This past weekend was one the best skipping weekends of the year thus far! I skipped with an amazing San Francisco dance troupe called The Devilette's at a super cool event called the Maker's Faire. The Devilette's performed and taught forgotten go-go dance moves from the 1960's on one of the main stages there....and invited me to lead a skipping circle as part of their performance.

I told the kids in the audience how I believe they make the world a happier place when they skip...and told them I need their help in getting more grown-ups to start skipping again. A big group of kids and adults came up on stage with me and the Devilette's and we skipped in a huge circle to a rockin' version of "Skip to My Lou". It was so much fun!

I always wish I was able to better explain my passion for skipping in those situations... I wish I could have better communicated how much I feel our grown-up world...with its many challenges and issues....needs and benefits from the carefree, fun-loving, energy skipping represents! I wish I could have let each of those kids know what a positive difference they make in the world just by being their beautiful selves!

Thankfully, some things speak louder than words...and the joy and fun of the Devilette's performance and our skipping circle spoke for itself! It was fantastic to see the audience cutting loose and shaking their groove things. I feel honored to have been a part of it and loved every minute! Many thanks to the wonderful and talented Devilettes! Skip on, ladies!

Here are a few fun emails I have gotten from kindred skipping spirits recently...

I live in San Jose and have wanted to start skipping for fun/spirit uplift/exercise - but have been worried about looking nuts. Glad I found your site to see I'n not the only one who "gets it" - I'm going to put on my shoes and go out to have a skip now! :^) Thanks! M in San Jose, CA

I am a 63 year old woman who walks and bikes every day. I will now include skipping in my hour workout. I heard you on the radio in Minneapolis. I started kindegarten when I was four. I was the only child who could not skip. My teacher sat the children in a circle and I had to try to skip around the circle. The children laughed at me and I was so unhappy. The teacher thought that the children's ridicule would motivate me to learn. I have vivid memories of practicing skipping with my mom in the alley behind our home in South Dakota. Skipping was a bad thing for me......until I learned!! I then remember skipping everywhere. You are so right....it is hard to be angry when you are skipping. Thank you for a wonderful idea and a great thing to cause me to smile. -M in Minneapolis, MN

Just found your site today. I I liked the post by John-Paul of SF who referred to himself as a "weirdo free-spirit." I guess I fit that category too. I often ride my bicycle and play guitar at the same time. It's not as hard as it sounds. I also play fiddle and can fiddle and bike too, but it's trickier. Lately I've been skipping and fiddling (in my yard) and it's great. I can get going surprisingly fast. I look forward to hearing from and meeting fellow skippers. -Chris in Chicago

Last weekend, I met my family from Indiana in Folly Beach, SC for Spring Break!

This was the second annual bunny hop on the beach for my 7-year-old niece and I.... Last year our vacation fell right on Easter... But we didn't let the fact that Easter had come and gone stop us from spreading joy as we skipped down the beach again this year.

Many of the people we encountered would say, "Why are you doing this?" And we'd answer, "Because it is fun and to spread the joy!" It was a truly special and memorable adventure that we shared....One of my all time favorite skipping moments for sure.

There's been some exciting skipping stuff happening lately...

Last week, I gave a presentation at a super cool design firm in San Francisco called Ideo. They put on an event called a Quickie and the theme was Creative Play. I told my skipping story, explained how/why I believe skipping can change our lives and the world, and invited the audience to skip. It was great fun! The energy in the room during the live skipping demo was electric and magical!

I also did an interview this week for a show out of Minneapolis called the GET REAL GIRLS! I am the "Get Real Girl of the Week"....The show will this Saturday April 6th at 8:20 am on 107.1 FM.

After the interview, I got a sweet follow-up email from Joan, who is one of the hosts...Here's what she said, "I was struck, after you hung up, with the courage it takes for you to live your passion...and how silly it seems, for us to teach our kids how to skip, and then teach them to stop!"

