KARACHI: The second edition of Karachi Wellness Festival kicked off Saturday, bringing together mental health professionals and other experts to help the residents of the city voice issues and heal in a safe environment.
The festival, which is said to be “an offering of love” by the organizers who arranged it in collaboration with the Veritas Learning Circle based in Karachi, promotes healthy lifestyles for physical, emotional and spiritual development.
The event was first arranged in March 2022. The ongoing festival includes a range of wellness offerings, including yoga, sound healing, mindfulness, parenting circles, talks and discussion panels.
“This festival brings together different forms of wellness for people to experience and get a taste of,” Cyra Khawar, an organizer, told Arab News. “The purpose of this entire festival is to provide the community with a tester and taster. There is a certain stigma around mental health in Pakistan which is why people are also afraid of wanting to try it.”
Khawar informed that instead of paying a fee for every session, people could join the festival by buying a ticket for Rs1,000 and attend sessions of their interest.
She added there were interactive experiences, games, talks, workshops, community building, opportunities for quiet and reflection, music and art, among other things.
“The community can come together and focus on their individual and collective emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual wellbeing,” Khawar said. “The target audience is all age groups. We have sessions happening for children, young adults, teenagers and the elderly as well.”
People participating in Karachi Wellness Festival 2023 experience traditional yoga during a session held at Veritas Learning Circle *in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 4, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/Karachi Wellness Festival)
The first edition of the festival last year featured over 50 sessions, according to the organizer who said that that number had multiplied three times this year. She informed that facilitators of the event had flown in from across Pakistan to conduct their sessions without charging anything.
Mental health worker Ramsha Nassr, who is also the founder of Bayaan Pk, conducted a session on Day One of the festival.
“It is a great way to create awareness about what kind of services are available in Pakistan and just for people to ease off, heal from whatever the country is going through,” she told Arab News after holding the session.
“These sessions and festivals allow a break and take people into a positive zone,” she added. “They are very diverse and shed a light on themes such as masculinity, men’s mental health, couples’ therapy, positive parenting, etc. It is an amazing opportunity for people to learn and have an outlet for expression.”
Nassr is an associate clinical psychologist by qualification who runs a Facebook group called Indigenous Psychological Resources which has 176 mental health workers onboard. She conducted a couples’ play therapy workshop session on the first day which incorporated a few activities for 10 couples to know their strengths and weaknesses and help them turn into a team.
“The whole purpose was to show them that it is not you versus me,” Nassr said. “It is you and me versus the problem.”
