Barefoot Walking: Free Your Feet to Minimize Impact, Maximize Efficiency, and Discover the Pleasure of Getting in Touch with the Earth

By Michael Sandler, Jessica Lee, Sakyong Mipham and Dr. Joseph Mercola

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9780307985927

Reviews for Barefoot Walking

[ritaer_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I speed read this from the library last year before buying it this year. Flaked out on making the conversion to barefoot, or minimal shoe walking last year but determined to do it this time around. The arguments make intuitive sense; since a very early age I doubted the idea that feet need support, since I was aware of many native peoples who seemed to do quite well without it, even in rough or rocky terrain.

[nodosaurus · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

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 the 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.

[bodhisattva_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A companion volume to the authors' earlier book Barefoot Running, offering more details on how to end our dependence on shoes once and for all.As one who grew up with orthotics and super-support shoes, and who found it harder and harder to run in modern running shoes, going barefoot was nothing short of a total, radical change. I was able to get out of pronation-correction shoes and into barefoot (and minimalist shoe) walking, hiking, and running with still astonishing results.Thank you, Michael and Jessica!