KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

by Skipper Kim, founder of iskip.com

Imagine that you are walking on the sidewalk on a Friday night with a couple of friends. You’ve just had a nice dinner and one of the people you are with says, “Come on, let’s skip!” and leaps into the air and goes bounding down the street in front of you.

That’s exactly what happened to me shortly after I moved to San Francisco from Indiana. Without giving it a second thought, there I was bouncing down the street with pure abandon. I couldn’t’ believe how exhilarating it was! I hadn’t skipped since I was a kid! My friends and I were smiling and laughing as we reached our destination and I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about skipping. When was the last time I had skipped? Why did I stop? Why don’t adults skip? I thought about how a new fitness crazes pop up all the time…why not skipping?

Two years later, at the height of the dot come gold rush, I decided to walk my talk/skip my skip and take my skipping public. That’s when iskip.com, my website that is dedicated to making the world a happier place one skip at a time was born. Unlike the majority of sites that were going up at the time, I didn’t even pretend to try to find a revenue model. My only goal was to share positive playful energy with the world and to encourage as many people as possible to rediscover skipping.

I started organizing group skips, mostly with friends in San Francisco, and before long the SF Chronicle caught wind of what I was up to and published a fabulous article called “She’d Like to Teach the World to Skip”. That kickstarted what is nothing short of a national media phenomenon with Time, Newsweek, CNN, USA Today and People Magazine all doing stories about the skipping movement. I even skipped my way onto the Donny & Marie Show and skipped and held hands with Donny Osmond! Talk about a childhood dream come true.

As it turned out, there were hundreds of people out there who had already been skipping for years…and so I found myself in the unlikely position of providing a portal where all of the skippers of the world could unite. Many called themselves “closet skippers” and thanked me for giving them permission to take their skipping pubic.

I recruited head skippers to organize group skipping events in their hometowns and there were as many as 70-cities…from Lima, Ohio to Manchester, England… where there was a head skipper helping to spread the skipping message.

As for me, I was a woman completely possessed. I even went as far as to quit my corporate job to follow my skipping dream. Unfortunately, that didn’t go nearly as well as I’d hoped at the time, but somehow through it all, I’m still skipping nearly ten years later.

These days, I’m working as a book publicist for New World Library, the publisher of The Power of Now…and am writing my own book about my skipping experience and all that goes with following your heart and living a dream. I also maintain a regular skipping blog through iskip.com.

My own skipping has become more of a personal spiritual practice than the evangelical mission it once was…but through it all, if anything, my resolve about skipping being one of the most powerful and underutilized tools we have at our disposal to make our own lives and the world us happier has gotten stronger as time has gone by.

Now, you might be wondering, “What exactly is so great about skipping?” Here are four of the MANY reasons why skipping might be good for you:

It’s great physical exercise. It burns twice as many calories as walking, has less impact on your joints than running does, and is a lot more fun! Some people skip for long distances, and others simply incorporate 10 or so skips at a time into their walking routine to raise their heart rate. It’s REALLY fun on the treadmill too. There’s nothing better than happily skipping to your heart’s content with two serious runners pounding away on either side of you!

It makes you feel like a kid again. Skipping automatically connects us with spontaneous, creative, free spirited childlike energy. It energizes our dreams and our imagination! It’s a super fun way to experience the many benefits of PLAY!

It makes the world a happier place. Skipping infuses your entire being and the word around you with positive energy! It makes people who see you happy too. An adult skipping down the street seems to be just unusual enough to snap most people out of their daily grind to take a moment to smile and feel good. It’s also a wonderful thing for parents to do with their kids. It shows them that adult life can actually be fun.

It connects you with the voice in your heart. Skipping gets your inner critic out of the way so your joyful, exuberant spirit is free to shine. To this day, after over ten years of skipping, my logical self still says things like, “You don’t want to skip here. You will annoy people with your joy…or people will think you are crazy.” And the voice in my heart says, “Yay! I love to skip, let’s go!” Every time we choose to follow that voice in our heart, it grows stronger and when we are connected to that voice, anything is possible!

Of course, skipping is something that is much better experienced than talked about. So I’d like to encourage you to contribute some positive energy to your immediate environment by skipping at least ten steps today! Go ahead. Get your skip on! What have you got to lose?

Kim Corbin is the world’s most vocal advocate for the body, mind, spirit benefits of adult skipping. She has been featured in USA Today, Time, People, and Newsweek Magazines. Visit her online at iskip.com.

