I am sooo excited! Becki from Florida emailed me a couple of days ago to show me the Tampax ad shown here that was for sale on ebay and I bought it! I love the image of the woman leading the skipping kids! The ad is from 1969...The same year I was born!! Tampax was ahead of its skipping time. :-)

Becki also included the following skipping update....

My skipping is going well!!! Also I bought a book on getting fit using meditation and I am learning the basics. I really am feeling better and I want to clear the clutter out of my life and be free for real, I tend to skip around pretending like I feel free and have all the self esteem in the world. and I guess that is a start. I'm taking steps to really letting go of the clutter in my mind and heart and house and it is making me truly free. Skipping will set you free! I like the sound of that! It's a very important part of my therapy and I'm thrilled to share it!

Skip on Becki! Onward and upward! Just keep skipping and feeling great about yourself and watch the magic flood your life! You go girl!

Super Skipper Becki in Florida is on fire lately!! She had her first group skip yesterday and sent me the following recap.... It also was cool to learn that Taylor Hicks was skipping on American Idol last night! I love it! Skip on!

There were 4 of us and we decided to skip from stop sign to stop sign. I told them a little about my challenging day while we walked briskly to the first stop sign and then we "skipped it off" instead of shaking it off. Then another person told us something frustrating that happened to her in line at the bank and we skipped it off. After we all skipped out our frustrations, we came up with something that each of us was happy about or grateful for or share something about our challenging situation that could be a silver lining and we skipped for joy for each person. When we were done we all hugged each other and cried and we felt like we had created a bond between us all.

One girl (doesn't want to be named yet) skipped while sucking a lollipop and we called her "Lickety-Skip"... Another girl skips so high in the air we were amazed. I called her a "Sky High Skipper " which we shortened to "Skyper". Everyone dubbed me "Skippy" from the beginning and Sara Beth named herself "Scamper". We had a lot of fun. My husband took me out for dinner afterward and I didn't even want to talk about my bad day, I couldn't stop talking about our skip.

Oh yeah! My fave American Idol contestant Taylor Hicks skipped ALL over the stage last night! It was great! My 3 year old got up and started skipping all over the living room with him! Didja see it? Skipping away with myself... Becki

Skip on Becki! Your energy and enthusiasm for skipping are contagious! It really is true that skipping every day makes finding the silver linings in life's challenges much easier!!! Thank you for sharing yourself so openly! Skip on girl!

I feel inspired to share part of an email I got today from a writer/editor I work with through my publicist job at New World Library. Her name is Michelle and she has a great website where she does monthly book reviews and horoscopes and more!

Michelle just reviewed one of the books I am working on called The World is a Waiting Lover...and we've become friends through our many email exchanges about New World Library authors. When I recently told her about my skipping efforts, she told me she's a swinger...

I love the idea, and reality, of doing what your heart tells you to do...even if it seems crazy to other people, because, just maybe, they will get a clue and start "skipping" too! And what a beautiful world this would be if everyone would just enjoy their lives a bit more and stop being afraid of what other people might think! You are on the right track...giving people permission to live their own lives the way that they want to and not be afraid of what other people's opinions might be! We are all unique souls and our souls naturally want to SKIP! I totally agree with you!

I am not only a "skipper", but I am also a "swinger"...I love to swing on the swings when we are at the park here near our home. I see the kids swinging and I just have to go over there and swing along! I see the other adults thinking, "Gosh, I wish I had the courage to go over there and swing too, but, I am an adult now and what would other people think...but, I really want to." When I see that look in someone's eyes, I say, "Hi...come and swing too...it's a lot of fun...and when will you have the chance again...you are only as old as you "think" you are and besides, you are younger today then you will be tomorrow!" I have actually gotten a few adults (both male and female...most over the age of 50) to come and swing with me. They are always smiling and very happy to have joined in!

Skip on, Michelle!! Swing on, too!! Here's to doing as many things as possible that help us worry less about what other people might think AND reconnect us with the authentic, simple joy of our childhoods at the same time.

This just in from Skipper Susan in Pitttsburgh! It sounds like there is going to be some fantastic skipping happening this spring. Lord knows our world needs it!

