Barefooting and Minimalism

Welcome to the Barefoot Philosopher experience. I hope you've become comfortable in your nice comfy chair while reading this. I'm going to make my purpose short and sweet, and give you my best intentions in the next couple of paragraphs for this first post. Firstly I want to thank you for visiting, you are obviously here for a reason, whether you were looking for some feedback on the barefeet shoes of your choice, life suggestions, or perhaps just for the pure enjoyment of the content that I have and will continue to have up on this blog. All of these are splendid reasons for why you've come. My intentions are going to be simple:

Freedom Starts With Mastering the Mind

Now this is the philosophy part of it, first everything inside needs to be freed up to see with the utmost clarity. Some people call the mind the monkey mind because it always seems to be going. There is no way in which we can control these thoughts from happening as their job is to compete for attention through circumstance and reaction. Their reason for existence is to dominate their world, their reality. So to free this space up is to have no-mind which I think we can agree on to some extent. This doesn't mean to veg out and not do anything, if anything it is freeing. It frees you up to not be carried along by the demands of the thoughts. Let us face it, thoughts are like parasites, there are what could be considered good or bad thought but given that a competing thought is endagered of losing its dominance it will have no qualms with causing damage to the host (thats you) and thats where fear comes in and restricts us in life. It keeps many people from rising up over their fears and doing what they honestly love doing and creating their own name instead of walking in the shadows of other great minds. Why not be your own light and walk in your own light where shadow cannot pray and control your every move? WHY NOT? It first comes like releasing an addiction from your body, and it isn't easy, its almost like erasing everything that you've come to learn about yourself to see that all of that stuff wasn't really true, and to find out what you really are and always have been; A beacon of light.

Start Slow, Bare Feet Running

This is the next part of the goal that you want. This goal actually comes with no goal. You can't seek running barefoot to gain something or you wont enjoy life for what it is. Running barefoot is one of those things where every part of your being goes into the enjoyment of the way that your body naturally does when running. We are running creatures by nature but it takes some practice and un learning of all the damage that our modern day shoes have done to our body structure. So pick up a pair of Vibrams, Terra Plana, Saucony, Nike, New Balance bare feet running shoes and start with little runs. Nothing too extravagant so that you can get use to the no rythm that your feet will partake in. We are going for light and when I say light, we are looking for more of a mid to forefoot step but nothing too hard. Try to let the motion be as fluid as possible and let what your body is telling you be your guide. If you feel you need to walk on your run, then walk. If you feel you want to run then run. I would make a suggestion and that is, if you are starting this or trying it to see if their is a change in emotional state, it will happen, just give it time but you cant let all those other obstacles get in your way. When i refer to obstacles, I'm referring to tracking your progress, or timing yourself. These things get in the way of naturally enjoying a barefoot run and hinder the minds emptying process. I think one more suggestion I've found to be pleasant is focusing on either a nice soundtrack of songs on your mp3 player, focusing on the gentleness of your breathing (and in the same token, making sure you breathe through your belly as this is what gives oxygen to your muscles.), or just the beauty of the nature around you.

Barefoot Philosophy is an Art and I hope I've given you a little insight into my world, and I hope that this site will become of use as I update it more with quality information on barefeet running and bare feet running shoes, and techniques that will help the philosophy along the way. Let your feet be your ultimate guide!