Friday, September 16, 2016

Dancing with the light, 98 years young!

I've been meaning to visit the Sunday morning yoga class of Tao Porchon-Lynch for a long time.Tao is 98 years young and still teaching!
I've had a feeling that I just had to meet her, not because I haven't had yoga teachers who have been in their older years before, because in fact two of my most favorite teachers are either in the midst of their 70s in the case of one and in their mid 80s in the case of another, but learning from someone who is still teaching well into their later 90s was just something I felt I had to experience!
I was not only not disappointed, I was totally enchanted!

Tao's  class was lovely and I really enjoyed it, but the take away went far beyond the usual benefits of deep breathing and a good stretch. In fact, the most impressive aspect of Sunday morning's experience was seeing how Tao gave of herself after the class was officially over, because  it was then that I saw her shining light and her incredible ability to give of herself and be totally present. After the class was over, Tao continued sharing small anecdotes and short teachings, musings about life and her insights and thoughts, as if she had all the time in the world and had an endless supply of energy. Tao also patiently posed with quite a few of the students, myself included, who wanted to have their pictures taken with her, and graciously signed copies of her book. What made things even more remarkable than this being at the end of an almost two-hour class, was the fact that our class starting at 10:00am was the second class Tao had taught that morning, the first had started at 8:15am!

Tao has written a book about her life called "Dancing Light", and of course all this week I have been reading it  from cover to cover, trying to discover the source of her energy and jois de vivre. The book speaks of how she grew up, her experiences in the world and how she first learnt and then began to teach yoga. 

She grew up in India amongst spiritual seekers and teachers, her uncle, who brought her up was himself a true seeker and close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. Tao was at different times a cabaret dancer and choreographer, a successful courtier model in Paris, a wine expert, a Hollywood actress as well as a beloved and somewhat famous yoga teacher. Her life seems to have been jam-packed with a number of daring and exciting things, not least of which include marching with Mahatma Gandhi and then much later Martin Luther King, saving Jews as part of the French resistance and fearlessly dancing and performing right through the Blitz bombing of London from September 1940 till May of '41.  

Throughout her life, it seems the teachings of her uncle rang out loud and clear. From him she learnt something that we have perhaps gleaned from our own teachers of Tracht gut un zein gut- Think Good and it will be Good, and that ultimately everything works out for the good, even if that good is not apparent right away.

It is a fascinating read and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, but the part that still shines brightest for me is experiencing personally her vitality and her desire to share and enlighten students after close to four hours of teaching as if there was really nothing else quite as important...

Thank you for that Tao.. for that lesson alone, I can be eternally grateful!



To know more about my yoga, and the  classes that I offer, please check out my website: TiferetMovement.com






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