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Meditation Lessons from My Niece and Girls on the Run of the Triangle

15 March 2016

Allison asked her 10-year old niece, Kathryn, to write a blog post about the meditation she learned from Girls on the Run of the Triangle. Kathryn says this meditation helps her fall sleep, be calm, and feel good so you might want to give it a try if you have stress in your life.

Tags: allison read, kathryn read, mindfulness, women and leadership

I’ve been hearing about Girls on the Run of the Triangle from my brother, George Linney, for several years. Their mission is, “We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.” This resonates with George's hopes for women everywhere as well as his love of running so he was delighted when they asked him to join the Board. Now our whole family has come to realize the true power of this mission as we listen to his 10-year old daughter, Kathryn, tell us stories about how much fun she’s having and all the things she learned from her coaches.

Kathyrn at the Duke vs. UVA Baseball game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park 12 March 2016

I heard from my mother, Barbara, that Kathyrn was excited about a meditation she learned from her coaches last month. So when I saw Kathryn last weekend, I asked her if she’d like to write her first blog post for Allison Partners. Her brothers, George and William, have blogged for us about how to fall asleep and leadership lessons, and Kathryn has been searching for a topic to write about, too. She knows how important I think mindfulness is so it’s with great joy and admiration that I share Kathryn’s first post: 

Kathryn learned a meditation exercise from her coaches at Girls on the Run of the Triangle and hopes it will help other kids (and grown-ups) fall asleep, be calm, and feel good.

If you want to learn how to mediate, I suggest you lie down and close your eyes. Think of an imaginary box. It can be big or small. One by one, take your thoughts out of your box and put them in a pile beside your box. Breathe in through your nose and out through mouth. Feel the air on your skin. What does it feel like? Notice that you are now calm and stress-free. Continue to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

The reason I do this meditation is because sometimes I get stressed about school work, homework and other things. So I think this exercise is very helpful for that. I recommend this for other people because when you’re stressed or tired you can take your thoughts and ideas out of your box. This will make it much easier to go to sleep at night. You will also be able to stay calm during the day and feel good. -- Kathryn

While I was reading the Girls on the Run of the Triangle web site this morning, I came across this testimonial, “Girls on the Run made me realize that I am the boss of my brain.” As I watch my 10-year old niece learn how to be in charge of her brain, I pause in gratitude for the good work of this organization. I hope we can all learn how to be the bosses of our brains.

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