Inside Yoga 54 (17/5/12)
Is old age a state of mind? Is there an age limit to yoga? It’s never too late to start… these are just a few expressions that remind us that being older might not stop us from doing something like yoga.
Tao Porchon-Lynch is 93 years old, and has been declared the “world’s oldest yoga teacher” by the Guinness Book of Records. She teaches yoga near New York, USA, despite having had a recent hip replacement.
After the operation, and after the surgeon told her what she would not be able to do anymore, she sent her surgeon a photograph of herself holding the full lotus position (classical cross-legged posture) and her surgeon responded by calling her the “miracle woman”.
According to news reports she has lived a full life, including marriage, acting, modelling, performing burlesque, and even marching with Ghandi a couple of times. She, apparently started when young and one report said she grew up in Pondicherry, India.
Whether she is the oldest or not, this is an inspiring story and she is certainly an elder person who not only practises but teaches yoga. This is inspiring for us all. It reminds us that yoga can help to keep us not only alive longer, but relatively healthy and filled with energy.
There are some gurus, sadhus, and teachers in India who might well be older than Tao, hidden away in a caves somewhere or an ashram quietly getting on with their life and work.
And more publically, K Pattabhi Jois who created the popular style of yoga called Ashtanga Vinyasa taught yoga until his death at 93 years old in 2009, just two months shy of his 94th birthday. And although he doesn’t officially teach these days, BKS Iyengar will be 94 this December – and I am told he does offer his advice and wisdom at his yoga school in India where continues with own personal yoga practice.
So even though she might not be the oldest, it’s worth remembering not to feel too old to practice yoga. You might be too old to do some postures, but there are always plenty of others available.
About 10 years ago I was at a meditation course in Sarnath, India, and during a break some of us were gathered at a tea shop. While there I chatted to Sugata, a Norwegian man who at the time was in his early 90s. He told me at one point in our conversation that he had recently decided, at the age of 90, that he was now too old to practice a head stand! And part of the reason was not old age, but a shoulder injury he had picked up after falling out of a car – which is a bizarre, and to this day unexplained addition to his story – that had started to roll down the hill with him inside, causing him to leap from it! I don’t know why he did not use the breaks.
Sugata was a man with a long and fascinating life story, and he was an inspiration to those who do not want to give up or a reminder that it is not always too late to do something. I first met him at an annual month-long meditation retreat at Bodhgaya, in India, led by Christopher Titmuss. We heard his life story during the retreat’s question and answer session – this was not the usual topic but I think Christopher wanted us to hear this man’s life story. He was 87 at this time, and was backpacking around India for six months by himself! He had done many things in his life: he has been a Buddhist monk in the 1950s, an artist while living in Sweden, and as a young man, he had been drafted into Hitler’s army during WorldWar II (he had grown up in Germany) but he went over to the Norwegian Resistance and spent most of the war on the run from the Gestapo.
When he was in his 90s he was still part of the India retreat courses and gatherings, and the woman who was writing his biography told me one of the reasons for his longevity: he was incredibly stubborn she said! She told me that he refused to admit he could not see or hear very well, so did not wear glasses or hearing aids, which did explain why he ignored so many of us when we passed him in the streets of Bodhgaya after the retreat had ended!
So yoga helps us keep going and some say yoga can slow down the ageing process – perhaps that is true, as I am 184 years old!
For links to the Tao – oldest yoga teacher in the world,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18068548
