The Barefoot Experience

Hey there, everyone. Brendan here, and today I wanted to write a bit about the Barefoot and Free Yoga Festival that Steff and Evan attended last weekend. So much happened there, so many fun memories and new faces met, that it would take more than a few blogs to tell the full tale. Suffice it to say, though, that Barefoot has a lot more to it than its name implies, and I wanted to share some of that with you today. 

Barefoot, created by Nakee's dear friend Beth James a decade ago, is a congregation of health, spirituality, holistic perspectives and good food. Even that wide net doesn't seem enough to cover everything that you can see there, with workshops teaching everything from breath work to plant identification and foraging methodology. There was even hypnotherapy available!

A variety of physical courses also pepper the schedules, involving cold plunges, various yoga schools and even ecstatic dance. If you were wondering about that last one, by the way, ecstatic dance is done by following the rhythm or flow of the song rather than a choreographed routine. It's much more free-form as a result, and that kind of liberation (both internal and external) was a running theme throughout. 

The greatest thing about the Festival was, of course, the people. The bosses met hundreds of folks from the first day to the final minutes, and got to share so many experiences with them, including many of them trying Nakee for the first time! They sold over one hundred and fifty Nakee paninis, which are even tastier than their name might imply. (If you want to make a version at home, we have a wonderful recipe for a Nakee wrap here; also click for a glimpse at some vintage Nakee packaging). Because the Nakee stall was positioned next to the stage, they also got to watch the talent show up close, which was a vibrant and vivid experience all on its own. 

There were a few challenges, of course, as any event will have. The first two days of the festival were soaked with rain, though the bosses overcame that to enjoy the sunny upswing of Michigan's nonsensical weather patterns. Seeing the other vendors tough it out as well was a reminder of that entrepreneurial perseverance that drives all of us at Nakee forward. True to the spirit of the thing, they also kept the stall open quite late-- what Steff calls "Coney Island hours," to Evan's amusement. 

It's an easy thing to sit here in the office and say that an experience was transformative, or that it evoked something powerful in you. Those are heady statements, sure, but they're easier to write than they are to live. Barefoot offers exactly that kind of thing, though. It's a chance to see the innumerable ways that we can ensure the health of our bodies, accrue knowledge and skills to become better people, and to share that with each other. It can be easy to forget that sort of thing in the everyday grind, but Barefoot was an excellent refresher.

Though Barefoot may be over for the year, you can always see the bosses on Saturdays at Eastern Market in downtown Detroit. I always love hearing about the new people they met from all over the world there; it's a brilliant reflection of the city's resilience and multi-cultural style. Even if you can't make it, though, be sure to use the BAREFOOT discount code when buying Nakee Butter for the next few days. 

Anyways, that's all from me. We've been to nine of the ten Barefoot Festivals, and never had anything less than a great time. Thanks for reading, and if you got to meet the bosses and had some Nakee, let us know in the comments down below. This is Brendan, signing off! See ya!