"Earthing" lays groundwork for additional research on the benefits of bare feet

June 12, 2010

BOOK REVIEW

Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?

By Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra and Martin Zucker

Basic Health Publications, Laguna Beach, CA 92651

$18.95, trade paperback

By Darren Richardson, C.M.T.

As a professional reflexologist and massage therapist who also happens to be an avid barefoot hiker, I immediately found the idea of “Earthing” intriguing.

Earthing is the idea that being in direct contact with the Earth, most readily experienced through the soles of your own feet, has numerous health benefits that most shoes inhibit. One of the most potentially revolutionary benefits, according to the authors, is that direct contact with the Earth seems to reduce internal inflammation almost immediately.

This, they say, is because the surface of our planet is abuzz with millions of “free electrons” that defuse the “free radicals” which cause chronic inflammation. By standing barefoot on the Earth, grass, sandy beaches and even some manmade surfaces like unpainted concrete (but not asphalt), your body immediately equalizes to the same electric energy level, or potential, as the Earth.

With double-blind studies already lending support to their Earthing hypothesis, the authors’ enthusiasm for more research in pursuit of additional knowledge is evident on every page, and the numerous testimonials from real people who either began walking barefoot outdoors or using the “Earthing pad” during regular indoor sleeping remind readers that real people are benefiting from the concept of Earthing, even if verdict by the larger scientific community is still out.

Walking barefoot engages the sense of touch in the feet in a way that it had been engaged throughout evolution up until a relatively short time ago. We as a species, especially in the more industrialized nations, are spending more time in shoes with synthetic soles than ever before. In our rush to be “protected” from the ground below, we may, in fact, be short-circuiting an essential bioelectric connection with Mother Earth.

Energy medicine expert James L. Oschman, Ph.D., author of “Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis” and “Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance,” writes in the book’s foreward:

“Many people describe a sense of well-being when they walk barefoot on the Earth. The stories and the research in this book reveal the background, dynamics, and implications of this feel-good sensation, a real experience indicative of something profoundly important that most of us have been missing in our lives. This missing link is so profound in fact that it seems to do away with or dramatically improve so many health challenges common in this day and age: insomnia, the chronic pain of multiple diseases and injuries, exhaustion, stress, anxiety, and premature aging.”

As the headline says, research into Earthing is in its infancy, but our bodies, thankfully, still know what to do when Earthed. For anyone interested in natural health from ground up, Earthing is a fascinating book that, as the authors note, is best read with your bare feet directly on the Earth.

To Order:

Basic Health Publications Web site

Sources:

The Earthing Institute

Earth Rx: An Amazing Solution for Pain and Stress – Psychology Today, May 25, 2010

For information on reflexology, massage therapy and acupressure in Berkeley, please see the Golden State Touch website.