Anjana’s training

Hello everyone,

Greetings from Spain. Being here brings back many beautiful memories from my time in India.

One very special memory I brought back with me is the visit of my daughter Anjana. I adopted her when she was 5 years old—that was when her biological mother passed away and her father did not want to take care of her. Well, that’s his loss!

My beautiful Anjana has now turned 18, and since she was a child, she has shown great interest in yoga. 

She finished high school, and afterwards I enrolled her in a yoga school in Rishikesh, the birthplace of yoga. She is very happy there and learning a lot. However, the training is very demanding: she is already on her mat at 6 a.m. She has a two-hour break at midday, but she cannot rest because she has to study for exams, which are quite challenging. The exercises finish at 8 p.m.

My daughter is intelligent and ambitious, and I know without any doubt that she will achieve her goal.

I would also like to share something else: at her yoga hostel, they give her very little food. I spoke with her teacher, and he said, “When practicing yoga, one cannot eat much.” I replied, “But Anjana is still growing, exercising a lot—it’s normal that she feels hungry.” He answered, “Ah, a mother’s love is blind and does not understand the importance of certain things.”

In the evening, I took my daughter out of the hostel and gave her everything she felt like eating: pasta, soups, sandwiches, pizza, French fries—basically everything she wanted.

One small mistake was that her teacher asked her what she had for dinner. And since I have always taught my children that lying is wrong, she told the truth. Oh my goodness, the scolding I received from the teacher! I apologized and told him it would not happen again.

The next day we went out for dinner again, and I told Anjana to eat whatever she wanted—BUT when the teacher asks her what she had for dinner, she should say “a vegetable soup.” I explained to her, “Sometimes a small white lie is allowed.”

And on that cheerful note, I’ll leave you with this little anecdote—hope you’re all doing wonderfully!

Namaste,

Christiane 🙏