Thursday, May 9, 2013

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!

No comments:

Post a Comment