I am a city girl now, living just north of Chicago.  A short train ride away from the loop.  Everything always bustling and beeping and impatient.  Don’t hesitate for even a nano second when the light turns green or else!  Hurry, hurry, hurry.  This is not my nature or my pace.  I have been dubbed “the tortoise”  by pretty much everyone related to me.  I am not so sure they always mean it as a compliment.

Eustice Conway,  a local legend from NC written about in  “The Last American Man” by Elizabeth Gilbert, dedicates his life to teaching children how to live in harmony with nature.  Part of his speech to school children is, “You live in boxes, but I live in circles”.  I grew up only partly in boxes.  And those boxes rarely had heat or air conditioning!  Mostly, I lived in circles.  I spent most of my childhood in NC at the beach, on the farm, or at the barn tending my horse.  Those circles get inside of you.  The boxes just never feel right after that.

So in spite of being a city slicker now, I am always finding myself lured seductively towards nature.  It just seems to call to me.  Then I find myself immersed and totally surrounded.  It gives me peace.   It touches and soothes something deep inside me, like home.  As I read “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv I am validated by what he calls ‘nature-deficit disorder’.  This generation of children is growing up without an intimate relationship with nature.  They know more about the global threats to our environment than what creatures live in the forest preserve down the road.  They know the names of more TV shows than trees growing in their backyard.  I suffer from this disorder too!  Especially in the cold Chicago winters.

So when we have 65 degree sunny days in October I take full advantage.    I rebel against wearing shoes.  I only put them on once today when I ran 4 miles in the woods.  This patch of forest is my oasis.  I go and drink it in heavily.

This was my only company there this morning.  I am always wondering why I don’t see more people here?

I went from there to meet my colleague and MovNat trainer, Dan Houlihan, in a field near Zeke’s school to finish a movement workshop we are collaborating on together.  This included full body natural movements and progressions, running barefoot, and most importantly, PLAYING OUTSIDE!!  Yes, us grown ups need to play outside too.  Food for the soul.  ( See http://www.emergencewellness.com/upcoming-events.aspx  If you are reading this and you live any where nearby COME AND PLAY!!)

Then I picked Zeke up, and walking out to the car, we found ourselves lost in the tiny ecosystem under a rock.  Zeke had found this rock yesterday and was convinced that there was treasure buried there.  Even though I didn’t mention it today, (I forgot about it) he remembered and wanted to go back to explore.

He was right.  He found treasure.

We were completely consumed and lost for over an hour.  While TV seems to steal time, nature seems to expand it.  The benefits so obvious in my child as he finally stacked his pile of sticks (more treasure) in the car to go home.  Quiet, calm, focused, peaceful, able to regulate himself emotionally for the rest of the day.  Even in the face of meltdowns from his sisters who sat in a box all day,  rode in a box for 45 minutes to get in another box to go home to their boxes.  Hmm?

And here’s the thing.  That hour of pure nature with Zeke wasn’t way out in the middle of nowhere.  We didn’t have to fly, drive and hike 50 miles to find it.  It was at the edge of a parking lot in a bustling suburb just north of one of this country’s major cities.

We can lose ourselves, reduce this deficit and nourish our body/mind/spirit.   We can help our children heal this broken bond with nature just by taking the time.  No matter where you live.  Because all it take is  just opening our eyes to see past the asphalt to what poet John Milton calls “A Wilderness of Sweets”.  Right there…in front of us… in our back yards…in our neighborhoods…or at the edge of a parking lot.

I have a reputation for being a bit of a tree hugger.

This reputation began many years ago when I gave up snickers and coca cola for breakfast and started making muffins with vegetables in them and making shakes that were green. I think it became permanent when I tried to convert my family to Vegan. It didn’t work. They are quite carnivorous, but I am still always on the quest for a more balanced healthy way to live.

After learning to run in my 40’s, I found total peace running on the wooded trails near my house. My love for being in nature grew even more this summer as I began learning about a type of exercise called MovNat. (See movnat.com “the workout the world forgot”). All of a sudden, a whole new way of interacting with the environment opened up. Even though we didn’t take exotic trips anywhere, this summer was full of adventure, learning to climb trees and pretty much anything else we could scale. I became ‘that parent’ at the park swinging on the monkey bars and letting my kids climb where everybody else was saying, ‘no don’t’. (This hasn’t helped my reputation by the way). I do still shave my underarms in case you are really worried. At least in the summer. 😉

So what does this have to do with being barefoot? Well, I seem to be putting less and less on my feet as I become more involved with nature. It is pretty much common knowledge in many areas of child development that bare feet develop better than shod ones. Not to mention the sensory input we get from our feet when we take our shoes off. Even as a kid, there was nothing I liked better than having my feet rubbed. (Mom I can see you nodding emphatically).

So when my kids asked if they could take their shoes off, I would wrestle that fear of puncture wounds away, and say ‘sure’!! Then I would survey the ground around them looking for deadly sharp objects that might leap out at them. I slowly relaxed and only did a quick survey for hypodermic needles when the shoes came off. Finally, about a week ago, I turned a corner when I told the kids we were ALL walking the half mile to the park..,barefoot. We didn’t even put the shoes on to have to take them off! It was an ‘aha’ experience. It was a moment of true freedom. The first couple of walks were almost painful. It felt like I lost some skin. But, it now feels damn luxurious. We do this ritual of walking barefoot to the park every night now. The air is cooling down but the warmth of the day is still there for your feet to soak up. It is so sensory! We climb and swing and jump around and then walk home to go to bed. My kids are joyful. They feel like they are getting away with something.

I have some friends that would like to take this moment to remind me of the surgery Zeke had to undergo to remove glass from his foot before he was 2 years old!! So I would like to take this moment to remind THEM that he got that piece of glass stuck in his foot in our kitchen! So yes, when a glass gets broken in my house I am a woman possessed. But I am learning not to fear EVERY THING. The boogie man is not around every corner.

Now as I face many days of walking the mile to synagogue for high holiday services, either in dress up shoes that render you crippled by the time you hobble in the door, or searching for an elegant pair of tennis shoes to get you there while toting your heels, there is finally a third choice. One I will be choosing. Yep, I will be the orthodox woman all dressed up walking barefoot with a big smile on her face!

Barefoot Baby!