Happy Leap Day!!

If there ever was a day that is perfect for skipping, this is it! I just couldn't let the day go by without doing a post. So I thought I'd share this fun email I got from a delightful woman who lives in Hawaii...

We are kindred spirits! When my daughters were growing up, they used to be so embarrassed when I would break out skipping in public. Then, they finally took it all to heart and thought I would think that skipping class would be equally fun, so we didn’t skip for awhile. Now, everyone has grown up … except our skipping together. I am serious. -Katie Davis, author of Awake Joy

Yay! Skip on Katie!

Every now and then I go to You Tube and do a search for skipping to see what comes up. While most of the videos that are on there are about rope skipping.

Well, today I found the very best skipping video I've ever seen ! I absolutely love it! You gotta see this to believe it.



Oh yeah, baby. You gotta love skipping Dutch Men! Skip on, Holland! :-)

Last weekend I went to Vegas, baby!

I met my Mom, Sister, and Aunt who live in Indiana there. My Aunt recently celebrated her 60th birthday and never had been, which is why we planned the trip!

We went to see Cirque De Soleli's LOVE show which features Beatles music. It was super cool...and there was a lot of skipping in the show which was fun to see.

I also did a bit of skipping with some colorful characters myself and thought I'd share the pictures here! Skip on!

Happy Valentine's Day! I just went to google to try to find a heart image to include on this post and was delighted to see the image at the right...It's their logo with an older couple skipping off into the sunset! Thought it was pretty cool and wanted to share it here.

Here's a fun email exchange with a born again skipper who couldn't remember how to skip when he first tried it as an adult...He writes...

I'm glad I found your website. I loved skipping as a child. It was the easiest and most "fun" thing to do, getting from one place to another.

I guess I took it for granted that once you know how to skip, you always can. Well, I cannot skip any longer. Maybe it's because I'm too old. Maybe because I have a back problem. Maybe because I've gained weight. I can run and walk and I cannot skip.

I asked some of my friends if they could skip and all said "yes" to the question. Yet, very few actually were able to skip. Those that couldn't, had that same bewildered look I did when I failed. So, my question to you if you can answer it, is how can one forget how to skip? Mind you, I can still ride a bicycle. I would appreciate your thoughts on this one.

I replied... "Somewhere in there is the part of you that remembers how to skip! And it makes since that it might take a few tries to rediscover it if you haven't skipped in decades...Can you gallop? As in skipping without changing sides with your legs?!?! That might be an easy way to start since you are having a hard time remembering! You might consider asking a young child to help you remember how to skip by showing you how until you get it right! It would make their day I am sure."

And a few weeks later, all was well...

Yes, I caught on again! Not that I do it often and only when alone.
I found your site by using "google". I believe I googled "I forgot how to skip" and your site was one of 6 or so that came up. Glad I did find you anyway. It's a fun thing I did as a child and as you get older, you start to appreciate those lilttle things we took for granted when we were kids.

Here's a super fun new video I recently posted to You Tube! Do you remember the TO TELL THE TRUTH show? As in, "Will the real Kim Corbin please stand up?" Well, here's my appearance on the show back in 2001.



We ended up winning the maximum prize money... $5,000 split between the three of us...It was such a fun experience....Although it was hard for me to be less than chipper which is what the producers suggested. They didn't want my usual enthusiastic energy about skipping to give me away, so I had to intentionally put on the dimmer switch.

The woman who got all the votes was a wonderful spirit! She was going through a lot of intense stuff in her personal life at the time, and said that being on the show helped reconnect her with her own inner skipper....which obviously shines very brightly! Yay!

Happy Super Tuesday! I cast my vote today for Obama after going back and forth between him and Hilary for quite some time. In the end it was the ground swell of grassroots support from the young people of this country that won my heart! I love the idea of a President who will be able to tap into that energy and once again start asking, "What can YOU do for your country?"

Between the election and the big Eckhart Tolle/Oprah news I shared yesterday, I'm feeling really inspired by the possibility of major positive change in this wacky world in which we live. It feels great to be feeling this way again.

Here's what Eckhart Tolle had to say about the election in an article that ran in the Vancouver Sun today...

