A lot of people have been commenting on my pictures from the time I spent last week with the Barefoot Sensei.
“Why is he wearing shoes,” they ask?
The answer is – because it’s really cold out there!!!
When it's cold, wear shoes.
Mick is the Barefoot Sensei because he believes that people have lost their primary connection in life – with the Land that supports their life.
The main way that most human beings experience the Land, most often and most easily, is through the soles of their feet.
Hence, Barefoot Sensei.
He does not require people to be barefoot, or encourage people to be barefoot all the time.
Instead, he asks people to use their mind.
The human animal is creative, crafty, and skillful. When the habitat is dangerous, it figures out a way around that danger – whether it’s sharp rocks, sticks, thorns, or…yes, shoes.
However, another good point that Mick makes is this – no factory currently in existence (it is a possibility) can produce a shoe made for your foot.
Hence the mukluks.
For those interested, Mick recommended two sources. The first is Steger Mukluks. Steger was actually also recommended by Tom Brown’s school when I attended it. The beauty of the Stegers is that they are not “custom made” (and so, relatively less expensive than others), but that they are made with traditional materials in traditional ways and so will utterly conform to the shape of your foot over time.
The second is Dave’s Shop. This couple are friends of Mick, and hand-make moc’s and mukluks based on a mold that you create and mail to them.
Me? I live in the City. I buy regular shoes. But I try to get ones that fit, that are flexible, and relatively unobtrusive to my feet – like the Vivo Barefoot…or flip flops.
Which points out another thing to consider – habitat. If you’re in a city, you can do just as much damage to yourself as if you’re in a desert, or in a snowy area. You need shoes when you’re in a place that might damage your feet. Consider your habitat.
The last, and most important thing to think about when using your brain (which you’re hopefully doing now) is this tendency to say “all-or-nothing,” and/or to automatically reject things that are foreign or out of the status quo, or your comfort-zone.
Watch out for this tendency in yourself. Shooting other people down, or crying “hypocrite” because you don’t have the patience to think through things is just as inexcusable as being dogmatic about your opinions or practice.
In fact, they’re basically the same behavior.