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Letting go is an important practice in everyday life, as well as on the path of liberation. Daily life provides innumerable small and large occasions for letting go of plans, desires, preferences, and opinions. It can be as simple as when the weather changes, and we abandon plans we had for the day. Learning how to do so skillfully is essential to a happy life. - Gil Fronsdal
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Constantly wearing shoes is bad for your physical health!
Yoga considers the shoe a “sensory deprivation chamber” and a “massive bacterial factory.”
Here are ten ways that shoes negatively impact your physical health and why going barefoot much more often is the corrective:
1. Going barefoot strengthens the stabilizing muscles of the foot and ankle and makes them stronger. Shoes give a lot of stability and support and can make the foot and ankle lazy.
2. Going barefoot improves proprioception – this is the subconscious awareness of where and how the body's limbs should be most advantageously positioned.
3. Going barefoot strengthens the ankles and develops more support. Almost 30% of the joints in our body are in our feet. Our feet are the base of support for our whole body. Often knee and back pain stem from improper foot mechanics.
4. Going barefoot improves muscle alignment. Different muscle segments are used when we are barefoot than when we are in shoes (sensory deprivation chamber).
5. Going barefoot improves and strengthens the neuromuscular pathways of the foot and leg which, in turn affects and improves the way we move.
6. Going barefoot strengthens the arches while wearing shoes weakens them greatly. Weak arches are due to shoe wearing and weak arches lead to a lifetime of orthopedic issues.
7. Going barefoot increases flexibility and mobility of the foot providing a much wider range of motion.
8. Going barefoot creates better circulation. It not only wakes up long-dormant muscles of the feet and legs, but gets more blood flow to the feet and legs. This increased blood flow means less aches and pains, less varicose veins, and warmer feet, toes and legs in the winter.
9. Going barefoot decreases blood pressure. Studies show that stimulating the nerves in the bottom of the feet lowers blood pressure.
10. Going barefoot creates healthier feet overall. Shoes (sensory deprivation chambers) are the cause of most foot problems: bunions, corns, athlete’s foot, hammer toes, ingrown toe nails and fallen arches. People who spend lots of time barefoot do not experience any of these and generally do not even get any callouses. Research has shown that people before the invention of shoes had much healthier feet.
BONUS BENEFIT: Going barefoot eliminates, completely, foot odor. Bare feet do not naturally produce an odor. The sweat glands in the feet are just like the sweat glands in the hands. No one ever complains about smelly hands. Wearing shoes produces “athletes foot” issues. No one ever complains about having “athletes hands” Feet will only give off an odor and produce “athletes foot” after being cooped up in shoes for hours.
These are the reasons why yoga is always, always done barefoot. Yoga seeks to be a corrective for unhealthy feet suffocating inside shoes hour after hour.
Yoga considers the shoe a “sensory deprivation chamber” and a “massive bacterial factory.”
Here are ten ways that shoes negatively impact your physical health and why going barefoot much more often is the corrective:
1. Going barefoot strengthens the stabilizing muscles of the foot and ankle and makes them stronger. Shoes give a lot of stability and support and can make the foot and ankle lazy.
2. Going barefoot improves proprioception – this is the subconscious awareness of where and how the body's limbs should be most advantageously positioned.
3. Going barefoot strengthens the ankles and develops more support. Almost 30% of the joints in our body are in our feet. Our feet are the base of support for our whole body. Often knee and back pain stem from improper foot mechanics.
4. Going barefoot improves muscle alignment. Different muscle segments are used when we are barefoot than when we are in shoes (sensory deprivation chamber).
5. Going barefoot improves and strengthens the neuromuscular pathways of the foot and leg which, in turn affects and improves the way we move.
6. Going barefoot strengthens the arches while wearing shoes weakens them greatly. Weak arches are due to shoe wearing and weak arches lead to a lifetime of orthopedic issues.
7. Going barefoot increases flexibility and mobility of the foot providing a much wider range of motion.
8. Going barefoot creates better circulation. It not only wakes up long-dormant muscles of the feet and legs, but gets more blood flow to the feet and legs. This increased blood flow means less aches and pains, less varicose veins, and warmer feet, toes and legs in the winter.
9. Going barefoot decreases blood pressure. Studies show that stimulating the nerves in the bottom of the feet lowers blood pressure.
10. Going barefoot creates healthier feet overall. Shoes (sensory deprivation chambers) are the cause of most foot problems: bunions, corns, athlete’s foot, hammer toes, ingrown toe nails and fallen arches. People who spend lots of time barefoot do not experience any of these and generally do not even get any callouses. Research has shown that people before the invention of shoes had much healthier feet.
BONUS BENEFIT: Going barefoot eliminates, completely, foot odor. Bare feet do not naturally produce an odor. The sweat glands in the feet are just like the sweat glands in the hands. No one ever complains about smelly hands. Wearing shoes produces “athletes foot” issues. No one ever complains about having “athletes hands” Feet will only give off an odor and produce “athletes foot” after being cooped up in shoes for hours.
These are the reasons why yoga is always, always done barefoot. Yoga seeks to be a corrective for unhealthy feet suffocating inside shoes hour after hour.
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The practice of letting go is often mistrusted. One good reason for this mistrust is because, without wisdom, it is easy to let go of the wrong things; for example, when we let go of such healthy pursuits as exercising or eating well, instead of our clinging to those pursuits. - Gil Fronsdal
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If you cannot, for whatever reason, be of help to others, at least don’t harm them. Consider yourself a tourist. Think of the world as it is seen from space, so small and insignificant yet so beautiful. Could there really be anything to be gained from harming others during our stay here? - Dalai Lama 14th
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Can we stop idolizing wealthy people on TV and social media who seem to always be on a yacht or exotic beach? Instead, let’s find people enjoying the richness of the world around them, from rivers and streams to libraries and theaters. - Justin Whitaker
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Compassion is one of the principal things that make our lives meaningful. It is the source of all lasting happiness and joy. And it is the foundation of a good heart, the heart of one who acts out of a desire to help others. - Dalai Lama 14th
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We need to accept our missteps in life. These lapses contribute to elevating self-awareness, gaining information about ourselves, and assist in formulating a different approach when again faced with the same or similar challenge. - Melissa Reagan Brunetti
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When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well. - Dalai Lama 14th
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Enlightenment is an accident, and meditation makes you accident-prone. - Zen Proverb
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A Zen master is nothing more than someone who has repeatedly screwed up and eventually learned something. We can do the same. - Mark Van Buren