On the way barefoot – Barefoot paths, Kneipp basins for your health

Take off your shoes and socks and experience the “barefoot experience.” Sharp, coarse, gritty, or smooth. Our feet have extremely diverse perceptions when we walk without shoes, which is not something they are used to.

Everyone has heard about barefoot paths and Kneipp basins before. What is a barefoot path? What are its benefits? Why would you walk through cold water with no shoes on? We asked around and found some great barefoot experiences.

Why? Where? When?
It is healthy to walk

barefoot.

Your health is boosted by barefoot trails. When we walk with bare feet, foot muscles that are otherwise rarely used come into play. This has a positive effect on the entire system. The whole body comes into balance. Moreover, barefoot running helps train motor skills, movement skills, and coordination skills and makes use of all the other senses. These effects are valid regardless of someone’s size. It’s not surprising that toddlers should walk without shoes as much as possible during the learning-to-run phase, and only wear some when they are walking safely.

It is true that people have noticed that people are losing the feeling of walking barefoot, and that they are losing their connection with nature. Through barefoot experiences, this can be re-established.

Running

barefoot is good for the environment

There are benefits to running without shoes. Not only that, but because the environments in which most barefoot trails are located are naturally appealing, people automatically develop a greater awareness and increasing interest in issues related to nature. People who run barefoot feel their environment more sensitively and value it more. There are advantages to this kind of foot massage. Furthermore, walking a barefoot path is a great, original idea and a lot of fun.

“Nature has given us everything we need to stay healthy.” — Sebastian Kneipp

Materials and structure of barefoot paths

When you walk without shoes and socks, you feel the different ground surfaces more intensely than you would with shoes and socks. That’s obvious. Some materials are particularly well suited for this purpose and are therefore often found in constructed barefoot paths. The examples include tree discs, grass, straw, cones, sand, and water. The way they are arranged gives you a variety when you walk. You could find a sensory path like this at the HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio in the Allgäu. You can walk over stones, wood chips, gravel, and water from the nearby nature park.

“We want our guests to reconnect with nature again.” – Hubertus Mountain Refugio

A barefoot park is the whole thing. You can cover a longer distance without shoes. Balance routes, suspension bridges, mud pools, and pure barefoot walking on various floor coverings are examples of other possibilities for sensory perception.

Kneipp pool

Besides barefoot paths, the basins are also a part of health-promoting barefoot experiences. A basin like this contains water that is below 18 degrees, which is so deep that not only your feet, but your calves can dive right into the water. If you want to avoid freezing your feet, make sure that you step on the spot and lift one leg out of the water. The Kneipp pool promotes circulation in the veins, stimulates the circulatory system, helps with migraines, and can improve sleep. The Berghotel Rehlegg in Berchtesgadener Land is one of the outdoor facilities that have created such pools. A natural bathing pond can be found at the Naturhotel Outside. The Weihrerhof Hotel in South Tyrol has made a Kneipp stream with Wolfsgrubenersee water. There are several different-sized stones at the bottom of the stream near the Hotel Weihrerhof to activate your foot reflexes and muscles while treading water. You can also walk here barefoot and feel stones, sand, and logs with your feet. During your vacation, you can get a small bit of nature feeling and immune strengthening. If you schedule a session at night, you will have a good night’s sleep.

Barefoot in the city
Did you know that modern urban planning often includes barefoot experiences? You can park your shoes and socks at the edge of a fountain and let your feet dangle in the water at the Rindermarkt.The world’s largest “water table” in Bordeaux invites people to walk barefoot in the cool water every day.

I’m sure you can think of places near you where you have been barefoot before. Share your thoughts.