Tao Porchon-Lynch

I'd like to take this space to honor an amazing Yogi that I had the privledge of meeting and learning from at Kripalu several years ago. I just learned of her passing (the next day my beloved Hobbes passed - so it makes me happy to know they are practicing Down Dog over the rainbow together).


Tao Porchon-Lynch (8/13/1918 - 2/21/2020) was an American yoga master and award-winning author of French and Indian descent. She discovered yoga in 1926 when she was eight years old in India and studied with, among others, Sri Aurobindo, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, Swami Prabhavananda, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. 


She taught yoga up until the time of her death. She was also an actor, ballroom dancer and was featured on 'America's Got Talent'.


Every morning when she would wake up she would look at the sun and say, "This is going to be the best day of my life, and it will be and it always is". 


Her daily practice of yoga always emphasized proper breathing (Pranayama). "The breath is teaching us - listen to it," Portion-Lynch says. "Feel your lungs expand outward, stretch your hands up towards the ceiling and feel the energy there. Breathe in the breath of life and breathe out peace". 


I broke my leg almost 5 weeks ago and last week I began practicing on my yoga mat again. I can't even begin to describe the peace, healing, centering and expansion I have felt! Yoga has been my daily healing practice since 1990. I was lost without it these past weeks but now I'm out of the fog and back on the mat! I am so grateful for yoga and master teachers like Tao who made yoga a fixture of our modern culture for mental, physical and spiritual healing.
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Om Shanti Shanti Shanti (peace to you TAO!)