Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #85 – Women Right’s Defender – Yoga in Afghanistan with Fakhria Momtaz

Welcome to Episode #85 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! My conversation with Fakhria Momtaz, a yoga teacher from Afghanistan, was so incredible as we took a deep dive into what it was like to open the yoga studio in Afghanistan and all the risks and challenges that presented. I hope that this conversation made you realize how yoga is so important, that it is worth the risk because it is a necessity for a community to have access to.

If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about yoga in Afghanistan then this is the conversation for you.

Tell me more about Fakhria Momtaz

Fakhria Momtaz is the first yoga studio owner in Afghanistan. She founded Momtaz Yoga Studio in 2017, though she began studying yoga over 15 years ago. She teaches yoga to Afghan women refugees through the Yoga Alliance Foundation. Currently, she herself is a refugee in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, where she teaches to refugees and holds online yoga classes for women in the USA, Canada, and Europe. As the founder of the only Yoga Center in Afghanistan, that provides yoga and welfare services to women, Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz is a pillar in the global yoga community and has been of great service to the women of Afghanistan.

Fakhria is currently working towards her Bachelor of Science of Yoga Education with SVYASA, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samathana. She is the recipient of many awards including the “Seeds of Change Award” on International Women’s Day 2018 for the “Best Female Business Person.” Although she is now internationally celebrated, she was hunted by fundamentalists in Afghanistan in 2020 because of her yoga work and had to escape Afghanistan and move to Pakistan.

What to expect in the Yoga In Afghanistan episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Fakhria Momtaz shares her journey to open a yoga studio in a country where the practice of yoga was not accepted. She faced challenges and resistance from the government, and even had to put her life at risk to open her studio, but she never gave up. Fakhria explains her definition of yoga, which includes science, health, art, beauty, culture, harmony, and bridge to history. She believes that yoga is something humans are born with, as babies naturally fall into yoga pose shapes. Fakhria received her education and training in yoga through attending the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh, India, and enrolling in a Bachelor’s program in yoga at SVYASA University. Currently, she herself is a refugee in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she teaches yoga to refugees and conducts online yoga classes for women in the USA, Canada, and Europe. Despite the obstacles, Fakhria persevered in bringing yoga to the women of Afghanistan, making a significant contribution to the global yoga community.

Favorite Quote From Yoga Teacher Fakhria Momtaz

“I know my people, I know my society, and know my culture. And that was why I could find some ways to overcome the obstacles. It wasn’t safe.   It was not just necessary or important for women and Afghanistan. It was important for me too.  Everyone has to play their part in the world. Therefore, I should share my knowledge of yoga with other people to keep my body and mind healthy, especially for women in Afghanistan, who struggling, so much violence and challenges by their culture, their families, and their society.

Connect with Fakhria Momtaz

www.momtaz.yoga

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/teaching-yoga-in-afghanistan-meet-fakhria-momtaz/

https://grin.news/the-yoga-teacher-of-kabul-f882de44956f

https://assembly.malala.org/stories/fakhria-and-froohar-momtaz-afghan-yoga-studio

https://www.nike.com/a/a-safe-space-for-women-to-work-out

Support the podcast:

https://www.patreon.com/wildyogatribe

Want more?

https://wildyogatribe.com/thepodcast/

Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast #85 – Yoga in Afghanistan with Fakhria Momtaz Transcription

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Namaste family and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! Today is a really exciting day! I’m so happy to welcome Fakhria Momtaz onto the show today. She’s a yoga teacher in Afghanistan and is the first yoga studio owner in Afghanistan as well. She founded Momtaz Yoga Studio in 2017, and she has been teaching yoga to Afghan women refugees through the Yoga Alliance Foundation, and currently she herself is a refugee in Islamisbad, the capital city of Pakistan, where she teaches yoga to refugees and hold online yoga classes for women in the USA, Canada, and Europe. As the founder of the only yoga center in Afghanistan that provides yoga and welfare services to women, Fakhria Momtaz is a pillar in the global yoga community and has been a great service to the woman of Afghanistan. So thank you so much Fakhria, for being on the show today.

[00:01:04] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Thank you too, Lily. I’m so excited!

[00:01:07] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you. So just to start off, tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself or about also how yoga first came into your life.

How did yoga come into your life?

