.. in fashion. In Germany, many people like it, too, and I tell you: tell your shoes to go away, run barefoot and have mercy with your feet! Just try to show your naked feet in the city! You will be astonished, how much attention you will attract. Barefooting [running barefoot] is possible virtually everywhere, and the season doesn't play much of a role either, but honestly: who'd have the courage, right in the city? Well, for example Nicole: she is one of those who learned to enjoy running barefoot [discovered barefooting for themselves]. [Caption: Nicole Lommersun, Barefoot Runner] "It simply feels nice, you move differently, and especially in summer, when the ground is nice and warm and it rains [on it], I feel incredibly fine, and that's what is most important for me." What would appear to have drifted over from America is not exactly a new trend, [Not quite a new trend ...] for 42 years sporting articles for barefooters have been manufactured in Moensingen. [Caption: Erich Hoerz, Inventor of Barefooting Toys] "My company is in fact built upon a corporate and product philosophy, and of course the feet are an integral part of that, it is holistic, it all started with feet, we stand on our feet, we are gronded, the soles are very, very important, research is still being done on that, they are quite as important as the hands - but the feet, important as they may be, are among the neglected zones" Even when the weather doesn't play along, that's no reason for Nicole to pack her feet in leather. Well-trained Feet don't get irritated at a bit of cold weather - in the worst case, other people might get irritated. [Nicole] "First of all they look at you normally, and somehow their gaze will encounter your feet, and then you see it in their faces, somehow it doesn't fit into the picture" Barefooting is not just an expression of life style, few people know how much good you can do your body that way. [Caption: Dr Petra Sommer, Practitioner of Naturopathy [???MD ...]] "Well, estimates are that about 80 % of the adult population have problems with their feet, which is in fact shocking, since 97 % of all people get born with healthy feet, i. e. the feet only get sick in the course of a lifetime ..." Athlete's feet [fungus], corn [???], misalignment of the toes, up to crippled feet, all those are the fault of just one culprit: shoes! The truth is: there ar no healthy ones, there are only bad ones and worse ones. [Dr Sommer] "On the one hand shoes do damage by constricting the feet, they narrow them in the wrong place, press them in a new form, don't let them breathe, so germs proliferate, for example fungus, and they neglect certain regions of the foot, i. e. it's not the whole foot that touches the ground any more, but only parts of it, so certain reflex zones are not respected [did she mean stimulated?] any more. " [music] The foot snuggles into the bed of the shoe and doesn't get stimulated any more. Wake it up! Maybe with the [Caption Foot Training, Barefoot Course] barefoot course in Bad Zobernheim. We asked Sonja to test it for us. She rarely walks without shoes and likes to torture her feet with high heels. On this course your feet are provided with lots of entertainment, all reflex zones are stimulated. [Sonja] "It prickles, stings a bit, you feel exactly, where your feet are more sensitive." Through the nerve endings in the soles the inner organs and the immune system are stimulated. Barefooting aleviates constipation and headaches, tensions weaken and the foot regains it's own shape. [image: mud (clay?)] "First of all I felt a certain distaste to step into that, then I thought it was chocolate, but [and] it's really nice and cool." [Caption: Training Your Feet, 10 min/day Running Barefoot] Even grave misalignments in the feet simply vanish when the foot is trained by walking barefoot, 20 minutes every day suffice to bring them back to shape. [Caption: Sonja Luecke, Barefoot Runner. [wtf? she just started]] "I could by all means imagine to do that more often in the future, for, when so many different stimulants, that is, when so many different sensitivities [get] stimulated in the feet, particularly the coolness, the water, then the clay, that is, the soft, or, you have to concentrate a lot when running, in the beginning, but it gets easier later on, because you don't have so much fear of stepping into something that hurts any more." [image: shoes being thrown away - in the air, not in the bin :-)] Before you throw away your shoes, here are a few tips: don't scuffle [damn, I'll have to stop barefooting. aoe], lift your fet off the ground and roll off correctly. Open your eyes, watch your step, sewer grids can become painfully hot in summer. And don't overdo it and jog away right at the start! [Nicole] "There are many objects you just won't notice, for example when they are hidden in the grass, like peaked stones, shards, or bottle caps. Your ankles will bend easier [sic. the one time I broke my ankle, I wore high, supportive shoes. aoe], so I'd really be careful in that respect." Now, would you like leave behind your shoes for a while? Then start away right into it! Wake up your feet once again! [end of feature]