Functional Longevity
Studio, Spa,
and Medicine

Well, what happened was this. When I was young, I was asked, as almost always happens, by the adults around me "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

That started it, of course. I had no easy answer. The truth is, I had not met any adult or "profession" that I wanted to be. But the question bothered me, because it seemed like an important question. It seemed like I should have something to aim at, to shape my self around, to become. What was I now? I wondered. I could not answer that either, not really. All the things I could come up with (my name, my gender, my age, my location, my family, the fact that I was human) all seemed like the surface of things and not very informative or useful.

I thought about the stories I had read, and even as a child I had read a lot. Was there anything in there? I had read a lot of books on biology, nature, history and lots and lots of fiction…I had read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit several times by 5th grade and many books in that genre.

I spent a long time considering. It seemed like I was in an adventure story of a kind, being young and curious and always exploring something. So, what kind of Hero was I? Or, I should say, Heroine? It was hard to find Heroines though, I noticed… my options for being a female seemed less interesting than the boy's versions…neither Cinderella nor Sleeping Beauty nor Rapunzel held any attraction at all. Was I supposed to wait for a fairy godmother or a prince? Or both? What was I supposed to do while I was waiting? Keep reading books and climbing trees?

The male figures who became warrior-healers-kings-scholars-wizards – they were the ones that seemed to be in the game. I wanted to be something like that, and also they were my version of romantic interest at the same time. Hmmm. But where was my Gandalf? Where was my mentor who would call me into the adventure and guide me along the way?

Which story was I in? I remember the moment, lying in my bed, staring out the window, when I realized that yearning and longing for Gandalfs to guide or princes to kiss or fairy godmothers to magic me was not getting me anywhere at all.

Fine.

I would craft my own life and live my own story and build myself and my characters out of the traces, hints, and clues left to me in the stories around me. I would study the myths, the archetypes, the fables, the history and science and folklore. Little did I know as a girl that the crafting of a life and an identity is an ongoing process. Answering the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is a kind of moving target. When are we done growing up? Do you ever get done becoming the next thing?

It is hard though, trying to know what you are and know what to be and pick your style of adventure story and your style of romance. It gets harder when life accumulates, and challenges, compromises, choices, and failures settle into habits.

The Barefoot Sage is the figure I follow into my adventures and romances. A mythic presence moving through time across centuries and continents, accumulating knowledge, skills, practices, and tales from ancient wisdom traditions and modern sciences. Warrior, Scholar, Alchemist, Healer, Adventurer, Mystic, Lover … the clues he leaves me are both my call to adventure and the seduction of falling in love with existence. A reminder to follow the mystery into transformation and into union, and to never forget that the magical is always on the other side of every ordinary, mundane wardrobe. Through any collection of clothes we wear, through any doorway or window, you can find the Other waiting for you — if you are brave enough to look with the right kind of sight.

Following in the footsteps they left behind teaches me about where to look for answers when I am trying to heal or teach others. It makes me investigate the forgotten arts and practices as much as the modern research papers, having learned that there are many ways to look at a problem. Sometimes you have to take off the shoes or boots you are wearing and get deeply connected to what and who you originally and authentically are, and meet the earth as it is – underneath all that we dress ourselves up to be.

Barefoot means to reestablish direct connection with yourself and with nature – your nature and the natural world around you. We can find deeper strength and alignment and connection when we build how we stand, walk, and move through the world as something that feels true and authentic to who we think we are.

For me, there is a place where myth and medicine, romance and adventure all meet. Where we embrace whatever actually works, whether we find that in a medical research paper on mitochondria or in ancient meditation and movement practice. The practical, grounded, raw, and essential barefoot question is simply: is it working for you?

Somewhere inside you are the clues, the footprints that will guide you to the change you are seeking. We might trace them out in bloodwork, biochemistry, imaging, and the tools that modern medical science offers us. But we might find them also in the shape of your story, in the history you carry, or in the dreams you have deferred.

The Barefoot Sage is a center, a practice, a school dedicated to remembering to look deeply at the foundational things that make up a life…and to walk that talk. It is dedicated to taking seriously the question "Who do you WANT to be?" — and then we can reverse-engineer the how.

The Barefoot Sage Center is growing, and we're building a team of practitioners who work where old medicine and new science meet — people who take both the body and the story seriously. If you're a healer, teacher, or bodyworker who has never fit neatly into one box, we'd like to meet you.

We're currently seeking, among others: massage & advanced bodywork therapists · movement, yoga & qi gong instructors · acupuncturists.