[00:01:19] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Actually I always feel that I was born with yoga. When I was introduced with yoga it was just more than [00:01:30] 10 years ago. And but I did yoga when I was very young, maybe two years old or younger. I did the poses with my imagination.

I didn’t have any instructor or anyone to guide me. My family supporting to do yoga regularly every day. Maybe, I can say the imagination that I had in my mind for yoga was an inspiration that I had from my siblings, from my sisters and brothers as they were exercising martial arts. And maybe their activities inspired me to make the poses. But as I said more than 10 years ago, I was introduced with yoga: what is yoga and what’s the benefit of yoga? And I started my yoga sessions on 2015 to introduce yoga for women of Afghanistan. And on 2017, I founded my yoga studio.

[00:02:48] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. I think that I’ve never heard someone say that they were born with yoga. I love hearing you say that and knowing that you practiced as young [00:03:00] as two, and just from intuition from what your heart kind of knew to do intuitively. I think that’s very powerful.

[00:03:10] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: I can say that I’m not professional and I even I feel that I am not a yoga teacher. I am a yoga learner. And it’s very big in yoga to know what is yoga? To understand the yoga, the philosophy the history, the culture.

Bachelors of Yoga 

[00:03:31] Lily Allen-Duenas: It’s infinite, isn’t it? Yoga is so big. I know I’ll be a student. Yoga for the rest of my life. And I know you are studying right now too, to get your Bachelor’s of yoga, right?

[00:03:45] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes, you’re right. I am still a student at SVYASA University in Bangalore of India.

[00:03:52] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s wonderful. Are you enjoying your studies?

[00:03:55] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Of course, yes. I want to to be honest, that I am not a religious person, but explore people’s belief is very interesting for me to have research in the society.

[00:04:11] Lily Allen-Duenas: Ooh. Absolutely. That’s a very good point. It is interesting always to learn more and more about other people’s faith and beliefs and traditions. So I would love to hear about what it was like for you to open the first yoga studio in Afghanistan.

What it was Like to Open the First Yoga Studio in Afghanistan?

[00:04:29] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: [00:04:30] It wasn’t easy actually. This work wasn’t easy in Afghanistan as a country with war and critical situation with crisis for more than 40 years. And of course there are cultural crises, there are social crises, political crises, and even beliefs crises. That is why it was very difficult for me to open a yoga studio in Afghanistan because Afghanistan is a country which is located between india and Pakistan geographically and politically you may know about the issues between India and Pakistan and Afghanistan is between them .

And yoga not just belong to India. Yoga belong to India and at regional countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Asian countries. The history, not the current time, there are many conflicts between these countries and my country, Afghanistan.

There are so many different tribes who are living in [00:06:00] Afghanistan, and I am belonging to Hazara ethnicity, who are the indigenous and original people in Afghanistan and this region. But still they are involved in discriminations as the Hazara’s history belongs to Buddhism and that one of practices of Buddhi are yoga and meditation.

How I started in Afghanistan, it was very difficult for me. It was like a risk and that I put my life in Afghanistan. When I started, I was very conservative about my situation and my community. Because yoga was called Haram in Afghanistan. Yoga was called a Buddhist and Hinduism action in Afghanistan. I was not able to have a transparent marketing for my yoga sessions and a studio. One of the marketing for my yoga sessions was the coverage of national and international media. It was one of the way that I could introduce my activity for people because it wasn’t a direct marketing among people.

When there was an [00:07:30] article about me, or I had a yoga session, a TV yoga session, and famous TV in Afghanistan, people were in contact with the media. To ask my address and ask my activity. It was like a situation…it’s how I started my yoga city in Afghanistan. I was so conservative. I risk all my life and because of my yoga studio. And I put all my time to, to introduce yoga for people, especially for women in Afghanistan as science, art, and sport.

[00:08:22] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wow. It sounds like you risked everything, your life and everything to open the studio. Why do you think it was necessary that you did this? It was so brave. What it was telling you that you had to do this?

[00:08:37] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: I know my people; I know my society and know my culture. And that was why I could find some ways to overcome the obstacles. It wasn’t safe. It was not just necessary or important for women and Afghanistan. It was important [00:09:00] for myself too.  Everyone has to play their part in the world. Therefore, I should share my knowledge of yoga with other people to keep [the] body and mind healthy, especially for women in Afghanistan, who are struggling, so many violence and challenges by their culture, their families, their society. And that was the necessity that I felt to open my yoga studio and be supportive for women in Afghanistan.

