After work tonight my will to skip pushed through all the resistance I've been carrying around for what feels like forever and I went on my first long distance skip in eons.

In 5 months I am planning on skipping in a 5K called SEE JANE RUN and that was a huge part of my inspiration.

I went for about two miles... Probably skipped 1/4 mile straight right out of the gate...Then I did walking/skipping intervals. I mixed up the count depending on what happy song was playing on my ipod...I'd walk four steps, skip four steps for a while. Then walk two steps, skip two steps...Etc.

It's amazing how different skipping along a quiet relatively rural road compares to the early skipping days when I lived in downtown San Francisco. It's much easier to go more deeply within with out a lot of people around. That's for sure.

It felt REALLY good to fully get my skip on again...and am intending tonight to be the start of a much more consistent skipping practice. Please send me good thoughts that it will be true!

Sorry to not be posting much lately....I'm in major planning mode for the Burning Man festival in Nevada next week. I'm going with several coworkers and a bunch of other fun people! 8 out of the 11 people in our camp are first timers. We're calling ourselves Camp Bee Here Now...We all have bee suits and will be swarming the desert en masse! Fun!

If you haven't heard of Burning Man... Basically it's a place where 50K people gather in the Black Rock Desert (extreme weather...hot during the day, cold at night, and if you don't drink water u die!) and create a temporary city called Black Rock City. There is no commercial vending on site...The city operates on a gift economy. It's a fully operational town... Beauty parlors, massage places, dance clubs, small, intimate blues clubs, open mikes, live music, bars, adult sized playgrounds, etc. etc..... and the best part is the art. Huge installations that quite often are burned at the end of the event to signify the temporary nature of all things...and the joy of creating for the sake of creating. You can find all kinds of cool pictures on their website.

It's a pretty amazing experience...This will be my 11th year...I'm really looking forward to it!

Oh, my other exciting news is that I just got started on Twitter! You can find me there twitter.com/iskip.

Wow! The amazing You Tube skipping videos keep coming. Check this one out.... It's all about skipping to class....

Brilliant! Love it! Skip on! Skip on! Skip on!

It's amazing how much time can skip by between my blog entries if I'm not careful. It's hard to believe it has been well over a month since I've written anything here. Better late than never I suppose.

I most certainly haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs! The first weekend in August, I went on a cruise to the Bahama's with my family to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary....and the last weekend of the month, I attended my 10th Burning Man. Talk about an action packed month!

Both trips helped me connect with important parts of myself...My family roots on the Cruise...and my creative, expressive independent spirit at Burning Man...So as summer winds to a close, I find myself energized and ready to get my skip on this Fall!

I've been writing my manuscript in progress on a much more regular basis...and organized a fabulous women's circle on the new moon on September 11th to help my friends and I get clear about the things we hope to create in our lives in the coming months.

For centuries, women have gathered on New Moons to set intentions and clarify their heart's desires. So it is a particularly powerful time to articulate the positive changes we hope to create in our lives....and also to let go of old thought patterns, habits, etc. that might be the standing in the way of our reaching them.

We had a fabulous circle with 10 women present...and we are planning to meet again on the next new moon to check-in with each other and to put our intentions out there once again! It felt so good to gather together with positive, like-minded people in order to support each others dreams! I highly recommend organizing a circle like this of your own. There's great power in it.

My main intention for this Fall is to complete the first draft of my manuscript with a sense of enjoyment and ease...I also am going to be watching the moon cycles more closely...and plan on using the powerful collective energy that happens on those days to check in with myself and to restate my personal hopes and goals. That will also give me a great excuse to write on my blog more often...So I'll see you back here on the Full moon which falls on September 26th this month if not before. Until then, skip on!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that I'm fascinated by medtiation and have been dabbling with it off and on for quite some time.

Recently, I have been meditating on a much more regular basis...At least 10 minutes a day...And it's amazing what a difference it makes for me. It's hard to put into words exactly what it gives me, but I sure am enjoying it.

I recently came across an article that offered the following thoughts on the benefits of meditation and I thought I'd share...

