Nawaz Modi Singhania is India’s finest and leading Fitness Coach and mentor, and most certainly, one of the fittest celebrities in the social circuit. She’s been the fitness coach to some of the biggest and best names in the show business including the contestants of Indian Idol 13, Indian Idol Junior 2015 finalist and Super Dancer 2016 finalist on Sony TV.
She is indeed the fitness queen of India and has actively promoted fitness and health as a radio presenter and leading columnist, and has also been on Tata Sky Active Fitness Channel as Fitness Pro and anchor.
Nawaz founded Body Art fitness centres in 1992 and over the years, it has become a name to be reckoned with as India’s finest and best fitness chain. Meet TheGlitz Super Woman – Nawaz Singhania who believes “Good and bad are all a part of life. If you are lucky enough to have a rose – it comes with thorns.” Read on…

Nawaz, you’re not just one of India’s best fitness coach, you are also an entrepreneur, lifestyle and fitness icon and so much more. .. you are a true Super Woman! Your journey has had many momentous milestones. Could you list some of them for TheGlitz?

Momentous milestones for me have been bringing in some of the first genres of fitness into the country. I’ve pioneered workouts here such as equipment-based Pilates, Gyrotonics, Anti-Ageing Facial Fitness workouts, Slide Training, choreographed mini Trampoline Training, Aqua Aerobics & Aqua Yoga, Aerial Arts, and so much more. Being able to cater to senior citizens’ fitness, health and wellness for me was also very gratifying. I managed my own parent’s fitness and health regime into their 80’s and 90’s and saw great success with it. The understanding that just a simple exercise can take care of a certain problem of ageing, quickly and easily, is very encouraging. There are so many common signs of ageing such as waning eyesight, a drop in hearing, ageing skin, lines and wrinkles, hair loss and greying, hands not being very steady, a cognitive decline, urinary incontinence, a loss of bowel control, being unsteady on one’s feet, reflexes slowing down (leading to greater risk of injury via potential falls), knee problems, hip problems, cervical issues, back problems, osteoporosis, cardiac and so many other matters. Bespoke exercise can aid in managing and reversing so many health issues; that’s what keeps me very motivated & excited about the positive changes I can make in these seniors’ lives. I don’t see many others working in this arena at all. Our seniors are so very precious – with years of knowledge and experience, the love and oneness we have built with them over the decades and so many other value adds, make them priceless as a newborn baby. It gives me immense satisfaction and contentment to be able to make a positive difference in their life.

Could you list 3 of your major achievements?

Founding & managing my brand Body Art FITNESS CENTRES is what I live for &the very air that I breathe. Being a law graduate I find that it helps me in every arena of my life. Being an artist and having great self-expression & a creative avenue is very freeing. For many years I’ve been regularly writing for many publications – print media (magazines & newspapers) and social media publications. I’ve just finished writing a book which is being published by Penguin Random House. Look out for it later this year. I am of course associated with Raymond and its sister companies, including by being on their various boards.

What are the setbacks you have faced? How did you tackle these setbacks or challenges? And what lesson have you learned from them?

Good and bad are all a part of life. If you are lucky enough to have a rose – it comes with thorns. And if you’re lucky to have a rose garden, guess what – you have a battalion of thorns to deal with that go with the territory. I believe in enjoying what there is to enjoy and suffering what needs to be suffered. In dealing with problems, a healthy sense would have one roll with the punches, take the hit, absorb the shock, grieve where appropriate, learn, emerge better, wiser, smarter and more enlightened as a result. I welcome problems because it invariably challenges you to find new and better ways of doing old things which one would’ve never gotten to in the best of times. So the silver linings around my grey clouds are so thick and bright that they often eclipse the grey cloud. The challenges that we all face in different ways with family, with ageing parents, with losing a parent and so on are part of many life’s tragedies, but if you have healthy sense of self, you manage the process you may find yourself feeling thrown in the air, but confident that you’ll land on your feet, on the right side of the fence, wiser, smarter, better educated and more discerning.

When you look back, what are the three qualities in you that have helped you become what you are today?

Being very positive – even my blood group is B +. I think very differently and I’m never one to follow the crowd; I always want to walk the path less trodden. That works brilliantly for me. As the saying goes, and I think it was Dr. Seuss – my favourite cartoon character, who said it –
Why try to fit in, when you were born to stand out!
My third quality of stick-to-it. I think explains it all. I am a plodder; I just keep going.

Who are the people who have been the wind behind your wings?

Unquestionably my father – my first, my current, and my Forever Hero. He gave me the wings to fly, the roots to be grounded, he taught me how to think, he give me courage, values, principles, morals, he taught me simplicity, he taught me about giving back to society, he taught me how to take care myself and so much more. He’s been father, mother, friend, philosopher, guide, my heartbeat, and my soul Master or Angel – I don’t know. My husband, of course, is my backbone and has always really been there for me and allowed me to be myself, enjoying a mix that I bring in between his religion and culture and my religion and culture. Looking back on the years and all the opportunities that were, if I could go back in time and redecide NOW who I would like to be married to a second time around, I would have to say it would still be Gautam.

Lastly, if there was a quote to define you, what would it be?

I think we would go back to my fave character Dr. Suess:-
Today You Are You,
This Is Truer Than True.
There Is No One Alive,
Who’s More You-er Than You!