Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Simple living, extreme early retirement, becoming and being wealthy, wisdom, praxis, personal growth,...
Toska2
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:51 pm

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Toska2 »

I wear moccasins at home and work. A little tendon issue but no blisters.

As far as the original question, a side of my family adopted a no chair policy. Sitting is indian style or kneeling. As a yoga practitioner I switch easily between families but its hard to discern between youth and family*.

The chair sitters are more active than the others.

Eureka
Posts: 340
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 11:03 am

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Eureka »

@Salathor, which surfaces were you walking on? Concrete, plaster, asphalt and the like hard surfaces are hard even on trained barefeet. Better to start out on lawns, sand, soil etc. I.e. surfaces that are not suited for strollers.

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Dave »

Another fan of Xeroshoes (a brand of zero drop sandals/sneakers/boots) here. I've been wearing them for probably 5 years or so, and at this point have tried out most of the sandals, a pair of the sneakers, and a pair of the boots.

If you're trying to build up towards going barefoot with some frequency I'd recommend wearing something like their Genesis sandals to help ease the transition. From the posture perspective, wearing these things is basically like being barefoot. With the benefits being technically wearing shoes (so you can get into places) and having protection against things like glass when in urban environments.

They won't toughen up your feet with calluses in the same way walking completely barefoot will, but it is nice intermediate step and gets the body used to the change.

The Genesis are my go-to shoe when in non-cold weather, and I'll sometimes take them off if I'm on a fairly smooth surface so I can get some barefoot action in. You could do this and just increase the time you go barefoot to build up. I don't recommend people rush this process.

Salathor
Posts: 394
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:49 am
Location: California, USA

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Salathor »

Eureka wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:40 am
@Salathor, which surfaces were you walking on? Concrete, plaster, asphalt and the like hard surfaces are hard even on trained barefeet. Better to start out on lawns, sand, soil etc. I.e. surfaces that are not suited for strollers.
Hi Eureka, it was concrete and blacktop, but I already walk barefoot on lawns, sand, soil, and wood constantly. Figured it was time to step up my game! I think in retrospect it would have been better to limit to a quarter mile at first and without the stroller, until my feet had a chance to callous up.

Dave, I'm looking at the Genesis now. Looks cool. What I don't understand is how a flat-footed shoe can give you the posture/gait of barefoot walking. I thought the issue was all how the toes integrate with the rest of the foot and let when moving (but I haven't read the books mentioned earlier in this post, so I could be missing something). Is it instead related more to padding for the footfall?

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Dave »

@Salathor

I'm not an expert on all the physiology of the foot and walking, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I never dug super deep into all of this, I just liked going barefoot when I could and I wanted a super minimal sandal (and later shoe) that simulated that. Xeroshoes stuff seems to do that pretty well IME. FWIW, they have great customer service and a few times I've had issues with things they've sent me parts/replacements for free/shipping.

The Genesis sandals are incredibly thin and are very flexible (i.e. not rigid), so whenever you step on any sort of uneven ground your foot wraps around the object as it would barefoot. So if you step on a rock, you will definitely feel it :lol: ! If you step onto the edge of a curb, your foot curves around the curb, as opposed to staying rigidly flat against the bottom of the shoe that rests on a single point on the curb. If you are standing and you lift and flex your foot, the sandal bends with your foot. If that makes sense. And obviously they are zero drop.

It's just like having a thin layer between your foot and the ground. Feels quite similar to walking barefoot, but I'm sure there are still some differences. I've walked 10 miles in my Genesis, but never more than maybe 2-3 barefoot, so I'm not sure what sorts of other differences would pop up over longer distances.

I've been thinking I really need to make my own of these, because they are so simple. Future project!

Unrelated to feet, this quote:
7Wannabe5 wrote:
Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:21 pm
I work on my laptop on low table sitting in diamond pose.
motivated me a couple months back and I've been working on my flexibility to do this. I hit 7.5 minutes of that posture this morning, up from my original capability of 5 seconds, so making progress!

Western Red Cedar
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Salathor wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 2:17 pm
What I don't understand is how a flat-footed shoe can give you the posture/gait of barefoot walking. I thought the issue was all how the toes integrate with the rest of the foot and let when moving (but I haven't read the books mentioned earlier in this post, so I could be missing something). Is it instead related more to padding for the footfall?
I think you are correct about the padding for the footfall. Shoe designs in the 70's started adding extra padding in the heel, which led to a heel strike. Thousands of these repetitions will begin to change your gait or have effects in the knees, hips, fascia, or muscles. Problems may not appear for people living a relatively normal life, but minor imbalances for active folks can escalate due to the repetitions associated with biking, running, etc...

I think the other issue is that modern shoes have narrow toe boxes, which is not natural. Most "barefoot" shoes have a wide toe box.

I haven't heard of Genesis before, but will check them out. Thanks for the recommendation @Dave.

Salathor
Posts: 394
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:49 am
Location: California, USA

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Salathor »

Thanks guy! I'm going to check out those shoes. My work gives me a certain amount of money to spend each year on wellness/fitness related doodads. A pair of those may be in order.

Salathor
Posts: 394
Joined: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:49 am
Location: California, USA

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Salathor »

Dave wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:37 pm
Well I got my Genesises (Genesi?) a week or two ago and have been liking them so far! Took me a while to figure out how to adjust them. They definitely have a barefoot feel. Went on a three-mile walk on pavement with my wife the other day (sans kids) and ended up having to tell her to slow down. She was really powering forward and I just couldn't take the long strides to keep up without having to do a heel strike (or jog, which I didn't want to do with a backpack full of library books).

Definitely a lot more barefoot feeling than I had expected!

Dave
Posts: 545
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 1:42 pm

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by Dave »

Glad to hear you like them Salathor!

Yeah, they definitely take some getting used to, especially to get back to full speed. At this point I wear almost exclusively zero drop footwear and whenever I have to wear traditional shoes like say dress shoes it feels really weird.

the_platypus
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2020 12:03 am

Re: Walking, standing, sitting, lying -- more natural approaches?

Post by the_platypus »

Barefoot:

I can barefoot run on pavement. Not as fast as with shoes but it's pretty decent. Sadly this means my toe shoes are basically obsolete now, as their only remaining use was for running.

I do barefoot soccer now (just juggling or passing either solo or in small groups). That has a nice web of goals synergy. The sensual experience and texture diversity of grass/dirt is enjoyable. Foot, ankle, calf muscles, tendons, and bones get strengthened in a semi-padded environment. It's a low-tech, low-cost, low-carbon activity. It's fun and engages the more sensual/movement oriented brain structures. And bare feet means better feel means better ball control, at least for me.

I walk to the library barefoot and then put on flip flops when I go in. Keeps my feet from getting sweaty in footwear.

Cleaning is relatively easy in my setup; the bathroom is just a few feet from the front door so outside dirt is not tracked in very far. I don't get my feet perfectly clean but also I don't care as the carpet is brownish for a reason.

Floor sleeping:

In addition to floor sleeping, I've been leaving the blinds open at night, allowing the sun to wake me up on most days. I'm lucky to live in a particular spot where the light pollution isn't horrible at night and so I can do this. I call it the "Sun Sleep Schedule." Apparently there's science showing we need a certain amount of outside daylight in the morning to get good sleep and regulate hormones and the like. Plus it means I get more sunlight. Make vitamin D while the sun shines.

Post Reply