Tao Porchon Lynch is the oldest yoga instructor in the world and a master Yoga teacher. She has trained and certified hundreds of yoga instructors and is an award-winning author. She discovered yoga in 1926 when she was eight years old in India and studied with Sri Aurobindo, B.K.S.
From World War II activist to model to actress to dancer to master yoga teacher, Tao Porchon-Lynch proves age has no limits. The 98-year-old was most recently seen on “America’s Got Talent” and is now in Kansas City for some inspiring workshops. Feeling young and being healthy is everything, and Tao Porchon-Lynch teaches people on the entire planet the wonderful world of yoga.
“She’s a very cool lady.”
Something so poignant occurred—she thanked me. This light filled 98-year-old, beautiful, intelligent, sharp woman thanked me (three times) for being patient with her while she got into her poses and we made art together in Central Park. I thought to myself, where do I have to be? What do I have to do? Who am I not to be patient? Tao showed up for our first shoot in 2012 in a red ballroom dancer’s flamenco dress and high heels and she told me she only wears high heels because they help elevate her consciousness. After we did the shoot, I knew we had created something profound and that the work would go on living a life of its own. And it did as it landed on the cover of her autobiography.
Since that day in 2012, Tao and I have worked with each other every spring and fall — each time creating something truly unique and special. It has been an honor to share her story and inspire people globally with her uncompromising approach to redefining possibility. We are all blessed to have this living treasure with us lighting up the world and what a gift that Tao will be joining us at the 2017 Sedona Yoga Festival!”
We are thrilled to welcome Kathmandu Yogi as one of our 2017 Sedona Yoga Festival sponsors.
Kathmandu Yogi is a Chicago-based, fair trade social enterprise, Their model simple- create limited edition yoga and meditation accessories made by female artisans living in Nepal.
More than a yogi-minded retailer, Kathmandu gives back to the community. Not only are their cusiuons beautiful, well-made, and functional; they also make a human impact.
This holiday season, feel good about where you are spending your money! Purchase mindful gifts for that special yogi in your life from Kathmandu!
Fair trade gifts are gifts that come with a story. It’s the story of the artisans who handcrafted the beautiful products. It’s the story of the artisan’s children who are in school and eating better because the artisan regularly receives a fair wage for the product. It’s the story of the community, the environment, and the cultural traditions that are sustained by the purchase of the handcrafted fairly traded product. When you give a fair trade gift to a friend or loved one, you give a great gift and a story that says so much more.
Kathmandu Yogi has just released limited edition Holiday Bundles. Check out the bundles and shop their one-of-kind collections here!
Kathmandu Yogi was founded with a strong wish that the company’s activities would benefit many, promote cultural exchange, and foster conscious development. This summer they had a successful crowdfunding campaign backed by supporters from around the globe, which raised enough capital to provide work for 100 artisan women.
We are proud to partner with such a wonderful company. When getting your Sedona Yoga Fest tickets, consider adding a travel cushion by Kathmandu Yogi upon check-out. Not only will you support a great company with a mission, but your bottom will thank you. Remember you’ll be doing a lot of sitting and having a comfortable seat is a must!
When you go slow you see things you may have missed zooming right by.
You smell things, you feel things. Your senses come alive to the world around you.
When I’m on my bike I’m in my own world. I can get inside my own head or just tune the world out.
As a dear friend said, “My bike is my physician and my shrink”. I can add another title to that, “my church”. When I’m cycling along the roads of Sedona I feel closer to the creator than at any other time.
The blessing of being physically able to ride my bike and live here in our glorious Red Rock Country is something I am grateful for every day. It’s when we take the time to slow down and breath that the universe can really speak to us. We are truly able to hear our inner voice and be inspired to do great things or just become grounded again when life has gotten in the way. Being outdoors and truly a part of nature while propelling myself along our beautiful roads brings me joy!
Happy customer enjoying her ride!
My purpose in sharing my story with you is this – I want to strongly encourage women of any age to get on a bike and start pedaling! I am now in my late 50’s and I’ve never been in better shape.
Cycling is not only a great way to exercise, it is a great way to meet new people and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. Being challenged to ride long distances on my bike and actually doing it has taught me that I can do what I never dreamed possible and that has changed every area of my life. I now consider myself an experienced cyclist and I’m always up for a new challenge.
What’s your least favorite body part? Do you love your arms but not your back? Do you love your legs but not your tummy? Well I never liked the way my legs looked so one day in the winter of 2004 I decided to do something about it. Running wasn’t really an option since I can’t stand running and I always used the excuse that it’s not good for my joints. The only other activity that I thought would be good for getting my legs in better shape was cycling. A few years earlier my husband and I bought a very old house. In the basement we discovered an old Bianchi stationary bike the previous owner had left behind. It was probably an antique! I hauled it up out of the basement and started riding in the living room so I could watch TV while I pedaled. This was wintertime in VT mind you so riding outside wasn’t an option.
