Our learning groups are restarting June 10 with very limited availability and lots of new adjustments to create safety. Here’s what you need to know before joining us and options for how to join!
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Tag: Chiang Mai with Children
Papaya Salad Recipe
It’s as good a time as any to get your little’s active in the kitchen. Papaya Salad is an easy, healthy and versatile option for little hands and fingers. Practice cutting different textures and preparing raw food the whole family will enjoy!
Ingredients:
Salad:
- 1 unripe green papaya
- 1 large carrot
- 2 long strings of green beans cut into 1 in. pieces
- 2-4 medium sized tomatoes
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- Handful of unsalted roasted peanuts (opt.)
Sauce:
- 3-5 limes
- 2 tbs. palm or coconut sugar
- 1 tbs. fish sauce (leave out for vegans / vegetarians and the faint of heart)
- Salt to taste
Process:
1.) Remove skin from the carrot and papaya, then use a serrated peeler to cut them into long strips. Quarter tomatoes, cut green beans and set aside.
2.) Mash garlic in a wooden mortar (referred to in Thai as the Pok-Pok) until it is broken into small pieces. Add green beans and mash until slightly broken open. (Alternatively, if you do not have a mortar and pistil, chop garlic and mix with green beans).
3.) Add papaya and carrots, mash gently. Add tomatoes and toss together.
4.) Squeeze limes and combine juice with palm sugar, fish sauce and salt. Taste to ensure the balance of sweet, salty, sour and fishy is to your liking. Take time with this step and don’t be afraid to play with your proportions, every traditional Som Tam maker will have their own distinct blend of flavors.
5.) Add sauce to salad so that it is slightly dressed and well combined. Sprinkle in peanuts and serve with your favorite kind of rice.
** This dish is traditionally made with chili and is so spicy that it is eaten with rice to cool the palette. For adults who like spicy food add 2-4 Thai red or green chilies with the garlic in step 2.
** There are many variations of this dish so if you don’t have all the ingredients, experiment with what you have. Thai eggplant, corn and fried sardines all make tasty compliments to this famous dish.
Papaya Salad or Som Tam is traditionally paired with sticky rice, a plate of green herbs and veggies, and a protein like a bbq grilled chicken, pork or fish. We also love it with fried chicken or a plain omelette.
Yoga at Home: warm-up song
Today we’re sharing our favorite song for creating the space for our yoga classes, “Rub your Hands” by Karma Kids Yoga.
* Ask your kiddos to find their yoga seats and settle into a comfortable seated position with lots of room around their bodies. They can sit on the floor, a yoga mat or a pillow for a bit more support. Offer them variations of their yoga seat like cross-legged pose (Sukhasana), Hero’s Pose (Virasana) or Half Lotus (Padmasana).
* Talk with them about practicing yoga, what it means and create some safety agreements before you begin.
* Start the song and do a motion for each part of the song: you don’t need to explain the motions, just demonstrate and your little yogis should be able to follow along.
– “Rub your hands” – Rub hands together creating friction and warmth.
– “Sit up tall” – Lightly press hands into knees, lengthen the spine and roll shoulders down.
– “Take a deep breath” – Bring hands to prayer pose, close eyes and inhale to allow chest to expand and shoulders to rise.
– “Om” – Exhale by chanting the sound “Om” bring hands back to knees.
* After a few times, you can vary motions to include side bends, forward folds, any poses you like. This works especially well with older kids who may tire of the repetition of sitting in cross-legged pose for an extended amount of time.
Benefits:
Chanting helps develop concentration, calm the nervous system, and helps bring balance to the body.
Rhythmic breathing alleviates stress, oxygenates the brain, strengthen lung capacity and build respiratory endurance.
Yoga poses help build good posture habits, stretch the knee joints and build flexibility and strength.
Try it out and let us know what you think!
,
Kru Rosie
Low Season Savings
There’s no denying it, the smokey season is back. Thankfully this year with more press and awareness, we are seeing changes in our community that support more options for maintaining a healthy lifestyle indoors.