[00:09:39] Lily Allen-Duenas: That’s amazing. And when you did open the yoga studio or when. Started offering classes to the women in Afghanistan. What was their response like?

How Serious the threats were Against Fakhria for Teaching Yoga

[00:09:49] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: My activities were appreciative for people in real world, but in virtual world and social medias, there were different comments. Some were positive and some were negative, and the negative were so aggressive and we were accused that we are prostitute and a spy of India and Western countries.

[00:10:20] Lily Allen-Duenas: Oh no, that’s very intense. Wow. Because I know that, I believe that was in 2020 when you were celebrating International Yoga [00:10:30] Day in the hills in Kabul, in Afghanistan. Within 24 hours of celebrating International Yoga Day, you did receive threats!

[00:11:11] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes. Actually we… I was teaching yoga and we were 20 women who did yoga outside of a studio, and it was like a public activity, which was very sensitive for them. And I believe that they were afraid of my influence among women because the leaders of religions are always afraid of others power in the society.

[00:11:45] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wow. They were afraid of your influence over women? They were afraid because you were gaining more power as a yoga teacher, and you people were trusting you and like that?

[00:11:56] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes, sure.

[00:12:06] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wow. Okay. And so that was one of the things too, that caused you to leave Afghanistan, right? To become a refugee.

Having to Leave Afghanistan as a Refugee

[00:12:15] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes, under time I was trying to live because my life and my family life was in the danger, especially my kids who were not able to go to university and school. Whenever a mother sees that their kids are not able to study, of course they feel that there is nothing for them to continue their life. So I didn’t have any choice except leaving Afghanistan. But unfortunately, on the time there was COVID-19 pandemic situation that no countries issued visas. And but my activity was so limited my activity in my life, my work. It was the time that every social activities every woman and human rights defender were in focus of organization to evacuate from Afghanistan.

[00:13:28] Lily Allen-Duenas: I would like to [00:13:30] also ask too, currently, what happened to your yoga studio in Afghanistan since you’ve left? Has it closed down? Does it exist in any capacity or only now more in online, in that space? 

[00:13:44] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Unfortunately it is closed. I was not able to open it and now I have just online yoga sessions virtually.

[00:13:57] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. And do you teach in person in Pakistan to other women refugees there?

[00:14:03] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Sometimes we are holding in-person yoga sessions outside, like in a park. There are beautiful Buddhist stupas in Pakistan. As I said that Pakistan is one of the country which has the history of yoga and the history of Buddhist. Sometimes we go there and do yoga with other Afghan refugee women.

[00:14:35] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. I’m grateful that there’s a stupa there, and also it is wonderful for me and for our listeners to hear about the history of, of Buddhism and of yoga and how it doesn’t just belong to India. I think that’s so important to recognize, cuz even in Egypt there’s been evidence of yoga being practiced, thousands of years ago as [00:15:00] well. I know one thing that we wanted to make sure we talked about was why is there no yoga federation in Afghanistan like there would be for any other sports?

Why is There Not a Yoga Federation in Afghanistan?

[00:15:10] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: When I opened my yoga studio, it need to be registered officially. I referred to International Olympic Committee of Afghanistan and there was a Department of a Sports by government I referred there too. But none of them support me to register. When I asked them why, they responded [to] me that there’s no yoga federation. So. I asked them, “It is not a problem. We we can open it by ourselves.” And as they didn’t have any knowledge of yoga. They didn’t accept me to found a yoga federation in Afghanistan.

I tried a lot. I contacted India Yoga Federation. I contacted so many people, powerful people. It didn’t work. I couldn’t found yoga Federation in Afghanistan. That was the one of the big challenge that I was [00:16:30] faced in Afghanistan and these 20 years.

[00:16:34] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. It sounds like at every turn you faced people who told you no or reasons to not open the studio, but I love how you said earlier how you felt like it was a necessity for you and for the women in your community to have access to yoga and a place to practice it. 

[00:16:54] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes… even… However, it was a big challenge, but still, I keep my studio open for people, for women and never give up for any challenges. But now the one thing that which suffers me that my yoga practitioners are still attack in Afghanistan. Some of them flew to Pakistan or Iran without any clear future.

[00:17:32] Lily Allen-Duenas: It seems to me that you have done so much in service of your community and of other women, and I would love to ask you, I ask every yoga teacher who comes onto the show, what is your definition of yoga? What does yoga mean to you?