"Even though he's an introvert, Tolle says he feels life is asking him to "surrender" to the need to tour the world, give public lectures and sell books to save the planet. The 59-year-old author hopes his teachings will help elevate a person with higher consciousness into the White House this year.

"I'm personally not interested in politics as such. But, since everything is relative, if you look at [former U.S. president Bill] Clinton compared to what he have now [George W. Bush], Clinton was a Buddha," Tolle says with one of his ready laughs.

Disturbed that more than 140 million people were "murdered" through wars and other conflicts in the 20th century, Tolle's voice rises in passion as he talks about the need to elevate individuals' consciousness to stop such "madness" continuing into the 21st century through such things as the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

"You can only tackle such things on the individual level, because that's where change happens. Individuals who have gone through a change of consciousness can take responsibility for their actions, rather than act out an old form of conditioning," he said.

"If we believe we'll change the world by changing the outer structures, we'll make the same mistake as the Communists did [in the Soviet Union]. They believed you could change the world by changing the outer structures. But they hadn't changed inside. So they recreated the same evil they wanted to fight against -- yet even worse."

Here's to being the change we wish to see in the world! Skip on!

Did you see that Oprah picked A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle has as her latest book club pick? Oprah and Eckhart are also going to be teaching a free web class through Oprah.com for 10 weeks starting on March 3rd where they will be discussing the book chapter by chapter.

I'm really excited about this for a few reasons...

1. For quite some time now thanks in large part to my experience starting the skipping movement, I've recognized that our collective culture is in desperate need of a radical shift in consciousness....and the fact that Oprah is acknowleding that fact...and sharing Eckhart's work in this way is a huge step in that direction.

2. I've had a copy of A NEW EARTH on my bookshelf for a couple of years...and now I have the incentive and inspiration to start reading it. It's fun to imagine all of the other minds and hearts who are being similary affected by his words as I read them.

3. The company I work for, New World Library, is the publisher of several of Eckhart's other works including his New York Times Bestseller THE POWER OF NOW..which I wrote about a few months back when Paris Hilton took it with her into the pokey! Even though we didn't publish A NEW EARTH, the fact that Eckhart's work is going to a whole new level will undoubtedly be a great thing for our company!

Woo hoo! Skip on Oprah! Skip on Eckhart! Onward and Upward! Together we can and are changing the world!

I've received some especially great mail from skippers around the country lately and wanted to share...

For a number of years, I lost touch with skipping. This is a reflection of a losing touch with myself. In 2000, I visited my favorite spot in Florida and when I got out of the car, my joy exploded into a full out skip. I now skip when I am happy. And, after visiting your web site, I am setting the intention to skip more often. In fact, I have been telling myself to begin jogging once a week and I am going to make it a jog/skip combo. Love, light, joy and abundance. Sandra in Florida

I skip down my long driveway which runs between 13 condos and is hidden from the street and from my neighbors. I love to skip. --Timi in California

just a cute skipping story for you. my oldest son turned 5 and started kindergarten this past fall. i have 2 younger children - a 4 year old and a 2 year old. we live about 3/10th a mile from the school, so we walk there. i put the 2 younger kids in a double stroller and make the trip twice a day. well one day, my son asked if we could skip. ever since then, the baby will say "skip skip mama" ---- and if i stop to get a rest, cause i AM pushing a double stroller as i skip, he will say "skip skip again". my 5 year old asked why we skip to school instead of driving like all his friends do --- and i always tell him that skipping is good exercise, so it is good for your body, it is good for your mind and feelings and helps keep us feeling good and happy (releasing those endorphins), and it is good for the environment cause skipping to school doesn't require any gas. but now the 3 boys not only want old mommy to skip pushing the double stroller all the way to school, but they want me to sing a "skip skip skipping to school" song. this is particularly exciting to my 4 year old who has autism and loves to sing songs over and over again. so, i'm sure we are quite a sight to the cars and school buses driving by. :) -Johnetta, Lexington, KY

Yay! I can't tell you how much it makes my day every time I hear from a kindred skipping spirit! Skippers of the world unite. Skip on!