Comments on: Why I Changed My Mind About Barefoot Qigong and Tai Chi

By: Julie Leidel

Julie Leidel — Sat, 20 May 2023 05:45:59 +0000

I have recently been curious about the earthing movement, and I’m happy to see you are open to it too, Sifu! I do like to go barefoot outdoors with my qigong practice, and I have only been trying it this way for a few weeks now, but I notice a difference. I can still feel the qi tingle in my feet for over an hour after putting my shoes back on from outdoors. When you say you can feel your energy going down into the earth, that makes sense. Grounding is about releasing stress & charge back into the earth to reduce inflammation in the body. It’s a form of venting by releasing the piezoelectricity we build up in our bodies from movement, electrical devices, and stress itself. The earth can absorb all that extra charge we hold, and the earth will carry it away. Our bodies are a battery, conductive like a live wire, just like those wires in our homes that also need to be grounded to the earth to release their extra charge. In other words, we quite literality can’t “let go” without her.

Calluses on the feet don’t insulate you from the earth the way rubber plastic, asphalt, or wood will. Calluses just help protect our feet from the sharp, hot, & cold surfaces. It’s like wearing an extra layer of leather to protect the feet, but the calluses do not separate us from the electrical ground of the earth.

As for receiving from the earth, this medical study says this:
“Our main hypothesis is that connecting the body to the Earth enables free electrons from the Earth’s surface to spread over and into the body, where they can have antioxidant effects. Specifically, we suggest that mobile electrons create an antioxidant microenvironment around the injury repair field, slowing or preventing reactive oxygen species (ROS) delivered by the oxidative burst from causing “collateral damage” to healthy tissue, and preventing or reducing the formation of the so-called “inflammatory barricade”. We also hypothesize that electrons from the Earth can prevent or resolve so-called “silent” or “smoldering” inflammation. If verified, these concepts may help us better understand and research the inflammatory response and wound healing, and develop new information on how the immune system functions in health and disease.”
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/#:~:text=Wounds%20heal%20very%20differently%20when,very%20different%20in%20grounded%20individuals.

By: Troy Santos

Troy Santos — Thu, 11 May 2023 07:39:34 +0000

Cool article 🙂 A couple of months ago, I joined a Tai Chi group (where I live, in southern Thailand). We do warm ups and 18-form Qigong starting about 5.30am, and finish Tai Chi forms about 6.45am. My first day, I did it barefoot and enjoyed it. But a more experienced guy (who also has some understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine) explained to me that I should wear shoes because the bricks / the ground is too cool. If I understood his explanation correctly, he said that doing Tai Chi warms the body, and interaction with the cool bricks upsets the temperature balance of the body. Honestly, it seems to me that the coolness mixed with the heat would have more of a balancing effect, but I didn’t argue. I will try it barefoot next time we practice. (Plus, I understand the various benefits of going barefoot just in daily life.)
I used to live with a Buddhist group in the mountains of northern Thailand. Monks for sure, barefoot almost all the time. Laypeople usually barefoot. When walking on dirt / soil / bare ground, for sure, barefoot. Even when in the city, many people are barefoot. (Some members of the group reject, for hygiene reasons, being barefoot in the city, and I can understand their arguments.) My first day at the temple, a guy told me that he believes Earth’s minerals somehow make their way into our bodies. Not so sure that’d pass scientific muster, but I suppose there just might be something right about that belief 🙂

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 05:15:41 +0000

Hello, when I’m barefoot on the grass, or on a floor that allows grounding, I come alive! standing on plastic (soles, floors…), makes my energy go down, as well as posture, attention, memory, breathing… To me, standing on plastic is like trying to live under water.
I’ve practiced taï-chi for a few years and I learned it on plastic. Then I discovered earthing and got to practice a bit barefoot sometimes. Sure it doesn’t allow to do everything as on plastic, but still, I get better ballance or flexibility (same for yoga grounded, of course), and I just feel, well, more grounded. I offered the earthing book to my taï-chi teacher on my last day of class with him. Don’t know how it went for him, if he bothered to try!
I also believe that the effects you get when you ground may not be the same when you’re just beginning after decades spent ungrounded, as when you’ve spent your whole life grounded or at least several years. I believe that there can be no true “grounding” (growing of our energetic root system) without grounding and that being grounded may feel like being slowed down by those who have the most energy (on the hyperactivity side). That slowing down is precisely what’s grounding is about: being present and rooted to what is here now instead of always on the move to some place else.
Thanks for that article!

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 12:39:26 +0000

In reply to Anon. I have tried everything, including Superfeet. I even spent hundreds of dollars on custom orthotics. None of these things helped. The modern thinking is that orthotics further weaken the feet.

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 23:45:23 +0000

In reply to Sifu Anthony Korahais. Hello, have you looked into Superfeet? Vionic? A simple arch support is everything to fix feet, knee, hip, back issues for many people.

By: Grif Frost

Grif Frost — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 00:32:49 +0000

Aloha Anthony! We ran a Cooperative CrossFit style Gym where we set-up a medical study (we were affiliated with an independent physicians association) to measure athletic performance with or without shoes. The conclusions were: 1) 30% improvement in balance if barefoot; 2) Fewer foot injuries if barefoot (tend to be more aware of possible challenges); 3) Better agility, coordination, flexibility if barefoot; 4) Way more playful/joyful if barefoot. 5) Structural improvements in the overall body if barefoot (really important for Olympic Lifting); I am now a barefoot enthusiast (age 62) and practice QiGong daily inside and outside, barefoot. I don’t require my students to go barefoot but do recommend they try it…most end up going barefoot.

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 19:39:00 +0000

In reply to Jaemin. Still a work in progress. There are some new pieces to the puzzle though, notably myofascial release and a new way of walking. Once I make visible progress with my arches, I'll blog about it.

By: Jaemin

Jaemin — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 19:36:18 +0000

Another great post Anthony! So were you able to fix your flat feet after all?

By: Marshall McCabe, Taiji Expert

Marshall McCabe, Taiji Expert — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 00:21:00 +0000

In reply to John C. Day. No, no, and no!!! Please do not recommend anything from Jake Mace, who loves himself so much and talks so much garbage rather than ever learning something of substance himself! He demonstrates the worst quality of martial arts, especially internal arts, to the point he is called a fraud for misleading beginners.

By: Sifu Anthony Korahais

Sifu Anthony Korahais — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 23:23:57 +0000

In reply to Caroline.

Grounding (or Earthing) is obviously working for you. Keep going!

Yes, there’s Cosmic (or Heavenly or Celestial) Qi coming down from head to toe. That I can clearly feel.

But the ground energy coming up is not something I can feel, and not for a lack of sensitivity. I can feel energy going down into the ground, but not up.

Yes, we can definitely store energy in the body. But we also channel it.