Karachi Wellness Festival — where mind meets soul

Tired of a monotonous, hectic routine that leaves you feeling worn out, lazy, and frustrated? Well, Karachi Wellness Festival — a place where health and hedonism coexist — has a solution for you, your family, friends, and kids.

Offering a wide range of activities, the wellness festival is a place that allows you to open your mind and heart, and work on interpersonal growth, along with physical and emotional well-being.

This place has it all — from yoga to tension and trauma-releasing exercises, from artwork to pottery, from gender-based violence workshops to parent-child education, from meditation to sessions for mothers who struggle with anger, from creative writing for children to live music and festival, the festival is encompassed with numerous fun activities.

The two-day wellness festival — which aims to create awareness in individuals through activities that cultivate a truly holistic approach — began on Saturday (February 4) and will conclude on Sunday (February 5). 

The first day of the event — being held at Veritas Learning Circle in P.E.C.H.S from 10am to 7:30pm — was attended by hundreds of people of different age groups. 

Commenting on the vision behind the event, Nida Khan, one of the five founders of the festival, said: “This weekend is all about celebrating community with family and friends.”

"It has been perceived that wellness means going to a medical doctor or opting for therapy. However, [...], music is wellness, yoga is wellness, medication is wellness, medical doctors are wellness, alternative treatments are wellness, and food is also wellness. This is a weekend about celebrating all of those things," said Khan.

“Many of the vendors at the event,” she said, “include women who run small-scale businesses, along with small family-run businesses, and big names as well.”

Nida asserted that the festival was an opportunity for people to come together, eat, listen to music, and realise that wellness is not one person's responsibility but a collective effort.

“The truth is, we can only take care of each other when we take care of ourselves first," she added.

Naila Baig Ansari, along with her daughter, held an entertaining session at the festival that allowed people to indulge in fun board games. "We are teaching people how to play board games which are not the regular ludo, monopoly, scrabble. These are different board games like Euro board games, strategising, things that people have not been exposed to in Pakistan."

"Through board games, there is a lot of happiness, endorphins, strategising and it adds to the wellness and the feeling of community meeting new people and doing something new," said Ansari.

One of the attendees at the festival said that she had participated in various and diverse sessions, including how to deal with sadness and flash mob.

"There is a lot of diversity here which promotes celebrating yourself and our different aspects. This is a great festival for kids and adults and there are not just sessions here, but food stalls too."

One of the mothers shared that she had a lot of fun with her daughter. "There are different art and activities that we normally cannot provide to the kids at home. It's a good event for people to bond with their children. You can spend a good and healthy time with your kids."