And here's what I wrote back to her, "Thank you so much for taking the time to send this note...It meant a lot to me! Yes, courage is definitely a key component of living a dream/following our heart.... willingness too! When my skipping inspiration first struck, I didn't really understand what people meant when they would comment on how much courage it must take for me to live my skipping dream...since it was such a fun and wonderful ride with the national media singing my praises and all! But now that I have skipped through the valley too, I know EXACTLY what it means!!!"

Here's to having the courage and the willingness to do the things our hearts are calling us to do! Skip on!

I'm really excited to share this amazing video of a pilot for a TV show called JOIN THE CLUB.... The production company that put it together came out to San Francisco to film the SF skippers a couple years back....and this is the first time it has been released for public consumption. I just LOVE the closet skipper part...



Woo-hooo! Skip on!

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!

Redbook Magazine recently ran an interview with Kim Raver, the actress from Lipstick Jungle, called, "What Every New Mom Must Know." Here's what she had to say about skipping in #7 on her list....

"This morning, Luke and I were running out the door to his school, and he was in his corduroy jeans and his little boots and his corduroy jacket with his cool little hat, and he started skipping. And so I started skipping down the street with him singing, 'Skip, skip, skip to my Lou' and I was like, Oh, my God, and I had this flash of the streets of New York and the taxis and the smell of winter and snow, and it reminded me of my childhood, which was great."

Yeah! Skip on Luke and Kim.... It's such a gift when parents skip with their kids...and show them that adult life can be fun, happy, and free!

Many thanks to Melanie Bowden author of Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me? for letting me know about the article!

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!

When I first decided to try to start a national skipping movement, I had no idea how seriously the fitness community would take my idea. At the time, I simply thought of it as a fun, positive energy thing that free spirits could do together.

Before I knew it, though, magazines like Prevention, Fitness, Shape, and Sports Illustrated for women were singing the many health benefits of skipping! Here's a You Tube video of one of the most informative news segments about skipping that was ever done from the fitness benefit angle...



Watching the video again and noticing how much thinner I was then than I am now inspires me to get out there and start skipping for longer distances and in a more disciplined way! Skip on!

Helen Fink in Lima, Ohio was one of the most active head skippers back when there were 70+ cities where someone was helping to spread the skipping message. Her vanity plate even reads "I Skip!" One summer I got the opportunity to visit her in Ohio...We had sooo much fun spreading positive energy around Lima at their annual Lima Bean Festival.

I got this email from Helen today and wanted to share...I love imaginging her skipping up to the podium, don't you?

Today (1/22/08) at Noon, I had to give a presentation about myself and my interests. I skipped up to the podium while playing the song "Walking on Sunshine - Don't it Make you Feel Good! I said, "Hello, my name is Helen Fink, and I confess, I am a skipper. It says so on my car license plate, and there is no cure." Everyone laughed and I got a round of applause.

Skip on Helen! Am so happy to be back in touch.

This weekend I sent an "As the World Skips" newsletter out to the iskip mailing list for the first time in almost two years!

I've gotten some great emails in response from skippers around the country I haven't connected with in years...and some I am e-meeting for the first time. It's great fun. Here's one that I particularly enjoyed... It's from Michael in Salt Lake City...

Uncanny timing! I am not the biggest skipper by far, but every once in a while a full on skip comes over me, and it just has to be let out. Yesterday was one of those days, and I thought of you! I don’t belong to any skipping club, or have a bunch of friends that skip for fun, it’s just me. Well actually Colby my 7 year old golden retriever was with me, and I think he was kinda skipping too. Actually if skipping brings a sense of being happy and carefree then Colby has skipping mastered.

I just thought it was cool to wake up and have an e-mail from you, who I have never met before, or even e-mailed before that I can think of, the day after I had a skipping episode! Thanks for being part of my mindfulness about being fully alive.

That's synchronicity if I ever saw it....Reminds me of the flood of synchronicity/magic/grace that inspired the skipping movement to begin with. Good stuff!

Interestingly, most of the skipping I know about these days is just like Michael's.... free form, spontaneous, and in the moment....which is really what the nature of skipping is all about! My personal "skipping movement" vision has shifted in recent years... Before I was soooo excited about trying to change the world with its unique positive energy message that I somehow lost touch with the magic of skipping along the way. I learned the hard way just how futile an effort hoping to change the entire world can be....and have been focusing instead on building inner strength and living from the heart so I can contribute as much positive energy/love as possible in my immediate environment...which is really all any one of us can do, right? Skip on!

