Jayashree Vijay Mohan is a Chennai-based mountaineer, founder, and mother of two. After a stroke in 2021 forced her to relearn basic movement, she turned rehabilitation into a new calling — mountaineering. In September 2025, she summited and descended Mount Kilimanjaro at record-breaking speed (5 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes up; 10 hours, 26 minutes down), earning two Guinness World Records in the CIH category as the fastest woman to both ascend and descend the mountain.
In this conversation with Women Fitness, Jayashree Vijay Mohan talks about what a stroke taught her about her body, the punishing monotony of rehab, training for two opposite physical demands on the same mountain, and the mantra that got her through it all.
What did the stroke teach you about your body that you didn’t know before?
When you’re young, you barely think about your body — your energy feels limitless. The stroke changed that overnight. Nothing could be taken for granted anymore. That’s where the real battle began: accepting the situation. There were moments I doubted I’d see the other side, but my mind stayed strong enough to pull my body through.
Stroke recovery is usually associated with caution. What made you move toward something as extreme as mountaineering?
Pain creates a trauma pattern in the brain, and it does everything it can to avoid revisiting it. I was stuck in that pattern — going through the motions, giving things half my effort. So I asked myself what it would take to give 100 percent. The answer was a goal difficult enough to demand everything from me. That’s how mountaineering found me.
What did rebuilding strength actually look like, day to day?
Repetitive. Monotonous. Boring, frankly. From the outside, recovery looks like progress. From the inside, it’s showing up and giving your 100 percent every single day — even when it’s painful, even when you hate it.
How did you know your body was ready for Kilimanjaro?
I didn’t. I focused on the building, not the outcome. Success in mountaineering is unpredictable no matter how prepared you are — your happiness can’t come from the summit alone. It comes from the journey that gets you there.
Ascent and descent are opposite physical demands. How did you train for each?
Completely differently — if I trained for the ascent on a treadmill, I’d train for the descent on the same treadmill in reverse. Going up, altitude was my concern. Going down, at speed, gravity worked against me, and with my impairments I fell often — so I practised falling too, planning the angle and weight balance to minimise injury.
Was the mental side harder than the physical side?
For any athlete, the mental game is the hardest part. Your own mind becomes your worst enemy on the difficult days, endlessly telling you it’s “not enough.” Some days I was angry for no clear reason — strain, fatigue, a bad session. You’re asking your body to perform like a machine, and that’s rarely a fair ask.
What does “fitness” mean to you now versus before the stroke?
Before, it felt like a fancy word for people who spent hours in gyms. Now, it means something simpler: having yourself together — syncing mind and body enough to execute even the smallest tasks efficiently.
Go-to recovery meal after a big training day?
Carbs and protein — an egg sandwich with mint chutney is my favourite. Some days it’s a simple cup of rice, or bananas.
A mantra that gets you through the hardest stretch of a climb?
“Avolo daan“ — accept, and keep moving forward.
Jayashree Vijay Mohan’s story is a reminder that fitness isn’t just about strength — it’s about the willingness to keep going, one deliberate step at a time.