I can’t claim to be the world’s first barefoot runner. I’m certainly not the fastest. I can’t offer you decades of personal insight and experience without shoes. I’m more like you. Perhaps the reason you’re here reading this is because something is missing from your life or your running. For me discovering barefoot running not only solved the staleness in my relationship with running, it reconnected me to a much deeper part of my being Continue reading How I fell in love with barefoot running
Barefoot running: form and mechanics
This article is a continuation to the previous article ‘How to start running barefoot.’ It begins by examining the physical differences between running barefoot and in shoes.
1. The landing: heel striking versus the midfoot
The most fundamental difference between running in shoes and running barefoot is the way your foot strikes the ground. The vast majority of shodden runners are ‘heel strikers’ – that is, the first point of contact with the ground is the heel. To most of us this seems only natural: how else could we possible run? What we fail to consider, though, is that it is the design of shoes themselves which force the foot into heel striking. Continue reading Barefoot running: form and mechanics
How to start running barefoot
It’s not that hard really…
There are two ways to start out on the road to running barefoot. One is to do it gradually, with a transition period using minimalist footgear, before taking the plunge into barefoot running proper. The other is to go ‘cold turkey,’ and throw your shoes away from the start. In this respect, cutting our addiction to running shoes is similar to stopping smoking. Different things can work for different people. Continue reading How to start running barefoot
Dream running, lucid dreams and the nature of reality
How many times do I dream about running: running without shoes, barefoot?
Many, if not most nights…
A sense of total freedom, effortlessly gliding with and like the wind.
Even during the decades I ran in shoes, my dreams of running were still the same: with a dream-body flowing like water over the terrain, no sign of shoe-shod impact with each step. It was only after throwing away my shoes that I recognised that I’ve always run barefoot in my dreams. Continue reading Dream running, lucid dreams and the nature of reality
Developing core and back strength through barefoot running
Yesterday we went to Vienna for a day trip with the kids. They love it: wandering around the old inner city, visiting palaces and dreaming of fairy-tale princesses… Towards the end of the day we also spent a couple of hours at the Natural History Museum, so by the time it came to returning to the car for the return trip home, we’d spent a good six hours on our feet. It was then that my elder daughter started complaining: ‘My back hurts! I’m going to have sore muscles tomorrow!’
Ah, ‘museum back.’ We all know it. That achy, knotted feeling in the lower back: the symptom of too much culture, of standing for too long looking at paintings, sculptures or dinosaurs. Continue reading Developing core and back strength through barefoot running
Tallis Shivantar 