Shoes without rubber soles? (grounding)

[Brian]

You guys done derailing this thread? Please dont feed the trolls.

Yep! All finished.

 

[ChiDragon]

What about being barefoot inside a house. On ground floor and 1'st floor(or 2nd floor) of a double storey hpuse.

 

What kind of material is used for the floor....???

 

tile

 

You know, it's really makes no difference of what kind of material was used on each floor. It is because there was no zero potential in the building. Unless there is an one inch copper bar was installed throughout the building to establish a zero potential grounding point; and you must have a ground strap tied to your wrist to be effective.

Edited September 16, 2013 by ChiDragon

[MooNiNite]

 

You know, it's really makes no difference of what kind of material was used on each floor. It is because there was no zero potential in the building. Unless there is an one inch copper bar was installed throughout the building to establish a zero potential grounding point; and you must have a ground strap tied to your wrist to be effective.

 

you dont think someone barefoot on concrete in a basement would be grounded?

[Brian]

Concrete is a decent conductor, with a resistivity typically in the neighborhood of 100 Ohm-meters. This means that if you stood on top of a cube of concrete 1 meter on a side, you would see a resistance of about 100 Ohms. This is neglecting contact resistance, the presence of rebar, etc., but is a decent ballpark number. This is a concern for engineers, actually, because the lower the resistance the more likely corrosion is to occur within the concrete itself. The actual resistance depends on the composition of the concrete as different aggregates have significantly different resistivities. Here's a link to an interesting article on geophysical resistivity, should anyone be interested: http://www.eos.ubc.ca/ubcgif/iag/foundations/properties/resistivity.htm

 

This actually puts concrete in the same range as water (slightly more resistance than salt water, less than deionized water, about the same as ordinary fresh water). For comparison, muscle is roughly 3 Ohm-meters, fat is roughly 7, copper is roughly 1.7x10^-8 (0.000000017) and hard rubber is roughly 10¹³ (10000000000000). BTW, carbon (in the form of graphite) is in the neighborhood of 10^-4 or 10^-5, air is about 10¹⁶and quartz is about 10¹⁷, to try to put things in perspective.

 

All that said, however, the mechanical stress of standing barefoot on concrete far outweighs any energetic benefit you might get from "grounding" -- especially when you consider that we don't regain an electrical charge instantly after discharging (except on those rare winter mornings when every doorknob shocks you). An occasional touch to the earth (or something in contact with it) is really all that is needed. (See Ya Mu's post earlier in the thread, for instance...)

 

Note also that air has a resistivity value -- this means that air is not a perfect insulator (better than rubber but not as good as paraffin) and that it therefore conducts electricity, too. Remember earlier when I talked about people typically having about a 100-volt potential difference? I was referring to the dielectric polarization that naturally occurs as a result of standing upright within air's own potential gradient, not the static charge we might pick up from shuffling our shoes across the carpet. This also means we draw energy directly from the air AND that we act as batteries (technically more like capacitors) -- some of us better than others...

 

Hope this helps!

 

Edited September 17, 2013 by Brian

[ChiDragon]

you dont think someone barefoot on concrete in a basement would be grounded?

 

Not electrically.

[silent thunder]

I've practiced for years barefoot on synthetic carpet.

I've worn all manner of shoes, cotton, rubber, leather, reed, barefoot.

 

I prefer barefoot, but will work whenever, wherever in whatever, when the motivation stirs.
I live in a giant city, on second floor, walls filled with electrical wiring and transformers outside our window.

 

Of far more concern to me than any of these things, is what is the condition of my heart and my mind.

 

Quiet heart

Kind heart

Sincere heart

 

These three tenets form the foundation of my qigong practice and I find when they are present, mind is clear.

[Green Tiger]

I've practiced for years barefoot on synthetic carpet.

I've worn all manner of shoes, cotton, rubber, leather, reed, barefoot.

 

I prefer barefoot, but will work whenever, wherever in whatever, when the motivation stirs.

I live in a giant city, on second floor, walls filled with electrical wiring and transformers outside our window.

 

Of far more concern to me than any of these things, is what is the condition of my heart and my mind.

 

Quiet heart

Kind heart

Sincere heart

 

These three tenets form the foundation of my qigong practice and I find when they are present, mind is clear.

 

Nog. There are much more important concerns than footwear. Although, I must admit, lately I've been wearing arch supports when I practice. Wow! I noticed a HUGE difference the first time I did a standing meditation. After 10 minutes my feet were burning. In a good way though. I feel like my feet and ankles have gotten stronger since I started wearing them.

 

Oh, and the inserts are made of foam and rubber, I think.

[MooNiNite]

I've practiced for years barefoot on synthetic carpet.

I've worn all manner of shoes, cotton, rubber, leather, reed, barefoot.

 

I prefer barefoot, but will work whenever, wherever in whatever, when the motivation stirs.

I live in a giant city, on second floor, walls filled with electrical wiring and transformers outside our window.

 

Of far more concern to me than any of these things, is what is the condition of my heart and my mind.

 

Quiet heart

Kind heart

Sincere heart

 

These three tenets form the foundation of my qigong practice and I find when they are present, mind is clear.

 

yeah this is how i train also. but, iv begun to notice how not being grounded can really have some sever effects on the mind and really get it going. i notice a very strong difference meditating on natural earth than synthetic materials. Mostly mentally at this point

[silent thunder]

Nog. There are much more important concerns than footwear. Although, I must admit, lately I've been wearing arch supports when I practice. Wow! I noticed a HUGE difference the first time I did a standing meditation. After 10 minutes my feet were burning. In a good way though. I feel like my feet and ankles have gotten stronger since I started wearing them.

 

Oh, and the inserts are made of foam and rubber, I think.

