#wearebarefoot

[chrisnolan-ca]

Chainmail minimalist barefooter shoes.... hmmm  by GoSt-Barefoots out of Germany.  From the website though I can’t seem to find the one’s pictured above -- they have gone the ‘fashionable’ route and added padding and colouring etc.

[chrisnolan-ca]

Exclusionary signs at North York Civic Centre entrances

Below is the note I sent to the Operations Supervisor, Facilities Management with the CIty of Toronto.

I was the constituent inquiring with Councillior Filion's office regarding the new, negative, exclusionary, signs at North York Civic Centre and got your contact information from them.

Please remove the signs.

I feel the Civic Centre is a public building, that should be welcoming to all residents of the city, and by having these signs placed on the entrances to the building, it is no longer welcoming.

What ever 'dress code professionalism' concerns you might have with City Staff, should be restricted to city staff.  Trying to impose standards on community members visiting the centre seems wrong to me.  Regarding 'health and safety', again, this is something you have limited control over for staff, but not for the general public.  More power to those that choose their health over fashion, and shame on anyone who tries to restrict them from that.  Ironically, most (all?) of the things you are dis-allowing with these signs, would have tremendous health benefits if people did them.  For example check with your own Active Transportation team in Public Health and see what they say about biking, rollerblading, skateboarding etc as ways to get around.

Please let me know if I can elaborate on any of my concerns, or direct you to any further resources that can help inform your decision.

[chrisnolan-ca]

Barefoot “policy”

Just sent to a local community centre... some day this won’t be an issue anymore :-(

My name is Chris Nolan, I'm the gentleman who was barefoot in the community centre last night.  It is unfourtunate that my personal choices I made for my own body and my own health resulted in you being uncomfortable.   Your staff member, redact, whom you tasked with informing me of the "city policy" against my choices may have let you know that he was un-able to locate any such policy and he recommended I follow-up with you. I have dozens of hours of research into these types of "policies", and thousands of hours on the ground knowledge and experience being barefoot and it is difficult not to be insulted when someone tries to inform me of the 'risks' of my choices.   I'd be happy to try to help you understand where I'm coming from if you can put aside for a moment our cultural differences.  I wrote up a post two years ago that you can read here: http://chrisnolan.ca/2013/07/15/what-is-your-issue-re-wearing-shoes/ which can give you a quick overview, and I wrote it when I more more cool-headed than I am now.  The Barefoot Alliance has great resources at http://www.barefootalliance.org/.  You can peruse the Society of Barefoot Living's page @ http://www.barefooters.org/  I can forward you a message from the former head of the toronto board of health.  I'll be leading a barefoot education event in the neighbourhood June 6th if you're interested in attending.  As a recreation professional the books by Katy Bowman may also be of interest to you: http://www.restorativeexercise.com/read/.  The David Suzuki Foundation recently re-tweeted me in acknowledgement of the kick-off for their 30x30 Nature Challenge which had their day one tip being going barefoot: https://twitter.com/DavidSuzukiFDN/status/594495329548038144 A few silly examples of concerns about 'liability' that the reasoning given of "you might cut your feet" sound like to me:  you must wear kevlar gloves when going up the stairs because the railing might sever your hand; all participants in programs must have full facemasks on so as not to infect others in the centre with the common cold; please wear a hard hat at all times because the sky is falling.  Ridiculous?  Yes. There is a motion before City council at the moment framed as an Environmental Bill of Rights asking the city to acknowledge that all people in the city have a right to a healthy environment.  To me, being barefoot is healthy, and it is my right to make healthy choices for myself.  Please don't infringe upon that.  Your staff member redact, whom my daughter has redact with, said she'd be happy to talk to you as well about where I'm coming from, as she and I have spoken before about it. I hope we can have many years of use out of the treasure that NAME REMOVED CC is for the community and work past this issue.

[dempseypark]

Ranger Chris of the Homegrown National Park led a Jane’s Walk in the park today.  At the conclusion, everyone (who wasn’t already barefoot) shed their shoes and did some Barefoot Breathing to inaugurate day 1 of the 30x30 Nature Challenge.

[chrisnolan-ca]

We got ourselves some barebottom shoes by Sue Kenney.

The idea is we can still feel the ground and not be harmed by wrong fitting shoes, but can still comply with the few institutions which discriminate against nelipots (here's looking at you TPL and TTC).

First impressions are good. My daughter said "these are the best shoes ever!" And proceeded to wear them to bed the first night. They were easy to put on, bit more than twice as long as putting nothing on (twice nothing is nothing hehehe).

My concern now is they are so light, we are likely to loose them without realizing it. I left them behind at the park once already, and another time I spent five minutes looking for mine, when they were just in my pocket.

[chrisnolan-ca]

This Year, Exercise Less

Hold onto your hats. This is the year I challenge you to exercise less. I know you think I’m either joking or crazy, but I’m (hopefully) neither. Allow me to explain.

Great post by Katy Bowman (biomechanist) on movement vs exercise. 

How about instead of resolving to exercise daily (which is a great goal, don’t get me wrong) we go deeper - collectively - and resolve not to need exercise in the first place.

[chrisnolan-ca]

Have you ever considered the function and strength of an arch?  It is great at support a load from above.  See what happens when you press up from underneath in this video, and then think again about your choice of footwear.