This Friday (January 13, 2023), from 11 am to 5 pm, Shazia Omar hosted Bangladesh’s first-ever yoga and wellness festival, Dhaka Flow. The event saw 60 private sector companies, 20 fitness teachers and healers, and over 1000 people gather around the theme of healthy living. United News of Bangladesh (UNB) was the Media Partner of Dhaka Flow's yoga and wellness event held at Gulshan Society Lake Park in Dhaka.  “Dhaka City can be a toxic space with the chaotic traffic, population density, air pollution and overall lack of healthy living. Given this, it is important for us to cultivate a higher conscience and embrace a more intentional way of life that is harmonious and nurturing for our people and our planet,” said Shazia.  In the opening session, Shazia said she organized Dhaka Flow as a way to give space to all the people making efforts to contribute to a healthy community. She said healthy living is not about exercise alone, its about mind, body, spirit, as well as home, community, country. She said one cannot be healthy in isolation. Good health requires good physical health, good mental, psychological, emotional health, clean air, green earth, pure water. She described a vision of Dhaka City as a place that is free, healthy, clean, inclusive and green.  Dhaka Flow, in partnership with Gulshan Society, made use of public space to provide a free event for the community that would encourage everyone to live healthier. For the event, Shazia had a few pillars. Managed by Interspeed, the event was entirely plastic waste free and eco-friendly. All companies participating did not use PVC banners. Stalls were made of bamboo and jute with cloth canvas signs, keeping an eye on the aesthetics, to ensure an eco-artistic feel.  Read More: Dhaka Flow brings day-long Festival of Yoga and Wellness No plastic bottles were sold, instead everyone enjoyed Pureit by Unilever’s water dispensers. The event had 14 food vendors, all taking on the challenge, or opportunity, of designing purely vegetarian treats, as ahimsa, non-violence towards living beings, was one of the pillars of the event. The final pillar was that of collaboration rather than competition, as all vendors and instructors were asked to cross-promote one another. Pushing the boundary bit by bit can lead to cataclysmic change. She hopes all events going forward will see how it easy it is to shift modus operandi and adopt cleaner habits.  Mustafa Turan, Turkish Ambassador, and Natalie Chuard, Swiss Ambassador, also spoke at the opening, to express their strong belief in yoga as a positive way of life. The theme of devoting time to taking care of oneself, in order to show up better, so we are in a better place to raise a healthy family and healthy community and healthy nation came up. Shazia said she was thrilled to see how many people are actively engaged in the wellness sector in their own way. She said Dhaka Flow showcased several start-ups including East Bengal Coffee Grinder, Mama’s Tarts, Aliens, fithobo.com, Moar co-working space, Smart Air and Just SXY sportswear. WhiteBoard participated to record citizen’s voices around the theme of building a better Bangladesh. Basecamp offered park visitors a chance to climb a 50-foot tree. Clay Station, Aranya and Art for the Soul gave people space to be creative. Aqua Paints, the Growing Up Club and Kolpotoru kept the kids zone active. F45, Amra Active, Yasmin Karachiwala Body Image and individuals like Ed Jujitsu, Naziafitstudio and Britto offered cardio sessions while Faria Athar, And_zen, Tasmiah and Dyuti offered yoga sessions. Anita Aparna Muyeed offered meditation and energy healing while Namira Hossain offered intuitive tarot card reading.  Read More: Pandemic Yoga: How to strengthen lungs, ease breathing problems with yoga Core sponsors, Turaag Active, a local designer sportswear brand, provided yoga pants to the yogis, Aarong Earth, with organic skin and hair care products,  and Prime Bank, with green financing, made the event possible. ACI Nutrilife showcased their healthy grain products, Sprint from Apex showcased shoes made from recycled plastic bottles, CalciPlus showcased calcium fortified milk for bone health, Sajeeb Group showcase Isobuler Bhushi as a traditional and effective way of keeping ones gut healthy,  Blenders Choice Ispahani tea showcased green tea, and Sajida Foundation showcased Kaan Pete Roi and Shojon, suicide hotline and mental health service providers. Other stalls at the event included Shombob,com, online pharmacy, Movement Solutions, physiotherapists, Dhaka Ayurveda Centre, offering therapeutic massages, and many more.  Shazia Omar has been teaching yoga in Dhaka for over 15 years. She encourages everyone to subscribe to her channel, Youtube.com/ShazzyOm. She is a writer, a yogini, an activist and a mom. She runs yoga retreats around the country and classes in Gulshan. To join the wellness movement and ‘surrender to the flow’, she invites everyone to check out Dhaka Flow’s website and join the Dhaka Flow community on Facebook and Instagram.  One of the key messages of the event was that yoga can help people cope with stress and reduce physical and mental ailments. Meditation and mindfulness can improve concentration, compassion, peace and community spirit. An understanding about healthy habits and better nutrition can contribute drastically to our fitness and journey towards inner peace.  Read More: From coffee to yoga to happiness: Offbeat ministries from around the world! The event was closed with some beautiful songs by Armeen Musa, Grammy-award nominee. We look forward to more such events in the future.  For more information about yoga or Dhaka Flow, please email [email protected].

