Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Yoga for Beginners: 96-Year Young Yoga Teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch!

A few weeks ago, I received an email from people representing Tao Porchon-Lynch, the famous 96-year young yoga instructor who has a new book coming out on March 16, 2015.  I wrote a blog post in June 2012 about my wonderful experience in taking a yoga class with this lovely, ageless yoga teacher.  Below are two photos I shared from that class.  I thought they would be worth repeating!

Tao inspires me with her authenticity, her warm-heartedness, her can-do attitude, and her determination to live each day fully.  I also loved what she said in the class - that when she "leaves" this planet - she plans to go "dancing away."  Awesome!  We should all have that attitude instead of assuming that if we live many decades that we will be declining.

 

Tao Porchon-Lynch is one of the warmest and most gracious women I have had the pleasure of meeting.  I took advantage of a photo op with her after one of her inspirational classes in June 2012 in Vienna, VA.

 In the photo below, Tao is giving me some pointers on how to improve a back bend!

 

Watch the heart-warming video below to learn about Tao's amazing life!

And, you can pre-order Tao's new book, Dancing Light, at http://www.thetaoexperience.com/.

 

 

 

 Yours for aspiring to live your life as Tao has for 9+ decades!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach

  ^TM

 

 

Yoga at Home: Yoga at the Olympics- Just Say No!

The photo above is DEFINTELY NOT me (Laura Venecia Rodriguez)! This woman appears ready for Olympic Yoga!

The August 2012 (already?) issue of Yoga Journal reports the results of a recent poll it took of its Facebook friends and fans. The earthshattering question?  Should yoga be added to the Olympics as a competitive event?  Not surprising to me at all were the results.  Yoga Journal's Facebook fans voted 1,196 votes NOs; only 21 Facebook friends voted YES.

Several times since I began writing this blog in January 2008, I have noted that one of the principal benefits of a home yoga practice is that you don't get distracted by other class attendees sitting to either side of you or in front of you who seem to enter and exit the poses with great ease.  Yoga is a holistic practice that helps unify the mind, body, and spirit, and to maximize its benefits, and for that reason, I believe it's best to leave any thoughts of competition behind, particularly at the Olympic level!

Although some yoga experts report that yoga competitions were held centuries ago in India, I don't believe that they were a primary focus or concern.  I could be completely wrong about this but it's just my gut feeling that yoga competitions probably played a relatively minor role in the overall scheme in the practice of yoga.

And, recent considerations about adding yoga to the Olympics concern me.  Although over 16 million people reportedly practice yoga in the United States (and I don't know how many times a week they practice - attending class once a week without supplementing it with a home practice has limited value in my opinion), so many more people could benefit tremendously from yoga if they knew they could focus on the simpler and gentler forms of yoga. But, so many people encounter pretzel-type poses in the media (such as the one above) and conclude that yoga is totally beyond their capability.  Adding yoga to the Olympics would reinforce the notion of yoga as being accessible only to certain types of people, expecially those who are super athletic or seemingly born flexible.

Also, adding yoga to the Olympics would likely emphasize the physical aspects and athletic apperance of yoga poses rather than the more intangible benefits that occur over time such as inceased energy and serenity.  So let's just SAY NO to adding yoga to the Olympics!

Yours for practicing yoga without comparing or competing, even with yourself!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners at Home Yoga Coach