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Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 – Celebrating international barefootjoy day
Barefoot waiting for the tram... I had been pointed to a facebook group called barefootjoy via a posting in the barefooting sub-forum on HipForums. While the group itself seems to be mainly a picture page of young women in their bare feet, with occasional close-ups of toes and soles, thus most likely a page aimed at foot-lovers and fetishists, the idea of a recurring day of enjoying being barefoot wherever possible is a good one. One note about the foot-loving and fetish aspect of the page: whatever floats someone's boat... I don't mind people looking at bare feet in this way and I have my own experience with admirers of my bare feet on the internet, including a very nice e-mail exchange with a gay male foot fetishist in my college days. OK, back on topic. Barefootjoy day is to be celebrated once every season on the last Wednesday in March, June, September and December, just after the solstice or equinox marking the beginning of spring, summer, fall and winter. While any day is a day of barefoot joy to me and other barefooters, this event might be a nice chance to get shy people who haven't dared to be barefoot in public to get out of the closet and try it – best together with others, since it is easier to overcome fears of scorn or rejection when being in a group. In order to celebrate my personal barefootjoy day during my two-week leave, I had contacted Sandra, an old friend of mine, who also joined a German barefooters web forum a little while ago, and we decided to meet in my old home town - where she still lives – for a barefoot visit to a café we used to go to for some hot chocolate in our high school days and a barefoot walk in the city park. Since the train I took to get there was running a few minutes late, I arrived just in time, about a minute late, and she was already in front of the café, looking out for a barefoot hippie person. She wore a flowing summer dress, since it was quite warm at 10 am already, and as she saw me padded over to me on her bare feet, smiling brightly, and greeting me with a hug, saying "There you are, my dear crazy hippie!", cheerfully. We sat down in the outdoor seating area, ordering our drinks, chatting and letting the world pass by – including receiving "The Look"® for both our bare feet as well as my general outfit... as usual, I was spicing up my pedal nudity with four toe rings, several anklets, painted toe nails and my general buddhaesque appearance, wearing my orange sarong. Since my friend Sandra had always been tolerant and positive about my assorted weirdnesses, she was greatly enjoying the various reactions by the mainstream people passing us. After finishing our caffeine intake, we went for a stroll through the city park, enjoying sun-warmed paved paths and dew-wet grass, alternately warm in the sun and cool in the shade. She has been a barefooter since spring now, since an injury on her left foot has kept her from wearing shoes without pain. We exchanged barefoot experience, our favourite textures, she adored my toe rings and asked where to purchase those... two barefooters enjoying a sunny day. She's fortunate to be her own boss, running a dance studio for oriental dance, being a dancer as well as dance teacher, and therefore is a professional barefooter, too. After spending a very nice time exchanging memories and mementoes, and also telling each other about our different ailments increasing with age (we both chuckled at the old Indiana Jones quote "It's not the age, it's the mileage"), and agreeing upon both living a great life, despite little mishaps, she went off to run her other errands, and I decided to return to the café to play a bit more "culture shock" with the mainstream people passing me on the ped zone. We parted with a hug, and the promise to stay in touch – which will happen quite automatically via the barefooters web forum we're both members of.
Sandra's feet meeting ~*Ganesha*~'s feet...
After parting, I spent another two hours in the café, lazily letting the world walk past me. After a short while, a man sat down a few tables away from me with his wife, eyeing me several times, as if he had a hard time remembering who I am. Indeed, I knew that man, since he was one of my arts teachers back in high school and also a well-known artist from the region known as Alfred Grimm. He did not talk to me, though, and I did not want to intrude his conversation, but I kind of liked playing his barefoot enigma of the day... I'm sure that he talked with his wife after leaving the café, trying to pinpoint where he knew that barefoot, buddhaesque person from – of course, I looked quite different when attending high school and was only sporadically barefoot in summer back then. After this very pleasant first half of the barefootjoy day, I went to the station, boarded a regional train back to the town I live in, went home for a belated lunch and later went for another barefoot stroll in the park, this time my usual park near my apartment. Since I went there after sunset, I also made it a bare-bellied and later also skyclad stroll, including nude tree-hugging. I also revisited the little copse where I did my good karma service the day before, and decided to put some positive energy back into the place by working a little sex magick, sacrificing my semen to Mother Earth, squirting it onto the soft, rich soil. While mainstream folks might call this "lewd behaviour", I call it a spiritual act of love to our Great Mother. And I'm sure, the faeries, pixies, sprites and especially the dryad living in the tree I leaned to, while making this sacrifice, enjoyed watching me making merry and scoring some orgasmic karma points.
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011 – A barefoot sunrise stroll in the park with some karma service... First of all, it might be a surprise that I did not post any barefoot weekend reports, even though the weather was fine enough with sunny skies and temperatures well above 20°C – perfect barefooting conditions. And since I have a two-week leave at the moment, I should be using every minute I can get to get out and let my bare soles feel Mother Earth's bare skin. However, I preferred to stay indoors, in bed a lot of the time, to sweat out the cold that had developed towards the end of last week, and which was, once again, just in time to hit me at the beginning of a vacation. Such has happened before and so I knew what to do. Weather forecasts were telling me of the warm conditions to stay for about another week, with temperatures presumably dropping lower (to around 15°C – still OK for barefooting according to my taste...) towards the end of my two weeks of barefoot freedom. So, with the effects of the cold decreased to a minimum, I went out to do some necessary grocery shopping on Monday, trying out my new orange sarong – a wonderful color, bright and cheerful, matching bare feet just perfectly.
On Tuesday morning, my inner clock, still adjusted to the times of the working week, woke me up in the dark – and since I wanted to spend as much barefoot quality time as possible, I got up at around 5 am, fixed myself some coffee, did my usual morning ritual of sipping on that mug of coffee in the nude on my balcony and felt the mild morning air (15°C) on my skin with delight. To make this morning special, I decided to get to the park before sunrise, capturing the special mood of that time and watching the sun lighten up the eastern sky. There were some clouds in the sky, which meant that there were going to be some nice colorful views to be watched and marveled at. Arriving in the park, the air felt so humid, that I cold almost grasp the dew from the air with my bare hands. I caught a lot of dew on my bare feet, to be sure, together with grass clippings, since the lawns had been mowed recently. Unlike people mowing their lawn who then sweep the clippings together (a barefoot gardening delight, by the way – lawnmowing and then sweeping up the clippings... I've done that in our garden as a kid barefoot, too), the municipal gardeners just left the clippings lying there, turning my feet into grass feet, since they clung to my dew-wet skin. Thus, walking barefoot over the dewy grass was a double delight this morning.
After crossing the lawns and arriving at the western corner of the park, I sat down on a bench, made myself comfortable and watched the sky beginning to light up in the east. A few people walking their dogs in the early morning gave me odd looks – partly because of my bare feet, partly because of the colorful outfit (orange sarong and a red t-shirt with a meditating yogini print on it). I just sat there, having a frugal snack for a second breakfast (a few slices of watermelon) and took pictures of the fiery sky unfolding as the sun rose.
After catching a lot of the mood in pictures, I went to one of my favourite spiritual places in the park – the three alders, my beloved threefold Goddess trees. On one of them, I placed a feather which I had found at the park entrance, a little Ganesha figurine, which I carry with me for good luck and lit two incense sticks, placing them next to the feather... not quite a true pagan altar, but enough for my taste to start a little invocation and meditation. Standing in the middle between the three trees, I planted my bare feet firmly onto the soft and warm soil (the soil always feels a little warmer there – that's why I call it a spiritual hotspot), spread my arms and began the first round of my breathing meditation exercise. Inhaling the sweet perfume of the Nag Champa incense burning while doing so, increased the feeling of taking in positive energy in the process.
After finishing this first round of meditating and energizing, I decided to get a second helping, so to speak, and slowly walked over the cool and wet grass to a little copse of trees, that formed a natural dome between them. This is another of my favourite spiritual places, where I can be really in touch with Mother Earth, since the soil in that dome feels like soft forest floor, replenished with fallen leaves every autumn, adding a new layer of good Earth to feel underfoot. As I entered that place, with the morning sun filtering through the low-hanging branches, I felt elated.
But that feeling of joy was cut short abruptly, when I saw that one corner of that beautiful place had been littered with trash – mostly chocolate bar wrappings, an old supermarket plastic bag (ironically with the message "Der Umwelt zuliebe" - for the sakes of the environment – printed on it... an advice to use plastic bags more than once and not to litter), and even some used condoms... So, people were also having sex in this secluded spot... nothing bad about that, since it is a wonderful place for lovemaking in the dusky hours around sunset. I have used this very spot for some nude sex magick, too, sacrificing my semen to the Great Goddess, masturbating and shooting it onto the rich soil on various occasions. And I also had lovemates with me in here, as well, certainly entertaining the spirits and fairies dwelling in this place by making sweet love and powering up the place with positive orgasmic energy. But at least the people enjoying this place and making merry should have taken their rubbish out of there. The sad thing is, that no more than thirty feet away there is a trashcan... it would have been very easy to pick up that stuff, carry it there and deposit of it the proper way.
I sighed, took off my t-shirt, and barefoot and bare-bellied performed my second series of meditation exercises in that place, this time not only drawing up positive energy from the Earth for my sakes only, but also to send it out and enlighten the poor souls that did not see the beauty of this place and littered there without giving a thought. After feeling energized a bit more, I then decided to make amends by picking up that trash, using the plastic bag to stuff all those chocolate bar wrappings in them, the used rubbers, too, and finally lighting incense sticks to cleanse the place. One might call this a little extra karma service, an act of agape (unconditional love) for our Great Mother, or even doing some voluntary service to keep a nature monument clean. As I saw while cleaning the place, the trees forming this little copse are indeed tagged by the state as a natural monument - „Naturdenkmal“ in German.
So, by performing this spiritual and good karma service, I was also, incidentally, doing service to the state. Sometimes, doing so can be a good thing in many ways...
Namasté and Blessed Be. ~*Ganesha*~ sends Love and Light to you...
Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 - barefoot freedom at last! This week was a five-day count-down to a two-week fall season vacation, which will be a time of barefoot freedom, for sure. Apart from Monday, when I expected our usual staff meeting to take place, I chose my various printed t-shirt with spiritual motives - variations of Ganesha and Buddha - printed on them. However, the meeting was forfeited on that day, since our boss was prepraing is own vacation this week. Eventhough the work on my roster remained the same, the stress level was considerably lower from Tuesday on - it might be an effect of not having the boss sitting in his cubicle directly behind my back together with me telling myself that I did not want to let me be affected by stress or hectic. Strangely, that coincided nicely with the deities on my shirts, radiating serenity and happiness in tune with me... I also had a little help in this from a little wooden blissful Buddha statue on my desk and the fact that I was almost constantly barefoot in the office, wiggling my toes happily under the desk - yet another advantage of the boss' absence.
The week started with a rainy early Monday morning, giving me the opportunity to splash
my bare feet in puddles and feeling wet pavement and grass underfoot. During the day, the
clouds disappeared and the sun came out, drying and warming up the paved sidewalks as well
as the grass strips next to them. In one spot, a puddle had prevailed, and of course I had
to dip my bare feet in it, and also leave some trademark barefoot traces, too.
On the other days, the morning sky was showing variations of interesting and also colorful sunrises, with mild temperatures in the morning. On some occasions, the sky also held a menacing note to it after work, even though the sun was shining, as this series of morning and afternoon feet and clouds shows:
After leaving the office, my spirits went a little higher than usual, since it was not only the moment of having the rest of the day off, walking barefoot into the weekend, but also into the aforementioned vacation. These two weeks will be a time of blissful barefoot freedom - any shoes will stay off until October 10, when it is time to enter the office again. Since the forecasts tell of warm days to come, I will also take the opportunity to spend a lot of skyclad time outdoors, too, and my barefoot outfits will mostly be skirts and sarongs instead of pants. Certainly, I will be the male counterpart of this beautiful barefoot hippie woman, as oblivious to "The Look"® as she, walking barefoot through the world, slowly, blissful, meditative, and perhaps occasionally chanting, too, just like she does...
Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011 – the barefoot Sunday walk in the park... final fashion update
The air begins to feel more like fall, even though the equinox marking
its official beginning is still five days away (September 23). With mostly
cloudy sky, a cool breeze and only occasional sunshine, temperatures crept
slowly up to 15°C (59F). But these are still perfect barefooting conditions
according to my taste and feeling. To keep from shivering from the cool breeze,
I put on my usual cotton hooded jacket (chocolate and caramel colored), together
with a black t-shirt with a purple and golden Buddha sitting on a lotus blossom
printed on it – the final of the three new t-shirts I had ordered. This ensemble was
completed by my red sarong – which will be complemented soon by a saffron orange
one... a special color in hindu as well as buddhist tradition, since it is ascribed to
be a sacral color...
Watch out for the holy hippie, coming your way on his bare feet!
Since I had decided to take my stroll in the park a bit later then the usual afternoon hours, the light was special, coming from a low sun peeking through clouds. And the clouds... well, they were showing the darker beauty of Mother Nature, gorgeous and a little menacing. Looking at where the clouds were moving, these ones were not getting nearer, but moving away, thus presenting me only with a tremendous view on my way to the park, instead of threatening me with pouring down some cool water onto my clothes.
In the park, I felt that there had been occasional rain the night before, for the paths felt damp underfoot, again giving me the sensation of walking on a slightly pebbly sand beach. The grass felt wonderfully cool and wet beneath my bare soles - relaxing, soothing, refreshing and energizing.
Walking to a chestnut tree, I felt bare soil underfoot, Mother Nature's bare skin, so to speak. I stood there, grabbing the Earth with my toes, gazing out into the park and did my relaxation and meditation breath exercise. This supplied me once again with positive energy needed before stepping into the office world the next day again. At least that office week marks a count-down of five days to my fall vacation – a solid two weeks of barefoot freedom coming up.
Feeling Mother Nature underfoot...
Saturday, Sept. 17. 2011 - The second half of the work week, with a little fashion update... Thursday and Friday were marked by a slightly raised stress level due to the necessary office chores to be done. At least I was able to catch up on some things that were left behind in the process on my barefoot office Saturday. On Thursday, I encountered some more of the plane tree fruit, this time a pair of of them joined on a twig. Due to the stressful office day, I was very glad to feel grass and soil underfoot after leaving the office, especially since I had to wear closed-toed shoes that day...
Since new t-shirts I've ordered had arrived by mail on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to wear one of them on the more casual Friday - trying to radiate a little serenity by ways of a happy Buddha design on a dark forest-green shirt:
In addition to Buddha smiling, a colorful sunrise and bare feet on dew-wet and cool grass were a relaxing and refreshing moment before starting the office day.
On Saturday, I managed to finish my quota of the working week. Before reaching the office, I enjoyed the view of an urban sunrise:
As usual, Saturday is boss-free at the office, so I was able to leave any backup footwear at home, and also wore another of the aforementioned t-shirts, this time a truly hippie-spirited one, showing a meditating woman's shade framed by flowers:
After work, I encountered another typical sign of the fall season getting closer: beech-nut shells on the sidewalk... something unpleasant to walk over, when the path is hard and unyielding. When walking on soft soil, these shells can provide a nice extra sole massage, being very prickly:
On a side note, I happened to buy a hippie-styled accessory at the tobacconist:
Coming up next: the barefoot Sunday in the park, when I will present the third and last of the t-shirts I've ordered.
Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011 - A short mid-week update, with "The Look"®. Tuesday and Wednesday were normal office days, with me enjoying the feeling of the paved as well as grassy and earthy textures underfoot on my way to work and back home. Mornings have been cool, but not cold and the days mostly sunny and mild, giving me the pleasure of feeling sun-warmed sidewalks after leaving the office. Enjoying barefooting before work, including a nice sunrise:
That round object is not a rolled-up baby hedgehog, but the fruit of a plane tree...
Sunlit and warm pavement after work, and "The Look®" on public transport:
That old man on the tram was alternately staring at my bare feet, then up into my face, then back at my feet... that went on for minutes. And at some point, I just had to snap a picture of him capturing this.
So, the week of office work continues - two more days plus a Saturday shift
(that one again, as usual, barefoot without back-up office footwear). Since
I have to attend a seminar on Thursday, held by a lecturer from one of our
clients, it's closed-toed shoes on Thursday again... unhappy feet for eight hours...
Monday, Sept. 12, 2011 - Moonbathing and starting the working week on bare feet What had begun with a special mood during my barefoot and skyclad stroll in the park after sunset, continued on Monday morning, since the full moon was still shining, as I did my morning ritual of having my coffee in the nude on my balcony: bathing in moonlight, a slight breeze wafting over my naked skin. Taking such a moonbath was even more powerful, when I was feeling wet grass and soft soil under my bare soles, doing my breath meditation in the nude the evening before... and hugging the trees in the moonlight was also a very powerful and pleasant experience. The morning on the way to the office presented me again with the visual gift of a nice sunrise, which I gazed at while standing barefoot on dew-wet grass:
After work, I noticed that the sky was sowing what the sunrise had already portended: grey clouds, a slight drizzle and a gusty wind blowing from the south-west greeted me. Considering the direction the wind was coming from, I felt a little nervous, since hearing the news on the accident in the French nuclear waste processing facility at Marcoule, near Avignon. Even though the explosion of a furnace, where so-called weak-radiation waste is burned (such as protective suits, gloves, masks or tools used by workers in nuclear power plants, etc.), is said not to have set free any radioactive substances, a little rest of apprehension and fear remains. In comparison to that accident, the small mishap I encountered was nothing, really. Even though I was watching closely where I walked, passing a row of shrubbery which stingy twigs, I managed to step onto one of the small barbs, and have it impale the soft skin of my arch about two millimeters deep. The barb was about a centimeter long, but left no bleeing wound. Fortunately, it went in and came out straight, so that the puncture in my skin closed up immediately... my feet's bare happiness was not hampered at all...
Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 - Using the new laundry room and creating works of art... Since the laundry room in the house where I live has been restored and new machines installed, today was the first day in three months to do my laundry at home again, instead of having to carry my clothes to a laundromat. Since I already did a body shot in the old laundry room, I decided to continue that, by posing barefoot and bare-bellied in there, too:
While taking the pictures, I got the idea to work on other visual things. The nude pictures, which I posted before, became the basis for some color deviations and the target to make them look like psychedelic art. Here are some of the results:
The barefoot walk in the park did not take place until after dark, since I wanted to make it a skyclad stroll again, too... gathering good and positive energy from Mother Nature like I did a week before - including hugging trees to make the faeries happy.
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 - Urban barefooting with sound... While normally walking barefoot is silent and stealthy, I decided to draw extra attention to me walking the city by putting on my loud and jingling bell anklets – just as I did last Saturday, before entering the mall to make people hear me and get out of the way. Today, though, I already put them on before leaving home, and jingled away on bare feet, high-pitched brass bells around my right ankle and slightly lower-pitched silver bells around my left.
The brass bells have been with me for more than ten years now and were a gift from the sweet woman who named me "~*Ganesha*~" at a Rainbow Gathering. The silver bells anklet is something of a DIY kit: I bought the bells at Glöckchen's stand at a medieval market, the large bead is from a Goa Trance open air festival, where I found it lying in the mud and all of it is knotted to a black cotton former shoelace. Of course, this merry and loud arrangement, sounding off with every barefoot step I took, made people look where the sound came from and then promptly resulted in an increased occurance of "The Look"®. I did not flinch or falter from those, but just went on, head held high, not bothering at all. "Walk like you own the place" is one of the golden rules of barefoot self-esteem and pride. I obeyed this, for sure, with a happy air, too.
On my way up the ped zone to the street café – you know the routine... a barefoot capuccino and free WiFi access were waiting for me – the counter for other barefooters stayed on number zero. Even the punk woman sitting on her blanket with her dog, cross-legged, barefoot, had a pair of pink slippers lying next to her on the blanket. So, she didn't count. That sort of confirms an observation made in the German barefoot-themed "Hobby? Barfuß!" web forum, where a thread with the topic "barefoot = poor?" had been opened recently: beggars or homeless people are most often shod. I have met barefoot folks among them only when meeting punk lads and lasses'- and they were only barefoot in summer, otherwise wearing their trademark combat boots. However, those punks, often begging for change or bumming people for a smoke, are among the barefoot-friendliest people in urban surroundings (only surpassed by other barefooters, of course). I always received their praise for my less-than-normal outfits as well as my bare feet and choice of foot jewelry. When finding a table in the café to sit at – an one where I have good reception of the WiFi signal, too – people were again giving me "The Look"® for the visual as well as acoustic signature of my bare feet. It intensified, when I got out my mini laptop computer, beginning to surf the web and type this very text. With seeing this, the people in the café got a very good impression of the old equation barefoot = poor proven wrong yet again.
The café - looking at the top of...
When done relaxing in the café and emanating some more spirit of mismatch – barefoot but using a mobile computer, male but wearing a skirt (my much-loved sarong) – my next barefoot errands were shopping and then heading home, to soak up some sun in the park near my place. Shopping meant, as usual, entering the mall and going to the shops desired. Since the late summer/early fall has decided to bring some summerly warm days, I was looking for a cheaper alternative to going to the barber for a regular buzzcut – my usual way of cooling down my head on warm days. Before going to town, I checked the web site of the mall's resident electronics chain store for household electrics, and especially beauty care stuff. They offered a recharchable battery electric haircutter for about € 30,00. So, after going to the ATM, barefoot and jingling, I went to the store, found the right aisle and then saw an even better offer, with a haircutter for just under € 8,00 – not mobile though, since it has to be plugged into a 220 volts AC mains socket. Hence the low price, I guess. The funny thing about this – which I also pointed out to the woman at the checkout – is that this device is even cheaper than getting a buzzcut at my usual hairdresser's... they charge € 9,50 each time. Other than receiving "The Look"® again a few times, there were no other reactions and neither comments nor hassle about my bare feet from store employees nor other customers. One funny incident was getting "The Look"® at the supermarket, where I went next, from three dreadlocked punk figures standing near the entrance... normally I am used to having those folks cheer me on and not emulate mainstream people's behaviour. Well, there's always the exception to the rule, I guess. Since it was now really warm (27°C/81F), it was rather weird to see some people wearing jackets and one woman even wearing a full set of winter outfit, complete with a pullover, shawl and a padded jacket. Apparently, some people insist on dressing up according to the calendar, rather than paying attention to actual temperature and weather conditions. It's a weird world, sometimes...
Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 - The boys are back in town!
