Why I Almost Never Wear Shoes — The Many Benefits of Walking Barefoot

“Why are you barefoot?” “Where are your shoes?”

These are two of the most common questions that I hear as people look at me with a curious look on their face.

There was a time when I wore shoes. I had all kinds, too: hiking shoes, winter boots, business shoes, running shoes, flip flops, slip-ons, slippers, Velcro shoes, skateboard shoes, water shoes, athletic sandals … and the list could go on. I probably owned around a dozen pairs at any one point in my early adulthood.

But as I grew a bit older, I decided to break free from my preconceived notions of what was possible. I wanted to push the boundaries of my body. And ultimately, I wanted to live simply, free of many of the modern luxuries and conveniences that so many of us consider necessities. I had an idea that our feet could function just fine without shoes. I had an idea that our bodies had evolved over hundreds of thousands of years WITHOUT shoes on our feet and that, today, our feet could probably still do just as well without them. In fact, I had an inkling that my feet might even be better off without shoes.

Well, it’s been about a decade since I embarked on my barefoot journey and in this video I share with you about my barefoot life — why I’m barefoot, the benefits I’ve received from going barefoot and what you might get out of a little barefoot walking, too.

Transcript: The following is a transcription of Why I Almost Never Wear Shoes – The Many Benefits of Walking Barefoot.

Hey everybody,
Robin Greenfield here, and today I am going to talk to you about my barefoot life. And, of course, I am barefoot, as I usually am. I have been for about the last decade. And today I am going to talk to you about why I am barefoot, the benefits of being barefoot, and what maybe you could get out of it, too. And if I could sum that up in one thing, the reason why, it is because I believe these things work. I believe that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution has it more figured out than the last couple hundred years of humans and shoes. But there is a lot more to it than that, so stay tuned and I will share it all.

Why I Choose to Be Barefoot

So, I have not always been barefoot. I have to be honest. I think always there has been a little bit of an interest at least. Even when I was in high school growing up in northern Wisconsin with frigid cold winters, I seem to remember trying to go outside barefoot and I seem to remember going to parties in college in my sandals even in the middle of winter. So it has always been a part of me. But it was not until my early twenties, I was in New Zealand and Australia, and I had a mentor, I was doing a study abroad program and this guy, his name was Gary, he is from Tasmania, a pretty wild guy, and we would be climbing over mountains on our hikes, and this guy would be doing it barefoot. Everything we were doing, whether it was climbing or hopping over rocks or walking through town, this guy was barefoot. And I saw that and it just intrigued me, and I thought, hey, if Gary can do this, then I have to be able to as well. So I started to take my shoes off and walk with Gary, and at first maybe I would only make it a half mile or a mile, but pretty quickly I was making it a little bit more and a little bit more. And that is what I did. I started off small and built it up and built it up.

A few years later, I remember I was in Northport, New York, and there was a 10K, the Cow Harbor 10K, and I had never run a competitive 10K, that is six miles. I am not really a competitive person, but I decided, hey, I am going to do this and I am going to try to do it barefoot and see what happens. So I started out in the back of the pack, thinking that I would be pretty slow with everybody else having shoes and wanting to take it easy, and I started out and I just found myself passing dozens and dozens and then hundreds and hundreds of people, and I finished the race in about 44 minutes, I think it was. It was the fastest that I have ever run, really some of the fastest I have ever run in my entire life and it was barefoot. So, what happened was, I just found myself continuously exceeding what I thought that I could do with my body, and I found my body working naturally, and I found myself working within the boundaries that I had with my body, and I just grew into it.

Now a lot of people, they can understand walking barefoot at the beach, or maybe in a nice field, or hiking in a smooth place, but I go barefoot pretty much everywhere. Even in the streets of New York or in the alleys, I am generally always barefoot. Now, I put on shoes sometimes, of course, especially when I am visiting colder climates, but generally my goal is to try to be barefoot as much as I possibly can.

So, being barefoot for me is definitely about freedom. I get a great sense of freedom from being barefoot. But it is about so much more than that. For me, it is about allowing my feet to do what they have been designed to do. There are a couple of things that I want to talk about that I would like you to think about.

Modern Shoes

First, let’s talk about modern shoes and we will start with arch support. So, arch support, this is your arch right here, and the idea of arch support is it supports that arch. Now, the problem with that, if you have ever broken a bone and had to wear a cast, or know a friend who has, what you have seen is that by not using something, it atrophies. And, the problem that I see with arch support is when you support the arch it does not have to do its job anymore, and it atrophies. So these modern shoes actually create weaker feet, and it is not just the arch, it is the muscles, it is the ligaments, and it is the tendons. Our feet have a higher concentration of muscles, ligaments and tendons than many parts of our body, and wearing these shoes that give that support actually allows for the feet to not have to be strong, and not have to be able to do what they naturally do. It does not just end at the feet, though. Of course, we know everything about us is intricately connected. It is very easy to remove things and say this is your eye, and that is your foot, and it has absolutely nothing to do with each other, but, of course, we know that is not true. Everything is intricately connected. So when your feet are not working in that natural way, and you have that support that can throw off your legs, it can throw off your lower back, it can throw off your back. So these shoes can actually cause not just foot problems, but problems throughout your whole body. So, for me, being barefoot is about allowing my body to work as it has been designed over hundreds of thousands of years.

