Pasadena Marathon and GOTR 5K
November 16th Website
Sample Lesson
Understanding
the Girl Box
Learning Goals:
• To provide an opportunity to learn more about
the Girls on the Run program
• To introduce the philosophical foundation
of the program
• To introduce the various components of each
lesson
Materials:
One piece of poster board with the words “In
the Girl Box” written on it
One piece of poster board with the words “Out
of the Girl Box” written on it
One piece of poster board with the words “Unable
to tell whether in or out of the Girl Box based
on this behavior.”
One piece of paper and marker/pencil for each girl
Introduction:
• “Today I am hoping that you get a chance
to learn what the Girls on the Run program is all
about. I think you will be surprised to learn that
you don’t have to be a good runner or even to
LIKE to run, to love Girls on the Run.”
• Ask the group participants for a show of hands
in response to the following questions:
>
“How many of you love to run?”
>
“How many of you don’t like to run?”
>
“How many of you are somewhere in between?”
• After participants share their responses,
take a minute or two and reveal a little bit about
you: some of your likes and dislikes, why you do or
do not like to run (if you do not run, what do you
like to do in your free time), and what you hope to
learn from being involved with Girls on the Run.
• “Now we are going to do a visualization.
A visualization is where you envision or see something
in your head. It is almost like you are actually experiencing
it just as you are thinking about it or “seeing”
it in your head. Take a moment to relax and find a
quiet place in your mind.
>
First of all picture a bright
white light that rests just on the inside of your
body—maybe right where your heart is. That
light is so bright and when we are feeling good
about ourselves it just shines out of us—through
our eyes, our fingertips, in the way we walk and
stand up tall and straight. That white light is
the very essence of who we are. It is what makes
us special, unique and beautiful on the inside.
> Now picture a large
socket in the top of your head. It is like a socket
that is in the wall where you plug in an electrical
appliance. Can you see it in the top of your head?
Now, imagine a huge cord going into that socket.
This cord is really yucky—it has gooey,
sticky very slow-moving mucky liquid flowing through
it. And also coming in through this cord are some
messages we might get sometimes. Some of these
messages are “You are not thin enough”,”
you are not pretty enough”, “you are
not sporty enough”, “you don’t
have cool clothes”, “you are not very
smart” or “ you shouldn’t ever
get angry” or “it is not okay to cry”.
When this brown stuff and these messages go into
our brains and oozes down into our body we feel
yuck. The brown stuff begins to put out that bright
light, like syrup oozing down on your pancakes
in the morning. When this happens, we do not stand
up as tall, we might feel sad a lot or might not
try some exciting activities we are interested
in. We just don’t feel good about ourselves
with this brown cord coming into our spirits.
> Now, here’s
the fun part. We each need to take our right hand
and gently pull that cord right out of our heads.
Pull it out and throw it right behind you, somewhere
far away. Now I want you to plug in the Girls
on the Run cord. I can see into this cord and
it is bright, multi-colored and sparkly. The liquid
in it is bubbly and moves freely down into your
body and makes the light inside of your heart…the
light that is YOU…sparkle, glitter and become
brighter and stronger…so strong that you
begin to have light coming out of your fingertips,
your mouth, your nose, your toes and your eyes!
The Girls on the Run cord helps us stand up tall
and believe in ourselves. We express everything
we are feeling. We know that we are wonderful.
We can look all people right into their eyes and
we feel absolutely NO shame about who we are!
We know that “we are perfect just the way
we are!” This is what Girls on the Run is
all about! Helping all of us, including ME, realize
how special we are, each as individuals, but also
as a wonderful team together!!!
> So anytime
we are having a brown, murky chord kind of day
we need to promise to each other that we will
ask each other to help us unplug from those negative
messages and feelings and let the colorful, sparkly,
positive light in each of us shine. Can we promise
this to each other?’
