From Injured and Depressed to Happy and Striving with Dance Fitness, Pooja is our super star FLYE Girl of the Month as she mustered the courage to get through the fear of being injured to take control of her physical and mental health with dance fitness. She is a real role model to us at FLYE and we wanted to share her story with our FLYE Crew.

Name / Occupation/ Age range

Pooja Mahbubani, Consultant Legal Recruitment- 34

When did you first start to become aware of the importance of regular exercise and was there anything in particular that triggered it?

A few years ago I had an accident where I slipped while hiking in the rain and hit my back against a rock. The injury I sustained meant I even struggled to walk, the doctors wanted to operate on my spine but I decided I was going to do things the long way, through physio and alternative treatments like acupuncture. I was on a significant amount of pain medication and I felt my body and mind shutting down. As part of my treatment I turned to yoga, but I felt everything was a struggle. I got myself walking again properly but everything beyond that felt like a struggle. I developed other health issues including problems with my thyroid functioning and found myself on medication, coupled with PCOS.

I was warned by the doctors not to do any too strenuous, after which to be honest I really stopped trying to push myself and gave up on the idea of fitness.

When I moved to Hong Kong is when I realized how much I had let myself go, I had put on weight and my fitness level was zero. I didn’t even want to try anything because I was afraid of the pain I would feel. But something changed and I thought I need to try so I joined the gym. I was a member of Pure for a year and I hated it. The machines did feel like a strain on my back and I felt very self-conscious so I quit.

I had reached a point where yes my injury caused me pain but years had passed and I was using it as an excuse because I was afraid of the hard journey ahead of me. I had put on a lot of weight and I do not like how I looked, I have zero confidence and it was even having an impact on my performance at work. I started suffering from depression, anxiety and panic attacks and that’s when I knew I had to do something.

When I was younger I used to do Bollywood dancing, I was in shows and I used to teach children. Dance and music has always been a major part of my life and that is when I finally decided to attend a Bollywood dance class and that was my first step back to fitness.

What were the biggest barriers you had to overcome in order to incorporate exercise into regular exercise?

One of the biggest barriers is my mental state, I need to remind myself I can do it - it may hurt but I can do it and I can’t give up. I can’t do one class and then nothing for two weeks.

Also remind myself that no one is laughing at me if I can’t do something in a class.

The second is time: work hours are hectic and it’s very easy to continuously prioritise work and say I will skip class today. Yes sometimes work does take priority but you have to have balance.

How do you fit a regular exercise regime into your busy lifestyle as a legal recruiter?

I thought being a legal recruiter would be easier than being a lawyer - definitely not. I am fortunate that I work in a global company but what that means is that my role requires me to work across multiple time zones. I have got better to saying no to calls at certain times; I will offer to do the calls after class but I do try and ask for that hour to myself. I think these days people are understanding more and more that fitness is important and does have an impact on your job. It makes it easier to say I need to be at class but I can come back online later. It may mean that your day is slightly longer than you would like it to be; but it’s worth it to fit things in.

What kinds of exercises do you do and how often?

I focus my fitness around dance and music. I do Bollywood, Zumba and now the awesome Flye classes. These classes that incorporate dance and music means that you are not focused on the pain or the struggle to do a step; but you are focused on the music the atmosphere and trying to enjoy it. These class are high cardio but you also feel like you are learning something whether it’s a salsa move or a Bhangra one, it feels awesome.

My aim is to do a combination of at least 4 classes a week and on a good week 5!

What are the biggest benefits you have noticed since you have adopted regular exercises (including 3-4x cardio/week) into your lifestyle?

The benefits I have seen is to my mental health. These classes keep me going. They help with my anxiety, stress and emotions. I am more focused at work, and I am starting to sleep better.

My fitness levels are improving when I started I never thought I would get through a Zumba class and certainly not through a Flye Class. Each time I complete a class it makes me feel happy - I know I can’t do every exercise yet but the fact I tried and the fact that I keep going back makes me feel good.

What tips/advice do you have for others who have busy lifestyles and find trouble incorporating exercise into their daily life?

I would say don't give up, there is always a way to find time and also surround yourself with the right people. I am lucky to have some great friends in my life, my best friend in particular he pushes me, encourages me, helps me out and pushes me to start doing Bollywood performances.

Find the right instructors, the instructors at Flye are awesome - they have such a positive vibe and are encouraging and that’s really important as that’s what makes you want to go to class and makes you want to make the time.

Enjoy everything you do! It’s not easy but try and do it with a smile on your face!