World's Oldest Yoga Teacher: 'I Have No Intention of Ever Growing Up'

There are some things that we hope to accomplish in a lifetime, and there are some people who accomplish enough for multiple lifetimes; Tao Porchon-Lynch is one of the latter. The 97-year-old Master Yoga instructor was named the World’s Oldest Yoga Teacher by the Guinness Book of World Records back in 2012, and she’s only achieved more since then.

Turning 98 next month, Porchon-Lynch is in no rush to slow down. Instead, the yoga teacher turned ballroom dancer is moving full-speed ahead, with her next destination being a world ballroom competition in France. She pursued her most recent passion for dancing at the age of 90, and even published a book about the spiritual experience titled Dancing Light. And she still hasn’t quit teaching her eight yoga classes per week.

Positivity is something that motivates Porchon-Lynch, who told CBS, “I never put anything negative in my mind, so I start off by smiling at life.” It’s a lesson she might have learned from the spiritual milestones she reached at a young age. At 12, the world traveler marched with Mahatma Ghandi for the first of two demonstrations she participated in. She recalls on her website that the “little funny-looking person” was actually her uncle’s good friend, who contributed to her spirit of activism and equality. Furthermore, her angst against Nazism during WWII motivated her involvement in the French Resistance under General Charles de Gaulle.

The life of Porchon-Lynch, who is half Indian and half French, took a light-hearted turn when she got involved in yet another career turn: modeling. While these gigs brought her close to big names like Marlene Dietrich, her true legacy lies with other honors she’s racked up over the years — such as “Best Legs in Europe.”

Basically, students of Porchon-Lynch’s yoga classes and spiritual teachings have quite a bit to learn from the superwoman, who says, “I have no intention of ever growing up.”

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