I love feeling my little bare feet on the ground outside.
Have you heard about the “earthing” movement? Basically it’s a kind of new age woo trend acknowledging the importance of grounding yourself. In its most stripped down and intuitive form, earthing is the intentional practice of connecting with the earth with your bare feet making skin-to-ground contact.
I’m not sure how much of the hype is pseudoscience or if the products being sold actually work (grounding mats, grounding sheets, grounding shoes … kits with all of your supposed grounding essentials, etc.) in a way that has measurable health benefits, but I absolutely value and buy into the importance of touching the ground with your bare feet and being naked outside in nature as much and as often as possible, and that there is a bare minimum amount of conscious sensual contact we all need of this on a regular basis to be physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy. If you never have this kind of tangible physical connection with the earth and nature, I don’t think you have truly experienced being alive and everything that life has to offer, and is our human-animal birthright.
I am big on celebrating being animals and being ELECTRIC. With awareness, awe, curiosity, immersion, and pleasure. Any practice that encourages spending time bonding our bodies with nature and the earth, and mindful of how we ourselves — our brains, our hearts — are zipping and zapping with electricity, is great, and something I want to integrate more into my life.
While I’m not ready to invest in any of the earthing products being sold just yet, I for sure would at least try them out if I got them for free or became rich enough to outfit our home and bodies with these devices and wearables. And I am *definitely* charged up by the idea of prioritizing and making more time and space for a healthy and pleasurable outdoor barefoot lifestyle.
Knowing there are bare foot fans out there who would love to see more dirty bare feet outside in nature helps sweeten the pot for investing more time “earthing” / grounding.