I actually talked to my first stranger - a woman running - about skipping. She said she may just take me up on the offer (of joining next time), as she is getting tired of running. Another guy was walking his dog, and I yelled out, as he stared, "It's my new form of exercise - it's fun" to which he replied "I'll bet!" So, I'm overcoming my fear, sashaying on the sidewalks. I keep visualizing leading skips and saying, "Now this is the sideways skip, and this is the skip turn. It's good to vary the steps," etc. Won't be long before real people start to fill out my visions. All hail Spring! See you in the summer in San Fran, I really hope! Susan

I also just heard from Becki in Florida (the skipper from yesterday's post) and she is taking me up on my challenge to skip every day for 21-days! As I've mentioned before, I am working on a book about skipping through life and the 21-day spiritual experiment concept is going to be a major part of it. I am looking for other people who are ready to step up their spiritual/skipping lives by creating their own 21-day experiement...and then sharing their results with me for my book project! If you are interested in learning more, please send me an email.

Every time I have an email exchange like this one, my passion and zest and hope for skipping are reignited! I love imagining increasing numbers of inspired positive energy people skipping thorugh life and beckoning others to join them! Skip on Becki!!

My name is Becki Lake, 38 years old, 3 children, and I live in Windermere FL. That is right outside Orlando. I'm in a very well-to-do area (bordering on "Stepford Wives-Ville") and I have played with the idea of starting a skipping club for some time now. There are a couple of hundred stuck up women who wear $300 jog suits and walk up to the school in "gaggles" to get their children. I skip right past them and have become quite the talk of the town. The amount of eye rolling alone has saved these women thousands in eye lifts.

One day my 16 year old daughter and I were walking around our beautiful sand road neighborhood and I said, "skip with me Bethany!". She looked at me like I was crazy. I skipped the rest of the way to the house and after I nearly passed out on theliving room floor, I asked my husband, "What is the cut-off age for skipping? When are you too old to skip?

I laughed the entire time i was skipping so not only did it give me a great workout, but it strengthened my abs from giggling and it realeased endorphines...(I think)...I felt good anyway." So I came up with a great name for my club and tried to get people to skip with me. No one would. Or they say they will but don't actually go thru with it.

All of a sudden, interest has sparked. I lost an incredible amount of weight and everyone wants to know how I did it. By chance I came across your site. Looked at it for 3 seconds and skipped straight to this email to tell you how excited I am.

Wow Becki!! I loved your email...Your skipping energy just leapt right out of the computer screen and touched my heart in a magical way! Thank you!!

My first piece of advice is not to get frustrated by the fact that you are having trouble getting people to join you. Your best bet is to find one or two inspired friends and to plan a skipping outing with them where you spontaneously get people to join you in the moment...Skipping clubs are more about quality than quantity! It is just too big of a deal for most people to skip still. But people like you and me are slowly doing our part to change that hopefully!!! You also might work on organizing a walking group where you skip from time to time as that is a lot less intimidating. As you learned from your skips, it is much harder work than you might think...so it is good to let potential skippers know your outing will accomodate all fitness levels!

With that said, we have had 50+ skippers skipping at a time here in San Francisco! That was after the San Francisco Chronicle did a big story with the headline "She'd Like to Teach the World to Skip". Most group skips are somewhwere between 3-20 people...and we always invite others to join us for a skip or two along the way.

Some "skipping clubs" have focused on organizing one fundraising event vs. trying to do regular skips....That works out pretty well...and you can get kids involved. After all kids are natural skippers.....and it is great fun to ask for their help getting more adults to skip....All you have to do is ask them if they think the world would be happier if teachers and principals had to skip every day! :-)

Well, I wanted to write back right away since your email made me so happy...It's a beautiful sunny day here in SF so I am going to go out skipping! Let me know as your skipping club comes together. I'd love to profile you on iskip.com. Skip on! Kim

I participate in a regular women's group called Women Praying Dangerously that I love a great deal! The group is led by the wonderful and talented Reverend Karen Junker who is in the process of starting a new church in San Francisco. The idea is to fully invite spirit into our hearts and lives...Giving it permission to take the things that no longer serve us away from us so we can be the best we can be...It's all about boldly opening to and welcoming profound change.

