Which makes sense... as they toughen and adapt to such "abuse", the body would naturally have to INCREASE bloodflow in order to help regulate temperature and provide for increased healing of damaged or destroyed tissues. As for the "splaying" - I'd guess that's because you were utilizing a larger portion of your feet than most people (many people walk heel to toe and never really place any weight on the outer edges of their feet due to the design of modern footwear which, by the way, is TERRIBLE) and thus the shape adapted to help both with stability and to reduce pressure on any one part of the foot.
Skeptics - Please explain - Fire Walking
- Thread starter Quantum Quack
- Start date
Which makes sense... as they toughen and adapt to such "abuse", the body would naturally have to INCREASE bloodflow in order to help regulate temperature and provide for increased healing of damaged or destroyed tissues. As for the "splaying" - I'd guess that's because you were utilizing a larger portion of your feet than most people (many people walk heel to toe and never really place any weight on the outer edges of their feet due to the design of modern footwear which, by the way, is TERRIBLE) and thus the shape adapted to help both with stability and to reduce pressure on any one part of the foot.
Magic shows aren't just a Western concept, y'know. If Harry Houdini called himself a Rabbi, that wouldn't make his acts any more authentic. Not to say everything a Buddhist monk does is fake, but they've got some well-known tricks they love to pull out of their hats when baffling outsiders. The Hindus and even the ancient Egyptians were very well-reputed for their mastery of the illusory arts.
As for the firewalking thing, how did humans get crazy enough to try it and figure it out? Unshakeable faith is actually a pretty damn scary thing to contend with. Would have ended with a very ugly result if they tried walking on a hot plate of iron, though
parmalee, I too like barefoot. But I'm too scared of hookworm, ie SE Asia. Never had any parasitic problems?
Surprisingly, no. In fact, the worst thing to happen to my feet occurred in Toronto, of all places--I might be wrong, but if I recall correctly the doctors described it as gangrene (yikes!). Apparently, gangrene ain't just for homeless people anymore; of course, I was homeless prior to that time and a few times subsequent--but not specifically at the time.
The worst thing to happen in South Asia was dysentery, which obviously was unrelated to my shoeless situation. I do recall a time when I was wandering about somewhere in southern India and I chanced upon some grazing water buffalo and stood and admired them for a bit. I eventually noticed some"tingling" sensations at my feet, and when I looked down I discovered that i was standing amidst a massive swarm of maggots. It was pretty nasty.
I also had a seizure in eastern Turkey one time, was discovered in a park and taken to a hospital, where apparently I remained unconscious for roughly 24 hours. Of course, i had also been mugged--fortunately my passport was back at a Catholic monastery at which I was staying--and had to hightail back to Istanbul in order to attempt to recoup some of my losses.
But somehow, I was always lucky as concerns my feet. In retrospect, it seems pretty insane: walking amongst feces, urine, vomit, and who knows what else and never contracting anything detrimental.
If you're curious, my inspiration for this endeavor was Moses and the burning bush:
By my reckoning, all places are "holy ground," and so...
Indeed. I went from one temperature extreme to another without complaint--the lowest low being around -40 degrees (F and C) and the highest was around 115 F/45+ C--and that was in the shade, I reckon the blacktop in direct sunlight was around 130 F/55 C or so--hot enough to fry an egg, at least.
Another consequence of this endeavor is that I now kinda walk like the Kalahari Bush people and other barefoot, nomadic peoples--that is, not straight as an arrow but kinda hunched over. Of course, this may also have something to do with years and years of carrying about a fairly heavy backpack at all times.
I really have a problem with most footwear, and I positively loathe padding of any sort, arch support, and all that crap. I don't like to promote name brand products, or even use them--especially as they're more often than not manufactured by slave labor--but I personally go for these every time:
Virtually no "support" whatsoever and you feel everything you walk upon. It's kinda like wearing nothing at all.
The thing is that heat does not instantly change, it needs to be conducted and depending on the material it can be conducted fast or slowly.
your skin is extremely non heat conductive relative to most things. If you ever touch a hot object you'll notice that it takes half a second to a second before you even feel your hand heating up.
Its saved me from dozens of bad burns cause I could feel the temperature going up in time to save my hand.
The trick to fire walking is that so long as you can move quick enough then your feet won't conduct the feet.
Anyways, your body is 70% water, that contributes to how poor a heat conducter your skin is.
E=mc rectangled
Registered Member
The biology of skin is really the power behind all these tricks. Skin is elastic, layered, hydrophobic, and self-coagulating (calluses). When it comes to heat, skin cells can actually stand up to boiling point before they break down, and if you combine that with being hrdrophobic (meaning it repels water, meaning the only thing actually on your skin is a layer of air... air being the worst conductor of heat) and having layers which when killed previde a shield for the live skin underneath... well heat has nothing on skin. When it comes to sharp things, skin has elasticity (imagine cutting soft bread compared to hard) and again layers to prevent a breach. Callusing is an amazing ability and would obviously help in both scenarios.
parmalee, I'm guessing those are some form of converse?
I will say this - the man who invents shoes that DON'T totally fsck-up your posture and natural walking order... is going to be a damned billionaire... it's amazing watching people run in shoes, heel to toe with no grace whatsoever... then you watch those who habitually go barefoot run barefoot... they almost NEVER put their heels down at all, and instead "spring" off the pads of their feet, letting their musculature and tendons seemingly rebound the energy from each footfall into their next step.
The beauty of the human body is incredible... and yet we're so damned determine to cover it all up -_-;
I will say this - the man who invents shoes that DON'T totally fsck-up your posture and natural walking order... is going to be a damned billionaire... it's amazing watching people run in shoes, heel to toe with no grace whatsoever... then you watch those who habitually go barefoot run barefoot... they almost NEVER put their heels down at all, and instead "spring" off the pads of their feet, letting their musculature and tendons seemingly rebound the energy from each footfall into their next step.
The beauty of the human body is incredible... and yet we're so damned determine to cover it all up -_-;