I was born as Maya, before the world began to shape me. The name means illusion, and captures the essence of pure being that has not yet taken shape, has not yet identified with the world.

For the first nine months I lay in an orphanage, in a small bed, surrounded by sounds, smells and voices I could not understand. I was aware, I saw, I felt – without words, without form – only Maya.

When I was adopted, I became Veronica. The name that means the true image. Suddenly, I began to be shaped by the world, by the people and experiences around me. Veronica carried roles, stories, pain, weight and trauma. She became the shape that the world created – and Maya was no longer allowed to be a part of it. Veronica was programmed to believe things that weren't true, that Maya wasn't true, because that's what the world said.

Maya was the one who made Veronica different, the one who shone through when the world didn't really understand.

But Maya never disappeared. She was always there in the intuition, in the stillness, in what Veronica couldn't always put into words. She reminded me that the true self is always present, even when external circumstances want to define us.

Over time, I learned to stop and feel. I let Maya return to Veronica's world, not as something foreign, but as an integral part of the whole. Then something new was created: the self that sees, the consciousness that is behind everything, the stillness that is always here, regardless of circumstances.

Mission and authenticity

I am both Maya and Veronica. I am both illusion and truth, form and being. I am the self that sees. And in that self there is always freedom, clarity and life itself – just as it lives and dwells in you.