Tao Porchon Lynch

Early life

Tao Porchon was born on August 13, 1918, on a ship in the middle of the English Channel, two months too soon. Her father was from France, while her mother was a native Indian (Manipuri). Her mother died giving birth to Tao, Porchon's aunt and uncle raised her. Her uncle, who designed railroads, often brought her along for trips around Asia, travelling to as far as Singapore. The family also owned a strip of vineyards in the wine region of the Rhône River Valley, located in Southern France.

At age eight, Tao witnessed a group of youthful yoga practitioners exercising on a beach. This encounter got Porchon interested in yoga, who stated in an interview with Guinness World Records, "I wanted to do the amazing things that they were doing with their bodies." Going against the advice of her aunt, who remarked that yoga was meant predominantly for males, she started practising yoga, although she did not get involved in it professionally until much later in her life. In her youth, Porchon met the Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi, who was her uncle's close acquaintance, even marching with him on two separate occasions. She also participated in demonstrations with General Charles de Gaulle and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Entertainment

In her early career, Porchon worked in the fashion industry. She found success in her modelling and gained many modelling titles, including "Best Legs in Europe". For a period of time she was signed under the Lever Brothers. She travelled around the globe as a model, enjoying stints in places like Paris, among others. During the second World War, Porchon moved to London and became a cabaret performer under the mentorship of Noël Coward. Notable journalist Quentin Reynolds took note of Porchon, writing that she made a "dark London brighter".

After the war died down, she relocated to the United States, where she got a job as an actress under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, appearing in various Hollywood motion pictures, including Show Boat (1951), also featuring Kathryn Grayson, and The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), in which she co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor. During her career as an actress, she frequently gave free yoga sessions to her fellow actors and actresses. She was also featured in the documentary If You’re Not In the Obit, Eat Breakfast, a television film which premiered in 2017.

Professional yoga

Later on, Porchon-Lynch, now a married woman, found herself becoming more serious in yoga. Having studied with yoga greats Sri Aurobindo and Indra Devi, she abandoned her acting job in 1967, deciding to become a full-time yogi. Jack LaLanne was the first to hire her to teach yoga. In 1976, she became one of the founders of the Yoga Teachers Alliance, now known as the Yoga Teachers Association. She based her operations in New York and set up the Westchester Institute of Yoga in 1982, which now has a students from all over the world. In 1995, with Indra Devi, she flew to Israel to attend the Yoga for Peace International Peace Conference. Porchon-Lynch has also been one of B. K. S. Iyengar's disciples in yoga and reportedly the first "foreign" student of his.

Porchon-Lynch has embraced her age and carried her yoga with her. She has mentioned, "I'm going to teach yoga until I can't breathe anymore." She received the Guinness World Records title of world's oldest yoga teacher from Berniece Bates in May 2012. Porchon-Lynch was 93 when she broke the world record. In 2013, in collaboration with Tara Stiles, she released a DVD on yoga, titled Yoga with Tao Porchon-Lynch. In addition, she published a book about meditation, titled Reflections: The Yogic Journey of Life.

Other endeavours

Outside of yoga, Porchon-Lynch has continued to involve herself in competitive dancing, particularly in ballroom tango. She has several hundred first-place titles in competitive dancing. Her youngest dance partners are Hayk Balasanyan and Vard Margaryan and Anton Bilozorov.

In 1967, Porchon-Lynch assisted in the establishment of the American Wine Society (AWS) with her spouse. When it split into different branches across the United States, she was selected in 1970 to be the Vice-President of the AWS in Southern New York. She also frequently appeared as part of the judging panel in various wine competitions. She later became the publisher and editor-in-chief of the wine appreciation magazine, The Beverage Communicator, distributed by the AWS. With her fellow yoga practitioners, Porchon-Lynch organises annual wine appreciation trips to France.

Personal life

Porchon-Lynch grew up speaking French and Meiteilon. Thus, when she moved to North America, she experienced a language barrier, being unable to grasp the English language well, although she overcame the problem with sufficient practice. She was a close acquaintance of Hindi film actor Dev Anand. The duo were introduced to each other by Kamini Kaushal, who was also a friend of Porchon-Lynch's. Porchon-Lynch married Bill Lynch around 1962 but became widowed after her husband died in 1982. The couple never had any children. She has received three hip replacement surgeries. A vegetarian, she is a fan of high heel shoes and would even hike with them. In her spare time, Porchon-Lynch enjoys meditating. As of August 2014, she still drives her Smart car.