It feels great really. How would you feel if someone would tie your arms to the sides of your body and tie your legs together, put considerable amount of weight on your body and then bury you under lots of blankets and then increase the heat in the room you are in. Not pleasant is it? That's basically what your feet feel like. Now people have concerns about going barefoot and let me help with that. People often say you can get Athlete's foot from going barefoot. This is far from the truth. The following is an excerpt from a Dermatology Insights (vol. 3, no. 1, Spring 2002) article on athlete's foot by the American Academy of Dermatology:Athlete's foot does not occur among people who traditionally go barefoot. It's moisture, sweating and lack of proper ventilation of the feet that present the perfect setting for the fungus of athlete's foot to grow. Therefore, by going barefoot, the perspiration from your feet evaporates just like it does from the rest of your body; your feet then remain cool and dry in the open air. The fungus can not survive under these conditions. Another worry is broken glass. Broken glass exists, but it is not "all over the place" even on city streets. Unless it's a recent breakage, it gets kicked or swept into cracks, against walls, or right against curbs and isn't strewn about. For the little glass that does remain, again, just watch where you're going!But, for the seasoned barefooter with tough, thick soles, most broken glass is not a problem even if you step directly on it. But how healthy is it to go barefoot? Women's Sports & Fitness, August 1994 issue:A recent study demonstrates that the skin on the soles of your feet resists abrasions and blistering and that going barefoot is beneficial to the musculoskeletal structure of your feet and ankles. Kicking off your shoes can help prevent a host of foot injuries: bunions, heel spurs, and bone deformities, among others. "Shoes act like casts, holding the bones of the foot so rigid that they can't move fluidly," [Steven] Robbins [MD and adjunct associate professor of mechanical engineering at Concordia University, Montreal] explains. "The foot becomes passive from wearing shoes and loses the ability to support itself." In April of 2007 I took part in the San Diego CA's annual Multiple sclerosis walk along with my girlfriend, a friend and his two year old daughter and we did the entire 5 kilometer (about 3 mile) walk entirely barefooted! After the walk we heard some people talk about their aching or sore feet but not from us! We even had a few people take their shoes off during the walk and they noticed right away on how great it feels. My friend who went with us says he's been going barefoot for more than 20 years and his daughter never wore a pair of shoes in her life and never gives a second thought to it. People often say that you should wear shoes to protect your feet, and I say then why don't you wear gloves to protect your hands? If you are living in a situation where you believe you have to wear shoes to protect your feet you should also put gloves on to protect your hands as you do more harm and damage to your hands than you do your feet. Another misconception is barefeet are very dirty! Let me ask all of you shoe wearers this, how often do you take your shoes off and wash them? Uh-huh. That's what I thought. Shodies often walk all over the place over blacktop, through dirt, animal droppings and Lord knows what else and don't even bother washing or cleaning their shoes as often as I clean my barefeet! Something for store managers to think about.