiness makes her impervious to the cold or conditions that would harm an ordinary human.

The images below are just a few of countless images of Wiccan goddesses.

Diana, Moon Goddess

The Green Goddess is a popular archetype of the Goddess as portrayed in pre-Christian times in much of the world, where worship often emphasized fertility and was Earth-centered. Statues of similar variations have been un-Earthed throughout the world. The goddess-centered religions spread beyond the realm of those religions considered the roots of the modern Wiccan religion.

 

The Triple Goddess image. this is one of many variations in the Wiccan tradition.

 

Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess of Good Fortune. Lakshmi herself takes many different, recognized forms, as do the numerous other Hindu Goddesses and Gods, who almost always appear barefoot no matter which image variation.

 

MAY 5 is International Barefoot Running Day-check for local events!

Hello barefeooters throughout the globe!

May 5 is International Barefoot Running Day and there are barefoot running events scheduled in places around the world and around the USA.

Check out the link below for an event near you!

http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/pages/ibrd_local_events_listing/
If there isn't an event near you, then it may be time to start one, even if it is unofficial this year. Take a run with some friends and help encourage others to go barefoot!

There may already be a local chapter you can join.  Please see the following link for more info!

http://www.thebarefootrunners.org/pages/ibrd_local_events_listing/






For Coloradoans, we have the Donut Dash in