What is Your Definition of Yoga?

[00:17:50] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yoga means for me means science, health, art, beauty, [00:18:00] culture, harmony, and bridge to history.

[00:18:05] Lily Allen-Duenas: Ooh, that was beautiful. I really liked how you said that. And why do you think that it is important that yoga is all around the world now and in, in almost every country, yoga can be found. And I know you were the only yoga studio, and to my knowledge, one of the only yoga teachers in Afghanistan. So why do you think it’s important that yoga is all around the.

Why is it Important that Yoga is All Around the World?

[00:18:29] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: I want to add that I am not the only teacher in Afghanistan. There were other teachers, yoga teachers too, in Afghanistan, but they never could open, or they never could make public yoga in Afghanistan. It was very risky for everyone. It was just me that I put my life at this risk. open yoga studio, and make the yoga public. Yes, according to your question I think humans, and I’m sure humans are born with yoga postures. In fact, we are doing yoga all our life, but it is better to do it with discipline and awareness, and I think that is why it is important that yogas all over the world now, and people know what is yoga.

[00:19:28] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah, [00:19:30] I like that, that we are all born with yoga. Again, coming back to that, how you think humans just have yoga in them because, as babies we do these little, downward dogs or different shapes or also the way that we think, I think we’re, when we’re children, we’re very free.

[00:19:48] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes. You know that there are more than eight hundreds postures in the world and it means that, even when a baby is born, he or she is laid on the ground. It’s a posture and Babies are playing with their hands, their legs, and their head, and it means that they do all many postures because when we are baby, we are free. 

[00:20:23] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes, that is true that our body naturally falls into yoga pose shapes when we’re babies. hearing you speak too, I was curious about your education in yoga. I know right now you’re doing the Bachelor’s in yoga at SVYASA, but where did you receive your first trainings?

Yoga Education and Trainings

[00:20:42] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: I studied medicine university for three years, 20 years ago. And when I started my self study it was not difficult for me to understand what is [00:21:00] yoga because when I was studying, I always learn yoga and point of view of physiology and anatomy. And on 2018, I was invited for International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh of India, and 2020 I attended to yoga, teacher turning and SYVASA University of Banglo. And from 2021, I started my education and SVYASA University of Yoga and Bachelor degree.

[00:21:47] Lily Allen-Duenas: I was also in Rishikesh around the International Yoga Festival in 2018. I didn’t know it was even happening, but I was going to Rishikesh and it was like the last day and I was like, “Oh man I missed that.” It was very sad. It would’ve been just such a beautiful thing to meet you in person, and it would’ve been so full circle to get to interview you today.

[00:22:10] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes! How? Oh, so interesting.

[00:22:14] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. It is always fun and wild how the world works like that.

[00:22:19] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes. Yes, you’re right.

[00:22:22] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. Fakhria. I loved hearing more about what’s going on with your past, where you are now what’s in the [00:22:30] future. I just feel like we’ve gotten such an interesting and in-depth look at you and your history and what you’re practicing and studying.

But I would love to hear about the general situation of yoga practitioners in Afghanistan. And what they’re doing now and also about a little bit more about what your situation is like now as a refugee, if you feel comfortable sharing.

Fakhria’s Situation as a Refugee

[00:22:55] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Thank you. It is one and half year that I am in Islamabad, Pakistan as a refugee and other Afghan yoga nidra practitioners are stuck in Afghanistan, and some of them flip to Pakistan and Iran. And I can say they are holding an unclear future.

Yoga practitioners in Afghanistan, they are all hiding and hidden. And as our yoga sessions were called Haram Islam and are called Haram in Islam.

And that’s why my students, my team, are hidden in Afghanistan and they keep them [00:24:00] and their home without any activities with low profile. And they are holding an unclear future.

It may take as much time as destroying their future and life. Life is also in the danger and everyone can everyone in this world can imagine if they are living in an authority of a terrorist group, how they can feel, how they how they can resist in that situation. Of course, it is not. It is not easy for no one to live in a country with a authority of a terrorist group.