So, what is the barefoot relevance of this picture? A bit more than three months ago, I came home from grocery shopping after work - barefoot, as usual - seeing a convoy of fire trucks standing in front of the apartment house where I live, thick black smoke billowing from the main entrance... I had made an entry about that fire destroying the laundry room in our house on May 31. So, a few days ago I noticed, that the sub-basement hallway, where the fire had raged, was open and accessible again. When I checked on Monday, the room was clean, pristine and nice, just missing the machines. And today, after coming home from work - barefoot, as usual - I went down to the room again, switched on the lights, and there they were... three brand new washing machines and two new tumble dryers. This means, that my barefoot visits to the laundromat are over now... well, at least until someone sets them on fire again. It also means, that one possible source of funny encounters such as the one last Saturday (see below) is now dry. Oh, of course, this diary entry has bare feet, too, with traces of fall, since the slightly rainy and windy weather has begun to shake leaves from the trees - bare feet before work on Wednesday morning:
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011 (Part 1) – Looking back on nearly a flame-war… On a German-speaking web forum with the general theme of barefoot walking, one member posted a little travel report on his vacation in Croatia, where he told the other barefooters about nice textures to be enjoyed underfoot as well as enjoying summerly weather the nudist way – since he is not only an avid barefooter, but a nudist as well. In order to show this, he also posted a nicely backlit photo of himself in half-profile, being barefoot all over. Since this forum has a rule not to discuss nudism topics in detail or post explicits pictures, he saw himself not in violation of this rule – and rightly so, since there was no rebuttal from the forum moderators. When no one replied to his nice report, he posted a reply to himself, with another picture of himself, again in thenude, but explicit parts covred up by his sitting position. Picking up his good humor, since he stated, that he just had to post another nude picture to elicit replies, I posted a reply reporting on a nice barefoot warm weekend, together with an older (but already well- known) picture of myself in the nude, again totally conforming with the forum rule, since also here, my sitting position (emulating my happy namesake Hindu deity or a blissful reclining big-bellied Buddha figure) concealed the explicit and possibly “offensive” body parts (to be precise and to use the beautiful-sounding Sanskrit name for it: my lingam). A female forum member commented on this Buddha similarity in a humorous and kind way, then posting an very artful black-and-white nude picture of herself, part of her body covered by a thin veil, concealing possibly “offensive” parts, too. The thread was becoming a little nudist gallery… and this did indeed elicit replies, as to people protesting, that this was a barefoot forum and not a nudist one. Furthermore, anyone new to barefooting visiting the forum mght be put off to return. That was a valid point, and since a moderator decided to move further discussion on this topic to a member-only accessible sub-forum, where people could voice their opinion on this. The original poster, me and the female member decided that it would be best to edit our postings and remove the merry nude pictures, which we put in as an example of showing humor as well as a happy and leisurely dealing with a natural state of being. What prompted me to reply to and join in the discussion in the aforementioned sub-forum was the reaction of a few members to my big-bellied appearance. One member was afraid that such a display of nudity could attract a particular part of the male gay scene – gays liking “bears”, as big-bellied and hairy men are called there – and another commented on his aesthetic taste and the “inappropriateness” of someone like me showing his naked body. Of course, there was also a warning of publicly posting nude pictures on the web, since possible employers or other people on the professional field might access such images via the use of search engines. However, my employer (for whom I have been working for over ten years now) knows about my quirks and “specialties” of my personality (OK, not all of those, but I am known as the company’s resident barefooter and that I was hired while still living in an alternative commune). Reactions to the aesthetic topic were benign mostly, with lots of members applauding me for my good humor, the radiance of happiness and the buddhaesque spirit I emanated in that image. It seems that I have a few admirers more, now… One member posted, that the original poster as well as I should not lose our good humor after reading some responses. To this, I felt that should reply with my personal reasons for the importance of being barefoot and skyclad as well as to assure people, that my good humor was never in danger. And here is what I wrote in reply into the sub-forum: Well, in no way the reactions to my photo and the sheer size of the discussion thread on this topic (almost outgrowing the size of my belly!) are going to hamper my good mood or endanger my sense of humor. I guess the latter is still intact, judging from the size comparison I just made… Dealing with the graphic part of the internet, nowadays known as “web 2.0”, I have learned to view and deal with many things with equanimity and humor. That has been the case since the mid-1990s, when I came in touch with the graphic beginnings, using a browser known as Mosaic, which allowed just the GIF format for graphics and showing web pages with a grey background only. One could start a “flame-war” with only one inconsiderate and swiftly- typed sentence in a Usenet newsgroup (the text-based predecessor of today’s PHP web forums), resulting in pages-long threads with fierce and sometimes outright aggressive replies. I remember starting one flame-war of my own in the then-known Dirty Sole Society mailing list, when I decided to publish some facts about the working conditions in the German Birkenstock shoe factory (where in the past mentally disabled people were hired to work in the defective goods sorting department, where they had to disassemble the shoes and sandals with blemishes – and at low wages way below standard, too). I wanted to put a little damper on the reputation of Birkenstock sandals being the typical neo-hippie and eco-movement footwear, when those people weren’t barefoot. Since working conditions have improved there over the years, I have also purchased a pair of closed- toed Birks (“London” is the model name, just in case someone’s curious) to use as office shoes and backup footwear in the cold season. This is just one example of how swiftly things could and can get out of hand on the internet. In my opinion it is nice and good in this discussion, that many replies deal with the understanding of my picture being an image of personal freedom, much humor and zest for life – especially when I show myself bare-bellied or even fully skyclad. I have to say thanks very much for the positive feedback I received in either personal messages or board replies. I, personally, feel that walking barefoot – the main theme of that web forum – is my personal way of walking next to the much-trodden paths of mainstream society, which normally lead through a life defined by our civilization’s “necessities” which make us into beings that function instead of live. Walking through life on bare feet is one way, in my opinion, to feel close to what indigenous people feel when living in their natural environment – being in harmony with the world that nourishes and houses them (sometimes even without having to construct and build any dwelling). These people are happy in their life. They do not have jobs, where they have to work from 9 to 5, they certainly do not work for anyone else and they are not bound by deadlines or schedules. “They live life. Life does not live them, as it does us” (Robert Wolff). In the course of my college studies in sociology, I came to know about such people – the indigenous tribes of the Andaman Islands – during an ethnology seminar. The Andaman tribes (including the most-known one, the Jarawa) are currently facing extinction. My interest in other forms of living was triggered, to be sure. From this point on, my barefooting became more and more a symbol of my attachment and solidarity with these ways of living, replacing the mere youth counter-culture token it used to be in my high school days, when I was a member of the eco-/peace-/one world-/neo-hippie group in my home town. Later on, I read about and studied such alternatives to our all-too machine- like and clinic environment, searched for more real Earth contact with my bare feet rather than walking on paved or concrete surfaces and also began following the example of many indigenous people, stripping off the veils of civilization – literally – by taking off my clothes to experience my surroundings in the nude. Despite this very individual motive, I did so in places where it can be expected to enounter naked people – at clothing-optional beaches, lakes, rivers, or lawns for sunbathing frequented by other nudists. On the internet, I followed various discussions and searched for resources about what is “adequate” concerning nudity and what is not. Fields of discussion I monitored were aesthetics, law, but also spirituality and religion. I concluded that a society that defines nudity as “lewd behaviour” by law or as “sin” or “shame” in a religious sense is on the wrong way. Considering this, I wonder, if the “weirdness” of my person (in the eyes of the mainstream) is something bad. My reply to myself: no way! When I had the opportunity to try out an alternative form of living at the end of the 1990s, I grasped that chance and moved into an alternative commune of people living in their wooden or metal trailers on a large pasture. There, I found people who were more interested in living instead of functioning. It was a great experience, only cut short by civilization’s force in the shape of municipal authorities, who wanted to get rid of a “blemish” on their stainless image of the town. In those more than three years I lived there, I was always barefoot, often naked and not alone doing both, for sure. For about ten years now, I am living in a small apartment, I have a regular 9-to-5 job where I am required to function, a few assets of our civilized and technological world and I could now live a “normal” life. But that is exactly what I don’t want! “Normal” life, dulling my sensitivity towards other people by emotional crippling (something very common in our civilized world), the mad rat race for success, wealth and power – these are things that sometimes make me want to constantly shake my head, considering the madness fueling and driving them. To see a different world and get to know a different approach, I recommend reading Robert Wolff’s “Original Wisdom”, where he describes his experience and events happening when visiting the Sng’oi, an indigenos people in Malaysia. In order to have a counterweight to this mad, machine world, I need to take a (barefoot) step into a surrounding where I can be as close to the natural and carefree state of living those native people have – and nudity is not merely recreational in that respect, it is a crucial part of such a life.
Such was my reply in that web forum, and it was praised highly by
other members. One member even suggested to put it into the main
barefoot forum – slightly changed, though. I did not ask for an elaboration
about the possible changes, but I can guess that I would have to remove
references to nudity… and I’m not willing to do so. Instead, I have opted
to publish my point of view this way, too – since I am responsible for the
content here, I can talk about my naked feet, belly, butt or even my bare
lingam, if I wish to… been here, done that and also posted picture of all of me here already… and I will certainly continue doing so, too.
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011 (Part 2) - Looking back on a barefoot dream… Taking part in and following the discussion on the German barefoot web forum (see entry above), I reminesced on the times whe I was living in that alternative commune and the quality of living, even though I had way less money and less electric and electronic creature comforts than today. I was happy living there. Last night, then, I actually dreamed about visiting such a trailer commune, free of hassle from municipal or state authorities, since a cool farmer had allowed the inhabitants to live on a piece of fallow land, with a barn nearby, where they could park their tractors – that was the vision I had in that dream. I visited that farmer, barefoot of course, and was invited to see the commune and meet the merry people living there. And then I saw a barefoot woman there – barefoot all over, fully nude, skyclad… she had blond dreads, tattoos, moving totally unashamed, head held high, a happy smile on her face, as she strode surely and steadily on her well-trained bare feet. She was a natural beauty, defying razors, which was clearly visible when she raised an arm to wave at me, revealing hairy armpits. She also had a beautifully natural and bushy pubic mound. Well, Mother Nature doesn't shave either, and she's just beautiful this way... My dream woman looked a lot like this:
In my dream, she came to me, we talked and she was happy to see that I did not stare at parts of her nude body, such as her breasts, her butt or the beautiful thatch of pubic hair. I smiled, telling her that I am talking to her and that I always look people in the face when doing so... I did not remember taking my clothes off in my dream, but I was suddenly naked, too, when standing directly in front of her. She was happy to notice that we are kindred spirits, enjoying nudity as a normal and natural thing.
I remember her and me embracing each other, feeling her naked body close to mine
as we parted... and then I woke up.
I have met merrily barefoot and nude people like her on many occasions, talked to them (being skyclad myself, too), skinnydipped with them, sunbathed with them and also embraced them in the nude (hippie women and men alike) - so, it's not just a dream that I wish to happen, but actual and beautiful experience. Among these, being at a Rainbow Gathering, skyclad with others, was one highlight of my somewhat hippie barefoot life...
Monday, Sept. 5, 2011 - Spending a highly-energized day at work... Before and after work, it was again a song, this time by Slade, being on my mind as I witnessed quite impressive-looking cloud formations first at sunrise and after work, while waiting for the bus to take me on my way home. The song I'm referring to is Far, Far Away and its chorus "And I'm far, far way, with my feet up in the clouds".
An impressive sunrise before work Even though I had not had any real sleep the night before, the energizing experience of my barefoot and skyclad early morning walk in the park had left me awake and concentrated all through the day. Even though I was sitting at my desk, doing the ususal work with spreadsheets, attending a meeting and dealing with personnel planning, I did not get tired. The barefoot moments before and after work helped me in keeping awake, too, while I was again marvelling at impressive cloud formations.
Happy bare feet after work
As I got ready to get to work after that invigorating nude hike a few hours before, I could not keep from grinning at times, since the bus stop taking me to the office in the early morning, is right next to that park, too. If people only knew, that just a short time earlier I was hugging trees in the nude a few steps away from where I was standing now, waiting for the bus and wiggling my bare toes on the cool and slightly moist pavement... While the spiritual energy boost received from hugging trees in the nude lasted over the day, I am feeling fatigue slowly creeping up on me in the early evening... this night, I am sure, I will sleep tight, recharging my batteries the traditional way. A side note on the accident happening in the town where I live - the woman severely injured by a stroke of lightning on Sunday around noon has died in hospital on Monday morning... being outdoors in the rain, especially during thunderstorms, can be dangerous. So far I have been fortunate not to have suffered any injuries while enjoying the special sensations of being barefoot or skyclad in heavy rain.