Yoga is an ancient system to experience divine freedom, peace, and self-realization through physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual practices. Originating from Sanskrit, the term Yoga means “yoke” which refers to drawing, binding; or uniting together. The purpose of Yoga is to unite the body, mind, and soul, as well as the universal consciousness. A healthy mind and body lead to a healthy family, community, and city.  However, the hectic urban life in Dhaka city gives the residents little room for calmness, contemplation, or purpose. Thanks to Shazia Omar for hosting the Festival of Yoga Wellness Dhaka Flow. Let’s take a look at the host and the festival. Dhaka Flow: A Wellness Movement Dhaka Flow is a wellness movement in Bangladesh. Dhaka Flow aims to promote a sustainable lifestyle of self-growth, joy, and gratitude. Dhaka Flow promotes wellness through festivals and retreats, events and gatherings, social media, and more. Read More: Which Type of Yoga Should You Try? Dhaka Flow organizes the Festival of Yoga & Wellness in January 2023 to bring together the vendors of wellness products, fitness teachers, healers, and people, to build community, celebrate health and healing, honor the environment, and elevate the spirit. The festival will be conducted with zero plastic waste. Dhaka Flow also upholds the principle of ahimsa which means non-violence towards any living being, and as such, food stalls will ALL offer vegetarian meals only. Journey of Shazia Omar: From investment banker to yogi  Starting her career as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers in Manhattan, Shazia soon realized this was not her calling in life. She grew disillusioned with the state of the world and geopolitics and capitalism and soon after 9/11, she left her job and went traveling around the world to look for a better way to be. Shazia landed up in South Africa, working at an AIDS orphanage as a volunteer, where she met a group of yogis.  Read More: Free Online Yoga Courses for Stress Relief and Better Immunity From there, her passion for the practice began. She began visiting ashrams and yoga schools in India and Thailand and eventually got certified in ashtanga yoga. She has been teaching yoga for 20 years. Shazia teaches regular classes at Nordic Club and Canadian Club in Dhaka. She has conducted numerous corporate workshops on yoga, mindfulness, well-being, health, and fitness. She organizes retreats around Bangladesh and around the world because she believes well-being and wanderlust go hand-in-hand. She is associated with Samahita Yoga Retreat in Thailand.  Shazia has written a mind, body, and spirit book (Intentional Smile: A Girl’s Guide to Positive Living, Bloomsbury 2016) and children’s books (Sun Moon Secret, Guba Books 2022) as well as two novels. Shazia writes a regular column for Daily Star (Kundalini Rising). Shazia did her undergrad at Dartmouth College, USA, and her Master's in Social Psychology at LSE, UK. Shazia Omar’s channel is YouTube.com/ShazzyOm.  Read More: How to strengthen lungs, ease breathing problems with yoga Dhaka Flow: Festival of Yoga and Wellness Dhaka Flow organizes a unique event to bring many of Dhaka’s yoga teachers and healers under the same sky. Aside from yoga, there will be certified practitioners offering meditation, reiki and energy healing, martial arts and boxing, cardio and HIIT, and much more. Over 30 companies and entrepreneurs are participating in the fair, with a similar vision to promote a cleaner and greener Dhaka city, cultivating good health and well-being. The event will be organized with eco-friendly materials, like jute stalls, cloth canvas signs, etc. Food partners will provide vegetarian treats. During this festival, there will be free yoga classes all day long by different teachers in the yoga shala. These classes are suitable for all ages and sizes. There will be cardio and HIIT and martial arts classes in the fitness pavilion. There will be dance, breathing, meditation, and kids' yoga in the amphitheater. There will be art activities in the art corner. Read More: From coffee to yoga to happiness: Offbeat ministries from around the world! Time and Venue of Dhaka Flow Festival of Yoga and Wellness The festival will be held at Gulshan Society Lake Park on Friday, January 13, 2022, from 11 am to 5 pm. How to Participate in Dhaka Flow Festival of Yoga and Wellness Registration is required to participate in the event. It is totally free of cost.  Visit the following link for free registration: https://partyinvite.club/e/Dhaka-Flow--Festival-of-Yoga---Wellness-6388813caf21872f9b6dcf8b