Day One

Today is the first day of my 21-day spiritual experiment. Back in April of 1999 I did a similar experiment and the end result was a clear vision about starting a national skipping movement and the inspiration to go with it! I am excited to see what happens this time and wil be documenting the process here day by day.

As many of you know, it is been my dream and vision to write a book ever since the skipping movement started. There have been many versions and literary agents along the away, but the timing and my approaches haven't been quite right. As a result, I have been confronting a great deal of writer's block and inner resistence about the project recently. Even though my heart is clearly guiding me to write about my story, my fear and doubt about my ability to produce a marketable book have been standing in my way. That is why I have decided to do this experiment in spirit again

I chose 21-days because I once read it takes 21-days for something to become a habit. The first time I did my experiment, I walked the labyrinth in my neighborhood at Grace Cathedral twice a week for the 21-days. (Pictured above.)

I was curious to see how my life would change with a regular spiritual practice...and change for the better it did! My inner skipper was born and things haven't been the same since.

Because spiritual practices have been a part of my life for the past 7 years now, my experiment will be much more rigorous this time. For the next 21-days I will do at least one of the following and will document my process and experiences here:

**Walk the Labyrinth at Grace Cathedral - The Labyrinth is an archetype, a divine imprint, found in all religious traditions in various forms. It offers a unique way to do a walking meditation. There is a labyrinth locator on Grace Cathedral's site if you want to see if there is one in your area.

**Skip - I will go out with the intention of skipping. Some days this will mean skipping/walking outside for long distances...Other days it will be skipping in crowded/public places...and other days it will mean skipping on the treadmill at the gym.

**Meditate - On days when I only choose to meditate, I will do at least 1/2 hours. I also will meditate for shorter periods on days when I do more than one practice. I will be using Jack Kornfield's Meditation for Beginners and other CDs/guided meditations to help me in this process.

**Do Yoga - I started a yoga practice back in December and am loving it! I will either do yoga classes during my lunch or will use one of the DVDs I have and do it at home.

To start the experiment off, I decided to walk the labyrinth today and ended up spontaneously skipping as well. I was running some errands and listening to my ipod when a new song I just discovered called "Skip Don't Walk" came on! I just so happened to be approaching Union Square when it did, so took it as a sign and skipped all the way through the park. It felt wonderful!

I also skipped several times during my labyrinth walk. As usual, my time there left me grounded and centered, but I didn't come away with any earth shattering insights or anything. That's OK...I trust they will come as my experiment unfolds. I wouldn't expect to see results in a gym after just one day after all.

I look forward to documenting my next 21-days here and am grateful to have this blog to help keep me accountable. I'd also like to invite you to join me by creating your own 21-day spiritual experiment! If you'd like to, just send me an email and tell me what your plan is...and we can check in with each other periodically to see how it is going! Skip on!!