Sonia Choquete writes in her book The Psychic Pathway, "Learning to meditate sharpens your awareness, increases your concentration, and assists in shutting off the mind chatter, the endless drone of voices that run through your brain. You will slowly learn to become more aware of the voice of guidance within."

In an article on Shinzen.org, Shinzen Young writes, "A person with high base-line attentiveness finds, in general, all life activities to be more fulfilling. Intrinsically pleasant experiences (food, music, sexuality, etc.) are vastly more intense and satisfying simply because one is more fully in the moment." Furthermore, ordinary banal experiences (washing dishes, driving to work, social conversation, etc.) take on a quality of extraordinary vibrancy and fascination. Bordeom becomes a thing of the past."

Pretty cool! Skip on! Meditate on! Good stuff. :-)

My world and Paris Hilton's world have been colliding lately!

That's because the book she is reading while she is in the pokey, along with the Holy Bible and The Secret, is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle which is New World Library's bestseller ever. That's the amazing publishing company where I feel truly honored to be a book publicist.

We've been getting all kinds of calls this week from tabloids like OK Magazine and Life & Style to national media like TV Guide to The Early Show wanting to interview the author to learn what his book might help Paris discover while she is behind bars.

Eckhart Tolle is not your every day author, though. While most authors would leap at the chance to talk about their book in the national media, not Eckhart. He truly practices what he preaches and is not swept away by the energetic rush that the media whirlwind so often creates in our culture. Explaining this to producers and editors is its own unique callenge as a publicist.

Whatever he's doing, it's hard to deny it is working! His book is a New York Times Bestseller that week after week tops our weekly sales charts. I personally love his way...How detached from it all he is...and how he really and truly stays deeply in the present moment, even in the face of great success.

Since Eckhart's media appearances are so few and far (especially between compared to the authors of The Secret), I thought I'd share the following excerpts from a companion book we publish also by him called Practicing the Power of Now. It will give you an idea what The Power of Now is all about...Not to mention a glimpse into what is keeping Ms. Hilton busy in her cell.

**The present moment holds the key to liberation. But you cannot find the present moment as long as you are in your mind. Enlightenment means rising above thought.

**Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old audiotapes that have been playing in your head for many years.

**Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.

**Make it a habit to ask yourself: What's going on inside me at this moment? The question will point you in the right direction.

**Presence is the key to freedom, so you can only be free now.

**Forget about your life situation for a while and pay attention to your life.

**Observe the many ways in which unease, discontent, and tension arise within you through unnecessary judgment, resistance to what is, and the denial of the Now.

**Make it a habit to monitor your mental and emotional state through self-observation.

**Become aware of your breathing.

**Die to the past every moment. You don't need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present.

**To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself; otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild river.

**Whenever an answer, a solution, or a creative idea is needed, stop thinking for a moment by focusing attention on your inner energy field. Become aware of the stillness.

**Use your senses fully. Be where you are. Look around. Just look, don't interpret. Listen to the sounds; don't judge them. Touch something and feel and acknowledge its being.

Excerpted with permission from Practicing the Power of Now. Copyright © 1999 by Eckhart Tolle. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA.

I've spent the past several hours updating iskip.com for the first time in over a year! I've mostly been using this blog to report any skipping news, and as a result the website itself got put on the backburner.

I've been having a great time rediscovering the stories of all of the amazing skippers I have met on this miraculous skipping journey in the updating process...It's incredible to take a step back and take stock of all of the skipping magic that has filled my life the past 8+ years.

I added a media section to the home page that includes links to interviews I did on the Donny & Marie Show and KOVR out of Sacramento...Amazingly, many of the links to the newspaper articles that were written are still live, so I included those as well! I even found this article that I'm not sure if I've ever seen before. It has to be one of the most in-depth and interesting ones ever done! What a treasure for the skipping archives. I am really excited. :-)

Here's a snippet from it...

"Other people also skip in order to raise money for favorite charities. Alpharetta, Ga. skipper Susan Reineck spent more than a week last April skipping 100 miles from Atlanta all the way to Ellijay in the North Georgia mountains to raise money for a local wildlife rehabilitation refuge. “It’s just fun,” proclaimed Reineck. “It’s about the same pace as a walk, but you’re really using your lungs a lot more. So, I’m able to just sit back and enjoy the scenery while I do it.”