In addition to upping the anti on my prayer life, participating in a group of women in this way has opened my heart and shifted my life in profound ways! I never had much of a structured prayer life before we started meeting about a year ago...and now my prayer life is rich and juicy and deep and daring and bold.

Today I feel inspired to share an excerpt from the book Praying Dangerously which is written by Regina Sara Ryan....and to invite you to take dangerous prayer for a test drive in your own life! Just be sure to hold on! This practice should not be taken lightly. It can really shake things up!

"Deliver us, O God, O Truth, O Love, from quiet prayer
from polite and politically correct language,
from appropriate gesture and form
and whatever else we think we must put forth to invoke or praise You.

Let us instead pray dangerously
Let us not hold back a little portion,
dealing out our lives--our precious minutes and our
energies--like some efficient accountant.

Let us ask for nothing less that the Infinite to ravage us.
Let us ask for nothing less than annihilation in the
Fires of Love

Let us not pray in holy half measures nor walk
the middle path for too long,
but pray madly, foolishly.
Let us be too ecstatic,
let us be undone.

Let us say YES again and again and again
and YES some more.
Let us pray dangerously,
The most dangerous prayer is YES.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Skip on!

Day Twenty-One

Well I made it...I've reached the 21st day of my 21-day experiment. I did manage to get my practice in the last several days...Thursday I meditated...Friday I did yoga...and yesterday and today I skipped!

Yesterday's skipping outing was completely spontaneous. I was shopping in Union Square and the skipping spirit took over. I love skipping on busy San Francisco streets. I don't look at anyone...I just fully and completely get lost in the joy of the skip.

Today's skipping adventure was with two good friends. We were at a party and walked out so I could show them my new car....They were ooing and awing and I said, "I love it!" and spontaeously started skipping...Before I knew it the tree of us were skipping together down the sidewalk...Skipping with friends is even better than skipping solo!!!

In the next day or so I will share some observations from my 21-day experiment and how I feel it has shifted things in my life for the better! Until then, skip on!

Day Seventeen

Once again the past couple of days have been challenging as far as making my spiritual practice a priority. I did a short 12-minute meditation after work yesterday...and still need to do one tonight before bed.

I have a theory that we can only open our hearts so far...and then we need to take a breather and let the growth and wisdom we experience settle a bit. I've heard the process of personal transformation and becoming your true self compared to childbirth and it makes sense. It is a series of contractions and expansions and the best thing we can do is to keep breathing!

The days when it is hard to honor my 21-day experiment commitment are contraction days...and that's definitely where I am today.

Finally, I read an interesting article in a Self Magazine rcently called "Meditation for Beginners" and wanted to share just a bit of it... "A wise Buddhist teacher I know once explained meditation as observing the process of consciousness as distinct from its content. Instead of getting stuck in your story--"Why didn't he call?" or "I hate my job"--you learn how to watch from the sidelines and be a witness to your internal drama.

As with building any muscle, it takes time and practice to train your mind to stay attuned to what's happening in the present. What it doesn't take to meditate is special equipment: no purple-and-gold flecked scarves, no insence, no candles. Just a chair or cushion and a willing ness to stay with tingling feet, angry thoughts or a thumding heart until all the mental noise stops and it's just you and the birds breathing together."

Pretty cool! Skip on! Meditate on!

Day Fifteen

Thank God for yoga! Despite the fact that skipping has been "my thing" for a very long time, yoga has definitely become my practice of choice as far as this 21-day experiment goes. I think because it is convenient and new and less confronting than skipping is! Not to mention that it has been raining in San Francisco for an entire week.

Today during yoga, I had a really hard time turning off my mind! That's because the man next to me was an extremely heavy breather and he was driving me nuts! I knew I should be able to let it go and focus on my own breath and body...But my mind was like a dog that refused to let go of a chew toy! Staying in the room and doing the poses was a practice in and of itself today! Luckily I made it through...But man it took everything I've got. I guess finding and transcending those kinds of edges is what this experiment is all about.

I feel like I need to get out there and skip at some point this week. Hopefully the weather will clear up...and I'll feel inspired! Skipping is still my favorite spiritual practice....It just takes more courage than yoga, or meditating, or the labyrinth does! I'm always glad I did it when I skip...So I am setting my intention of going out for a long skip sometime soon. Skip on!

