Focused Feet Barefoot Therapy

One of the easiest ways to improve our wellbeing is simply to remove our shoes! Barefoot therapy can also be known as earthing and it has been scientifically proven to improve our mental health. When a child is feeling stressed, overwhelmed or anxious take them outside and try this, your will find the effect is almost instant. It is hard to feel these feelings when you focus on something bigger than yourself, the world around you.

Take this simple little lesson and try it out on your class for relaxed, calm, happy, children.

Let’s get started….

We are going to be practising something today called ‘Focused feet?’. Stand on the grass and remove your shoes. Stand barefoot with your feet hip width apart. Close your eyes and think about your feet. Can you feel your toes touching the grass? Your heels? Can you move so you feel more weight on one foot, can you now move the weight back to the other. Can you move onto your toes? Can you press back onto your heels?

And breathe….

Now we are going to be thinking about our breathing. Can you breathe in, now breath out? Can you take short, long breaths? Can you take shallow and deep breaths?

Listen in….

Think about what you can hear around you? Can you hear the wind in the trees? Birds singing? Other children playing? Is there any traffic? Any planes? 

Focus….

Look around you can you spot a flower? Or a leaf on the floor? Maybe you can see a tree blowing in the wind. Watch it, what colours can you see on it? Is it moving? Is it textured? 

Feel…

Pick up a natural item that is around you, it could be a leaf, a pinecone, a stick, a small rock. Move it around in your hand, think about how it feels. Is it smooth? Is it rough? Does it have a sound as it moves? Do the colours change? Put the object back down and think about your feet again. Look around you and take another breath in and out. 

You should now be feeling calmer and ready for the rest of the day. Remember you can ask for ‘Focused feet’? if you want to come outside to try this again.

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