Monday, Sept. 5, 2011 - A very early morning extra barefoot hour of power... Among dance tracks, Insomnia by Faithless is is one of the best - especially the chorus spoken in a monotonous male voice, repeating the line "I can't get no sleep" like a mantra. I felt about the same, when I tried to sleep after a nice barefoot Sunday, but kept rolling in my bed, finding good positions, normally making me sleep like a log within minutes - to no avail, though. The night air was quite balmy, temperatures having gotten no lower than 20°C, so that even open windows, allowing for fresh air did not help. After a few hours, I decided to make use of the warm night air, and got up at 3.20 am, put on my kaftan, one of my favourite garments for warm conditions, and left my apartment to take another walk to the park. Since it was dark early morning, I knew that there would be no one else around there, and the fact that the park is not equipped with any lanterns or other means of lighting made my decision easy to not only make it a barefoot but a nude walk in the park. The sky was overcast, and a quite gusty wind was blowing from the south-west, blowing more warm air around. Normally, I would expect it to get cooler after the passage of a low-pressure area, but that did not happen. On arriving at the park, I went in, and as soon as I had left the remaining pools of orange light, cast onto the park's entranceway from the street lights of the adjacent road, took off my kaftan, and walked on fully naked. The sand paths, mixed with small pebbles felt cool and wet underfoot, making me feel like I was taking a leisurely barefoot walk on a wet nude beach. A strong but mild breeze was blowing almost constantly, wafting over my bare body. I strolled to one of the park benches, sat down on it - it felt quite warm to my bare butt, too - and relaxed, taking in the peaceful mood of the night. A slight drizzle began, spraying cool tiny drops of water onto my skin. This was the right moment, I decided, to get up and walk onto the wet grass and find a spot to do my often-used breathing exercise, a sort of light yoga, to draw energy from Mother Earth: standing firmly on the ground, I raised my arms, brought my palms together overhead while inhaling and on drawing my hands down in front of my chest, taking the position of the Namasté greeting, exhaled slowly, while then moving my hands down, palms facing earthward. This way I drew up energy from below, breathing it in, and pushed out negative thoughts and feelings. I repeated this cycle ten times, all the while feeling the soft spray of the light rain that was falling during this exercise.
After finishing this exercise, I went to the chestnut tree, where I had left my
bag containing my kaftan - along with my wallet and my house keys - and suddenly
felt, like a tiny voice telling me to do so, the urge to embrace the tree trunk.
Incidentally, this chestnut tree was the one I was sitting beneath skyclad on a warm and windy spring day last year, when the wind shook chestnut blossoms from the tree and showered me with them. Back then, I was thinking of mischievous and giggling faeries, whose laughter I could almost hear whispering on the wind, too, making fun and pelting that naked big-bellied living god figure with flowers... This time, that tiny voice felt like a tenderly whispered invitation to take the tree trunk into a loving embrace and holding on to it, feeling Mother Nature's loving and caring powers.
But I wanted something more - thinking about the three alders, forming the plant equivalent of the Mother Goddess, I now wanted to hug those three trees, too. And so I went barefoot and skyclad over the grass to that trio of trees, and embraced them, beginning with the youngest of the three - the Maiden Goddess - her bark feeling cool and smooth against my body. Next was the Mother, her trunk a bit thicker and covered with moss. She felt different, to be sure, cool, wet and soft on my skin. Finally, it was the Crone's turn to receive my embrace, as she was looking like waiting for it, with her two branches at the height of my chest stretched out as if they were open arms, welcoming her consort. I held onto each tree for a while, feeling elated.
Again, the mainstream might think that this is totally crazy hippie shit, but those people certainly never tried hugging a tree in the nude or have felt any spiritual link with the Earth they walk on... after about an hour spent skyclad in the park, it was time to get back home, since the time when I normally get up to start a day of office work was creeping near. This time, the prospect of stepping into "the machine", the world of fact and figures, of reports and spreadsheets, held no strong feeling of apprehension to it. This was indeed an extra barefoot hour of power, and I hope that I will have the occasion to spend more time in this way before it gets too cold to be skyclad outdoors.
Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 - A Sunday walk in the park with a rain bath... Since the Saturday was already full of barefoot errands (see previous entry), I planned to take my barefoot walk in the park even though the weather was forecast to be less sunny. Actually, the rain showers coming down on that day were brought from the former hurricane Irene, which had become a regular cyclone, moving via the northern route from the US east coast to Europe. While the morning started hazy, the sky became dark grey just before noon, and the first shower began, with occasional thunder to be heard. After about fifteen minuts, the shower was over, the sun came out shining brightly, while thunder could be heard from the east, where the shower was exiting the stage. During that sunny break, I decided that this would be the right moment to get out and into the park. I put on the same outfit I had worn on Saturday - my red sarong and a black T-shirt with my namesake Ganesha printed on it, and went down. Just as I stepped out of the door, the sun had vanished again, and light rain had begun. I thought that this would be only a short and weak drizzle, and got on my way. About halfway to the park, the rain suddenly became stronger, turning into a real downpour. I decided not to let the rain drench my t-shirt, quickly took it off and stuffed it into my shoulder bag, continuing my walk barefoot and shirtless, enjoying the feeling of the raindrops on my bare chest and belly. Since I still was walking next to a road and by houses, taking off my sarong, too, was unfortunately out of the question. It would have been a perfect skyclad rain bath, otherwise. On arriving near the park entrance, I turned towards the main entrance of the adjacent theater building, waiting under the roof at the door for the shower to stop. After a few minutes, it was over, and the sun came out again, immediately warming up the air and the quite large puddles created by that shower. I went on my way into the park, still bare-bellied, splashing my bare feet in the puddles, and enjoying the feeling of the different wet surfaces and textures underfoot... I spent more than two-and-a-half hours in the park, staying shirtless, taking rests on different benches, spreading out my shirt to dry. Since the park was almost deserted, I had the opportunity to get fully naked at times, enjoying the ultimate barefoot freedom.
