Yoga: Inherently Connected to Barefoot Running

Stretch before a big workout. It’s the oldest advice in the athletic world. So it shouldn’t be a secret that the science of Yoga, an ancient discipline that’s all about stretching would have a connection with running. But why?

It’s true that running is the only traditional sport in today’s world that rivals Yoga in terms of age. Competitive running is as old as the Olympics, which date back to pre-700 BC. Yoga as we know it today has been practiced for just as long. To find the connection, we have to ask a question: Just how did people run back in the days of ancient Greece, where competitive running was born?

The answer: They ran barefoot. There were numerous running events and different types of races, just as there are many types and disciplines of Yoga, with its 900. But no matter what Yoga pose or Yoga discipline is practiced, it is always practiced barefoot, just as every race in ancient Greece was run barefoot.

When I started doing Yoga, I started to really enjoy being shoeless, and the more I did, the more I thought about running that way. I’d been teaching customized Yoga programs for different, physically-active students and gotten lots of positive feedback. And my own practice had enhanced my own condition with every sport I pursued, but I was still avoiding running since my feet and knees hurt. So when I decided to “put a little Yoga” into my running and took my first run without shoes, it was the beginning of a beautiful connection between the two disciplines.

I quickly found that the Yoga mat and the runner’s course could be one and the same. When running, everything I said to myself on the Yoga mat fit right in with the rhythm of my bare feet hitting the ground.

“Feel it. Be connected with the ground beneath your feet” is a phrase Yogis all know well. It adds significance to the idea of simply being there on the ground. It wasn’t just that my feet were touching the ground; what happened was that I really, truly felt grounded in the most positive way, which is what Yoga aims for. That’s how, for me, barefoot running became mobile yoga.

On my first run, I was quite amazed by the way that touching the ground with bare feet heightened ALL of senses. Simply by feeling every pebble and every grain of sand with my feet, I become able to recognize things I never noticed before. I soon read of mutual experiences from other barefooters. With every run I’ve taken since then, that same heightened sense of being is there within me, as powerful as the best runner’s high but with calmness felt only during deep Yoga meditation on my mat. Knowing I am barefoot on the path makes me feel like a well-heeled Indian scout or hunter. That first ran barefoot run was on a course I still run several days a week before sunrise.

Like any system of sidewalks, my chosen path includes the occasional broken glass. On my first run I was surprised at how easily my eyes found those caltrops glistening in the dim street light ahead, and how successfully I avoided them. Many parts of the course are perpetually peppered with stones from the gardens that line it. Each day those stones get kicked to new places by passing pedestrians, yet no matter where they are I seem to dance right through them. But this primal awareness isn’t limited to the eyes or even the feet.

Yoga tells us to be present in our bodies, aware of how every muscle feels. As an experienced Yogi who just started barefoot running this year, I found out that the same principle applied to my new obsession.

One uses many new muscles once the feet are freed from shoes; that’s when true plantar flexion finally begins. It’s when you find out how important the small muscles that surround your ankles are to your success.  Shoes restrict the ankles from moving just like they restrict the foot.

The simplest, most classic Yoga poses help prepare this runner’s ankles for their new-found freedom of movement. The downward dog and triangle stance are two typical postures I had done for years which helped me build strength in my ankles. Classic, one-legged balancing poses like the Tree and the Eagle both can help build ankle stability and shear leg strength. **** The well-known plank pose (the “up” in a regular push-up position can help build strength in the lower leg while the foot is in flexed position, like it will be when one is running barefoot.

By ditching my shoes and putting some Yoga into my running, I made running a far better and healthier activity.  As far as barefoot running goes, I’m still a rookie. But as an experienced Yogi, I’ve already learned that barefoot running brought me much of the awareness that Yoga makes me look for-and even when my bare feet are just on my Yoga mat.



Why should you run barefoot?

Barefoot running isn’t a new topic.  It has always been permitted in the arena of professional running, and the iconic magazine Runner’s World magazine has been covering the topic on and off for at least five years. But what is new about barefoot running is the fact that it is becoming quite popular among regular people. I am among the growing crowd of newcomers to the this corner of the running world, and I feel as if I’ve been reborn.

Pardon the pun, but I stumbled on barefoot running quite by accident when I went outside the house dump vegetable peelings into the compost pile after doing some yoga. I know some folks are probably thinking “oh, he’s one of those.” But let it be known, I grew up in a household where going barefoot was an ultimate no-no. To be present anywhere in the house without footwear (never mind going outside!) was a very punishable offense. So going barefoot was as odd for me as it was for anyone.

I recall running across the grass and then down the dirt driveway; it was spring and it was raining. I’m not sure why it felt so invigorating. I had mostly given up on running a few years before because my feet would hurt and no matter how much I stretched my legs before and after a run, my thighs would tighten up and ache like when one does intense leg presses or squats. I was also worried about wearing out my knees, which also creaked after a good run, something that shouldn’t have set so soon; after all, I was merely in mid 30s, not even middle aged.

I secretly wondered what it would be like to run barefoot. Many Africans did it all the time. And many Africans won marathons in America. Hmmm. Either way, I couldn’t get over how good it felt. I began walking barefoot to the mailbox every day. Soon, the pebbles on the driveway didn’t hurt. So I began sprinting. Suddenly, going to get the useless junk mail in my box became a highlight of the day.  That was a few years ago. I moved to Denver and found its many sidewalks were quite kind to barefooting and I began going barefoot at home all the time. I still ran with shoes, and I still hurt when I did, so running just wasn’t fun.

Until I read about Michael Sandler in the Denver Post last summer. A pro athlete  who’d taken to barefoot running as therapy and now did it all the time. I couldn’t stop thinking that there were other people who might not think I was crazy for wanting to run barefoot. So a few days later I snuck out at 5 AM  and ran barefoot on the sidewalk. It felt so oddly good-it wasn’t bad on my feet…and my legs didn’t hurt at all. I did a mile and a half in a relatively short time-about ten minutes. I couldn’t understand why it didn’t hurt at all and why it felt so good. So that’s when I did some more reading.

I learned that the feet when free of shoes can flex and that they works in tandem with your legs as the greatest shock absorber ever made-no pounding on the knees. And finally, my thighs didn’t hurt at all. I also found that there were medical doctors who were backing this up, and also that runners who had been sidelined by more severe versions of pain I’d been experiencing were finding that they could run again pain free by running barefoot. I gradually increased my running distance, as it does take some time to toughen your feet for greater distances, and now I run barefoot most of the time. I finished my first barefoot race this November, my first race since my days as a third stringer on the high school track team. It’s funny, I’m now 38 and I run without shoes, and I’m faster than I ever was as a young guy on the track team. Knowing this makes it easy to conclude that my recent race will be one of many I’ll run in the future.

Running barefoot is anything but crazy. Anyone who wants to enjoy running and do it in a healthy way would be crazy not to try it.