Happy New Year!!!

I returned to work today after a wonderful ten day break for the holidays! New World Library (the publisher I work for) closes between Christmas and New Year's...Something every employer should do in my opinion! I returned to work feeling rested and ready to create lots of magic for the books and authors I am promoting this season. 2008 is going to be great!!!

Another fabulous thing that New World Library does at the end of each year is provide a percentage of our profits to each employee to donate to a charity of their choice! Again, just think what a better place the world would be if all companies gave back in this way! I divided my money between two non-profits...a new healing center in San Francisco called the Artemis Center where one of my sheros Karen Junker is starting a new program called Sunday School for Grown-ups....and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation because one of my best friends in the whole world has CF and I want her to be around for as long as possible!

I spent Christmas in Indiana with my family and had a wonderful time. Santa was quite good to me....and getting to spend quality time with my family, especially my nieces and nephews, is truly priceless! I love them all so much.

Instead of making New Year's Resolutions, I choose to set New Year's intentions instead...and I thought I would share some of them here:

*I intend to complete my manuscript this year.

*I intend to appreciate life as the magical adventure it is with grace and a sense of adventure in my heart.

*I intend to joyfully embrace self-discpline through meditation and regular physical exercise...which means more skipping of course!

*I intend to devote my God given talents and personal power - mentally, spiritually, and physically - to the greater good.

And so it is! Here's hoping that 2008 brings us all a big step closer to the realization of our wildest dreams. Skip on!

Marc Allen, the wonderful founder and President of New World Library just came into the office with eyes still damp from crying after hearing a song on the radio called, "Bring Him Home Santa" that is sung by a 6-year old girl who wants Santa to bring her Dad home from the war for Christmas.

I was so moved by his heartfelt reaction, that I went to the song's website and found the following video.
It is a poignant reminder about the sad realities of living in a time of war...Something that feels far too easy for me to forget since I don't personally have friends/family who are putting their lives on the line over there.

Please join me in sending love and positive energy to all of our soldiers who are serving in Iraq and to all of their families....Let's all pray that Santa's magic will help bring them home soon.

I spent my day today at the beautiful Spirit Rock Meditation Center at a daylong workshop about perfect timing, syncronicity, and dreams. This was my first visit to Spirit Rock since moving to Marin County a year ago...but it definitely won't be my last. What a beautiful, sacred place.

The teacher for the day was David Richo, a psychotherapist and author who combines Jungian, transpersonal, and mythic perspectives in his work.

I took pages of notes and thought I'd share a few of the highlights here..

**Synchronicity = Coincidence with meaning. It's when chance and meaning come together...It offers us a message that has to do with the fulfillment of self and the contribution we are meant to make.

**Whenever we become controlling, we get in the way of synchronicity. When we let go of ego, we hear the messages more fully.

**Fear is the ego's first name.

**My role as a free being is to say YES to the love that my ego is afraid of but that the Self is made of.

**When fear stands in your way, use the AAA approach...(1) Admit you are afraid (2) Allow the feeling fully (3) Act as if the fear could not stop you

**Fear of grieving is at the heart of all fear.

**Love makes meaning visible. Trust its power.

And so it is! Skip on!

I work with an amazing skipping spirit named Jessica at New World Library who just recently learned that iskip.com exists...She loved the idea right away...and we've been talking about doing some fun skipping stuff on MySpace and Zaadz together...Her positive energy about skipping is like a breath of fresh air! She's a kindred spirit for sure.

All of her good juju inspired me to finally get around to posting what has to be my favorite skipping television segments that was ever done about iskip. It aired on Evening Magazine in the Bay Area.

I'm in awe of the focus and passion that pulsed through my being back then...My spirit was completely running the show. I was a woman on a mission and nothing was going to stop me from getting my message out! As I watch it now, some six years later, having skipped both on that mountaintop AND through a long and dark valley on the other side, hearing myself say, "Skip on" at the end takes on a whole meaning!

