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Barefoot Walking: Free Your Feet to Minimize Impact, Maximize Efficiency, and Discover the Pleasure of Getting in Touch with the Earth
From the authors of Barefoot Running, the essential guide to the life-changing benefits of barefoot walking
As the thousands of people who have fallen in love with barefoot running already know, shedding your shoes is good for the body and the soul. Barefoot Walking shows all readers, no matter their fitness level, how to take command of their physical and spiritual well-being through this simple and easy practice, even if they are daunted by sore feet, achy joints, injury, illness, or feeling out of shape. This book contains special material for children, pregnant women, and seniors, and shows anyone how this gentle, natural activity can literally transform one's life, restoring health, vitality, strength, and balance, and improving focus, mood, memory, and more. Full of tips and tools for going bare, this is the essential handbook for people who want to move their body, connect with the earth, and feel physically and psychologically more alive.
As the thousands of people who have fallen in love with barefoot running already know, shedding your shoes is good for the body and the soul. Barefoot Walking shows all readers, no matter their fitness level, how to take command of their physical and spiritual well-being through this simple and easy practice, even if they are daunted by sore feet, achy joints, injury, illness, or feeling out of shape. This book contains special material for children, pregnant women, and seniors, and shows anyone how this gentle, natural activity can literally transform one's life, restoring health, vitality, strength, and balance, and improving focus, mood, memory, and more. Full of tips and tools for going bare, this is the essential handbook for people who want to move their body, connect with the earth, and feel physically and psychologically more alive.
- GenresFitnessHealthNonfiction
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
32 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 23, 2021
I started being completely barefoot a few month ago and wanted a book to accompany the amazing experience I was having transitioning from wearing shoes. This book looked good and it certainly delivered! I pulled so many quotes from it to share with my peeps! It is written with such passion for the natural world and our natural state of being barefoot, I would say it is an absolute must read for anyone who is going barefoot or thinking about it. I didn't read every word as some sections were not relevant to me so skip read about 1/3 of the content but the words I did read in full were so inspiring and so well informed, I learned lots of new stuff and had some other stuff I already felt i knew reaffirmed. highly recommended!
July 31, 2013
far too light on science or research and far too heavy on new age philosophy to have any real bearing on whether I wear shoes or not. Practical concerns like not wanting to step barefoot on a discarded needle or broken glass are waved off with a "you'll get more vigilant about where you put your feet when you're barefoot". I'm liking my minimal shoes, but these folks are too far over the top for me to follow suit and shed my soles.
September 10, 2019
Very good practical advice on walking barefoot and foot health in general.
I read it as a handbook, only skimming through the redundant introductory chapters that try to convince about the benefits of going barefoot (if I'm reading this book, do I actually need convincing?).
I'm fine with some spiritual reference around the idea of plugging back into the Earth, but I found the authors to be insisting a bit too much on this aspect.
I read it as a handbook, only skimming through the redundant introductory chapters that try to convince about the benefits of going barefoot (if I'm reading this book, do I actually need convincing?).
I'm fine with some spiritual reference around the idea of plugging back into the Earth, but I found the authors to be insisting a bit too much on this aspect.
September 23, 2019
Sorry to say this was one book I had to put aside on my Did Not Finish shelf. Although I agree with the premice and have tried functioning more and more sans shoes, the actual book could have been at least half what it was. It was quite repetitive and 400 and some pages is just way more than is necessary to outline the program. I do love going barefoot though!
March 5, 2023
A couple good tips on strengthening and working on progressive overload of skin toughness and connective and muscular tissue strengths but this book is stuffed to the gills with un-cited new age vegan hippy like tropes that it really didn’t need to be this long.
Wouldn’t not have purchased in the end, likely would have just take. Pictures of some of the exercise pages and called it good.
Wouldn’t not have purchased in the end, likely would have just take. Pictures of some of the exercise pages and called it good.
August 4, 2013
more about talking you into walking Barefoot than the science behind it.
August 25, 2022
Definitely the book to read if you are thinking about walking barefoot. It covers everything and then some...
March 21, 2025
I was sorely disappointed in this book. Having foot problems, I was hoping for some insights and guidance. The author's lack of scientific statistical understanding left me wondering what else he might not understand.
For instance, he repeatedly, through anecdote, discusses the advantage of barefoot walking over a sedentary lifestyle. However, he never shows that going barefoot is better than wearing shoes.
He also seems to believe that the ground in electronic devices means there is a wire that is connected to the earth.
The book is more spiritual than it is a solid medical guide. He has some good motivational text and a lot of advice. A lot of this can be validated though other sources. But given the weak buildup of his arguments, I wouldn't have faith in his advice without backing it up in other sources. So not using this text seems to be a reasonable approach.
If you want the motivation or enjoy the spiritual aspects of the book, it may provide some value for you.
For instance, he repeatedly, through anecdote, discusses the advantage of barefoot walking over a sedentary lifestyle. However, he never shows that going barefoot is better than wearing shoes.
He also seems to believe that the ground in electronic devices means there is a wire that is connected to the earth.
The book is more spiritual than it is a solid medical guide. He has some good motivational text and a lot of advice. A lot of this can be validated though other sources. But given the weak buildup of his arguments, I wouldn't have faith in his advice without backing it up in other sources. So not using this text seems to be a reasonable approach.
If you want the motivation or enjoy the spiritual aspects of the book, it may provide some value for you.
April 12, 2025
The actual reading is about 386 pages. Lot of enthusiasm. More advice than I ever thought possible! Who knew that walking barefoot could be so complicated? Not me, and I've been barefoot a lot.
I confess that I didn't finish it (I read maybe 140 pages or so). If I was someone seriously looking at how to go from traditionally shod/never shoeless to totally barefoot, I would probably want this book, and would finish it - especially if I feared going barefoot.
I got this book a few years ago, only because I wanted books about being barefoot. I didn't finish it last time, either. Just too much info I don't need.
P.S. I think some of the benefits (science) in this book of going barefoot were made up. If not by them, then by someone talking to them.
I confess that I didn't finish it (I read maybe 140 pages or so). If I was someone seriously looking at how to go from traditionally shod/never shoeless to totally barefoot, I would probably want this book, and would finish it - especially if I feared going barefoot.
I got this book a few years ago, only because I wanted books about being barefoot. I didn't finish it last time, either. Just too much info I don't need.
P.S. I think some of the benefits (science) in this book of going barefoot were made up. If not by them, then by someone talking to them.
August 5, 2022
Too intense a program for everyone. Does not consider that people are coming from all sorts of backgrounds or injury recovery.
August 19, 2024
Practical tips are great.
This book is very well researched and I have experienced the wisdom of the authors' advice in my own barefoot walking. It loses me a bit when it crosses into areas beyond walking that are completely out of touch with the realities of rural farming and offers social solutions that do not reflect the complexity of the problems. For instance, the authors highly criticize GMOs as almost Frankensteinish without acknowledging such practices are not new and have been vital in ensuring their is enough food for a growing world population.
This book is very well researched and I have experienced the wisdom of the authors' advice in my own barefoot walking. It loses me a bit when it crosses into areas beyond walking that are completely out of touch with the realities of rural farming and offers social solutions that do not reflect the complexity of the problems. For instance, the authors highly criticize GMOs as almost Frankensteinish without acknowledging such practices are not new and have been vital in ensuring their is enough food for a growing world population.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews