This 7 week course is loosely centered around the 7 Chakra's. We will use colours and themes relevant to the different areas to begin to help you to find inner balance. The Heart Chakra is mainly about our ability to love - love for others as well as ourselves. It is also about the balance point between the lower and higher chakras. We will discuss kindness, compassion and giving without expecting to receive. We will consider loving ourselves (as we are) and loving others and the balance between giving and receiving love. We will practice trust of others and ourselves. The colour connected to this Chakra is Green.

We will start each week with the Opening Breath. Practice really noticing how you are breathing, there is no need to change your breath just move your hands, focus on the breath and see what is happening for you. Now you have been doing this for a few weeks try it a second time with your hands still. Plant your feet on the floor, breath through your nose and see where you feel the touch of your breath. Take a little 'Breath Break' several times a day! Just stop for a few seconds and really notice your breath before going back to whatever you were doing.

Each week we will suggest activities that can be done at home. Remember to find what works for you, you don't need to use everything and you can come back and try other things at another time. Just keep practicing so that mindfulness becomes a part of your life and will help you when you need it. Include other people in your family and teach them what you learn. Here are some things to try this week.

• Practice noticing colours
  • As you walk around choose a colour and try and notice that colour in the world around you. When you have finished with one colour move onto the next.
• Mirror work
  • Practice looking in the mirror and saying 'I love you' to yourself.
    • Remember to look yourself straight in the eye!
    • If you are struggling with that try 'I am trying to love you.
  • Repeat your weekly affirmation to yourself in the mirror.
    • Or use the affirmation 'I am perfect just as I am'
• Choose a time of day and a place to take your mindful breaths. (for example before dinner, in Chinese class)
  • Really focus on and notice what you are doing, where you feel your breath and what it feels like.
  • Encourage your family to join you.
• Add to your list of 'Things I love about me.'
  • Draw or write things that you love about yourself or are proud of yourself for.
• Practice using your Brain Gym or ESR at school.
  • Try ESR if you feel worried about something like a test.
  • Try Brain Gym if you want to concentrate better.
• Think about who you trust!
  • Perhaps you can talk about this with someone close like your mum or dad or a good friend.
• Each evening make a Gratitude List.
  • This could be written or said.
  • Just think of two or three things that you are really thankful for that day.
• Use the green meditation.
  • Unless you are about to go to sleep you can draw a quick picture to remind you what the meditation felt like.

Each week we will do this rainbow meditation. It is great for balance, focus and clearing out any blocks or negativity to learning. It is great to help you calm down, make decisions and be open to learning. You can try holding your Grounding Points from Week One before you start to help you feel centred or afterwards to 'come back to the room'.

Each week will add to the crystal bead band. Here is some information about the crystal you have received this week. If you are finding it difficult to sit or lie still while meditating then why not hold your beads and see if it helps?

Please refer to your child's journal to identify which Bach Flower Remedy they have chosen for the week. Read more about Bach Flower Remedies here. Please encourage your child to work with their affirmation - repeating it, reading it, writing it down. Please note that the scent in the room spray comes from Aromatherapy oils specific to the chakra and the Bach Flowers add a vibration to the environment which helps them with a potential emotion.

The room spray may not have all of the aromatherapy oils in it, it contains a blend of some of them. All of these oils are good to support this week. You can try spraying your room spray around your bedroom before you sleep or using it to start your meditation. If you are feeling unsure of yourself spray it in the air above you and breathe in the scent.

Brain Gym exercises are designed to 'switch on' the brain. To increase focus and to exercise pathways between the left and ride sides of the brain. You can use them at any time of the day but why not try them before starting a new activity, before studying, reading or doing homework, before sports or even before your meditation. Experiment with which exercise works best for you or do the exercises from week one to four one after the other. Make a note in your journal about if and how they help and when you use them so you can easily come back to what supports you.

During the heart chakra work we have looked at emotions and tools to help us process our feelings. It is really helpful to think of our feelings as just feelings! By that we mean rewording things so, for example, we are not lonely but we have some loneliness or feel lonely. Please refer to the Emotional Processing card for more information. This week we introduced a technique from acupuncture but if you prefer the tools from a previous week please use that instead, the important thing is to find what suits you. A great thing to start thinking about is creating a 'bank of positive experiences'. Start to list happy feelings, times you feel love and things that make you feel secure and positive. In this way we start to train our minds to focus on the good side of things.

The meditation below can be done without music, however this is the music we used in the class (available on You Tube). You can play this in the background or just during the week when doing other things. The background Binaural vibration can help to resonate within the body, correcting internal frequencies subconsciously. Read more about Binaural frequencies here. As the heart chakra is about love we recommend ending your meditation by sending love out to others (family, friends, all people, all living creatures) - this can be a simple visualisation and is sometimes referred to as 'Metta' practice.

Sending and Receiving Love; The simple words below will help your brain to understand this! Sit or stand or lie quietly and take a deep breath in and out. Say the words to yourself.

"May I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be free. May everyone be happy, may everyone be peaceful, may everyone be free."

Take another breath and open your eyes.

Balloon Breathing

Imagine you are blowing up a big balloon. Pick a colour for your balloon. Breath in deeply and blow out slowly to fill your balloon.

You can blow anything you don't want into your balloon and then tie it closed and let it go out the window and off into the sky.

Or you can blow happy feelings and things you love into your balloon. If it is a happy balloon you can keep it with you, tied to your hand or your bed or your bag,