Bare feet...
Walk them on grass, sand, stones, moss, and clover. No spa needed.
It’s one of those simple pleasures loads of folks enjoy. Until a couple years ago, I wasn’t aware that there was more to it than the feeling of freedom and the natural bit of acupressure it provided.
I’ve developed a habit of taking some time as often as I can to stroll through the front lawn in bare feet. It’s usually free of rocks and sand burrs, making it a very comfy place to walk. My sister is a reflexology therapist. She often encourages her clients to engage in an activity called earthing to help them feel better, especially if they develop it into a frequent habit.
To make it an organic activity, all that’s needed is to spend a bit of daily time putting your skin into contact with the ground or against some organic object connected to the ground, like a tree.
Easy-peasy.
In the research I did on earthing, (also known as grounding) I learned it’s an age-old practice that got tossed out with lots of other homeopathic therapies when modern medicine pushed its way into the scheme of things.
What good is it?
Before I go further in sharing an answer to that question, I wanna ensure you've got a least a layman's understanding of free radicals (the bad guys) and antioxidants (the good guys).
The following is an excerpt from Rice University's, Sports MD Web page that explains it in a blonde-friendly fashion even I can understand. 😊
Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. Once formed these highly reactive radicals can start a chain reaction, like dominoes. Their chief danger comes from the damage they can do when they react with important cellular components such as DNA, or the cell membrane. Cells may function poorly or die if this occurs. To prevent free radical damage the body has a defense system of antioxidants.
Antioxidants are molecules that can safely interact with free radicals and terminate the chain reaction before vital molecules are damaged. Although there are several enzyme systems within the body that scavenge free radicals, the principal micronutrient (vitamin) antioxidants are vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C. Additionally, selenium, a trace metal required for proper function of one of the body's antioxidant enzyme systems, is sometimes included in this category. The body cannot manufacture these micronutrients so they must be supplied in the diet.
For the homeopathic medicine tribe, earthing involves connecting to the earth through the soles of your feet. Dr. Steven Sinatra, MD, one of America's most respected cardiologists and founder of the MD Heart Institute, insists that time with our bare feet against the earth is incredibly good for us and serves as an excellent intervention for life-threatening diseases and disorders.
Here's what Dr. Sinatra says about it, paraphrased into lingo by yours truly...
For the homeopathic medicine tribe, earthing involves connecting to the earth through the soles of your feet. Dr. Steven Sinatra, MD, one of America's most respected cardiologists and founder of the MD Heart Institute, insists that time with our bare feet against the earth is incredibly good for us and serves as an excellent intervention for life-threatening diseases and disorders.
Here's what Dr. Sinatra says about it, paraphrased into lingo by yours truly...
👣When you walk on the ground in bare feet, free electrons transfer from the earth to your body. It's one of the most potent antioxidants known.
👣 Often folks with inflammation have thickened blood, free radical stress and positive charges in their bodies. Studies show grounding to be effective as a natural blood thinner (remarkably effective) by eliminating the charged ions through the soles of their feet.
👣 Grounding improves the energy between our red blood cells, starting in about 80 minutes after connecting our bare feet with the earth.
👣 Grounding is so effective, that if a person is already taking a blood thinning agent, it may thin their blood too much. So, if you qualify for that please abstain from running around barefoot until you consult your doctor.
Grounding products
For folks that have a hard time finding a place for some earth-to-skin contact, there are products to help with it—things like shower mats, bedding, sleeping mats, wrist bands and even shoes!
I’ve spoken with friends and colleagues in the medical field who’ve invested in at least a few types of earthing products that they insist they sincerely feel better since using them. To see a variety of grounding products available on Amazon, click here.
The red glow...
This is a picture Nee (my sister) took of her own feet, standing in the field behind our home. The color hasn’t been manipulated. She spends quite a bit of time outdoors in bare feet. While walking in the field adjacent to our yard, she came across an old horseshoe.
The back story to it is that Nee struggles with auto-immune challenges that sometimes put her in a great deal of pain. The day she took this shot, she was feeling quite rough and decided to spend some barefoot time in the newly plowed field behind our little farm.
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| Image via Alicia Jaye Phillips |
While she was stepping through the dirt, she came across what looked like an ancient horseshoe and thought it’d make for an interesting photo op and snapped a shot with her mobile.
In less than ten minutes after she stepped into the field, her pain decreased and she began feeling much better!
Later, when she viewed the pic she’d taken, she noticed the reddish tinge on her feet and the ground near where she stood, that had not been visible to the naked eye. The glow is Intriguing, at least to the two of us.
For tribal folk, red is the color associated with healing. It’s the same for Christian folk, and Nee’s a healer by profession.
It causes me to think of a blending of energies that normally aren't visible to our eyes but the camera was able to make visible to us. When it comes to colors, our eyes are limited. (If you're curious about what color blends we can't see, click here.)
¹He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, ²in the middle of its street.
On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month.
The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 2:1-2
(World Messianic Bible)
The wrap!
Maybe all of us could feel a striking difference after spending some time grounding. Perhaps most of us never noticed it before because we didn’t pay attention when against the earth in bare feet, climbing a tree, or walking over rocks.
Your opinion or personal experience with any of this is encouraged and welcome in the comments section. My opinion is that grounding for good health and preventative medicine makes sense. How 'bout you?
Thank you for visiting today! If you’ve had an experience with earthing/grounding, please leave us a comment about it. We’d love to hear from you!
Shalom
