Anastasia, perhaps the most mysterious woman in the world, has lived with her family in the deep forests of Siberia for generations, but knows the past and present of the civilised world. They have no shelter, little clothing, and no food storage. They are descendants of the ethnic groups that have lived here for thousands of years and represent a very different civilization.
She was made famous after Vladimir Megre, a Russian entrepreneur and author, wrote about their encounters in the Siberian wilderness in “Anastasia”(1996), the first volume in a series of books titled “The Ringing Cedars of Russia”.
Anastasia had a legendary lifestyle and never had to worry about food and clothing, because squirrels would offer her food, wolves would play with her, and bears would keep her warm at night. She had no house or property and lived alone, but there was a force who took care of her in every possible way. She considered herself the happiest woman in the world. Her wonderful natural way of life tells people that you can live more wonderfully without the internet and happiness is never outside of you.
No Need For Warm Clothing
Compared with urban women who “always lack clothing”, Anastasia’s clothes can be counted with one hand. She had no wardrobe, and she didn’t need to worry about how to match them. She even felt warmth and coldness differently from others. In the winter, a friend asked her, “Why don’t you get cold?” She said, “Because if I always wrap myself in clothes and go to sheltered places to avoid people, my body will gradually lose its ability to adapt to the environment. My body hasn’t lost this instinct, so I don’t need special clothing.”
How Anastasia Got Her Food From Squirrels
Anastasia believes that “the world was created from the beginning so that there was no need for people to waste mental energy trying to find food or crave for food. Eating should be like breathing. There is no need to crave food and let the mind get distracted. The creator leaves this to other beings to handle, so that man can live his talents to the fullest.”
Anastasia’s childhood not only had breast milk, but also the milk of other animals to drink. She doesn’t care about formal meal times, she never sits down and eats well, and just picks fruit or young leaves into her mouth as she walks, and goes on with her own business. She eats cedar nuts, some grass blades, berries and dried shiitake mushrooms.
She didn’t collect the cedar nuts and mushrooms herself, and she didn’t store food or even prepare for winter. Numerous squirrels in the area were ready for her. Every time Anastasia flicked her fingers, nearby squirrels scrambled to jump on her outstretched hand to give her a peeled pine nut; When Anastasia bent down and pat her knees or grass on the ground, a sound would be made by the squirrels who would get the dried shiitake mushrooms and other stored food to her.
Anastasia said that she did not train them, but their behaviour can be said to be natural, and the mother squirrel will teach and demonstrate to the young squirrels.
Sleeping In The Forest
When night falls, Anastasia went to sleep in a hideout made by animals in the forest; usually a cave. If the weather was warm, she would sleep directly on the grass. The first thing she did when she woke up was to greet the rising sun with enthusiasm, to touch the newly spewed leaves on the treetops, and the tender shoots that emerged from the ground. Her relationship with the animal world around her is similar to our relationship with our pets. Many animals come to watch Anastasia’s morning parade. They won’t take the initiative to approach her, but as long as she makes eye contact or a small gesture, one of the lucky ones will quickly run to her feet.
Anastasia went into a meditative state all day long, simulating past, present and future situations that might happen in life. She had an amazing memory and extraordinary intelligence. She collected the life experiences of many people from ancient times to the present, and then used those experiences to deduce the future to help others. “The past and the future are almost the same thing, only the appearance is different, but the core things remain the same forever,” she said. “For example, the everyday objects and clothes used by people 1,000 years ago are the same as they are today. It’s different; but that’s not the core thing. 1,000 years ago, and today, people are the same and have the same emotions, regardless of time.”
Meeting Vladimir Megre
Vladimir Megre was born in Ukraine on July 23, 1950. He lived independently from home at the age of 16. In the mid-1980s he was chairman of the Inter-Regional Association of Siberian Entrepreneurs. On a trip, he met Anastasia of the Siberian taiga, an encounter that changed his life. After returning, at Anastasia’s insistent request, Megre wrote a book about his three-day experience in the taiga.
At first, because of the simplicity of writing, no publishing house was willing to publish Megre’s book, so he had to sell it alone in the subway station. However, unexpectedly, many people bought multiple copies to distribute to their family and friends after reading the book, and the copies were sold out quickly.
After that, he continued to meet with Anastasia, and successively wrote a series of books, which became well-known works in Russia, with more than 11 million copies sold, and translated into more than 20 languages around the world. Anastasia is not only Megre’s personal adventure – her story touched the hearts of millions of people and awakened the desire for harmonious coexistence between man and nature. There are now hundreds of ecological settlements in Russia and tens of thousands of ecological homes in the world as a result of the books.