Skipping is an activity appropriate for all ages. Just ask 67 year-old Laura Middleton Downing, a Boulder, Colorado skipper. She and her friends skip through the bustling Pearl Street Mall, and she’s even been spotted skipping through some local road races. She also leads a senior citizen group in skipping routines.

“We got all sorts of strange looks and smirks, but we also got some people to skip with us,” she said. “I’m finding that it does look kind of silly for adults to do it – especially for seniors. But, if people will do it they find it’s a lot of fun and it makes you feel good. “

This activity has to be catching on, if watching Billy Bob Thornton skipping on the screen is any indication. . After all, it’s all about self-expression.

“It’s a great metaphor for the evolution of the male--losing the (inner) child, and losing the freedom to truly express ourselves in all silly ways,” said Jeff Lester, who, along with his wife, actress Susan Anton, produced and directed The Last Real Cowboys. “We (have) become much more rigid and concerned about the way we’re coming off and the way we look. I just thought it was great to take a leap back and ask the question: where in history did that happen?”

Lester says the premise of the comic short film is simple. It’s about a cowboy in the 1800s who poses the question, “Why don’t we skip no more? You know like when we were kids – skipping. I used to love skipping.” The response from his befuddled companion is simply, “Men don’t skip.” Just like they try not to show their feelings, trust a stranger, or believe in love.

You can watch the Last Real Cowboys online by clicking here

I sure have been enjoying my virtual skip down memory lane this evening! What a long strange skip it continues to be. Yee-haw! Skip on!

I am psyched to announce what what has to be the most unique, unusual skipping news I've ever had to report in the 8-year history of iskip.com!

As I shared in December, Ashrita Furman got approval from Guinness to establish a 5K skipping record. Ashrita has set a record number of Guinness records....127 in all in his lifetime!

I'm excited to report that he set the record this past Sunday. He skipped the 5K in 35 minutes and 19 seconds...and he did it in a MOST unusual way. Perhaps the best way to tell the story is to let you read Ashrita's email yourself....

Well, it's been a wild journey! I broke the 5K skipping record on Sunday by skipping the distance in 35 minutes and 19 seconds. The time was disappointing but I lost at least 4 or 5 minutes because of a tiger!

i did the record at a place called the Tiger Temple in Thailand where monks allow people to walk with a tiger. So i decided to skip with one! The monastery people were a little worried because they thought the skipping might remind the tiger of an injured animal and provoke him to attack me. But I skipped the first 100 meters with the tiger (on a leash) with no problems, then speeded up by myself and finally tried to do the last 100 meters with the tiger. Unfortunately, the big fellow thought he was going to be put back in his cage and he was moving really slowly. After 75 meters I got impatient, handed the leash to one of the handlers, and skipped to the finish line. That was a foolish thing to do! The tiger saw me rushing away and instinctively went into his attack mode. It took 4 handlers to restrain him!

Overall, it was a great adventure and sInce Reuters Press Agency was there, the story went worldwide. Later in the year, I plan to try again (with no animals) and do a better time. I just love the skipping! Thanks for all your encouragement.

All the best, Ashrita

Wow! Amazing! This one seriously belongs in the , "You couldn't even begin to make this stuff up" file! Sfgate.com even wrote about it! What can I say but SKIP ON ASHRITA! SKIP ON!

At long last, here is the big skipping news I promised....

Super skipper extraordinaire Ashirta Furman recently told me that Guiness has approved his request to establish a 5 K (3.1 mile) skipping category! Ashrita, who skipped an entire marathon a couple years ago, is training to set the record now!

As you might know, Ashrita has set a record number of records....127 in all in his lifetime! Wowsa! Categories include fun things like: Hula hooping with the largest hula hoop - 16 feet in diameter, pushing an orange with his nose for a mile in 24 minutes 36 seconds, somersaulting 12 miles, and pogo stick jumping 11.5 miles up and down the foothills of Mt. Fuji.

It's a real treat to have such a multi-faceted and amazing person representing the skippers of the world! Skip on Ashrita! Here are a few questions from the lengthy interview I did with him that you can read in its entirety on iskip.com

How does skipping make you feel? What does it do for you physically? Spiritually? Mentally?

For me, skipping is pure joy. I just try to abandon all thought and simply glide along without a care in the world, centered within. It becomes a type of meditation, and sometimes I really feel as if I’m floating on air. Unfortunately, since I train on the streets of New York City , this feeling is usually interrupted by an angry motorist trying to bring me back down to Earth so he or she doesn’t run me over!

Besides the tremendous peace and joy I get from skipping, I have also discovered that it is a fantastic workout. It obviously strengthens all of the leg muscles, but it also works the arms, shoulders and neck. And there is another important benefit of it skipping—it is a great core-strengthening exercise (abs and back) as well. What more could you want—a sport that strengthens and tones the entire body and is fun as well!

Do you have any words of wisdom for people who are too embarrassed to skip?

Life is too short to worry about what other people think about you. The opinion of others is not going to add one iota to your happiness. You have to be brave and follow your heart. That is the first step on the path to happiness. As Sri Chinmoy, my meditation teacher, so eloquently says:

“Never allow anyone
To clip the silver wings
Of your golden dreams.”

SKIP ON ASHRITA!

Wow. I can hardly believe an entire month has skipped by since my last entry. So much has happened.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my beloved Kidder Cat had to be put to sleep. He was 16-years-old and I was lucky enough to adopt him 8 years ago shortly before I started the skipping movement, etc. That cat saw it all....From the joy and zest when my skipping dream was first born to the tears and disillusionment when certain parts of the path didn't end up looking like I had hoped. He was such a bright light and companion in my life and my heart aches for his purr and loving presence.

This was the first time in my life that I have experienced the passing of a pet in this way...I chose not to go when we had to put our childhood dog to sleep...But I am glad I was in the room and holding sweet Kid and looking into his eyes when he drifted off to whatever comes next. Talk about intimacy. It is a moment I will never forget.

My other big news is that I am moving to Marin from San Francisco at the end of the year! (Just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge.) I have been in my same apartment for the 10-years since I moved to California from Indiana....and the time has come for this butterfly to leave her cocoon. Wowsa!

My new place is so close to New World Library that I will easily be able to ride my bike...or possibly even skip to work! There's an amazing lagoon and nature walk that leads all the way to the Bay right outside my new back door. It's defintely going to be a big change going from the heart of downtown San Francisco into the wonders of nature.....But it feels like the right thing for me to do, so I'm going for it!

I also have some exciting skipping news to share and promise not to let another month go by before I do so. Until then, SKIP ON!

As you'll see a couple of entries down, I was recently written about in a new book called "Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-up"

Some fun publicity opportunities have come up as a result. When a producer that was working on a story for Nightline asked me to get some last minute footage of a group of skippers, I got to see just how supportive, wonderful, and fun loving my coworkers at New World Library are. Tuesday morning practically everyone I work with took a late morning skipping break while the video camera rolled. It was so fun!

Unfortunately, I learned shortly after that the story was bumped due to the Middle East crisis...Which was a little bit disappointing...But it doesn't really matter. The most important part of the whole process for me was the magical time I had skipping with my coworkers.

I also recently was interviewed by a reporter from a newspaper in Florida for a story she is doing on rejuveniles. I thought it would be fun to share my responses to those questions here...

First of all, where do you live? I moved to San Francisco from Indiana 10 years ago.

How long have you been a skipper, and how did you get into it? I first skipped as an adult 9 years ago when I was 28. I was out with a spirited friend who started skipping and invited me to join him. As soon as I did, I couldn't believe how fun and exhilirating it was. I thought, "This could be a new exercise trend!"

When did you start Iskip.com? I created iskip.com two years later in May of 1999 when I decided to get serious about my own skipping practice and invited others to help me rewrite the unspoken rule that says adults don't skip. Along the way I have met an amazing assortment of positive energy people who love bringing joy to the world by skipping. At one point there were head skippers in 65+ cities who were helping to spread the word about the happy movement. I also used to lead regular group skipping events through San Francisco as did many of the head skippers in their hometowns.

