Dirt Between the Toes
The power of connecting our feet to the Earth.
Prefer to listen? Click play on the audio track above to hear SVB read you these words.
And don’t forget your Reflection Points at the end.
“If you think about all the ways our lives have changed over the past century (and beyond), a lack of time outdoors and – more specifically – a lack of physical contact with our land are undeniable.”
A FEW WEEKS back, my husband and I took the opportunity to take our jobs to Florida for the week, which is pretty much the only iteration of remote work I can get behind at this point.
One of the stipulations of doing so (which we had agreed upon for accountability purposes in advance) was that we’d interject doses of chill into our days. No point – in my opinion – of working from a different location if you only change the confines of your 4 walls.
So, we made it a point to get outside of them.
Which one evening, included taking a walk on the beach after we logged off.
After ditching our flip flops somewhat discreetly in the beachgrass, we headed down the coast, wind blowing, the rhythm of the Gulf lapping at our feet. There was not much talking – save a brief exchange about the magic a man on the shore was making with a kite.
We were exhausted. Numb from too much interaction with screens.
Once we realized it was time to head home – a decision only dictated by hunger, a ticking clock and the need to get to bed at a decent time – we retrieved our flip flops, rinsed off our hooves and walked down the path back to the road, which would lead us to our rental car.
But it wasn’t until we hit the street – which we had to cross to walk about a half block to the parking lot – that I realized that we both still had not put back on our sandals.
“I like being barefoot,” I remarked randomly, an instinctual comment spurred by the feeling of the sun-kissed pavement underneath my feet.
“Me too,” my husband replied, barely audibly, as if it was an intimate, sacred admission.
And odd as it may seem, I can vividly recall the comfort of this moment.
The warmth. The calm. The security.
Perhaps the emotions were (and still are) spurred by a moment of peace. Of sharing time with someone you love in a beautiful place with no conversation needed.
But it’s equally plausible that our bare feet were also part of the equation.
Known as “grounding” (or, in certain circles “earthing”), the practice of making direct skin contact with the Earth through walking, standing or lying on grass, sand or soil is considered an ancient practice that has gained traction in our modern world for its healing properties.
So much so that the National Institutes of Health reported that “multi-disciplinary research has revealed that electrically conductive contact of the human body with the surface of the Earth produces intriguing effects on physiology and health.”
And that was in 2015!
The cliffs notes on the science is this: Since the Earth is a living, breathing thing, it emits energy – specifically negatively-charged, free electrons (which, it’s worth noting, are being perpetually supplied by lightning strikes around the globe). So when you put the human body in contact with the Earth, it acts as a conductor, and all those negatively-charged, free electrons can then go to work neutralizing the free radicals in our body that are caused by stress, pollution and less-than-desirable habits.
In other words, it’s essentially a magnetic pull that results in homeostasis or balance.
Skeptical? I get it. But if you think about all the ways our lives have changed over the past century (and beyond), a lack of time outdoors and – more specifically – a lack of physical contact with our land are undeniable.
Not to mention that if you look back at your own life there was likely a time when you spent a good amount of time barefoot.
Like when you used to play in the backyard.
So be it nostalgia or a placebo, legit science or quackery, I personally recommend kicking off the shoes (a topic we’ll revisit on Wednesday) and getting rooted – both in practice and in symbolism.
It certainly can’t hurt, although a word of caution: A quick search on grounding will turn up a host of products designed to help you “optimize” the Earth’s charge.
Keep walking. Literally.
With your bare feet out your front door.
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Coming Up Next Week: Lessons from Palermo
Where meals are sacred (and nutrition follows suit).
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Write them, think them, talk them. There is no right or wrong way to navigate these prompts. Except to go into them without judgment or expectation. Be curious. And honest. Have the courage to sit with yourself.
When was the last time your bare feet actually touched the earth—whether it’s the grass in your backyard, the sand at a beach, or the soil in a garden? This week, challenge yourself to spend just five minutes entirely unshod. Don’t walk for exercise; just stand or sit, and notice the immediate physical sensation of connecting with the ground.
Look back at your highest-stress or highest-screen-time days in the past week or so. When the brain fog inevitably set in, what was your default escape hatch? The next time you feel that digital fatigue creeping in, can you commit to a brief physical intermission outside instead of reaching for a digital scroll?