Friday, July 26, 2013

Global Barefooter-Saudi Arabia

 Our international audience continues to diversify. One of or largest groups of new readers are from Saudi Arabia. We're grateful to have you viewing our site!

We're being honest when we say we didn't expect to find much information on going barefoot in the famous desert nation. After all, women aren't even supposed to show bare ankles. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bent the rules a bit on her visit with the Saudi King.

So we expected a random search to come up empty, but the vast desert is quite an attractive place for the extreme runner.

me agian

This man is known only as "Ron"  In his running rants, Ron tell how junk is littered throughout the desert near the city of Dharan, where he lives, and also shows spiny burs from desert plants that make barefooting a challenge.

So while the social rules of Saudi Arabia may require one's shoes to be on in most places outside a Mosque, it seems that the desert is anyone's best barefoot adventure.

Blessings! 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Barefoot walking-the new fountain of youth? Yes!


Barefoot Walking is being called the Fountain of Youth. While we take the term with a grain of salt, take off your shoes and try what the book Barefoot Walking teaches, because it is truthful indeed.

This writer at Almost Barefoot first started barefoot running four years ago when the co-author of Barefoot Walking, Michael Sandler, was profiled in the Denver post and has followed Sandler’s teachings ever since.

The book Barefoot Walking, co-authored by Sandler and his wife, Jessica Lee, delves deep into the science and life style that is centered on barefooting. The couple go barefoot nearly everywhere. Sandler was re-born after an accident that almost killed him. Barefoot running was the focus f his recovery. Barefooting later became a lifestyle that made him feel younger at age 39 than he’d felt since his teen years.
Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee
 

“Going barefoot isn’t just a new experience, it’s an old experience, one you likely had as a child. Letting your feet feel the ground taps into the muscle memories and pleasant recollections of youth,” Sandler writes in chapter three.

Indeed, it is true that you will “feel like a little kid” again when you try barefoot walking or running. This psychological boost will stifle your stress, and you’ll begin to reap physical benefits as well. To summarize what Sandler writes, the collective effects of freeing your feet will stimulate muscles that have been dormant for years, and your entire body will have a beneficial awaking.

  • Better posture.
  • Stronger abs that come from better posture and muscular awakening.
  • An end to typical foot pain-this comes from compression by your shoes and over-stretching of the fascia due to your shoes’ constriction.
  • Better blood circulation, which will help reduce cold feet issues and nourishes every cell that the blood reached in your body.
  • Better natural padding in your feet. Your body will re-deposit the strategic padding you had when you were a toddler who walked barefoot.

Almost Barefoot highly recommends the wonderful book, Barefoot Walking, by Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee (Random House, 2013).
 
BIO Profiles-Almost Barefoot
 
Vincent Gerbino is a barefoot runner and Yoga instructor. He worked for over ten years as a news reporter with the Cabinet Press, is currently a reporter for Examiner.comwww.examiner.com, and has been published in New Hampshire magazine. Vincent now runs the Barefoot Running Club established by Jessica Lee and Michael Sandler in 2009.
 
 
 
 

Shoes for barefooters-a unique find we like

We're excited to find a new shoe for when we must wear them.

Yes, we're once  again talking about clogs, as we will over the course of this summer.

Observe below, a very unique take on traditional clogs. Note the cut-out on the top.
Avid bare footers with high arches will very likely enjoy these. A woman with high arches told this writer that while her feet feel good standing in clogs, the top of her foot gets pinched by the edge of the shoe top. (Continued below)

 
These clogs come from our friends in Germany, a nation whose many wonderful aspects include great shoes for barefooters-Birkenstocks, for one, and of course, Berlin Clogs, who are the maker of the clogs we see here. We eagerly await the arrival of these clogs that we ordered.
 
We'll be back soon.....Blessings!  

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Barefoot Walking-The book, the science, the fun!


Barefoot walking is contagious!
In their new book, Barefoot Walking, Michael Sandler andJessica Lee explain how a group of serous business people ditched their shoes just by seeing Michael walking barefoot on the sidewalks of New York, to serious business meetings no less!

Today, we start with this story, and it will be the first of many as we peruse the book over the next three weeks. We look forward to having you join us!

From Chapter 2 of Barefoot Walking: “Why Barefoot Is Best” (Don’t we know it!)

Monday, June 6, 2011. Our literary agent, Stephanie, had miraculously planned ten back-to back meetings in one day. To make each meeting on time, we’d have to walk at top speed from one corporate office to the next. But she’d mapped it out well and clocked each leg, so we were well prepared for the challenge

Tromping through Manhattan to our first meeting, however, Stephanie’s feet began to ache. She wasn’t wearing anything overstated or terribly disfiguring on her feet, no stilettos or pointy-toed shoes. Instead, she’d donned a tasteful, open-toed sandal, quite appropriate for late spring meetings with execs, though perhaps a tiny bit too narrow in the toe box.

But as we walked briskly down the city streets and Stephanie watched be go barefoot, she proudly declared: “Oh, what the heck!” and stripped off her shoes.

And her feet came back to life.

First, her feet took to springing, then bouncing, and finally even bounding at times. Fortunately, Stephanie had read our first book, Barefoot Running, and she was a burgeoning yogi, so she was already well practiced in barefoot movement. Even so, she was astounded by how much better her feet were feeling walking barefoot. We felt like kids, playing along the streets of New York. She was giddy with delight.

Into meeting after meeting, both Stephanie and I made our entrance barefoot. It became a topic of conversation among department VPs and senior editors, some of the nicest yet toughest individuals in the city. They were often no-nonsense New Yorkers with strong ideas, traditionally not quick to change. And yet when Stephanie showed up barefoot, they soon found themselves following suit and delightfully stripped off their shoes. It was contagious.