How does skipping make you feel? At first skipping is a little confronting... Especially when I first started skipping as an adult there was a part of me that was very nervous about what people might think....But another, stronger part of me (my childlike spirit) finds so much joy in skipping that it doesn't matter whether other people understand why I am doing it or not. The more I honor that childlike part of me by skipping on despite my fears about what other people might think, the stronger the adventerous, creative, part of me becomes. Life becomes a lot more fun and meaningful when your spirit feels alive. At first my Dad in Indiana said he thought I had surely lost my marbles when I told him my vision of starting a national skipping movement. But then he skipped himself and really enjoyed it! Life is a lot better when you lose a few marbles! It's short...and it is supposed to be fun!

What do you like about skipping? It raises your heart rate and your spirit....and goodness knows in today's world our spirits need all the help they can get. Skipping is also a very innocent and positive way to challenge some of the unspoken rules of our culture that prevent us from enjoying our lives to the fullest and feeling truly free.

How often do you skip, and where do you do it? Lately I have mostly been skipping on the treadmill at the gym...and occasionally in my neighborhood. I love skipping to happy songs with serious runners on either side of me. I also skip spontaneously whenever the spirit moves me. I have been known to skip around my church on Sundays...To skip while on hikes...To skip up the hall at work....To skip at the grocery store...and occasionally I even skip to the loo, :-)

About a year and a half ago, I got a call from a guy named Chris Noxon who was writing a book called Rejuvenile. At the time, I was working at the Learning Annex and trying to rebuild after my catastrophic leap into skipping fame and self-employment.

Well, his book was recently published and Chris is getting an uncanny amount of PR! He was on the Today Show, Talk of the Nation, Comedy Central, USA Today, and more! Here's what Publisher's Weekly said about the book, "According to journalist Noxon, rejuveniles-adults who use childhood past-times as "a way of maintaining wonder, trust, and silliness in a world where these qualities are often in short supply"-are proliferating, and unlike other books on the topic of "kidults", his book says this is largely good."

He did an amazing job telling my story in the book in a section entitled, "The Brief But Thrilling Career of Kim Corbin Professional Skipper!" I am hoping to get permissoin from the publisher to excerpt the entire thing on my website, but for now I thought I'd share the very last part...

"But even in the midst of what she calls an "acute post-skip hangover," Kim is still wildly effusive about the power of childhood play. "Skipping reveals the true authrentic self," she says. "I may be on the sidewalk on the way to the grocery store, but when I skip I'm a kid at play. It activates the part of yourself that your adult self ignores." Yes, her experience as a skipping ambassador led to some hardship and disappoingments. But something unexpected came from promoting the virtues of childhood: Kim became a better adult. "Before skipping, everything was pretty easy for me," she says, "Skipping was a big leap. It taught me to follow my heart, no matter what happens. It was through that childlike spirit that I was forced to grow up. I thought when I started this that it was all going to be fun and easy, but of course that's not what life is. I had to learn about humility and patience and doubt and all this stuff that's not as much fun as riding the high."

It really is true that the skipping movement experience has taught me a lot about following my heart! I believe we all have a unique contribution we are born to make. I consider myself lucky to have discovered mine...Even if it seems strange to much of the rest of the world. Through an often painful process of trial and error, I'm learning to balance my childlike wonder with the realities of adult life...and it's a journey I wouldn't trade for anything...Not even the REALLY hard parts! Skip on!

I'm having another fun day skipping down memory lane doing research for my book project. I just found a list of "Thoughts on Skipping" I wrote way back in 1999 when I first started the skipping movement. I thought it would be fun to share...

***It's about much more than skipping. It's about a state of mind. It's about people remembering what it feels like to let go and truly enjoy the moment whether by skipping, blowing bubbles, riding a bike with no hands, rolling down a hill, or singing a silly song. It really can make a difference in leading a happy life.

***It looks a lot less stupid than power walking and is a lot more fun.

***Someone recently asked me how I can possibly skip around when there is so much tragedy in the world. My response? That's exactly why we so desperately need to infuse positive energy into our livs. We are so bogged down by the negativity in this world that when we hear an innocent and happy story, many question if it should even exist. I'm in no way trivalizing the negative forces that are infiltrating our society. I'm merely trying to counteract them by spreading the word about something positive that truly makes people happy.

