Back in June, I was contacted by a woman who lives in Israel who wanted to bring the skipping movement there...

I am an American living in Tel Aviv, Israel. Last year, I worked at a non-profit organization that promotes inner peace and self-awareness. Through my internet research, i came across your website iskip.com and found the concept absolutely delightful!! And here in Israel, amid regional and polticial tensions, I think skipping would be a much-needed and much-appreciated activity!

Friends of mine and myself talked about how to organize such a skipping group up and down the boardwalk at the beach in Tel Aviv. Now, a year later, I am part of a women's empowerment group, which would make it easier to get a base of participants ready for a group skip. but i would like to know how to proceed! Any suggestions to make the iskip.com's debut in the Middle East?

In the midst of our enthusiastic email exchange, of course, tensions have risen and violence has erupted. When I didn't hear back from Rachel for a while, I sent her an email to check in to be sure she was safe. Her response really made the intensity of what is going on in the Middle East real for me so I wanted to share...

Thanks so much for your email and kind thoughts. I really appreciate them! As you can guess, things here are rather somber and tense lately. I'm in Tel Aviv which is about a 1-3 hours drive from the mayhem up north (depending upon which israeli city is being fired upon.) I"m physically safe - so far - espeically compared to what the Israeli citizens of the north and the Lebanese citizens in southern Lebanon are going through.

We here in the center of Israel go on about our daily lives (work, responsibilities, even meeting up with friends) but the news is on in some form everywhere you go and no one talks about anything else. We have been warned to "be alert" for air raid sirens should Hezbullah use their longer range missiles that are said to be able to reach us here in Tel Aviv. So in the back of our heads, wherever we go, we are constantly checking to see where the public bomb shelters are.

The most disconcerting thing is that reserve soldiers are being called up so i'm nervously waiting every day to see if my fiance (he's Israeli) is going to be called up to fight. (I don't know if you know - and forgive my explanation if you do - but the Israeli army is a civilian one not a professional one, so every single Israeli citizen is obligated to serve when they reach 18 (men for 3 years and women for a little less than 2) and then for the men they do reserve duty one month every year until they are 45. This is why Israelis get so emotional when their soldiers get kidnapped - because everyone's brother/son/husband/father/friend/boyfriend/neighbor is or has been or will be a soldier.

As for skipping, I'm sure there would be no better time than now to spread some good cheer and positive energy... but the national mood is quite grim, mostly out of respect for so many deaths (on both sides) than out of fear. So i think the skipping on the boardwalk will unfortunately have to be on hold for now. Also because of safety: Last week alone there were two suicide bombers on the loose in Tel Aviv and another city north of Tel Aviv (they were thankfully found before any damage could be done) so it's been advised to avoid public crowds for now.

I promise that your beautiful skipping therapy and movement will not be forgotten - just postponed. It will make its debut here at some point. I hope sooner rather than later.

Wow. Please join me in taking a moment to send love and positive energy to Rachel and everyone who is living in the Middle East. Let's all visualize and pray for the peace this world of ours so desperately needs every day.