This book is a result of that day….on a day when her feet should have been killing her, Stephanie was delighted to to report, her feet had survived the streets of New York and felt better than ever.  “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?” she asked.

 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Barefooter's best shoes....more to come on our clogs reviews!

We can't help that we're excited. Wearing clogs is such a relief for the barefooter who must be shod in certain situations-like work and other minor details that enable survival.

Clogs are the barefooter's best shoe choice when there is not choice but to wear shoes. The good news is that wearing shoes can be fun when they are clogs.

Our new order of Berlin Clogs is in process, and we'll soon be wearing them and sharing our experiences with you. And quite honestly, we can't wait! It's like taking off your shoes on a whim and strutting barefoot down the sidewalk just because that's the way the day is going.

 We'll soon be strutting in our Berlin Clogs, black with the traditional cut we know and love. it will be a pleasure to compare them to other brands we love and trust and see just how well these do.
 
Quite honestly, Almost Barefoot has a lot of confidence in our clogs-to -come. After all, they are hand-crafted by Germans, people who have made and worn clogs for centuries. Other German favorite shoes include the lauded Birkenstocks, another great shoe choice for barefooters.
 
And we also applaud our friends from Deutschland for simply having taste in fashion. While we love no country more than we love our dear U.S.A., our great nation's fashion is so backward. Men wear clogs all over Europe. Why is it still such an oddity here? I do commend the many American women who have complimented my clogs, just as I compliment the strength and boldness of the American woman, and of women worldwide.
 
 
We'll be back. And soon!  Many barefoot blessings to you!
 
 

Barefooters-It's our time.

The time to be barefoot is now. It is summer, and summer belongs to the barefooter. It's our time.

Now is the time to go barefoot on the sidewalk with your head held high.

It's time to enjoy the smiles you get from those who appreciate truly living. We share a kindred bond.

It's time to enjoy the blank stares from those who just can't quite get it. You might be helping them change their perspective.

It 's time to encourage others to join us in sharing the benefits, the goodness and the great feeling of being barefoot.

So enjoy the day. Enjoy some of it with your shoes off. And never think you're alone in your interest.

Many barefoot blessings

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Featured clogs-Sven Clogs

My favorite thing about clogs will always be that I can easily slip out for a moment and be barefoot as I need to be. Every barefooter can enjoy this luxury amidst the situation that requires them to be constrained by shoes.
It's that easy to just slip ou of them or kick them off.
As far as enjoying clogs when they are on, that's easy, too. The clogs in the photos are Sven clogs. Their bottoms are made of wood, and the wood is quite light, so they won't clunk unless you want them too.

Svens also have a wide toe box. They let your foot spread out and be comfortable and can be worn for hours on the very first day.


Sven clogs are typically bought in stores rather than online, but the retailers who sell them work with you so that it is as easy as online shopping but with a better, personal touch.
 
The clogs can be customized in many ways! You can choose the color of the sole as well as the color of the shoe top, and there is a very wide selection that insures fun and diversity for your wardrobe.
 
 
Almost Barefoot got Svens at El Lorro Jewelry in Boulder, CO.
 
 
 
 
Kick 'em off under the desk.......enjoy a barefoot moment!
 



Saturday, July 13, 2013

Barefooter's best shoes


In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to wear shoes except when we wanted to. But the world is what it is. No need to fret or be bitter; there are great footwear options that work with an Almost-Barefoot lifestyle. Here are some fail-safe favorite.
 
CLOGS
               
WE LOVE THEM.   YOU WILL, TOO.
 

Clogs. Enough said. Not really. Lots of good things need to be said about them. Traditional clogs are perfect for a person who prefers to be barefoot. When you wear a good pair of traditional clogs, you essentially are barefoot, and not just because clogs can be worn without socks.

Although clogs are footwear, they are not shoes. Instead of bending, clogs roll when you step; they allow your foot to lift up off the platform as you step, and well-made pair will stretch to accommodate the movement that is your natural step so that they become loose on your feet while remaining secure.

Traditional clogs have wooden bottoms, so they simulate the hard ground and thus encourage you to step naturally as if you weren’t wearing shoes (see barefoot running tab). Your foot spreads out upon the wood foundation that is the sole of the clog. Because your feet lift and roll when you walk, a natural gait comes very close to replicating barefoot movement.
 
 

Clogs are also fun. They make noise, nice rhythmic noise that lets you be noticed. The very nature of clogs, clunky with substance, gives an air of authority. They let you announce your presence in the room and put you on a platform to be noticed. And with a bit of will, one can crush objects with them.

While no suggestion is being made toward violence, but these big, wearable chunks of wood suggest strength. So enjoy that psychological lift from your clogs. One more perk; they give you a bit of height if you’re short, and if you’re not short, what’s a bit more height?
 
Clogs aren’t just for women, though we love the beautiful and authoritative, fun appearance a woman has when she wears them!    Clogs complement traditional clothes perfectly well. Men and women wear them all over Europe.
 
American fashion is not so ordinarily bold, but America is a free country, so if you’re living in America, act, and dress, as if you actually know it is a free country.

 

We'll be talking at length about clogs in coming posts.
 
Clogs are part of the barefoot doctrine, after all!
 
We'll review many different brands of clogs, share pictures and links so you can buy them.
 
As long as you must wear closed-toed shoes, wear clogs.


 
We will soon be in touch!       
Featured clogs today: 
Up top: Berlin Clogs-we'll be wearing and reviewing them for you soon!
Above: Sven Clogs-Swedish design, made in USA! Full review coming soon!