The Benefits Of Walking Barefoot On Boulders

It is possible that during your excursions through nature you will find a pebble beach or a river with transparent waters that lets you see them. Don’t just take a photo, take off your shoes and walk on the stones. It’s a fun sensory experience, and it also has health benefits. In fact, it is a proven natural medicine and hydrotherapy technique practiced in spas.

The positive effects of foot reflexology paths

Researchers at the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) in Eugene (United States) have taken the centuries-old naturopathic practice to the laboratory and confirmed that walking on a pebble or cobblestone surface significantly reduces blood pressure and improves balance and physical performance. .

Beyond scientific analysis, people who regularly walk on boulders claim that it enhances their physical and mental well-being, improves the quality of sleep and relieves pain if they suffer from it.

Walking paths on smooth cobblestones or on boulders are common in China. The practice has its roots in traditional Chinese medicine and is related to the principle of acupuncture, since the objective is that contact with the irregular surface of the stones stimulates the points located on the soles of the feet, which favors circulation. of vital energy by the organism.

The points that are stimulated on the soles of the feet are linked to all the organs, tissues and systems of the body through energy channels or meridians.

The authors of the ORI study visited China and found that parks in large cities have beautiful river stone paths where many older people used to walk barefoot for half an hour or more a day. Researchers came up with making a rug so that anyone can bring therapy into their home or garden.

To test its effect, they designed a study with two groups of participants: some walked on the pebble carpet for an hour, three times a week, and the other did so normally.

After 16 weeks, the researchers found that participants who had walked on the mat scored better on measures of balance, physical function, and blood pressure.

The passage of the goose on boulders

The technique is also part of European naturopathic medicine, specifically, the hydrotherapy techniques of Sebastian Kneipp. Barefoot walks in cold water on pebbles, on soft snow or on wet grass have been practiced in central European countries since the beginning of the 20th century.

In the case of walking on boulders, it is recommended to do it with water up to the knees and taking energetic steps and with the legs stretched out, taking the skin out of the water, in the style of the military “goose step”. In addition, it is advisable to soak the neck, wrists and inside of the elbows with cold water. This technique is practiced only for 5 minutes. As it is done in cold water, then you have to warm up with a little dry running in the sun if possible.

In spas, this walk takes place in a corridor or footbath with half-height walls, with the boulders (and polished so that they do not hurt) and covered with water, and with jets that come out from the sides and massage the legs. To make the walk easier, especially in the case of the elderly, we can hold onto some railings.

Back to the origins of intimate contact with nature

The therapeutic walk is justified by physical stimuli, but surely it also produces other more subtle effects. If you take off your shoes and walk along the bank of a river, your experience of nature becomes more intimate, you get a little bit out of yourself to integrate into something bigger and more powerful.

In addition to the pressure on the soles of the feet or the effort required to maintain balance, a connection is established between the body, the water and the land. It is literally an electrical connection, since positive ions are discharged, which when they accumulate in the body produce tension.

In the book Earthing: Barefoot (Sirio Publishing), the authors describe how physical disconnection from Earth creates abnormal physiology and contributes to inflammation, pain, fatigue, stress, and poor sleep. By reconnecting to Earth, symptoms are quickly relieved and even eliminated and recovery is accelerated.

In addition to taking advantage of the beaches and rivers, you can buy pebble rugs to put in your bathroom, room or terrace. You can even build a walk in the garden, in imitation of those that exist in Chinese or Central European parks (there are already some in Spain, for example, in Orense, on the banks of the Miño). You only need the whole, polished boulders, two to four centimeters in diameter, which you can buy in building material stores.