Originally Posted by Fugazi Dave

Getting the rear wheel up a little can be helpful in learning to skip/skid in the early stages, but as soon as you have a feel for the overall technique of the skip/skid, I would say try to move on from needing to raise that rear wheel to get it started. Once you get the technique down and the key muscles involved get stronger, you may eventually find that you don't even need to get out of the saddle to skip. Focusing too much on raising the rear wheel will just complicate things in the long run and keep your attention from more important aspects of the technique.