***When I tried running, I felt like unless I could go for at least a half a mile, it wasn't worth it. That's one of the great things about skipping. There are no rules. You can walk a block, skip a block, run a block. You can skip long distances. Or you can skip just for the heck of it in places like the grocery store. Skipping preferences are a very personal thing.

***When I rediscovered skipping as an adult and built my website, I had no idea how many "closet" skippers there were out there. I receive email after email from people thanking me for having the courage to speak my skipping truth! They help keep my passion alive day after day!

It's amazing to stop and realize that my passion for skipping is still alive over seven years later! Wow. What a long strange skip it continues to be! Skip on!

I went for an amazing skip on Monday night! I live near a very steep hill in San Francisco where the cable car runs. I started at the top and skipped all the way down through the financial district. I skipped for quite a distance before walking the rest of the way home.

It's amazing to realize it has been exactly seven years since I started skipping and created iskip.com. While the 15+ minutes of fame I experienced were great, I must say I have been enjoying my skipping anonymity even more. Instead of a media whirlwind, skipping has become more of a spiritual practice for me. My love affair with it continues.

My intention for this spring is to get out and about and skip like that a lot more often. It's such a great way to see the city and to connect with life. Otherwise I spend way too much time curled up on my new couch. :-)

Day Five

After work I went to hear Sister Helen Prjean speak about the death penalty at Grace Cathedral. She's the nun who wrote the book Dead Man Walking. Her story is a perfect example of the unique things we can be called to do in this lifetime. She talked a lot about striving to be faithful to the things we are called to do...and the role of grace in that. She encouraged us not to underestimate what one inspired person can accomplish and reminded us that sometimes we are called to do soul sized things! I loved that since skipping definitely feels that way to me.

Since I was already there, I stayed and walked Grace's outdoor labyrinth after the talk. Flashes of wisdom from previous walks flashed through my mind. I got really present to what a sacred place the labyrinth has been for me since I first walked it over seven years ago! It's where I found the inspiration to start the skipping movement after all!

I left Grace tonight feeling optimistic. Sister Helen spoke tonight about how this is an amazing time in history to be alive...She called all of us to get into action in our lives and to keep taking a stand for social justice. Right on Sister Helen! Skip on! :-)

I'm still riding the high of the great group skip we did in San Francisco on Sunday! A good friend of mine named JP took some pictures of our skipping adventure that really capture the fun energy of the day!

It's amazing how rewarding and fun going out into the world with the intention of promoting skipping can be. I can't recommend it highly enough.

One of my favorite parts of the day were the little kids that joined our group of skippers! They were so proud that they knew how to skip and skipped their little hearts out so they could lead the pack. We handed out National Skipping Club membership cards to everyone who skipped with us...Nothing beat the way kids faces would light up when we did.

It had been five years since I last organized a group skip. The biggest difference I noticed between now and then is the support and encouragement from people we passed. They applauded and joined us. It was grand.

If you are interested in putting together a group skip of your own, all it takes is a friend or two, a courageous heart, and an intention to make the world a little bit happier! Paint some signs that that say SKIP ON! or HONK FOR SKIPPING! and then hit the streets or a local park. You'll be amazed at how many people join along or cheer you on! Email me and introduce yourself if you want some tips/suggestions for organizing your own skip!

Back in the dot come daze, I was a woman possessed! I started skipping for exercise and invited the rest of the world to join me. The national media - from People to Newsweek to the Wall Street Journal - responded to my effots in a miraculous way. I led group skipping events through San Francisco with a megaphone in hand and even skipped on national television with Donny Osmond. What a long strange skip it has been.

That was over five years ago now...and my website and my spirit have managed to somehow skip on through all that has happened since...September 11th...The Bush Administration...The War on Terrorism...Not to mention my own personal trials and tribulations. It definitely hasn't always been easy!

Lately there has been a resurgance in both my spirit and the skipping world...I've been receiving amazing emails from all over (You'll find many posted here)....I've heard from brand new skippers...old time skippers...and even two skippers from Quebec who created their own skipping movement website (in french) the same year iskip.com was created!