Nerve Endings and Sensory Connection

Another thing that is really special about the feet is that feet have more nerve endings in the bottom of our feet than most other parts of our body. I have to imagine that the lips would have more nerve endings, for example, they are so sensitive, but of all the places of our body, this has one of the highest concentrations of nerve endings. Now why would that be? Why would that be the case if they were designed to be stuck inside of a foot? My belief is that the shoes cut off the body’s ability to receive information. So when I am running barefoot and I am walking barefoot, my body is able to receive all of that information and have me be more connected to my surroundings, more connected to the earth that is underneath me. And I believe that cutting off those nerve endings can have very meaningful implications as well.

Soles/Calluses

There is something that happens when you start to let those nerve endings do their job, and this is a part of being barefoot, and that is that you develop calluses. So I like to say that it might appear that I am not wearing shoes, but in a way I actually am. They are a naturally built-in sole, right into the foot. So my sole is very thick and if I step on thorns, for example, most of the time they just go in a tiny way, not even to the sensitive part, not to the part that hurts, because the callus has been built over it. So I am able to step on little pieces of glass, for example, which I do sometimes, and it generally goes into the callus and does not go deep in. So, a lot of people worry about things like that. People always say, “Doesn’t it hurt? Don’t you get injured?” Well, first of all, you build it up over time. If you have been wearing shoes for decades, it takes you time for your feet to re-liberate and become a part of the land, but also again, just remember, these were designed to function in the first place.

A lot of shoe industries today are multi-billion dollar companies. This is a huge industry. Do you really think that the way they design everything is always for the best interest of our feet and our health? Or do you think that money may play a large role in the way they do things? There are actually studies out there that show that once shoes get above one hundred dollars, you actually see more injuries.

Staying Within My Physical Boundaries

That is the next big part that I really want to talk about. And that is that by being barefoot, what I have found is that I am actually able to stay within my boundaries. Think about this for a second. Our shoes are designed with shock absorption in them. You see on these commercials how it shows “the perfect shock absorption!” Okay, I am not a very good impersonator. But where do we see the most knee replacements and hip replacements? It is from sports like basketball, like tennis, like track and field on concrete, where people are wearing shoes and just pounding their feet down. So, by being barefoot, what happens is, I am required to take that impact naturally. I use my legs and my feet to step down and jump down in a way where I take that impact in. But what happens with the modern-day shoes is they allow us to really hit down hard, and it does take some of that impact, but not nearly enough. So what I have found is that the modern-day shoe actually allows me to go beyond the natural limitations of my body, and allows me to injure myself even more. So, like I have said, I have injured my feet a few times. But the injuries that I have had are minor compared to the long-term, damaging injuries that you see in this societal way of just allowing ourselves to push our bodies beyond what they are actually capable of doing. So being barefoot forces me to stay within my body’s capability.

Barefoot Keeps Me Outside

Now, speaking of forcing me to do what my body is designed to do, and what I want to do, being barefoot also keeps me out of places that I do not want to go. You know the sign, “No shoes, no shirt, no service.” Well, a lot of places will not allow me in barefoot. One of those places is bars. I do not really want to drink very much, I do not really want to go to those places so being barefoot actually prevents me from going to those places even when I might slip up and go to them, because I am often out and about with no shoes at all. So, being barefoot just kind of keeps me outside, and keeps me, if I am not outside, in more chill places, the places that I want to be, rather than in shopping malls, and consumeristic places, and bars. So, being barefoot really just kind of forces me to live the life that I actually want.

Barefoot Forces Me to Slow Down

Another thing that being barefoot does is it forces me to slow down. I have to pay attention to where I am going. With shoes, you can just plow over everything and not have to think about the ground beneath your feet. But whether I am walking or I am running, I mentioned that not wearing shoes really connects me to my surroundings because I have to look where I am going. So, people worry about stepping in dog poop, for example. Well, I actually am watching where I am going, so I am less likely to step in dog poop than with shoes because I have to pay attention to my surroundings. And I will notice glass. People often that are walking with me are like “Stop, Robin, there is glass!” I know there is glass, I am the barefoot one, I have to pay attention to that. So you start to pay more attention to your surroundings. But again, it slows me down. I want to live a relaxed life. I want to live stress-free and largely anxiety-free, and being barefoot really slows me down. It makes me have to pay attention to where I am going, I cannot hurry as much. And just as much as it keeps me working within my body’s capabilities, it also keeps me slow and helps me to live a more relaxed, calm, stress-free life. And again, a big part of that is keeping me out of the places that are not a part of that.

