{Pin me for later}
I feel like I just talked about feet.
And I’m here to talk about feet again.
For some reason, the subject keeps coming up.
No, I don’t have any sort of foot fetish; quite the opposite actually.
But our feet are such significant portals into the natural world.
Yet for some reason (you know, germs, ankle support, etc) we keep them covered most of the time.
Our feet give us so much more information about nature than we allow them to with shoes. Our feet:
- Harbor countless nerves
- Contain a large portion of our body’s pores
- Need air to breathe
- Are crucial to proprioception, balance, and body mechanics
- Are the limbs that touch the earth
- Absorb healthy negative ions
They wiggle and feel and create pressure and thereby offer a more information, a more comprehensive experience with nature.
So, point #1: take off your shoes when it’s safe during your time in nature
Now, let’s talk about one other way we can use our feet to explore our worlds.
The Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. ASMR for short.
If you look up ASMR on YouTube, you’ll find myriads of videos showing people combing their hair, whispering, tapping their fingers, and other interesting things.
The whole point of ASMR is that it’s supposed to trigger a feel-good response and give you the tingles. Pleasurable tingles.
Like the feeling you get when someone massages your scalp or lightly scratches your back.
There isn’t a whole lot of science behind ASMR yet because it’s so new. But I bet there will be.
ASMR stimulates both a positive physical (tingles) and an emotional (pleasure) response.
And you can use your feet and the grass to acquire that response. You also get all the benefits of grounding to go along with it.
ASMR Foot Friction Exercise
- Find a bench or a chair to sit in out in nature. You need a seat that’s the right height to be able to run your feet through the grass.
- To start, rub your feet back and forth or side to side over the top of the grass.
- Get into a good rhythm and continue for 30 seconds or more. Really tune in and listen and feel the grass.
- When the time is up, lift your feet and come to an abrupt stop.
- Take a moment to feel that sensation. You can still feel that tickly stimulated sensation.
This quick exercise serves as a reminder of how receptive our feet are and how pleasure in nature is accessible anywhere, even just outside your work building.
It’s also a different way to experience grounding and the ASMR response at the same time.
This tickly massage:
- Stimulates the nerves in your feet
- Awakens your sensory cells
- Provides a repetitive, rhythmic, meditative quality
- Causes that positive physical and emotional ASMR response
I hope you’ll take 30 seconds out of your day today to experience nature in this quick way. Then tuck this exercise in your back pocket the next time you need a mini break.
I also filmed a video explaining the ASMR Foot Friction Exercise:
Let me know in the comments:
Have you tried getting the ASMR response before? What are other simple ways you enjoy nature?