I also recently heard from a NYC based production company that is shooting a pilot of a show called "Join the Club". They found iskip.com and asked if we would be a part of it. I explained that the skipping club is more virtual than anything since skippers are naturally free spirits...and anyone who skips is automatically a member whether they know it or not!

They asked if I would be able to organize an in-person meeting for the national skipping club to fit their program's format. So I got to work planning the skip that will happen this coming Sunday February 12th in San Francisco! Several incredible skippers have offered to be officers of the skipping club and it promises it be a memorable and spirit filled day. Because the skip will potentially air on national tv it also offers a unique opportunity for us to get some free spirited SF energy out there during a time when our world really needs to see it.

Here are the details:

Come help the "San Francisco Skipping Club" remind America what freedom looks like in a group skipping event this Sunday February 12th at 2:30 p.m. A NYC based production crew will be there filming the skip for a potential national television show.

We will be meeting at the gates of Fort Mason (It's where Marina intersects Laguna across the street from Marina Safeway) at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and skipping along the waterfront with the Golden Gate Bridge behind us. We will take lots of breaks to allow for a variety of fitness levels (Really Sister Dana I promise thist time!) Because there will be a television crew there, there will be a lot of starts and stops vs. skipping for long distances at a time. Also, if you know any kids that like to skip, we would love to have them participate!

If you have any questions, need more details, or are planning on attending email Skipper Kim.

We currently have 10 confirmed skippers but would love to have more so please forward this posting far and wide. It's great fun imagining how it would be if skippers unexpectedly turned out in droves! If you are so inclined, please come out and join us for an afternoon of joy, merriment, and skipping magic.

Skipping magic must still be in the air! The wonderful emails keep coming in! Here's the latest...

Good Afternoon, Kim. I'm a first-time visitor to your website and am very interested in joining the national skipping club! :) This looks amazing and in a world that can be very negative, it's so wonderful to find a website that offers positive encouragement (without a price).

My name is Randi and I'm 25 years old. I currently live in Bellevue, Washington. I must admit that it's been too long since my last skip but I can change that. This afternoon, after I'm finished with work and pick up my child from school, we're going to skip, together! What a great way to end a hard day at work, a great way to bond and what a great way to begin tomorrow morning, as well as every morning. I will make it a commitment to skip at least once a day for the next month and see what sort of impact that has not just on me but also those around me! What a fun thing to focus on rather than all of the other things that I'm usually focused on: work, what to fix for dinner, going to the gym, how I look, is that project finished, cleaning, doing laundry... you get the idea.

Since there are numerous links on this website, could you please direct me or encourage me where to go to next. Thank you for your time and positive twist on life! Thank you, Randi

And here's my response...that includes a sneak peak of the fun blog project I mentioned a few postings ago...

Are you seriously going to skip every day for the next month?!? I am getting ready to do a 30 day experiment myself...For 30 days in a row I am either going to do one of the following every day: skip, meditate, do yoga, walk the labyrinth, or take a dance class.....I have no doubt that doing so will change my life in magical ways!! I am going to track my progress on my blog...which also will help me be accountable.

As far as good sections on iskip.com you might want to check out. I'd recommend the Frequently Asked Questions page, The network page where you will find written descriptions of some group skips.... The skipper profile page that introduces individuals who have served as "head skippers", and the weekly skipper page that offers in-depth interviews with a variety of skippers.

It was a pure delight receiving your email! Thank you! You clearly are a skipping spirit! Please keep in touch and keep riding your wave of inspiration. The world needs as many skipping spirits as it can possibly get right now! SKIP ON!!!!!

The skipping magic continues! What a week it has been. This time I got an email from some people who started their own skipping movement in Quebec. Their website went up in 1999, the same year that iskip.com did.

I just love that I am not the only person who has been bitten by the skipping bug. I think it is quite miraculous that so many have been so powerfully inspired by skipping. But I am really not surprised. Skipping has completely changed my life in amazing ways. It is pure magic.....So much so that of course I am not the only one!!

Here's the email I got from the Quebec skippers. If you speak french before sure to skip on over and check out their website!

