P.or feel good in the mountains it is not necessarily necessary to use implants, ring 30 slopes in a row or spend the days in the spa: the natural elements already give us everything we need to feed our well-being, both physical and mental. The APT of Madonna di Campiglio has in fact created a program of natural wellness which comprises holistic activities that exploit our senses.
Barefoot hiking
In the United States It is in the northern Europe L’barefoot hiking it has been practiced for some time but in Italy, either for cultural reasons, or for an overabundance of activities, we are only discovering it now. In the United States, where this phenomenon was born, you will surely find someone willing to tell you about his barefoot trekking throughout the Appalachian mountain rangewhile in Germany there are paths dedicated to those who choose to walk barefoot.
In Campiglio an approach to the barefoot hiking soft and of Anglo-Saxon derivation: that is, learning to walk barefoot everywhere. Learning to walk barefoot is not an exaggeration, but the appropriate term to define the path of re-appropriation of something we have lost, namely the move freely in nature.
In the Brenta Dolomites, in the Madonna di Campiglio area, you can practice barefoot hiking (Modica Federico)
For this reason, the Campiglio Tourist Board avails itself of the consultancy and collaboration of Andrea Bianchifounder in 2017 of Barefoot Academy and popularizer through his books (The Silence of the footsteps, Barefoot, The earth under your feet) of the enormous benefits of barefoot hiking. From strengthening of the immune system and to the increase of vitality.
Learning to walk again
Step number one, it should be said, is there foot support re-education: something that we would have innate, but that the footwear we have used in the last two centuries, with reinforced heel, stiff upper and a sole that does not allow some work of the plantar arch, they made us lose.
The Ritorto area with the Brenta Dolomites at sunset (Modica Federico)
Shoes made us learn to walk “backwards” first supporting the heel, then rolling with the plantar arch and detaching with the forefoot when, if you want to walk barefoot easily on any type of terrain, what needs to be done is just the opposite. The heel is not designed to absorb the shock of the whole body, because it has a spherical surface: to do this it must have the structure of the heel of the shoe around it.
To walk properly barefoot we must first place the forefoot and only after complete the support with the heel while the plantar arch must contract and then relax to recover its original function as a spring. All this effects a natural reflexology on the foot: exercises a continuous foot massage on all acupuncture points causing a state of euphoria and excitement in those who take long barefoot walks.
Walking barefoot in the mountains is possible (and is good) even in winter
Hot mind
The direct consequence of walking barefoot in the mountains is the living with the cold and experimenting with the countless benefits that this element has on our body. Combining the pursuit of cold with the principles of yogic breathing, pranayamaAndrea Bianchi has combined barefoot hiking (and is patenting) the method Hot mind.
Andrea, who has a training of industrial and chemical engineeringhas combined the scientific approach with the holistic one, defining the steps of a methodology that aims to give the body a new vigor, stronger health and greater awareness of one’s “powers”.
The Hot mind method is a cure-all for both the body and the mind
In northern Europe, the Wim Hof methodwhich allows you to do even very extreme things, like totally immersing yourself in ice and snow, through the system hyperventilation. Hot mind uses the opposite approach, that is works on relaxation by acting on the autonomic nervous system. They are two totally divergent paths that converge on the same result.
The method
The method is called Hot mind because the role in the mind is crucial: you learn to generate a mind that warms. In the modern world we are raised with the idea of not contacting natural elements: we are accustomed that the solution to protect ourselves from the cold is to cover ourselves more, or enter a heated room. It is rare that we are taught that, if we are cold, we can act by operating levers in our body to increase from within our position of heat.
The plain of nambino in the Brenta Dolomites (Polla Alessandro)
As human beings we are homeotherms: that is, we do not assume the temperature of the environment in which we find ourselves, but we have a sophisticated internal regulation system. If the temperature drops, the body produces the extra heat we need. The problem is that today we are so always in a comfort zone, thanks to clothing and heated environments, that the we practically never exercise thermoregulation.
Like all natural faculties, if we do not exercise it, it atrophies: it functions less and less. Hot mind therefore works precisely on this, on reappropriate ourselves by degrees of bodily faculties that are proper to us moving the exit from the comfort zone a little further. Compared to the barefoot hiking that is practiced in the summer, in fact, hot mind involves direct contact with the snow: a walk in the snow to which you are prepared through breathing exercises and sitting by the fire with bare feet.
The benefits of cold
It is nothing extreme, but it has a huge impact in terms of resiliencealso psychic, because it teaches how to interact with natural elements a little bit out of the comfort zone: trains you to manage your stress at a more subtle level. If I learn to relax my mind with my breath, the body follows me, while if I go into alarm, the capillaries shrink and I put myself in the worst condition to be able to bear the cold.
On a mechanical level, on the other hand, the foot works like a heat pump: the more I keep it in contact with a cold surface, the more heat it generates inside my body. All of this has a direct effect on the immune systemwhich is strengthened, but also on the mood and vigor, which improve significantly.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED