Moving Barefoot - In construction - I need selfies.

Welcome!

Hi everyone! My name is Joy, and I love moving barefoot! Moving barefoot benefits the body, mind, emotions and spirit (spirit being defined as one's true essence). I almost always go barefoot. I walk around the house barefoot, and I exercise barefoot both at home and in the gym. I live outside the suburbs, so I wear barefoot minimalist shoes¹ with yoga socks² whenever I go outside to protect my feet from our gravel driveway and all the critters who live underground on our property. I also wear barefoot minimalist shoes¹ with yoga socks² whenever I go out shopping although I secretly wish that it were acceptable to go shopping barefoot.

I especially love to exercise barefoot! There are many forms of barefoot exercise. The most common ones are yoga, modern dance, swimming, hula hooping and martial arts. Exercising barefoot conditions the body, clears the mind, reduces stress and improves mood.

My choice of barefoot exercise is barefoot dance. I do Barefoot Dance Aerobics, Barefoot Free Dance, Barefoot Floor Dance and Barefoot Dance Hooping. All forms of barefoot exercise are done with shoes off so that conditioning can begin from the toes up and not just from the calves up. If you feel uncomfortable going barefoot, then you can always wear yoga socks². Wearing shoes, however, while doing barefoot exercise is discouraged. Some movements aren't safe in shoes.

1. Barefoot minimalist shoes are flat shoes that have a flexible, extremely thin sole between the bottom of the feet and the ground. They provide no arch support or stability. If you aren't used to going barefoot, then I highly recommend transitioning to barefoot minimalist shoes first and then going barefoot in the home before attempting to dance barefoot. Moreover, you should always consult a medical doctor before starting an exercise program whether or not you are used to going barefoot.

2. Yoga socks are toe socks that provide traction on the soles. They allow the whole foot to move, including the ankles and toes. They are a good alternative for those who are able to go barefoot and don't want to.

Barefoot Dance Aerobics

Barefoot Dance Aerobics is a comprehensive and integrative full-body barefoot practice that combines dance and aerobics. It's done with shoes off so that conditioning can start from the floor up, not just from the calves up.

Barefoot Dance Aerobics uses many of the steps found in aerobics, such as Step Touch, V-Step, Lateral Travel, Pelvis Bumps, Pelvis Circles, Turns, Hops, Jumps, Slides, Cross Behind, Cha-Cha-Cha, Knee Sweeps, Kicks, Punches, Strikes, Blocks, etc.

Barefoot Dance Aerobics uses music and movement to move muscles and joints of the whole body, opening energy blockages and enhancing blood and lymph circulation.

Barefoot Dance Aerobics incorporates Barefoot Free Dance when it:

• uses imagery to increase effort while reducing the sensation of effort. For example, drawing rainbows feels less intense than raising the arms.
• uses imagery to stimulate personalized movement. You can follow routines exactly or you can raise or lower the intensity of movements by quickening or slowing your pace, increasing or decreasing your range of motion, involving more or fewer body parts, raising or lowering the elevation of movements and/or moving through more or less space. An example of modifying movement would be stepping instead of hopping or hopping instead of stepping.
• provides intermittent breakout points during the routines. These breakout points give you the opportunity to break out of the choreography and move freely while being guided and to personalize your movement even further so that you can express your inner self fully. By personalizing movement, you can increase or decrease the intensity of your workout.

Barefoot Dance Aerobics incorporates mindful practices so that you can leave behind distractions, enter the dance floor with a focus and intent, immerse yourself into the dance, and then consciously step out of the dance, feeling happy, relaxed, refreshed and rejuvenated.

Barefoot Dance Aerobics uses a 6-step class format. The music starts out slow to give you time to move all parts of your body deeply and fully. It then quickens to condition and then slows down again near the end to give you time to move and stretch fully on the floor.

Barefoot Dance Hooping

Barefoot Dance Hooping is a form of hula hooping done barefoot while manipulating a hula hoop on and off your body. It feels like getting a massage as the hoop rolls around the body. The motion opens blockages, allowing blood and lymph to flow. Barefoot Dance Hooping can also be done as a performance and is great fun!

The intensity of Barefoot Dance Hooping can be increased or decreased by going faster or slower, hooping with a smaller or larger hoop, hooping in your dominant or recessive direction or hooping with one or multiple hoops. Don't worry about the hoop dropping. It's common for hoops to fall to the ground even for advanced hoopers.

Barefoot Dance Hooping follows a 5-step class format. It begins with dancing with the hoop on your own. Then comes the warm-up, which is accomplished by stretching with your hoop and then doing some waist hooping exercises. After that, comes learning new on-body techniques and off-body techniques and putting them together into a dance sequence. You end by coming full circle back to dancing with the hoop on your own.