A psychic friend of mine told me that my main spirit guide is Zoraster. I've done a lot a lot of research over the internet about him, and have had a number of "coincidences" related to him. For example, without knowing about my interest in Zoraster, my boyfriend made reference to him out of the blue; he told me that my name (Kira) derives from Zorastrianism. I also run across references to Zoraster in unlikely places. I find it highly improbable that anyone would have a spiritual "celebrity" like this for a guide; it sort of reminds me of past life readings, and everyone believing they were Cleopatra or someone famous - yet I keep having these "coincidental" experiences. If Zoraster IS my guide, then have I been chosen for something special? If so, what is it? Any insights you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!

- Kira

Dreamchaser:

We very well could have "famous" spirit guides or teaching guides around us. Why not?

As a matter of fact, I received a spirit guide drawing in September of last year. The woman started to draw and then started to laugh. She said, "Well THIS is a first." She then went on to tell me that Abraham Lincoln was a guide for me at the time.

I laughed too at first, but then I started seeing references to Mr. Lincoln everywhere. She had also told me that he was here to teach me about "black and white," and how I see things in only black or white. I then began to be inundated with messages on how I view things in black or white.

There are two types of spirit guides. There are main guides who are with us all of our lives, and then there are teaching guides who come in to teach us particular lessons, after which they leave. Our main guides can help the teaching guides if needed, or they can step back and let the teaching guide have the full spotlight, so to speak.

Honest Abe was/is a teaching guide for me. He will not stay once I have learned all he has to teach me. I know he is not gone yet, because I still see references to him all over the place.

Zoraster is a teaching guide for you. His main teaching was that there is a really balanced system of good and evil in the world. He teaches moderation. He basically teaches about issues of cause and effect - what goes around, comes around. I find it interesting, by the way, that his original texts were written in Iranian, and there is all this war and unrest happening in that part of the world right now.

Another interesting point about him is that he considered light and fire the most powerful elements on earth. Hence there are always fires burning in any temple of Zoroastrianism. You might want to look at how you use light and fire in your own worship rituals, as well as in your day-to-day life.

Other than that, I cannot ask Zoraster about this, or relay a message from him about your lessons with him. That would be cheating. He is here to teach you as you become ready, and as he (and the Universe through him) sees fit.

If I tell you everything that he is here to teach you, then what need is there for him to be here anymore?

We have to let the Universe bring us some things in the proper order. That is why your psychic cannot always answer everything. Some things just must happen as they should happen, and some questions the Universe will just not answer.

Get quiet, stare at a flame as a focal point, and ask Zoraster what you want to know. Maybe he will tell you.

I wish you continuing growth.

*****

Astrea:

I've had several clients who have famous people for Spirit Guides. I feel it's about as likely you will as you won't.

Why wouldn't famous people choose to guide others through life just like "regular" people do? In Heaven, everyone is the same; there are no celebrities there. Compassion for us from occupants of heaven is Universal.

I think these "coincidences" you describe are too important to really BE coincidences! That your own name derives from that religion is so interesting.

Even if Zoroaster is NOT your Spirit Guide, you could have lived when that religion was born, and might have been very instrumental in its formation.

Exploring this is vital if you want to be able to use the psychic abilities you've been given in this incarnation. Rest assured, there is SOME connection there, and you are supposed to find out what that connection is and what it means for you.

Good for you for beginning with the internet; it's a fantastic research tool. I caution you, however, not to believe everything you read. Keep track of what strikes you as "right" and "true" and what hits you "wrong" as you do this research. Make lots of lists.

Then take your information to someone in your area who does past life work, and have them help you uncover your past lives. Many times clients of mine who DO have a famous Guide have had that Guide over MANY incarnations.

It's important to find out how long he's been with you, for if he's been with you for many incarnations, it may be because you haven't learned what you were supposed to learn from him yet. Since your awareness has grown a great deal in THIS incarnation, chances are good that this is the right lifetime for you to accomplish your mission with him at last.

It's also important for you to establish some kind of DIRECT connection to your Guide, no matter who it is, so that you don't always need a channeler for such communication. There are many different techniques for doing that, and if you can find one that works for you, you can find out all you need to know directly from the SOURCE.

Although many people tell me that they have no way to access their own guides, usually when they make enough quiet time and space, their Guides will come through. Try to practice at the SAME time every day so your guide can be ready when you are. What you do and experience with your Guides YOURSELF will be far more meaningful than what others bring through for you.

I think the so-called "coincidences" alone prove that you're being guided to some special spiritual mission. It's up to you to find out what that may be.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.