Day Fourteen

One of the things I love about this spiritual path I am questing to skip down is how often the right book, message, or teacher comes along at precisely the right time.

I "fell off the wagon" the past couple of days as far as my 21-day experiment goes. I haven't written blog entries because I didn't do a practice so didn't want to write anything either.

Friday night after work I pulled everything out of my closet and reorganized it. It was a deep, cathartic process that felt very symbolic emotionally. But by the time I was done I was too tired to meditate or do yoga so I blew it off.

I had every intention of getting right back on the wagon yesterday, but somehow the entire day went by without me doing one of my practices or a blog entry again. When I woke up this morning, I was beating myself up for not keeping my word and was a little worried about being able to get back in my spiritual groove.

This morning I attended a gathering organized by Karen Junker, an inspired minister friend who is starting a new church. It's called "house church" because we are meeting in people's living rooms. Karen gave a powerful sermon and challenged us to intentionally stop at scheduled times during our day to acknowledge spirit. A huge part of her teaching was about forgiving ourselves when we inevitably fail in our spiritual practices!

She read this from A Course in Miracles..."The Holy Spirit is not delayed in His teaching by your mistakes. He can be held back only by your unwillingness to let them go. Let us therefore be determined to be willing to forgive ourselves for our lapses in diligence, and our failures to follow the instructions for practicing the day's idea. This tolerance for weakness will enable us to overlook it, rather than give it power to delay our learning. If we give it power to do this, we are regarding it as strength, and are confusing strength with weakness."

Wow...What a concept...Karen drove the point home when she said,"If we can forgive ourselves for not practicing perfectly we might actually practice!" How perfect is that!? I came home and did Rodney Yee's Power Yoga...and here I am catching up in my blog. Onward and upward! God is good! The 21-day experiment continues.

Day Eleven

I did my 10-minute meditation before bed last night...barely! My mind was wandering and I had a hard time focusing. But I did it and that counts!

Other than saying I did yoga during my lunch hour and my love affair with that practice grows deeper with every class, I'm not going to write about my 21-day experiment today. Instead, I'd like to share part of an email I got from a recently inspired skipper named Susan who lives in Pittsburgh, PA. Susan found iskip.com after her own love for skipping inspired her to want to start her own skipping movement in her area.

I love it that I am not the only person who has been profoundly struck by skipping inspiration. ...My favorite part of having iskip.com is getting to tell the stories of inspired skippers everywhere. People like Extreme Gene and Dave May and Ashrita Furman and Producer Jeff Lester!

Susan has great energy and an inspired vision for skipping in Pittsburgh! She's all geared up to bring spring in with a skip in her step....She's already spreading the word and enjoying the positive reactions that inevitably come with a conversation about skipping....

There is snow on the ground now, but Spring is not too far away. I was at the first meeting of a woman's support group the other night, and at one point I mentioned that I wanted to start skipping with others, and as soon as the word left my lips, this burst of joy just spouted from everyone. It was incredible. One woman said she had just the day before re-discovered skipping. IT IS SOMETHING EVERYONE REALLY LOVES, and you know it! Skip on, my friend, Susan

If you are a skipping spirit who would like to skip with Susan in Pittsburgh this spring, send her an email and introduce yourself! Or if you are an inspired skipper who wants to organize a skipping club in your area, email me and tell me your skipping story!

Day Ten

It's 11 p.m. and I still haven't done my 21-day experiment practice. Honestly, the whole thing pretty much slipped my mind today.

In the past, I have stopped doing my positive practices when things are going really good in my life...and with buying my dream car yesterday...and celebrating my 1 year anniversary working for New World Library today, that's definitely the case right now. I need to remember that the things I do that feed my spirit are what helped me find my happy place in the first place!

I am glad I am keeping this blog to help keep me on track with this experiment. It somehow makes me feel more accountable. Otherwise it would be far too easy not to walk, er skip, my talk as far as following through with my experiment....in good times and in bad.

Speaking of which, it's late and I'm tired...I'm going to do a short meditation from Jack Kornblum's CD and hit the hay. Skip on!