I still believe with all of my heart that our world needs as much of the joyful, positive, free-spirited energy that skipping provides as it can get these days...Even though I'm no longer feeling compelled to pick up a megaphone to shout my message to the world, it is delightful to feel the flame of my passion for skipping being reignited in my heart again. I wonder where it will take me this time...and know wherever it is, I'm feeling more willing to follow than I have in a very long time.

For most of my life, I have dreaded mornings. Dragging myself out from under the covers in time to get ready for work almost always takes a gallant effort...I'd happily and easily sleep in until noon if given the chance.

Well, this evening a new friend presented me with a challenge when I confessed what a struggle waking up ready to face the day has almost always been for me. As an early riser and a firm believer in the benefits of starting the day off in an intentional way, she asked me if I would be willing to try a few simple things each morning for a week.

(1) spend the first few minutes i am awake focusing on feeling gratitude (2) drink a large 8 oz. glass of water immediately upon rising (also with gratitude) and (3) sit quietly for a couple minutes after lighting a candle and reading the following affirmation in a beautiful sparkling jewel frame she gave me, "you are illumined and all around you serves your greater good. everyday is the arising of splendor. there is nothing but everyday life. om."

Back when the skipping movement was going full throttle, I did spring out of bed truly excited about my life...and the idea of feeling that way again really appeals to me...Listening to my friend rave about the impact starting her day in a positive, intentional way has on her own life really sparked my curiosity and gave me hope for feeling that way again. I like that she suggested such simple things that don't take very much time at all.

I'm intrigued and feel up to the challenge! Tomorrow will be my first day. We'll see how it goes.

Here's a great skipping location skip tip from a skipper named Jim in Virgina...

Ever try skipping at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate and gardens? If you ever make it to Virginia, you should try it - lots of open spaces, great for skipping. In fact, that's what I'm going to be doing this morning! I go there all the time, and skip too. The gardens are beautiful, and very skipper friendly.

While I can't imagine Washington himself skipping there (well, at least *I* can't) , I'm sure Nelly and Washy Custis did, and I'm sure they weren't the only ones. ;)

While I haven't skipped in Virigina yet, I do have a few preferred skipping places these days...in the beautiful nature preserve behind my house...and on the trails in Sedona, AZ. Definitely a far cry from my more evangelical skipping days with megaphone in tow when I lived in downtown San Francisco!! That's for sure.

Would love to hear where your favorite place to skip is? Either leave a commment here or email me with YOUR favorite skipping locales. Skip on!

Back in 2000/2001, when the Internet bubble was still intact and iskip.com was really hopping, I met a fun fellow free spirit online named Randy Constan, also known as Peter Pan from his website Pixyland.org.

We connected because he saw a picture of a skipper on my website that he was hoping might be his Tinkerbell....and we have been "pen pals" ever since.

In 2001, Randy's website won the Webby Award for the "Weirdest Website on the Web" and he invited me to come to the gala awards ceremony as his guest. The theme for the night was "anything goes" so I wore a sparkly green dress, my SKIP on visor, and sported a smiley face fan and antannae! We had so much fun.

Well, after his long and diligent search, Randy recently emailed me to say he has finally found his Tinkerbell and is engaged to be married! Yay!

This morning I read this exclusive interview that Wired did with Randy..Imagine my surprise when I read this part...

Long distance relationships are indeed way tougher than I ever imagined, and in the end none worked out to be more than close friendships. But among them all I still have wonderful memories of meeting the "skipper" grrl (Kim, from Iskip.com). It was shortly after we met on-line that I was invited to the Webby Awards with an all expense paid trip, and so we went there together. That was back in 2001. We went to a party put on by the people who manage Burning man the next night. What a party that was!

Reading that made my day and brought back such fun memories! Yay! Thanks Randy....and a huge congratulations to you and Dorothy! May you skip happily everafter. :-)

As you've probably heard by now, there was recently a major oil spill in San Francisco after an oil tanker hit the Bay Bridge.

