At seven and a half months pregnant for the first time, I’m surprised at how much energy I have and how many of my pre-pregnancy routines I am still able to comfortably do – like taking long walks through the park, dancing and completing all of my household chores. I’ve even discovered new activities to keep me feeling healthy, such as bouncing, gyrating and stretching on my new stability ball! The one issue I have come up against, which has made these activities more difficult or uncomfortable is that my poor feet have begun to swell throughout the day, even though they haven’t necessarily changed in size at all.
My treasured ballet slip-ons feel just as wonderful as ever when I put them on in the morning, but after wearing them for just a few hours, my feet begin to ache; the same goes for my pretty dress shoes and don’t even get me started on those now horribly heavy running shoes!!!
I was excited, then, to receive a sample set of Sue Kenney’s Barebottom Shoes in their new Vegan Neoprene option. I had seen them featured on an Episode of the Dragon’s Den, and so was already familiar with the concept, but it was the first time I had seen them for myself and I have to admit, looking at these tiny pieces of coloured neoprene I wasn’t sure that they would work for me at all!
However, they were very easy to put on and the included straps (sold separately) allow for a variety of options in both how they look and feel so that you can adapt their sporty look to a pretty or earthy style in just a few seconds! They are black on one side and a different colour on the other (one pair I received is a nice soft grey and the other pair is a vibrant indigo blue), so each pair allows for two different reversible looks.
For those not familiar with Toronto native Sue Kenney, she is an internationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, workshop leader and life/Camino coach. She is also a filmmaker and bestselling author, and also has many physical, spiritual and personal achievements to stand behind her name. On her website she explains how she came to develop the concept for Barebottom Shoes – first as a means for introducing more individuals to the concept of barefooting and further to offer to the market an attractive, simple to use and comfortable footwear option to wear while transitioning to a true barefooting lifestyle, or when in public places where barefooting is not fully accepted.
An excerpt from her website explains:
“We have almost as many sensory nerves on the bottom of our feet as we do in our spine. The function of these nerves is to know what the terrain is, the temperature, humidity and much more so that signals are triggered to the brain and the systems in the body to adjust things like our cardiovascular system, our nervous system and balancing the body. Wearing these shoes helps us to tap into our individual healing system and being barefoot helps strengthen the foundation of our body, our feet.”
While I personally am not looking to embrace a wholly barefoot lifestyle (my love of pretty shoes would never allow me to do that!) I certainly do appreciate the feel of walking barefoot through the grass, or slipping off my sandals to stroll along an outdoor path, and I hate to wear socks unless I absolutely have to! After wearing Barebottoms at home and in my garden for an afternoon, I immediately appreciated both the soft fabric which I almost immediately forgot was even on my feet as well as the nice little arch support lift from the bottom strapping in their design.
It took me a little time to get used to the feeling of fabric between my toes, but perhaps I am more of a purist than most – I know many who love to wear flip flops and I can’t stand having a strap between my toes with flip flops, but the feeling of Barebottoms between my toes didn’t affect me at all after having them on for a short while.
My favourite time to wear my new Barebottoms is while I am sitting on my stability ball each night, as they offer a little bit of support on my arch (and look and feel pretty with the straps tied up!) but still allow my feet to breath and to grip naturally on the ground so I feel supported and safe balanced on my ball – even with my growing belly!
Both the suede Barebottoms Original Earthies and the new Barebottoms Amphibious/Neoprene VEGAN shoes are available online for purchase at http://suekenney.ca/. The Neoprene shoes are stylish, reversible and waterproof – and quite affordable at just $20 each, while the luxurious suede style are currently available online for just $55 (and in-stores for $59.95). Both styles come in a variety of fashionable colours and have the options of adding straps or wearing as they are.
For more information on Barefooting and tips for how to wear Barebottoms shoes, there is an excellent section of Sue Kenney’s website which explains these and many more concepts in depth.