We are 2 skippers in our mid 20s from Québec. We started a website in january 1999. We actually created a complete story and history of the group, with symbols and characters. It is humor based since in contains everything for it to be a religious group, with leader and all. People are often confused at first, because they are not sure what is true about the website. But everyone figures out in the end that we are just having fun and like to skip. Today, about 1000 people have signed up as members of the group to receive the newsletter. Our largest group of skippers skipping at the same time is 16. We never organised group skipping events! Because of recent media attention, there is a lot of people willing for group action recently and we plan a big event for this spring. Time will tell...

Here is the official story : )

Our leader, Grand Gambadeur (Great Skipper), traveled when he was young and ended up in Burkina Faso where he met Dernier Gambadeur (The Last Skipper). Dernier Gambadeur was the last survivor of a long tradition of skipping. Before he died, he transmited all his knowledge to Grand Gambadeur. Dernier Gambadeur taught him that when enough humans will be skipping at the same time, we will enter the «blooming of skipping joy», an era of universal peace and joy!

Grand Gambadeur came back home with only one goal in mind : to make skipping known! So in 1980, he founded the Mouvement des Gambadeurs et Gambadeuses (Skippers' Movement) to promote skipping and to improve the skippers' quality of life. The Mouvement got online in 1999 and published a 16 pages booklet to inform the public about skipping. Radio, newspapers and television also helped promote the Mouvement and it's goal. For short term, the Mouvement is planning a public event for spring, a new website look and a promotional video.

So that was just a message to introduce ourselves and let you know there is another movement out there that takes care of the skippers who speak french. You are doing great work out there on the west coast and the rest of the english speaking world. We were really happy to discover Iskip and also Extreme Gene. It makes us realize skipping really is universal and it makes us more enthousiastic about it!

Bon gambadage!

Aleikscendre and Freideireik
Mouvement des Gambadeurs et Gambadeuses

Wow! Talk about a creative and irreverant way to bring skipping to the masses! Skip on Aleikscendre and Freideireik you two rock!!! Skip on! Skip on! Skip on!

Woo-hoo! There seems to be skipping magic in the air recently. Here's an inspired email from a new skipper in Pittsburgh...

I can't believe you exist! I live currrently in Pittsburgh, PA and just discovered skipping a few weeks ago. (I had actually thought about it and became jazzed a couple of years ago, but promptly forgot about the insight.) OK, so one day I'm going a few blocks to meet my daughter at the school bus, and I say, "I'm late, I need to get there quickly, I don't like to run, aw heck, I'm just gonna skip!" So I did, covered a lot of ground quickly, realized how absolutely efficient and fun and elating skippping was, and decided right then and there that I was just going to start skipping as an exercise. Then I began thinking, as I felt like I was doing something wrong or sneaky, "WHEN THE HELL DID SKIPPING BECOME "AGAINST THE UNWRITTEN LAW" OF BEING AN ADULT??"

That puzzled me. I mean, it's just not DONE. Why?? There is such a palpable feeling that "everyone is watching me and must think I'm crazy." This then leads to a defiance: "Just let one person stop me and say "what the Hell are you doing?" and I'll let 'em have it..."is there some kind of law against skipping?" Then I started thinking that I would just do it, attract attention, and then in my mind's eye I saw a bunch of us skipping down the sidewalk as a group, blasting convention, throwing caution to the wind, havng child-like fun, eventuially attracting media attention and then the rest would be history. Now, I find out you've already been there, done that (only in California! I actually used to live in the Bay Area...) As you say, people will be happier, healthier, less inhibited (because you break through that initial feeling of being perceived as NUTS, which can be a really deep liberation, as you already know!) I'm so damn excited!

Susan Richter, 49 years old
Pittsburgh, PA

Yes! Another inspired skipper hits the streets. Thank you for your amazing enthusiasm and energy, Susan, it comes leaping through the computer screen. I hope you will keep riding your skipping wave and take it as far as you possibly can...I believe with all of my heart that the world DESPERATELY needs the freedom of skipping right now......Especially here in America land of the free and home of the brave!!!!! Even though we think people will laugh and make fun of us for skipping, the truth is that MOST people are inspired by someone who is able to throw conventional wisdom and unspoken rules to the wind to skip skip skip!