Today's lesson: if you want to walk more mindfully...

Image courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/111747


... take off your shoes.

Seriously. It sounds like such a simple thing, but it makes a huge difference.



Barefoot Walking and Mindfulness

I discovered the link between barefoot walking and mindfulness experientially on my way to work today. The weather's getting warmer and drier down here in Aotearoa, and with Beltaine (or at least, its Southern Hemispherical calendar equivalent) a fortnight past now, Spring is visibly and inexorably starting to turn into Summer.

So I found myself wearing Summer clothes, which included sandals instead of the comfortable trainers I'd usually wear to walk in. Then, almost as soon as I got outside, I felt the immediate need to walk barefoot - something I haven't done in a long time now. And it's amazing how, the moment I took my shoes off, my walking automatically became more mindful.


It's More than Just Practicality

Part of that is just basic pragmatism, of course. With the ground not always being even - some patches of concrete or asphalt being rougher than others, and the occasional bit of gravel, or tree seeds or something uncomfortable underfoot - paying a modicum of attention to where I'm placing my feet is the only way to avoid seriously sore soles by the time I get to wherever I'm going.

But it's more than mere practicality. There's something about the flood of sensations that suddenly flow in through the skin on the bottom of my feet that automatically grabs at my awareness - focussing my mind on what's going on beneath them, instead of allowing it flitter between the thousand and one things in the past or the future that would normally distract it as I walked in my sneakers.


Mindfulness, Sensation and Gratitude

And as for reading while I'm walking barefoot (something I often do on my way to and from work)? Not a chance! I just don't have that much attention bandwidth... something that became very clear to me very quickly today. No, my mind was on wherever my next footfall would be - and then, as my foot made contact with the ground, on all the sensory information that was suddenly available about that specifc piece of ground. Right until my weight had transferred and it was time to work out where the next footfall would be.

I have to say, I don't think I've ever been quite so conscious of where exactly the patches of grass next to the sidewalk (we call them berms here in NZ, but I'm not sure if the term is used elsewhere in the world) started and ended. And ohhhhhhhhh, the relief when there'd been a long space between berms, when I finally got to take that first step onto the cool springiness of soft grass, instead of the harsh, hot roughness of the concrete pavement!

Of course, while I'm being mindful, I should really spare a moment, as I write this, to be grateful that not only do I live somewhere where I can walk to work; but that I live somewhere the sidewalks are safe enough and clean enough to walk on barefoot without risking injury or disease. Hey, I know full well that's something not everyone gets to enjoy.


And the Lesson, Summed up in a Sentence?

So yes. The moral of the story, apparently, is that if I want to walk more mindfully, all the training, and technique and practice in the world apparently can't hold a candle to the simple act of taking off my shoes.