Minimalist Footware
"Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free...", so begins one of my current favourite hymns, a Shaker dance song by Elder Joseph Brackett; circa 1848... I enjoy using it to close out my barefoot yoga classes of late.
I'm pleased to notice lately I'm feeling this way as I spend more time living with less, some by choice, some through circumstances of late. I've been happily shifting to putting more of an effort walking, biking and trekking about my town. I've been choosing less shoe time when conditions warrant it for the last several years, at least during the unwinter months.
My gait pattern has shifted gradually to accommodate a softer mid sole landing and at times a 'soft' heel to toe pattern versus a more pronounced heel to toe foot 'strike' pattern I've been accustomed to. I'm liking the shorter stride length and more alert/instinctual walking pattern; it's allowed me to successfully resume running again, as in some jogging. Prefer more sprinting though as I'm more for ancestral type of workouts of late, works better and time wise much more efficient.
My daughter Surya gifted me a pair of minimus New Balance shoes this summer, which I'm really liking...how cool is that? One difference I noticed is that my feet seem to have changed shape some, requiring upsizing to accomodate a larger width across the metatarsal area; my feet have 'unsprung'.
Barefoot versus being shod in my view and experience as a trainer and yoga teacher-at least some of the time-can help to generate a more tactile cognitive sensation when standing, practicing postures or mobility movements that in my view enhance balance, upright posture, helps create better stability and core engagement. Dr. William A Rossi, a former podiatrist and advocate of natural footware seems to agree:
"In shoe wearing societies a visibly faulty gait can often be corrected and made normal, but it can never be made natural as long as conventional shoes are worn. It is biomechanically impossible because of the forced alterations from the natural in foot stance, postural alignment, body balance, equilibrium, body mechanics and weight distribution caused by shoes."
The good news is, at any age we know from research the human body in it's wise with effort can refresh and renew healthier patterns and habits. The barefoot discussion is on, sooo... here's some of the science, the why behind barefoot movement, originally I saw this link on Paul Kedrosky's web site.
In closing, I recollect enjoying the simplicity and freedom of walking barefoot to the beach from our family's cottage at West Hawk Lake back in flatland as a lad; I noticed that my feet would toughen up during the summer months. Always liked the feeling of walking on moss at the edge of the trail and then walking on the exposed tree roots along the pathway to the beach and finally the warm sand and cool waters edge.
Full circle memories.
Towards being happy, healthy and wholesome,
Don
I'm pleased to notice lately I'm feeling this way as I spend more time living with less, some by choice, some through circumstances of late. I've been happily shifting to putting more of an effort walking, biking and trekking about my town. I've been choosing less shoe time when conditions warrant it for the last several years, at least during the unwinter months.
My gait pattern has shifted gradually to accommodate a softer mid sole landing and at times a 'soft' heel to toe pattern versus a more pronounced heel to toe foot 'strike' pattern I've been accustomed to. I'm liking the shorter stride length and more alert/instinctual walking pattern; it's allowed me to successfully resume running again, as in some jogging. Prefer more sprinting though as I'm more for ancestral type of workouts of late, works better and time wise much more efficient.
My daughter Surya gifted me a pair of minimus New Balance shoes this summer, which I'm really liking...how cool is that? One difference I noticed is that my feet seem to have changed shape some, requiring upsizing to accomodate a larger width across the metatarsal area; my feet have 'unsprung'.
Barefoot versus being shod in my view and experience as a trainer and yoga teacher-at least some of the time-can help to generate a more tactile cognitive sensation when standing, practicing postures or mobility movements that in my view enhance balance, upright posture, helps create better stability and core engagement. Dr. William A Rossi, a former podiatrist and advocate of natural footware seems to agree:
"In shoe wearing societies a visibly faulty gait can often be corrected and made normal, but it can never be made natural as long as conventional shoes are worn. It is biomechanically impossible because of the forced alterations from the natural in foot stance, postural alignment, body balance, equilibrium, body mechanics and weight distribution caused by shoes."
The good news is, at any age we know from research the human body in it's wise with effort can refresh and renew healthier patterns and habits. The barefoot discussion is on, sooo... here's some of the science, the why behind barefoot movement, originally I saw this link on Paul Kedrosky's web site.
In closing, I recollect enjoying the simplicity and freedom of walking barefoot to the beach from our family's cottage at West Hawk Lake back in flatland as a lad; I noticed that my feet would toughen up during the summer months. Always liked the feeling of walking on moss at the edge of the trail and then walking on the exposed tree roots along the pathway to the beach and finally the warm sand and cool waters edge.
Full circle memories.
Towards being happy, healthy and wholesome,
Don
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