A model, actress, producer, World War 2 resistance fighter, dancer and activist—Tao Porchon-Lynch has worn many hats in her 97 years. But it was the passion for yoga, which she acquired during her growing-up years in Pondicherry, that has stayed with her all her life and has even earned her the Guinness Record for ‘The World’s Oldest Yoga Teacher.’
Tao, who recently launched her biography The Dancing Light at an event in Mumbai, surprised many with her vitality when she did a cha cha cha to a Bollywood number with dancer Sandip Soparker, who is not even half her age. But ask the nonagenarian who is based in the US about ‘the secret of her energy’ and she says, “It goes back to the simple things I learned as a child about honouring nature and the connection between the mind, body and spirit.”
While she only took up dancing professionally at 84, Tao has had almost a life-long relationship with yoga and spirituality. Revealing how her yoga innings started, Tao says, “I was eight when I watched a group of boys slightly older than me on the beach making beautiful shapes with their bodies. That day, I hurried home to tell my uncle and aunt and tried to demonstrate some of the movements. My aunt was shocked and exclaimed, “Nonsense! That is not a game. That is yoga! That’s not for girls.” I told her, ‘If boys can do it, so can I! So I did.’ And it’s a decision that she has stood by all her life. “I still make it a point to teach one or two yoga classes every day.”
Tao was influenced by Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo and later became an associate of Mahatma Gandhi. “The 1930 Salt March with Gandhiji was extraordinary. That led me to my work as a French Resistance fighter in World War II,” shares Tao
She continues, “Apart from the one or two yoga classes I teach in a day, I also take dance lessons in between at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Hartsdale, New York. I travel a lot to do special workshops at yoga studios and conferences — in the last three months I’ve been to Slovenia, Montenegro, India, the Bahamas. I also participate in dance competitions. In June 2015, I danced on the television show America’s Got Talent with my 26-year-old dance partner and teacher Vard Margaryan.”
Tao says, “I want to continue to travel the world, teach yoga, dance and experience the beauty of life! There is so much to do and so little time.”
