Barefoot Benefits


Barefoot benefits“Not everyone may find it easy to  get up early in the morning and walk, run or do their exercises on the still dewy grass. Perhaps you live in a town with a narrow streets and would find it inconvenient to go outside and seek out a green meadow before breakfast in order to do a little morning exercise. Still, it would be a most refreshing activity for all the many town dwellers who are normaling locked up in their rooms and offices, before actually having to surrender to the hustle and bustle of a busy day. how much to be envied are those who still live close to nature, who in the early mornings carry out their natural exercises by making hay or doing general farm and garden work. Even though they may not realise it, these people are conditioning their bodies all the while. to them it is nothing but their work, part of their daily routine. it would be a first class restorative to take a holiday on a farm and get up early and join these people in their early morning chores so as to regenerate our bodies which have been wearied and worn out during the working year. Think, too, of the opportunity you would have of learning from nature, helping you to adopt a more optimistic view of life.

Early morning exercises require deep breathing, and this will help to drive out the remaining traces of weariness from our bodies, enabling us to start the days work refreshed, even more so if we are able to walk on dewy grass, sebastian kneipp was one who called attention to the effects of dew, and it is beneficial to our health if we make use of natures gifts. civilisation has robbed us of our freedom by forcing us to live in cramped houses and towns, but nature teaches us little things that can make up for this loss to some extent. Observing these lessons can help us to maintain a reasonable physical balance while having to accept the hustle of everyday life.”
“Walking barefoot is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. In fact, nowadays many people associate it with poverty or eccentricity, they look down on it. Just try it and dare to go for a long walk without shoes and watch how many glances of surprise, pity and even contepmt  you will attract. What does this indicate? That the onlookers have all but forgotten or never learned the benefits of walking barefoot. they know nothing of the peculiar, mysterious power it can convey, or else they would not react the way they do. Of course there are many whose feet are untrained and would not be capable of walkng barefoot over stones, but if you go for an early morning walk on dewy grass you will soon notice that going barefoot makes you feel really good, generating new strength when you have been feeling tired and worn out. It is like recharging ones batteries, so to speak, recharging your run down nerves with energy. It seems as if mother earth is giving off energy that improves the glandular functions. That is why i consider it rather strange that, although overtired and worn out, we do not take full advantage of this simple regenerative treatment, which is able to stimulate our endocrine glands to increase their activity. Whenever we are in the garden, woods and forest, fields and meadows, we should make full use of the opportunity to take off our shoes and socks or stockings and walk barefoot, especially in the summer when the ground is warm. Take care, however to walk only on the natural ground, for the more unspoilt the ground the greater will be the benefit derived from its magnetic field. Never believe that walking barefoot on ashpalt, concrete or any other artificial surface will do the same good. No, it is better to wear shoes on this kind of surface, because you will not stand to gain anything by it, rather the opposite. Also, do not cool down your body even further by going barefoot when it is cold and wet. In certain mountain or rural areas the children the children can often be seen going without shoes throughout the entire summer, even when it is  cold and raining. Their parents follow the custom of putting away their childrens shoes and socks at the beginning of spring, only bringing them out again when the winter has set in. But even during the summer months a rainy spell can cool the atmosphere so much that barefeet will no longer benefit the health. it should be clear that it would be much better to be reasonable and sensible as regards the waring of shoes in inclement weather. on the other hand, if walking bareoot is done sensibly, it cannot be recommended highly enough as a remedy for all those who are worn out and over worked, and who suffer from glandular insufficiency and other problems. if you fell tense because of stress and overwork, why not try it and see how you will obtain soothing relief. The ancient greeks were not as weak as the people of our modern age, yet they seem to have understood the revitalising benefits coming from the ground, or else they would not have passed on to us the old legend of Gaea, the energising mother earth. the legend tells of the giant Antaeus, son of gaea, who was invincible as long as he touched his mother, the earth. When wrestling with him his adversary was able to defeat him only because he noticed that Antaeus regained new strenght every time he touched the ground, but that his strength diminished as soon as he was lifted into the air. Granted, this is only a legend, but the story must have been based on certain observations of natural phenomena, for it is a fact that the earth holds wonderful regenerative powers capable of imparting energy to our bodies. A simple test is that is needed to prove this assertion. Even though it has not yet been possible to discover and prove scientifically the actual cause of this elemental force, our experience of it cannot easily be refuted.”

From the book “The nature doctor” (1952)

By Dr H.C.A. Vogel

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