Dhaka Flow: A festival on yoga and wellness

The Dhaka Flow festival, a celebration of health, healing, and the environment took place on 13 January 2023 at the picturesque, Gulshan Society Lake Park. The event brought together vendors of wellness products, fitness teachers, healers, and individuals from all lifestyles to connect and build a community. The festival was guided by 'ahimsa' or non-violence, and only vegetarian meals were available. It was also an eco-friendly and memorable experience with zero plastic waste.

"Dhaka Flow is a wellness movement that aims to promote healthy living. For us to live a healthy lifestyle, it's not just about yoga but so many other elements that come into play, like a healthy environment, honesty from everyone, collaboration instead of competition, along with having sound mental health. That's why I was so happy to see so many people become a part of this movement through today's festival, and hopefully beyond," said Shazia Omar, host of Dhaka Flow Festival, a yoga instructor, and writer.

Photo: Dhaka Flow

The festival offered an array of wellness activities for festivalgoers to participate in and enjoy. From yoga demonstrations to a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) boot camp and therapeutic yoga, the festival featured classes and demos from well-known instructors in the field of wellness. Dhaka Flow also collaborated with an array of partners, featuring stalls from popular activewear brands like Turag Active, Aamra Active, as well as unique organic product vendors like Zhen Natural.

In addition to the wellness activities, festival goers also had the opportunity to indulge in delicious food from a variety of vendors including Indu's Kitchen, Jatra Biroti, and Waffleup.
"Festivals like these are a welcome respite for residents of Dhaka as we have become too inactive with our lifestyle. I really loved coming here and exploring the yoga demos, the different stalls selling fitness-related things, and the food, all at the same venue," said Raihan Ahmed, a resident of Gulshan at the festival.

Photo: Dhaka Flow

The festival had many fun activities to keep the guests entertained, like throwing darts to score prizes from Aarong Earth, a kid's zone for the little ones, and of course, attending the various yoga sessions! However, that is not all as the festival goers were in for a real treat, in the form of an enchanting musical performance from Armeen Musa to cap off a memorable day on a high and happy note.