Learned something good about support and balance in my stance yesterday while practicing at the beach.

I was standing just inside the surf line. So eventually my feet had been buried in the sand. Blissful feeling by the way.

In my form we hold open the yong chuan by lightly gripping the ground with the toes and the outside edge of the foot.

 

I'd been feeling my stance is a bit wide recently, but was doggedly saying to myself 'no do the work/don't wimp out' etc.

At the beach I could really feel the tension in the outside of my knees, so I narrowed my stance and having the sand there to fully contact every portion of the foot, provided some great play in awareness of foot position and in opening the yong chuan and remaining supported/relaxed.

 

 

yeah this is how i train also. but, iv begun to notice how not being grounded can really have some sever effects on the mind and really get it going. i notice a very strong difference meditating on natural earth than synthetic materials. Mostly mentally at this point

 

Very good point, with the mental aspect. After yesterday's realization at the beach, I reminded myself in this morning's practice to narrow my stance a bit and when I did, I noticed I had inadvertently been holding the perineum locked. My mind had been very unsettled up to that point; reacting to noises outside that normally don't affect my concentration, even becoming little emotional scenarios in my mind-theater. Seriously ungrounded.

 

The moment I narrowed my stance, released the tension in the perineum and then relaxed the tension I didn't know my feet were holding, resulted in very pleasant, full body buzzing/awareness that was relaxed and intense. The tiniest adjustments in the feet or hands, a knee, anything, could shift the energetic buzz out of an area, or settle it again over the entire body.

 

What this told me was that good position promotes strong flow.

As for the footwear and the other aspects, it can't hurt to have cotton or barefoot, but in the end, I sense the Qi finds a way no matter what.

Edited September 17, 2013 by silent thunder

[MooNiNite]

 

[MooNiNite]

Still having trouble finding good grounding shoes..

[Spotless]

On 9/17/2013 at 0:42 PM, silent thunder said:

Learned something good about support and balance in my stance yesterday while practicing at the beach.

I was standing just inside the surf line. So eventually my feet had been buried in the sand. Blissful feeling by the way.

In my form we hold open the yong chuan by lightly gripping the ground with the toes and the outside edge of the foot.

 

I'd been feeling my stance is a bit wide recently, but was doggedly saying to myself 'no do the work/don't wimp out' etc.

At the beach I could really feel the tension in the outside of my knees, so I narrowed my stance and having the sand there to fully contact every portion of the foot, provided some great play in awareness of foot position and in opening the yong chuan and remaining supported/relaxed.

 

 

 

Very good point, with the mental aspect. After yesterday's realization at the beach, I reminded myself in this morning's practice to narrow my stance a bit and when I did, I noticed I had inadvertently been holding the perineum locked. My mind had been very unsettled up to that point; reacting to noises outside that normally don't affect my concentration, even becoming little emotional scenarios in my mind-theater. Seriously ungrounded.

 

The moment I narrowed my stance, released the tension in the perineum and then relaxed the tension I didn't know my feet were holding, resulted in very pleasant, full body buzzing/awareness that was relaxed and intense. The tiniest adjustments in the feet or hands, a knee, anything, could shift the energetic buzz out of an area, or settle it again over the entire body.

 

What this told me was that good position promotes strong flow.

As for the footwear and the other aspects, it can't hurt to have cotton or barefoot, but in the end, I sense the Qi finds a way no matter what.

It is great when you get to these fine points!

 

And no question:

"As for the footwear and the other aspects, it can't hurt to have cotton or barefoot, but in the end, I sense the Qi finds a way no matter what"

 

Too many seekers / practioners invest in the ideas that clothing and perfection of environment are important aspects to inner developement - this is simply not the case. Various sensitivities will come and go and it's fine to adjust things if one is able - but 

no need to invest in this as particularly important - it is not.

 

It iis great to see others finding the exact same fine details of energy changes related to stance and very fine changes. I went through the exact same experience and would have written about them in the same words.

 

Proper practice will lead to unfolding - no teacher could have truly taught you what you now know so deeply in this simple but important fine point.

 

Edited January 12, 2018 by Spotless

[Spotless]

Flat shoes are helpful vs ones with a raised heel.

 

[MooNiNite]

Interesting native americans knew that rubber soles make people sick. 

 

You dont even need to believe in energy, the physical science is there. 

[kgozi]

Hello, I as well am looking for rubber-less shoes.

 

Hopefully someone will find a decent product, I found this post by googling "rubber-less shoes" and it was the first result, which is how I found this website.

 

Cheers.

[Seatle185]

4 hours ago, kgozi said:

Hello, I as well am looking for rubber-less shoes.

 

Hopefully someone will find a decent product, I found this post by googling "rubber-less shoes" and it was the first result, which is how I found this website.

 

Cheers.

 

You may like these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HXNJYIG/ref=pd_aw_sim_309_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ENMDGW197AN258KMVXH4

 

I have a few pairs and i really like them, they say indoor use only, but i walk with them and use them outdoors all the time, they keep going, havent worn a pair out yet ..

 

The only time you dont want to use them outdoors is if the groud is wet, which the cotton sole will become soaked and you hve to dry them out for a few days. Other then that they are good... and it is really comfortable actually, walking on cotton soles. 

[MooNiNite]

Awesome recommendation Seatle! I will buy a pair of those to try them out.

 

Just an update I have resorted to making my own rope-sole shoes. they are still under construction... 

[Seatle185]

Yeah try them out, they are so cheap!

 

I like how you can feel the ground under your feet so well but still have protection. 

 

Making rope sole shoes sounds interesting, let us know how they turn out. - that makes me think maybe i could try making some of these cotton sole ones if i can figure it out. Might be nice

[SirYuri]

Walking barefoot in an unfamiliar environment is dangerous because you absorb all the energies through your feet.