Mohnaa took her own story of inspiration to inspire everyone around her, a woman who moves and moved!
"I was a teenager when I saw Alla Kushnir belly dancing. I was awe-struck by her strength, she could do ANYTHING with her body effortlessly. She instantly became my superhero - my ‘Batman’. I decided I wanted to train my body to do this even if it took a lifetime to get there. I started my quest to become ‘Batman’ with my equally enthusiastic mom who was my ‘Robin’. I am a self taught dancer and fitness came to the forefront when I started repeatedly injuring myself - I once even displaced my belly button (yes, it's possible). I realized, I couldn't achieve my ambitions in dance, if my body didn’t have the strength to be part of the journey, so I started working on my physical fitness. But what I didn’t realize was the mental strength required to achieve what I wanted. I wanted to be an overachiever in everything and pushed my poor body and mind to its limits.
Around that time, I got into one of the best schools of Law in London for masters and was also called to speak at TedX. Things seemed to be going as planned when one fine day, I started getting flashes from my past. I had been sexually abused as a kid and had probably never come to terms with it. These were very dark times, as I first had to understand was happening with me, before I could deal with it. As a student in London, therapy was accessible and it took me almost a year to truly acknowledge the situation. The next step for me was to confront my parents about it and I couldn't have been happier with the result. They not only understood what I went through, they also confronted the perpetrator so many years later. As things fell into place, I decided to dance again. But this time I wanted to give myself entirely to the process, which meant equipping myself with insane strength. If I decided, I wanted to fly, my body needed to match my vision.
Fitness both mental and physical has been a journey of crazy self exploration. I now understand the raw power of feeling fit. I have learnt to be forgiving to my body and treat it with the utmost respect - I now truly am my own ‘Batman’"-
Mohnaa
