This year I decided to ditch my footwear inside the house, ever since reading up on Barefoot Earthing or Grounding. This is a radical new health practice that is quickly gaining momentum as word about its benefits spreads. Its impact can be quite far-reaching and yet it is incredibly simple to do, costs nothing, is always available and feels great.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hlkljgk/5760553436/
Have you ever noticed how good you feel when you take off your shoes to walk barefoot? Well it seems there is a scientific explanation, and research into the practice of Grounding has found that it can significantly improve all sorts of health problems. It can help your energy levels, reduce stress, improve your sleep, decrease muscular inflammation and stiffness as well as other chronic pain, reduce anxiety, improve circulation, prevent free-radical damage and associated premature ageing and even heal injuries faster. It brings you back into a state of equilibrium where your body is best able to heal itself. Those who use the practice on a regular basis report great results. I am certainly finding I have less aches and pains whenever I walk round without shoes than when I leave them on.
It all has to do with electrical fields.
These days we live completely immersed in electro-magnetic waves (EMFs) from a huge number of everyday items including our mobile phones, computers, wireless technology, huge numbers of electrical appliances, and even compact fluorescent lights. The air in our houses, our workplaces, our schools and in some outdoors places is full of electro-pollution, harmful positive ions produced by this multitude of electrical contraptions that surround us. These positive ions are contributing to ill health.
Electrical stress is now recognized as a significant contributor to many health problems and in fact a new chronic illness, “Diabetes Type 3”, has been coined to describe the effect of illness believed to be from electropollution. Surrounding yourself with sources of negative ions helps to rebalance this disharmony, as does being in places where negative ions are in abundance.
The surface of the earth is electically conductive and has a permanent supply of free electrons sitting just above the surface. The charge on the earth surface is negative and anything that is close to the surface will also carry that charge
Your body also has an electrical field, sometimes referred to as the biofield or the aura. When your bare feet are in contact with the earth negative electrons can easily pass into you. Grounding helps to prevent a build-up of harmful electrons in your body as well as promoting a discharge of the positive ions from your body into the earth. Simultaneously you receive a flood of free electrons from the earth. These neutralize the free radicals in your body which cause inflammation and are responsible for many health problems. The flood of electrons immediately ‘re-balances’ you, which is why you feel so good when you walk outside barefoot.
In case you got lost in that explanation, simply, standing on the earth rebalances the electromagnetic field of your body, helping to strengthen your immune system, and boosting both your health and your wellbeing.
For most of our existence humans have gone barefoot and often slept directly on the ground, things now are very different. As well as being surrounded by electromagnetic pollution we are cut off from receiving the rebalancing benefits from the earth because the shoes that we now wear have rubber and synthetic soles that insulate and block transmission of the natural beneficial energy of the earth. Think how rubber gloves can provide protection from electrical shock.
HOW TO GROUND YOURSELF
- Take your shoes off and go barefoot on grass, beach, bare earth, even concrete when it is laid directly on the earth (but not if it is painted or sealed) whenever you can
- You need to walk around on the earth for about thirty minutes to gain the benefit
- Swim in lakes, rivers, or the sea
- Wear shoes with leather soles
- Purchase and use one of the indoor grounding mats or an earthing bed sheet.
By the way, the reason I am able to benefit from earthing when walking barefoot indoors is because my floor is unglazed slate sitting on a concrete slab which is set directly onto a rock shelf on the side of a hill. You would not get earthing benefit in a home above the ground, or with glazed tiles, or a layer between the concrete and tile, or with other floor coverings.
If you would like to read up on Earthing also then get a copy of the book EARTHING – The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? by Clint Ober, Dr Stephen T Sinatra and Martin Zucker.
Remember though, Grounding is not a substitute for medical treatment and if you have a medical condition you need to consult your healthcare provider.
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site.
Source articles:
http://www.earthing.com/category_s/1823.htm
http://www.barefoothealing.com.au/
http://www.wellbeing.com.au/article/Features/Body-Health/Barefoot-earthing_1054
http://www.naturalnews.com/028967_electropollution_diabetes.html
Happy Holistic Health 
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