At Kids Yoga Garden we’ve got our air purifiers running all day during this time of year and have loaded up on board games, new books and a recycled art creation zone to keep our students active indoors. To make it easier on the families who stay in town during this time of year, we’ve also started promotions to make our programs more accessible to those living locally.
Visiting Chiang Mai
Each year we are visited by new students from around the world and this last year was no exception as kids from Korea, Spain, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Germany, the United States, Mexico, Canada, the UK, France and more came to join our programs.
Chiang Mai is a magical intersection of intersections and in recent years the offerings for children and families have risen substantially. Full day trips, new play-friendly cafes and an abundance of special course offerings help offer families creative options for education and childcare while travelling.
If your planning a trip to Chiang Mai we highly recommend these guides by local writers and long-time residents:
- Lonely Planet : What to do with Kids in Chiang Mai
- Chiang Mai Family Guide- 10 awesome things to do in Chiang Mai with Kids
- Cape Kantary V. 23 – Community Crossroads
Of course you are also welcome to come by and see us and we’ll have plenty of recommendations as well!
More opportunities to join us!
We’ve been listening to the input of our families and are ready to bring some adjustments to our weekday schedule. Starting October 9th 2019, Kids Yoga Garden will be open for full day activities each Wednesday – Sunday, giving you more opportunities to join us each week.
The weekday activities will be geared towards our home school learning group with options to study 2-5 days per week. All days will be open to drop-ins but members of the homeschool group will have priority booking to ensure our regular learning group is able to thrive.
This is our first major schedule change since opening and we hope that it will bring more fluidity and consistency to our staff and families. Monday and Tuesday our office will be closed but prior bookings for private sessions may be made during our regular office hours Wednesday – Friday 8 am – 4 pm and Saturday and Sunday 9 am – 5 pm.
Leading up to this shift we will take a 1 week break to reset and prepare.
Please let us know any requests or questions leading up to these shifts!
❤
Family time for connection
We know that you are busy, between work, home life, school and after school activities. There’s a whole lot happening week to week to keep track of and with all the bustle, we often lose track of the connection that makes it all worth while. Family yoga is a great time to connect and share with your own family and build healthy traditions that can anchor your week. Check out this article in the Charlotte Observer for more benefits of practicing yoga as a family.
Our Family Yoga Circle is each Thursday afternoon 3:45 – 5 pm is the perfect chance come as you are for a laid-back playful circle created especially for families of 1-3 year olds. This is a no pressure environment for families of littles who are looking for a way to joyfully bond with their child and make connections with other families.
For families of older kiddos, we welcome you to our family yoga class Sunday evenings 5-6 pm. This class is suited best for families of 4-10 year olds and will teach yoga basics intertwined with themes and stories.
For families of younger and upper teens, we recommend booking private or group sessions on weekday or weekend evenings.
“Yoga emphasizes the power of connection; connecting movement with breath, connecting in with the self, and connecting with others.”
- -Margot Brinley-
Upcoming Break Camps
Plenty of active and creative fun awaits kiddos at Kids Yoga Garden Break Camps. We will start off with super hero and rainbow themes explored through science, art, yoga, zumba, cooking, science and more.
Ages: 3-10
Cost: 4,000 thb / 1 week, 7,500 thb / 2 weeks
*Returning families receive a special 500 thb discount when they register by March 15th!
A Weekend View
Creativity syncopated by the joyful beat of play, that’s what weekends in the garden feel like to us and what we hope to offer the 3 to 10 year olds who come from around the city and world to interact with us each weekend. Take a look and see what we are up to.
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
―
Mindful Moments
What happens when you mix a camping festival + one big picnic mat + Kru Yok + new friends?
You get magic in the form of breath and conscious interaction, strength and flexibility with some of our favorite dynamic asanas, calmness and coolness with rainbow scarf meditations.
These little yogis are living proof that yoga doesn’t require individual mats, fancy stretch pants or expert positioning. Each of us are on a unique and precious journey. When we take time to arrive into the living moment of now, we create the space to see and be seen. We allow ourselves the opportunity to grow.
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Thanks East Meets West for having us and allowing us the chance to share our imaginations and hearts with you!
❤
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