Barefoot Hygiene

Back to the dog poop thing: what about the hygiene of being barefoot? The interesting thing about it is that being barefoot I find it is easier to practice good hygiene than with shoes and socks. That might be counter-intuitive to a lot of people who think that the world is this dirty place and germs are a bad thing. That is a whole other thing to go into and I have gone into that in other videos, but the important thing is, there are a lot of problems that are created with shoes, and one of those is bacterial problems and fungal problems. Think about this for a second: where does fungus grow? It grows in damp, dark places. If you have a wall that is in the blazing sunlight, that is not where bacteria and fungus grows. It is going to grow on the shady side of the house where it is cooler and where it is moist. So with feet, where is fungus going to grow? In damp socks inside shoes, where it is dark and moist? Or on feet that are exposed to fresh air and sunlight? Athlete’s foot and foot fungus is a product of stuffing our feet inside of damp shoes, damp socks. Being barefoot prevents that fungus and prevents athlete’s foot. So actually, being barefoot is a form of good hygiene. As far as the dirt and stuff that gets onto the bottom of the foot, well, it is a wet day today, so you can see that there is dirt on the bottom of my foot, but the thing about being barefoot is, I actually pay close attention to my hygiene. My feet are very important to me. If I was wearing shoes, I could easily leave dog poop on the bottom in those crevices, but if I am going to get something on my foot, I am going to wash it off. So being barefoot actually creates naturally good hygiene.

Exfoliation

Another part of that is exfoliation. You see a lot of people’s feet who have just so much dead skin on them, and these toenails that are just gunked up. Well, walking barefoot is a natural exfoliation. In fact, my favorite way to exfoliate my whole body is to go to the beach and just use sand to rub my body. But my feet are being exfoliated constantly. So it builds up the callus as needed, but it does not hold on to all the dead skin. So it is another form of good, natural hygiene.

Minimalism

A couple more things: one is minimalism, and money, and sustainability, wrapping all those things together. Minimalist-wise, some people have dozens of pairs of shoes. The average person, I do not know, might have a dozen pairs of shoes.

Sustainability

Sustainability-wise, that is extremely destructive to have, to need so much. For me, this is about saying “I do not need so much.” I am a human being with a human body, and I can exist without so much of a need for such a large amount of modern-produced stuff. Now, companies like Nike tell you that you are supposed to replace your shoes every five hundred miles. That creates an incredible amount of garbage and pollution, but it also burns a lot of money. My goal is to live with very little money, and my bare feet are definitely a representation of that. I have been wearing … I have had two pairs of shoes for the last about four years, so you can imagine just how much less money I spend, how much less trash that I create, how much less dependent that I am on this industry that I see as a destructive industry. And, of course, as I said, being barefoot keeps me out of the shops so I can actually spend a lot less money in that way.

So, those are some of the reasons that I am barefoot. Those are some of the benefits that I have seen from it, and those are just things that I think are worth thinking about. And it is not about any form of being dogmatic and doing something 100 percent of the time. My goal is to work with the earth, to tread lightly on the earth, to enjoy my treading on the earth, and be connected to it. And being barefoot as much as I can does that. If I am in cold climates, again, I wear shoes, but if it gets up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 degrees Celsius, on a warm day I will try to get out. Especially, even the blacktop can be warm on days like that. So I do what I can to be barefoot as much as I can. If it is cold outside, at least I can be barefoot at home and giving my feet that fresh air and that connectedness.

Tips for Barefoot Beginners

If you are interested in walking barefoot and connecting to the earth in that way, then I recommend starting somewhere. You have to start with where you are, and who you are, in the place that you are in. That is what you have to do — embrace the situation. So, start walking barefoot maybe just around your yard. Then maybe around the block. Then maybe walk a mile, then go for a walk in the woods. And you can start by walking in the easier places, the places that are smoother and softer, rather than starting on really difficult gravel, for example. So start where you are, start small if it is your desire to walk barefoot. At the very least, remember to question these basic things, question these industries whose ethics we know are flawed and just go deeper with these things.

Closing

So, I hope that you got a lot out of that. At the very least just thinking about it, thinking about the evolution of our feet, and thinking about the very basic thought of what has got it better figured out? Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution? Or Nike in the last hundred years? My bet is on evolution.

Thank you all for tuning in. I love you all very much. Make sure to subscribe if you have not and you want more content like this. Invite your friends and share this video with anyone you think would benefit. And go ahead and comment if you have questions. Last, make sure you go to robingreenfield.org/barefoot where I share more information, links to details, and my story as well. Alright, love you all, see you soon!