The Girl Who Still Chose to Show Up

 

Behind Every Student, There Is a Story

A small conversation that taught me a great lesson about courage, hope and life

Today, during my practical yoga class, two new students joined us.

As a teacher, my first responsibility was simple: to know who they were, take attendance, and understand why they were not participating in the yoga practices.

One of the students mentioned that she had a medical condition. The other student also said that she was unable to practise yoga today.

I asked her name.

“Runismita Bhuyan.”

I asked where she was from.

“Assam.”

Then, naturally, I asked her why she had joined the college so late.

Her answer surprised me.

She said that she had been suffering from anxiety.

For a moment, I was concerned. I gently asked her what had happened.

Then she told me something that made me pause.

Her father had passed away.

She said that after losing her father, she felt as if her future had suddenly become dark.

Those words stayed with me.

I asked her about her family.

She told me that she had her mother and younger brother.

Then I asked something that perhaps I should not have asked so directly, but as a teacher I wanted to understand her circumstances: How are you managing your education and college expenses?

She quietly told me that her grandmother's pension was supporting their education and family.

I had no immediate words.

I simply looked at this young girl standing in front of me.

She had lost her father.

She was carrying anxiety.

She had a mother and a younger brother depending on the family.

Her financial circumstances were difficult.

And yet, despite all of this, she had travelled all the way from Assam to Bengaluru, carrying something much more powerful than her difficulties-

Hope.

She had every reason to give up.

But she chose to continue.

She had every reason to remain surrounded by fear.

But she chose to step into a new city.

She had every reason to believe that her future was dark.

But somewhere inside her, there was still a small light telling her:

“Keep going.”

As a yoga teacher, we often speak about strength, balance, resilience, concentration and inner peace.

But today, I saw those qualities not on a yoga mat, but inside a young student's life.

Yoga teaches us that when the mind becomes restless, we learn to observe it rather than surrender to it.

Life teaches us something even harder:

Sometimes we have to keep walking even when we cannot see the road ahead.

Runismita may not have realized it, but her journey itself is a form of yoga-a journey of courage, endurance and hope.

I silently prayed:

“Supreme God, please bless this brave girl.

Give her strength when she feels weak,

peace when anxiety surrounds her,

courage when life feels difficult,

and light when the future seems dark.

May her struggles become the foundation of her success.”

Perhaps one day, she will look back at these difficult days and realize that they were not the end of her story.

They were only the beginning.

And perhaps this is one of the most beautiful responsibilities of being a teacher.

We don't only teach subjects.

Sometimes, we become witnesses to someone's struggle.

Sometimes, we become a small source of encouragement.

And sometimes, a student unknowingly teaches the teacher a lesson that no textbook can teach.

Today, Runismita reminded me of something very important:

Never judge a student by what you see in the classroom.

The student who is silent may be fighting a battle.

The student who is absent may be carrying a burden.

The student who is unable to participate may be struggling with something invisible.

And behind every face in a classroom, there may be a story that we know nothing about.

So, before we ask a student,

“Why aren't you doing this?”

perhaps sometimes we should first ask,

“Are you okay?”

Because education is not only about preparing students for examinations.

Education is also about helping them believe that their life is worth continuing, their dreams are worth pursuing, and their future can still be beautiful.

Today, I did not teach Runismita much about yoga.

But she taught me something about life.

She taught me that courage does not always look powerful.

Sometimes courage looks like a young girl from Assam, carrying the pain of losing her father, battling anxiety, leaving home, arriving in Bengaluru, and quietly trying to build a future for herself and her family.

And for that courage, I have only one prayer:

May she find the strength to turn her pain into purpose, her anxiety into inner strength, and her dreams into reality.

Keep going, Runismita.

Your story is not defined by what you have lost.

It will be defined by what you choose to build from here.

-A Yoga Teacher's Reflection