#WeekendCoffeeShare Yogini With Donkey

May 6, 2017 — #weekendcoffeeshare, Gita, laughter yoga, Tucson, yoga

Gita and Bingo

Gita and Bingo

Gita and Bingo

If we were having coffee this weekend I know you will want your beverage on ice because we have hit triple digit heat. I don’t really mind it too much, but it is too much for most people. I am drinking a lovely white pear iced tea with a hint of fruity aftertaste that cools the tastebuds if not the entire body. If we were drinking tea this weekend I would tell you I did manage to write my first tea review, and found it to be easier than I thought it might be.

If you want to know the most interesting part of my week I have to tell you about my friend Gita. I was invited to a pot luck dinner party in honor of an old friend who now lives outside Guadalajara, but lived in Tucson for years, and visits here frequently. She was my mother’s lawyer, and a brilliant one. She had been a fancy tax attorney in Chicago when she decided to become a yoga teacher. She studied at Kripalu and later moved to Tucson where she developed a large following of devoted yoga students. She practiced law on the side, and was doing very well in life when she learned she has Parkinson’s Disease. She lost much of her physical strength and abilities, but still she persisted.

She became a teacher of laughter yoga, and developed a following in that innovative for of yoga, calling on her vast experience in al forms of yoga.  I admired her greatly for shifting to accommodate anything that came her way.  Since she moved to Mexico I had not seen her, and I assumed her Parkinson’s would be much more difficult to handle with time.  I did not make the dinner party, but scheduled a private visit to catch up with her.  She fit me into her busy social schedule for a visit before her donkey photo shoot.

Much to my great surprise I found my friend healthy happy, and showing no symptoms of her disease.  She now spends her time studying and dancing the tango.  I was shocked to see how great her recovery has been.  She found a Mexican doctor who put her on the right drug, and then performed brain surgery.  After ten years of pain and downhill slide, she got her life back.  She drives, lives on her own, and will join a group of tango aficionados on a trip to Buenos Aires in the fall.  I asked her if she felt bitter after 10 years of failure with the medical pharmaceutical industry.  Her response has blown my mind and made me think about what it really means to be a yogini. She said she had been bitter during the 10 years, but then medicine gave her back her life.  Parkinson’s taught her patience and gratitude.  Once she got her strength and ability back she knew he just wanted to dance for the rest of her life.  Gita is by far the greatest yogini I have ever met ( and I have known many great ones). Yoga is not flexibility of the body..it is strength of mind and character.

Her custom now is to meet a donkey in each city she visits and have a photo shoot.  I had not planned to go along for the donkey photo shoot, but it turned out to be the icing on the cake. Here is a woman with a donkey, but not just any woman.  This picture captures an ascended master with a donkey, enjoying the great cosmic joke.  Dance on, Gita. Your insight and sense of humor are precious.  You embody the meaning of yoga.

Let me pour you another glass of iced tea while you tell me about your week and your writing projects.  I enjoy keeping up at these digital beverage parties.  Read or contribute to the party at Nerd in the Brain’s party link.  This movable feast takes place every weekend, rain or shine.  Join us.

#WeekendCoffeeShare