Yea, I love to skip — Let’s go

There I was bouncing down the street with pure abandon for the first time since childhood.

by Kim Corbin — 

Imagine that you are out with friends when one of them says, “Let’s skip!” as they leap into the air and go bounding down the street in front of you.

That is exactly what happened to me back in 1997. Without thinking twice, there I was bouncing down the street with pure abandon for the first time since childhood. I have been an avid skipper ever since.

As the founder of www.iskip.com, it breaks my heart that so many people in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” feel too silly to give skipping a try. So I am on a mission to help rewrite the unspoken rule that says adults do not skip.

Here are just a few of the many benefits of skipping:

1. It is great physical exercise — It burns twice as many calories as walking, has less impact on your joints than running and is a lot more fun. Some people skip for long distances, and others incorporate 10 or so skips at a time throughout their walking routine to raise their heart rate. It is really fun on the treadmill, too. Nothing is better than happily skipping to your heart’s content with a serious runner pounding away next to you.
2. It makes you feel like a kid again — Skipping automatically connects you with spontaneous, creative, free-spirited childlike energy.
3. It makes the world a happier place — Skipping infuses your entire being and the world around you with positive energy. It makes people who see you happy, too.
4. It connects you with the voice in your heart — Skipping is a great way to confront your inner critic. To this day, before I skip, my logical self says, “You cannot skip. People will think you are crazy,” while the voice in my heart says, “Yea, I love to skip; let’s go!”

Every time we choose to follow the voice in our heart, it grows stronger, and when we are connected to that voice, anything is possible.

Kim Corbin is a vocal advocate for the body, mind, spirit benefits of adult skipping. She has been featured in USA Today, Time, People and Newsweek magazines. www.iskip.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 29, Number 3, June/July 2010.