Yoga at Home: Tips Learned from Tao Porchon-Lynch

June 10, 2012- 93-Year Young Instructor Tao Porchon-Lynch Observing my Backward Bend

What a thrill! Five days ago I had the opportunity to learn some yoga tips and techniques from master teacher and 93-year young Tao Porchon-Lynch!  Tao has been traveling the country during the past few weeks and was recently featured on CNN.

How many opportunities does anyone have to receive instruction in yoga or anything else from a vibrant 93-year young person who continues to teach and practice yoga even with a hip replacement and pin in her leg! Ms. Lynch covered many poses and shared many of her ideas and experiences over the 3 1/2 hour class - she gave us a bonus 30 minutes!

Some of the principal tenets of Ms. Lynch's philosophy included:

1) Everyone's body is different- not everyone is capable of doing poses exactly the same way however,

2) Some people do poses incorrectly which can lead to pain or injury - Ms. Lynch showed one area yoga instructor how to do the Triangle yoga pose by lifting the muscles above the knees to avoid knee strain and pain;

3) When doing yoga, work your body from the inside out to avoid injury - "everything comes from the inside;"

4) Incorrect, shallow breathing will literally wear your lungs out - Ms. Lynch told the story of a friend who failed to breathe deeply enough and she "wore her lungs out" and died earlier than she might have otherwise.  Imagine that your lungs are like an accordian (contracting and expanding widely) when you inhale and exhale;

5) We are all comprised of the same elements as the earth and we can draw energy from the earth- especially through yoga;

6) The Creator is inside us and yoga helps us open the door to the Creator;

7) Renewal is possible everywhere and don't be scared about death- enjoy life now!

8) We are all one with everything in the universe.

Throughout the afternoon session, Ms. Lynch was so friendly, gracious, warm, and patient in showing us how to execute poses correctly.  I have had trouble doing the downward dog - even though it doens't as if it would be that difficult.  However, whenever I put my head down, I become discombobulated and I can't easily get into this pose.  Ms. Lynch showed me how to place my head and how to move up my legs to get into the inverted V position.

The only fault I found with the class was not with Ms. Lynch's instruction, but more the lack of clear details from the yoga studio. Because I still have some klutzy bones in my body, several times I had to scramble to keep up with the sequences of the flow poses. Also, I wasn't certain if the clas was designed for intermediate or advanced yoga students. It wasn't Ms. Lynch's fault.  I believe the yoga studio should have added a line or two in its program descrption to indicate that the class level. I don't think it would have been suited to beginners - at all - except to soak up Ms. Lynch's presence!

Ms. Lynch shared with us her joy of nature and birds in particular, and her experiences with renowned yoga instructor Iyengar and celebrities/famed musicians like Duke Ellington.  She beamed throughout the class and her gentle demeanor and sweetness melted everyone's heart - at least that was my perception!

What I most appreciated about Ms. Lynch was her indefatigable attitude.  After her hip replacement and installation of a pin in her knee area, she refused to passively accept her physician's warning that she might never be able to dance again as energetically as she had done in the past or still be able to do advanced yoga psoes.

She proved her physician was wrong.  As she told the class participants point blank, she has no intention of ever retiring. Love that attitude! Instead, she plans to "dance her way to the next planet."  What a different, and even mre beautiful world it would be if everyone implemented her "defy conventional wisdom" and "question authority" attitude!  She is a yogi to emulate!  I intend to keep her teachings in my mind as I practice my daily yoga at home.  

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the beginners' at home yoga coach

 

Comments

[Laura Rodriguez]

I will check out the video of Dee Greenberg. I am not a class person as you know. However, when I do attend a class every now and then I look for how clearly the instructor explains the poses, his/her patience, his//her overall demeanor.

I really did not know what to expect from the class. As I said, though, a beginner (I think) would have had some difficulty in following along because it appeared that a certain amount of knowledge was already assumed - in terms of poses and terminology.

Ms. Lynch enjoyed interacting with everyone and she radiated warmth, sincerity, and gentleness. One of her key teachings is "don't allow people to tell you what you cannot do!" She also says how much she enjoys working with and learning from her students. The class wasn't advertised as Iyengar yoga but she said she had worked directly with Iyengar and said he was a master technician but added that he was a bit of an egomaniac - just as a gentle aside to note that sometimes even yoga instructors/experts aren't necessarily perfect personalities.

I can't comment on the Tara Stiles connection - I only know that she has worked with Deepak Chopra also. I cannot comment on her DVDs because I haven't watched them yet - although I have seen a few of her youtube videos.

I can only say that Ms. Lynch was an inspiration to work with. And, I concluded, no matter who is teaching, I still practice best on my own where I can take extra time and do at my own pace.

[Tina]

Man, that sounded a little harsh. Meet Dee Greenberg, 58 years old. She had practiced a mellow hatha style regularly but the half hour a day regimen; for over 30 years and then suddenly was able to do (and teach) rapid-fire vinyasa style yoga. Her first advanced arm balances ever at age 48 ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCqUEkgaSM

[Tina]

First off, a dead giveaway regarding Tao Porchon Lynch is how she may not embrace overweight, disabled, older students in the vinyasa style she teaches. It's a little confusing to me: I had never thought of Tao as an Iyengar teacher. Did you know that Tara Stiles [of Slim, Calm, Sexy fitness movement with breath awareness (you can't call what she teaches "yoga") fame], is certified to teach by Tao Porchon Lynch?

Secondly, you still can learn much from a teacher whose style hardly ever seems to intersect with your own mellow (and/or throwback) hatha style ... one of those things is humility. Another is knowing what to avoid.

A good clue is general temperament and body type of the teacher. Chances are very good that if they are advanced in asana, they may not necessarily have the patience to teach beginners. Hence, you see a certain gymnast's body build (Kathryn Budig, Briohny Kate Smyth, Tiffany Cruikshank, Meghan Currie) teaching primarily "airborne" styles. Online, I can see how these temperaments and body types fall short when they have to teach beginners.

My radar goes off big-time when they mention how and what they teach a beginner as necessary build-up for the arm balances they'd rather be teaching.

If you want to remain relatively "goal-less" and Zen in your yoga practice ... and how many with a half-hour a day practice care to do the advanced stuff without being preternaturally talented to begin with. See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/sorry-strivers-talent-matters.html

I'm bursting my own bubble with this argument.

If I burst yours at this point in time, I apologize greatly.