After returning home, I saw on the news, that right after noon two people were injured by a stroke of lightning, only about three kilometers from my place. That was during the first shower mentioned initially, when only occasional thunder was heard outside my apartment. Of the two injured, one's condition is critical. That incident curbed my enthusiasm about a very energizing barefoot afternoon, for sure.
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011 – looking back on the second half of the working week and part 1 of a summerly barefoot weekend The second half of the office week was barefoot before and after work, as usual, with one little foot-unfriendly incident on Friday. Since a representative of our client was to visit the office, I wore closed-toed shoes, as not to shock her with my bare and beringed toes. Thursday: Happy bare feet before and after work: 
Friday:
Happy feet before work and a nice sunrise:
Unhappy feet in the office:
Free at last (after work):
Saturday: Yes, according to the meteorologists and their definition, summer is over – it does not feel like it, though. Quite on the contrary, the weather has decided to defy its very own experts by presenting us with the gift of a sunny and warm Saturday, with temperatures of 27°C in the early afternoon. Just as I am writing this, I am again sitting in my favourite street café, right in the middle of the town center, facing the entrance to the mall neighboring the central station. Despite the perfect barefooting conditions, I have been so far the only barefooter in town – even after sitting in a position where I could easily spot the footwear of everyone passing me by. Well, while some people are trainspotters, I try spotting feet – bare ones, and kindred souls/soles (pun intended) along with them. However, there has only been a high count of almost-bare feet, clad in flip-flops or thin sandals, without anyone else but me daring to bare their feet fully, feeling the ground with its plethora of various textures. If those people only knew what they missed. I received several examples of "The Look"®, but nothing out of the ordinary.
My feet before work:
Something not to step into: raven poo (on the sidewalk from the
bus stop to the office)
The barefoot weekend started for me with getting up early, since it was again the Saturday shift at the office waiting for me. While having my morning mug of coffee observing a typical morning ritual of mine – skyclad on my balcony – I felt that the air was quite balmy, the night not bringing the typical September coolness as it had last week, when mornings were cool enough to show those little vapor trails on exhaling (10°C/55F and occasionally slightly below that). It felt more like a tropical night, being as mild as 20°C at around 5.30 am. With temperatures forecast getting as high as about 30°C that day, I decided to wear something light and comfortable to deal with the heat, which would also totally bust any dress code for a man at the office – my trusty and beloved sarong, enabling me to be barefoot up to the waist. Of course, one colleague commented on my choice of clithing by saying "Oh, a skirt today...?" to which I replied "well, with today's heat, I want to wear something comfy... plus, I cant do that on regular work days, right?" at which he laughed and replied "I guess not!". Other than that small exchange, no one commented on my choice of office attire (at least not to my face... I don't know what other people might have said or thought). At some point, while I was outside the office building, taking a break and soaking up some late morning sun (plus feeling the delight of sun-warmed pavement underfoot on the parking lot), the landlord and owner of the company building (and retired boss of the firm residing there) came by, on whatever business he sometimes has on weekends there, smiled at me, gave me a friendly "good morning" as he passed me, not in the least bothering or commenting on my bare feet or the sarong - well, since he knows me for a while and also about my barefooting, he had no reason to comment on it or react weirdly.
Soaking up the sun on the office parking lot:
After the office shift of five hours was over, I went to the bus stop, ready to get into town for my usual Saturday shopping trip, and this time to grab the occasion of that warm and sunny day to go to the street café mentioned initially. Since I had to go into the mall after enjoying my usual cappucino, I decided to use acoustic signals in addition to the optical amplifiers I already use to adourn my bare feet – I put on two additional anklets, while sitting in the café, one set of Indian brass dance bells and a self-made one with silver bells I had purchased on a medieval market from my dear barefoot friend Glöckchen.
Sometimes, it's hard to get people to move aside, when walking up to them from behind, unheard, since my bare feet are silent. Jingling bells might help in making them notice something or someone coming up behind them. In a loud urban environment, one has to act against the naturally silent step of bare feet to get by, sometimes. My jingling bare feet on the tiled supermarket floor were not the weirdest thing to be encountered there, however
The weirdness award goes to a beverage, apparently made from squeezed manga kittens:
Later in the afternoon, the last barefoot errand to run on this Saturday was going to the laundromat. Three months after the fire in our house, destroying the washing machines and dryers in our laundry room and leaving a large part of the sub-basement devastated, the room itself has been restored, with new power and water lines, and the tiled floor and white walls looking all bright and clean. The only thing missing are new machines, now. It might be, that my visits to the laundromat will be over in the near future. That would also mean to miss the chance of funny and cute encounters like the one I had there on this occasion. I encountered a cute example of "The Look"®, as I was standing outside a laundromat (the air was just a bit too stuffy and warm from the tumble driers in there), wiggling my bare toes while standing on the still-warm paved sidewalk after a nice and warm sunny day. A man with his little daughter, three years old, I'd guess, went past me, and the litte girl stared at my bare feet while passing me. Then, as they were past me, she stopped, turned around, and stared at my bare feet very intensely. The father, noticing this, stopped as well, then came up to me, smiling, and said "she wants to have a good look at your feet". I said "be my guest", lifted my sarong a little, baring my ankles, too, so she could take a good look at my anklets, too. Her father then pointed out the details to her, saying "See, his feet are bare... and he's wearing rings on his toes!" I chimed in "And that one nail is colored, too!" "Yeah, it's golden! Very cool"; he continued. The girl then looked up into my face, I smiled at her, and her father then said to her "Well, now you have a chance to ask him questions, if you like". She pondered this for a minute, again staring at my feet, then turned around and went away, walking into the direction, where their car was parked. Her father shrugged and grinned, saying "Well, perhaps not". I grinned back, wishing him a nice evening and off they both went, leaving me standing there, chuckling to myself.
With this funny and cute encounter, my barefoot Saturday came to an end.
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