Feet & Friction | Floor Lessons - Chapter 5
In the many years I went for my festival summer walking barefoot I have made some interesting and counter-intuitive observations regarding my body's way of detoxing and how easy it is to smell good without any aid of chemicals such as shower gels and deodorants.
On the surface one would think a psychedelic festival isn't exactly the best place to detoxify ;) Over the course of the week I love to enjoy some wine sold by local Hungarian winemakers, I often go to the bar for some cold beer and many Ozoras I have smoked quite a lot of cigarettes during the week.
Yet, when I compare my body's... fragrance at home with how I smell on the festival - it's amazing to note the differences!
Our feet - masters of detoxification
The most stunning observation I made in this regard is how much the feet play a part in getting rid of the toxins in our body if we let them. Usually our sweat and urine play a large role in transporting these toxins out of our system because most of us put our feet in permanent cages where they can't breathe or have a connection to the ground.
The body is a self-regulating system. Just because we the feet's opportunity away to do their work doesn't mean there are no toxins to get rid of, so the body will use its other means of doing so.
At Ozora I always go barefoot for the whole week since there is not a single piece of broken glass anywhere (nobody stupid enough to endanger all of our experience) and you can even stomp barefoot on the mainfloor in the middle of the night and still not cut yourself on anything. Compared to walking barefoot in my hometown (which I don't do) the festival is utterly devoid of reasons NOT to take off your shoes.
But it doesn't only feel amazing to get the Earth connection back - I can literally smell the difference in the way my body deals with toxins because even after a smelly and sweaty journey TO the festival with trains and busses, it will only take a short time walking around barefoot for my sweat to stop smelling altogether - despite the aforementioned beverages and tobacco I like to enjoy over the course of the week ;)
At Ozora I largely shower with water only - simply because I get rather fond of the natural, subtle smell that seems utterly missing in regular life where I tie my feet up in socks and shoes.
The constant contact with the ground literally rubs off the toxins on the outside of your feet the more you walk around or dance and it takes little to no time to arrive at a state where body odor becomes utterly missing.
Don't forget we are talking about a festival taking place in Hungarian summer, temperatures of 35 degrees celsius in the shade (95° Fahrenheit) are pretty much the norm on hotter days - so I am sweating ALL DAY LONG. We are OILY most of the week dancing for hours on end but even the large amount of sweat produced stops smelling bad altogether, and I can witness the same thing with other people dancing close to me whom I've asked this same question. Detoxing is a reason to go barefoot for surprisingly many people I have met on the floor, as long as it's safe to do so.
When I got back home I naturally tested this, putting my shoes back on to see if there is any noteable difference. And boy oh boy, no wonder our society loves their deodorants and shower gels so much - "civilized people" smell BAD and it didn't take long for my sweat to start smelling bad again (commonly known as body odor). But it's not because of some immutable law of nature, rather it is highly likely that the disregard for our feet's function as essential detoxifiers has been all but forgotten in our regular societies, combined with our constant consumption of materials that warrant detoxification on the bodys part - be it food, beverages or cosmetics.
Kidneys vs. feet
The hint that finally made this likely to me is the following:
At Ozora I usually drink about 6 liters of water per day, due to the sheeer amount of sweat in the hot weather. HOWEVER, I have experienced many days where I would catch myself at nighttime thinking: I have not peed even ONCE today.
It seemed a little worrisome at first, but when I finally went peeing I saw that my urine - despite all the nicotine and so on - was WHITE. My kidneys apparently had NOTHING to do about detoxifying my system like they usually do at home. The toxins must have gone somewhere else.
And since my sweat stops smelling within a day of arriving, I really have no likelier candidate for the grand detoxifyer than our feet that we like to pretend only exist to take us places and to bootstrap our shoes on ;)
So even when I leave out the brilliant grounding feeling of walking barefoot on Earth for prolonged durations, the mere detox-factor of it continually blows my mind every year I come back into barefoot land and see how quickly the body shifts its operations.
If you feel you smell bad, don't mask it with chemicals. Rather, find a way to let your feet do their job and see how amazingly efficient they do so. When we force our feet into their cage (shoes) is it really any wonder that the body tries to get rid of these toxins some other way?
Grounding in itself is a thing worth trying, but the mere detox-factor might be reason enough for many to try and go barefoot looking for easy strategies to improve their health - not only for an hour by the beach but whenever we feel we can safely take off our shoes without getting hurt.
Don't put on your skin what you wouldn't put in your mouth <3
-Gratitude as Abundance-Engine | Chapter 2-
-"We're all friends here, but you and me are NOT gonna be friends" | Chapter 3-
-Everyone is Someone's Rolemodel | Chapter 4-
-"We can totally handle this" | Chapter 6-
-Cosmic Magnetism & The Fear-Override | Chapter 7-
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I love this!
I have never been to a festival where walking bare feet seemed possible.
Not necessarily because of (broken) glass but also all the junk food and garbage people just seemed to throw on the floor and all other people wearing shoes and boots.
What I am going to do in a minute, is walk down to the river, take my shoes and socks off and ground myself, with my feet in the water, for a while. I think water and rocks do more or less the same.
P.S. I guess the earth really likes our feet's toxins ;>)
Agreed, it almost doesn't matter what type of ground you walk on, water can be especially good because of its conductivity.
I know, most festivals we would be insanse to walk barefoot. that's why I love festivals so much where people realize that their trash will not only make the festival experience worse for anyone else, but ultimately for themselves, giving silent permission for other people to throw their trash on the ground as well.
Have often wondered about the Earth soaking up all the stuff from people's feet. But I guess the weather cycle just cleans itself hehe
"temperatures of 35 degrees celsius in the shade (95° Fahrenheit)" That is a cool day here this time of year lol. I agree that it matters where you decide to go barefoot. I spent time in Hawaii and the grass and and beach are fine to walk on and since it rains every day, even the sidewalks are pretty clean in many places. Here it is all thorns that are strong enough to puncture bike tires, 112 degree concrete, and large ants.
Nature is the greatest doctor for us. In our pursuit to make life easier, we have made our life more complicated and artificial. We don't let our body to adjust it against the minor difficulties. We don't like children to play in open, we don't like to go them outside barefoot because we thing is is unhygienic. But we forgets that it boosts the immunity which is better than living on medicines.
Thank you my friend for this great informative and thought provocation post.