HEALTHY HABITS WITH
NGARINO TUMAI By Louise May
After Ngarino Tumai completed his apprenticeship 1992 and purchased his first hair salon that same year, he sold it two years later to start a career in dancing. Touring New Zealand for two years with a dance troop, Ngarino then moved to Australia in 1996 to pursue a career with Manpower Australia. He toured the world for 10 years, and eventually retired from the stripping world in 2007, and bought his Sydney salon in 2008. To date Ngarino is the owner of salons and their freehold, in Sydney and New Zealand as well as building a new café business during lockdown in Sydney. Ngarino is a keen businessman, however he is just as much a keen health and fitness man! So much so in fact, that his health comes first before all things. As much as that may seem harsh, says Ngarino… the truth is this
NO HEALTH, NO ME… no health no energy, no energy to do the things that I need to do throughout my vigorous day, no energy for myself, my fiancé, my business, my staff, my clients. This is why HEALTH is at the top of my list Hair Biz Editor Louise May spent some time recently with Ngarino to ask him some questions around his health journey and how that impacts his business and personal life.
HAPPINESS What does happiness mean to you and how do you find it in everyday life? Happiness is finding what makes you happy and filling your life with that, in every way from the moment you wake up to the moment you sleep, even if you are striving for a certain something in life make sure that the journey is just as much fun as the destination, for the destination or goal post always moves and the journey becomes the lesson.
BALANCE What do you do to maintain balance within a busy lifestyle? I make sure that my mind body and soul are all on fire. The mind must be first as it’s the one thing that can trick the body into believing it’s not tired, the body second if the body is firing on all cylinders, you have the energy to achieve more throughout the day. The soul is lit when your purpose is clear it’s the driving force the inner spark needed to keep turning up and never quit balancing all these 3 together gives us the best chance at longevity.
FOOD AND EATING Do you have any specific dietary habits or preferences? Yes, I do it’s all about input verses output, if you fuel up on the right food your body will love you and respond like a well-oiled machine but if you fuel up on the bad stuff you not only feel sleepy straight away, but you feel heavy, sluggish, and unmotivated. For me I eat between 1pm and 7pm at the latest, I’ll have no more than 3 meals a day sometimes only 2. It’s mainly protein, salads and veggies and I also take my daily dose of vitamins minerals and antioxidants.
EXERCISE Do you follow an exercise program? I have trained in a gym all my life, my sporting background runs deep, from rugby union to 28
Hair Biz Year 15 Issue 5
rugby league to touch football where I played for New Zealand in the 2019 world cup, I love pretty much any sport with a ball. I play about 3 games of touch football a week and training in the gym about 5 days a week. If your body is strong, it’s not only great for your physical health but your mental wellbeing as well.
CONSISTENCY Are you consistent with your healthy living habits or do they start and stop depending on what is happening in your life? I’m very consistent… in fact, a normal week is what I stated above, but in touch football rep season I lift my exercise regime to a whole new level.
HABITS What habits have you developed that set you up for success? I get up at 5am every morning. I have set out a weekly schedule for each day and I try my hardest to stay on course in my daily schedule. I have my personal time and that means exercise, meditation, and journaling 3 key areas to check in with myself before I attack my daily business duties. What’s one habit that you’d like to break or change to be healthier or happier? I have already changed a couple, and that’s limited to no alcohol, limited to no fatty food and this makes me very happy. What’s the best thing you’ve ever done for your own health or happiness? Staying fit, even at the ripe old age of 50 years old in January I’m fitter and stronger now than I was in my 20s.
