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How did a doctor get into sewing barefoot shoes?

This is a frequent question I get. Perhaps it seems that these jobs have nothing in common. But they do. Read my story, and you will see how I got into sewing barefoot shoes.

My name is Karolina Castkova. I currently introduce myself as follows: I am a medical doctor and lecturer of barefoot shoe sewing courses, a wife, and a mother of four children. I have been running barefoot shoe-sewing courses since 2017. I sew shoes for my whole family and study the impact of barefoot walking on our health. I would love to teach you how to do it, too.

But today you’ll also learn a little more than I usually disclose.

Since I was a little girl, I have had three passions: creative activities, foreign languages, and health. My love for creative activities was mainly manifested in the kitchen. I loved to assist my grandmother with baking, but I also learned to knit, crochet, and embroider from her. At that time, I had many hobbies, so I didn’t do handicrafts regularly and I was never good at them.

I still remember how I admired my mom when she took a retraining course in sewing clothes on a sewing machine and started sewing trousers, skirts and costumes at home. I had a great desire to learn from her, but in the end, it turned out differently.

I also loved music. As a child, I played both piano and guitar and loved singing. However, my teacher of singing and the well-meant criticism of a friend of mine made me give up on it. I came to believe that I wasn’t cut out for a career in music and stuck to what I had always been good at – studying.

My short career as a physician

For years I thought I would study foreign languages. In my teens, my interest in health started to show. I was miserable with my allergies, constant tonsillitis that only ended up with tonsillectomy and back pain from scoliosis, which my paediatrician neglected and I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 17.

I realized that I was responsible for my health and was the first to introduce whole grain bread at home and started exercising regularly. During the sensitive period of puberty, I witnessed my father ruin his health with stress and an inappropriate lifestyle and die unnecessarily. (Although I know now that it had its profound meaning.)

Then I said to myself: What if I could help people so they don’t have to die unnecessarily? And I decided to study medicine. Alongside my studies, I helped myself with many of my health problems and saw that it was possible. However, I was disappointed when I found that this approach was not much appreciated in medical practice. And there is no time for it either.

The doctor’s job is to examine the patient, give them their medication and send them home as soon as possible. Very often with medicines that have serious side effects and without any advice on lifestyle, exercise and psycho-hygiene. And probably even more disgusting is the fact that most patients expect exactly this from their doctor and are not very interested in actively influencing their health.

How did a physician get into sewing shoes?

And now I’ll cut it short 😉 Motherhood saved me from the healthcare system. And I was intrigued that a friend of mine, coincidentally Veronika Mocova, started sewing shoes and doing classes. I signed up for one of her classes and made my first pair of ballerinas. I didn’t know much about the barefoot lifestyle in 2017, and maybe that’s why I was even more surprised by how comfortable those ballerinas were. In the photo, you can see my very first pair of ballerinas from that course.

I also started making shoes for my husband and (at that time just one) son and we all felt some improvement in our health. This was even though we didn’t have major foot problems. My transverse arch stopped falling, my husband stopped limping, and my son was extremely mobile and agile compared to his peers.

How I became a lecturer of shoe-sewing courses

There was no going back. I wanted to tell all the people in the world that the right footwear can have such an unexpected impact on their health. But this time I had already started working with people who wanted to do it themselves. And that’s how my journey as a barefoot shoe-sewing lecturer began.

First, I was doing live courses. My husband supported me a lot. We all went to the courses – all my family and often our dog, too. My husband was taking care of our son so I could take care of the course participants. We also tried it a couple of times with two kids. It was extremely challenging. And when I got pregnant for the third time, it was clear that the live courses were over for a while.

During the COVID period, I had a break. By the end of it, I felt the desire to do something again. I registered for the Congress for Online Entrepreneurs organized by Lucie Harnosova and that’s when it dawned on me: everything can be done online and I can do it too! That was a breakthrough for me…

Since then my online courses have undergone a lot of development and changes. I also started to use foreign languages, my almost forgotten passion, in them. I also run courses in English and I have plans for another language as well. With the new DIY barefoot shoes team, there will be several languages in the future.

In the photos, you can see my first online courses in real time with lessons on Zoom. Today these lessons are part of the VIP version of my online courses.

My work gives me tremendous meaning. I help people with their health, and stress relief through creative activities. Communities of like-minded people are created through my courses. I also see a big ecological overlap in my work. Making my shoes is very eco-friendly, the shoes are of good quality and last a long time, and they can be easily repaired. I can choose what material I sew with. I can minimize the waste, the waste of man-made materials and the inhumane conditions in which people work in large-scale shoe factories in Asia, for example.

Yes, it may seem that as an individual I can´t make much difference. By teaching others to do the same, together, we can do more. At least we will be healthier and happier. And that’s worth it!

Finally, I would like to invite you to my free webinar, 5 Reasons to Sew Your Barefoot Shoes, on 11/12/2024 at 5:00 PM. Even though I’ve already revealed some of the reasons in this article, I’m sure you’ll find the webinar beneficial. You might find how sewing your barefoot shoes can be beneficial to you, too. Register here.