If you live in the Bay Area, the Marine Mammal Center is looking for volunteers to help save oiled birds by preapring food, building chages, answering phones, etc. For more information call 800-228-4544.

And this just in from another friend...

Hi Kim: I am volunteering for a nonprofit who is helping to alleviate the suffering of birds and other shore animals. Would you be willing to announce in some way their request for memberships and donations? Their website is www.wildcarebayarea.org A basic membership is $35.00. They are in dire need of clothes pins, ceramic feeding bowls and heating pads which have temperature control dials. Thank You Kindly!

I'm one of those people that loves to underline concepts and phrases that stand out for me in the books I read. I thought this would be a great place to share a few from time to time. I found these while doing research for the manuscript I am writing about my skipping adventure. They're from a book called Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore....

"It takes a strong heart, a steady intelligence, and a visionary imagination to go in the direction of life."

"It's all right to have grand and eccentric longings. It's all right to be afraid. Only by embracing these two emotional pillars will you glimpse the nature of your soul, which is the ground of your existence."

"Compared to surface life, the mysteries of the heart unfold within a different time scheme. The soul reveals itself in cycles and timeless circles of experience."

"Unconsciousness is like junk food. It's an easy way to go through life, but it doesn't give you the nourishment you need."

“A dark night of the soul is dark because it doesn’t give us any assurance that what is happening makes sense and will ultimately be beneficial. We can’t understand what is happening to us, and if we are in the habit of always wanting to know what is going on, this aspect of the dark night will be maddening. We can find meaning in these times of change, but we have to think differently about our lives, be less psychological in our approach, and more philosophical and spiritual.”

"You may not avoid tragedy, but you have the opportunity for a recovery of soul. Everything depends on how the dark night is handled: Will you try to overcome it and run away from it, or will you let it transform you and, "in solution," give you new life?"

Happy Full Moon! :-)

The video I am posting here is one that is permanently filed in the "things that are horrifying at the time, but end up making great stories later" file!



As you'll see, I overslept for this early morning interview back in 1999 when the skipping movement first started. I woke up hours after I was supposed to be there and was completely mortified at first when I learned that Mark Pitta skipped on without me!

Several months after the fact, however, I met Mark at a comedy club in San Francisco. When I sheeplishly introduced myself and told him how sorry I was to have stood him up, he said, "No worries!" Apparently he got TONS of positive feedback from the piece so all ended up being well at the end.

Enjoy! Skip on!

This past weekend I went back to Indiana to attend my 20th high school reunion...and had a super fabulous time. I graduated from Carmel High School in 1987!

Interestingly, I had dreamt about attending my reunion many times before the actual event, and I must say that the real thing far surpassed my wildest dreams. It was great fun to see everyone again.

Being from Indiana, my life path has ended up looking vastly different than the majority of my classmates. Most of them are happily married in the Midwest with at least a kid or two. It's funny, because part of me has always wished that was how my life would have turned out. I would have liked nothing more than to have found the right guy in Indiana so I could have settled down to live happily ever after, but it seems that life had a far different plan for me...and so I find myself out here on the left coast having never been married and living footloose and free.

My high school reunion ended up being a lovely reminder of how each of our lives and hearts call us in such unique and different directions...I left Indiana this weekend with a feeling of peace and contentment about who I have become in the world. Instead of wishing for the life my midwestern roots sometimes make me feel I "should" have, I feel happy and content to be right where I am. What a blessing!

There was a new moon tonight...and I had my second new moon manifestation circle in San Francisco! There were eight women there this month...and it was wonderful once again!

My fabulous friend Cathy helped facilitate the group...and she led us in an amazing energetic exercise where we first got clear about some of the limiting beliefs that habitually arise when we set intentions for ourselves and our lives....and then we released them. We focused on how the fear, self-doubt, shame, judgement, etc. that gets in our way feels in our body...and imagined cutting energetic ties with it through the power of our minds. It was a truly powerful exercise!

Then we got crafty with images and created collages that we got to take home with us as visual reminders of our intentions. It was a wonderful new moon night. May all of our intentions be realized.

The full moon is on Friday October 26th this month...and the next new moon is Friday November 9th!