The State of Yoga Practitioners in Afghanistan 

[00:24:55] Lily Allen-Duenas: No, and I mean, I can imagine it, and as you said, everyone world can imagine it, and I think we can, but it is different and I’m sure so much harder than we can even imagine because maybe we can only picture small things, but the impact and how that impacts probably every second of your day, every choice you make, every small little thing and we forget, “Oh if I wanted to go out for milk or to get eggs: am I in danger? Or if I open my window and play music…” I can’t [00:25:30] even imagine like how serious it is.

[00:25:32] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: The difficulty of my team and a student is that there were so many news and articles about my class, my office, and my activities and their faces, my student faces are, and many Links of news and articles and websites. And of course for them it is very difficult and for me, it is too difficult that it is my responsibility if the something happen to them; it’s very difficult for me. And also I am stuck in a third country, without any clear future.

What is Afghanistan Like?

[00:26:20] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yeah. So, Fakhria a lot of our listeners might know something about Afghanistan, from the news, from the media, a lot of our listeners are in the U.S. but also in Greece, in the U.K. in all over the world. We have definitely have listeners tuning in because this is such an international podcast with guests from around the world. So I would love for you to share also, What is Afghanistan like? What was it like before all these difficulties and what is it like right now?

[00:26:51] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: I was born in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan and grew there, studied, [00:27:00] worked, and made my life there. Actually, when I was very young there was a regime of a communism government at the time when I observe, it was very difficult for people to accept the culture of democracy. But people were trying to practice to learn what is democracy.

 After that regime, I was a teenager. The Civil War happened in Kabul and many people flee and left Afghanistan for Iran, Pakistan, and immigrated to Western countries. During the Civil War we also my family flee to Pakistan. And after civil war, the TalEban captured Afghanistan, and it was another black history in Afghanistan. When the TalEban and the Civil War in Afghanistan, the first time of TalEban in Afghanistan we were a refugee in Pakistan.

At the time I was a university student, a school student and [00:28:30] university student. During TalEban I was studying Medicine University and when again TalEban left Afghanistan and the US natural and isof countries came to Afghanistan to support democratic government. And we return Afghanistan back. And I can say that it was a new life for people. People were so happy to back home to start their life again, start their work again. Year by year, people were disappointed because they found that they are faced with a corrupt government. And people tried all the people tried to their hardworking to build their country. But I can say it was not as possible as people wanted.

TalEban came back and captured Afghanistan, and people tried to leave Afghanistan back to Pakistan and Iran, and even on two weeks of TalEban, there was a evacuation program process [00:30:00] to evacuate activists, human rights, and woman rights defender from Afghanistan to U.S. and Europe countries. 

But it’s a beautiful country. The nature is so beautiful! The nature is wild, and the weather is so nice that I cannot compare the weather of my country with other countries because I had several travel in the U.S. and Asian countries. But I never found any weather as beautiful as Afghanistan has. The food are so delicious. The taste of fruits, vegetables are different and when foreigners were in Afghanistan, they were interested… When a foreigner comes to Afghanistan, they’re interested to come back. It is one of the attractive point of Afghanistan. People are very generous and kind. Yes, with a country with many mountains. And I never forget my country, now it is no any chance for me to live there.[00:31:30] 

[00:31:30] Lily Allen-Duenas: Well, If any of our listeners Fakhria, want to learn more about you, I’m going to link your articles that you’ve been featured in by Yoga International, Nike, and more in our show notes so people can just scroll down, click. It’ll also be on my website, wildyogatribe.com/yogainAfghanistan. Would you also like to share the name of your yoga site here, and it will be included in the show notes and on my website too. But just here on the podcast itself, what is your website where people can learn more about you?

[00:32:06] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Yes, my website is momtaz.yoga.

[00:32:14] Lily Allen-Duenas: Perfect. Thank you so much Fakhria for being with me today. It has been a joy and an honor to be with you.

[00:32:23] Fakhria Ibrahimi Momtaz: Thank you, Lily. Wonderful for me to to be interviewed by you. And with your wonderful program to introduce, to have interviewed with Yoga teachers around the world. Thank you so much.

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Outro

[00:32:43] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. My conversation with Fakhria Momtaz, a yoga teacher from Afghanistan, was so incredible as we took a deep dive into [00:33:00] what it was like to open a yoga studio in Afghanistan and all the risks and challenges that presented.

I hope that this conversation made you realize how yoga is so important. That it is worth the risk because it’s a necessity for a community, to have access to it. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that’s all about yoga in Afghanistan, then this is the conversation for you. Thank you for listening to the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. Be well.

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