Self Propelled Tours Fun!
Well, that old Bianchi had an odometer on it and I kept track of my miles. It was very rewarding to see it go past 1 mile and then 2.
When springtime rolled around one of my boys suggested that I get a “real” bike and get outside and I did! Each time I went out for a ride I’d keep track of my mileage. Each ride I felt more challenged to see how far I could go. I would increase the distance each ride and was always motivated by distance never speed. I am still a slower rider compared to many of my friends. And this is how my love affair with cycling was born!
When we moved to the Verde Valley in 2007 I thought it would be a great time to change careers and I thought I’d look for a job as a guide with a bicycle tour company. The way I looked at it I could be doing what I love every day and never get tired of it! As I quickly discovered no road bike tour company existed, I fell back on my years as a dental assistant and found work with a dentist.
Being new to the area, I wasn’t familiar with the area roads and I felt hesitant to go out on my bike alone. Then I discovered a wonderful group of cyclists that go out every Friday morning for a social ride. These folks were a godsend! I was able to gain confidence around town as well as people to socialize with.
The best thing about riding with a group is that we all love cycling!
We always have great conversations along the way and yes we’ve solved the worlds problems many times over. As time allowed, I was able to join my new friends for longer group rides, eventually riding all the way to Sedona from Cottonwood, a total of more than 30 miles round trip. I never thought I’d be able to ride up the big hill by the high school but with the encouragement of dear man I made it! Conquering this distance and elevation gain challenged me to go further and so I signed up to ride with a tour group out of Scottsdale from Scottsdale all the way to Picacho Peak SP, almost 100 miles in one day! I did it even though I thought I’d die and wanted to from time to time. Again a sweet friend stayed by my side and made sure I didn’t give up. My love of long-distance cycling was cemented. I continue to ride with my Friday friends when time allows.
Photo Op with Self Propelled Tours!
After a great career as a dental assistant for 27 years my discontent with dentistry, and my painful hands, became too much. And so, in 2013 I started my own road bike tour company! Self Propelled Tours Sedona was born.
I love sharing the magic of Sedona with my guests from the seat of a bicycle! My goal was to offer leisurely, scenic bike tours so people could really get a better feel for Sedona than they can get riding in a car and cover more ground than hiking.
I still don’t love the way my legs look, but you know what, my legs are strong. They have propelled me and my bike many, many miles for many hours with wonderful friends enjoying the beautiful scenery very mile of the way. Cycling has changed my life in only very positive ways. So now I’m going to encourage each and every one of you to dust off your bike, make sure it’s in good working condition and get outside and pedal! It’s good for your lungs, legs and the environment. And above all it’s good for your heart!
SYF would like to thank our SYF2017 sponsor Self Propelled Tours! Check out their website: www.selfpropelledtours.com
When I first heard such a notion in my 200 hour yoga teacher training, I was dumb-founded. I was a person who had always prided herself in being honest, strong and true. I spoke with little regard for others feelings, if it meant altering what I wanted to say in the first place. I felt if I did this, it would be dishonest, and lack integrity, because it would essentially be “sugar-coating” my thoughts. Right?
Be compassionate, as careful with yourself as you are with others.
I used to believe that by being brutally honest, and speaking the words as quickly as they came bubbling up, was a form of compassion. ‘I was waking people up.’ I falsely believed, that I was single handedly dropping the truth that would change peoples lives, not realizing, I was actually still operating from a place of ego, deep pain from trauma, and unbridled emotion.
In the months that followed, my personal spiritual journey yet again transformed my life. 200 hours of yoga teacher training, 3 years of consistent practice, Vegan, practicing daily meditation-& hiking everyday. I saw in those moments, just two weeks into my program- that I still needed so much growth.
The more we learn, the more we discover new unseen depths.
I thought… how magnificent. After time had its healing pass, I came to realize that this was an opportunity. How beautiful to witness consciousness evolution right in this moment, happening to you, right now.
Do what you love- love who you are- allow yourself the space to be imperfect.
When I heard this, I started crying, I laid on my mat and covered my face. Forgive myself? This would mean opening a deep ocean of emotional secrets. The more I unravelled the tattered frays of my past, the more I became dismantled.
Practice self forgiveness from all the “should haves” – and remember that YOU are a beautiful soul learning and growing just like everyone else.
I took off. I jumped in my car and drove to the mountains. If my consciousness was going to expand – it wasn’t going to happen in a classroom.. It needed thousands of miles and tops of mountain to grow.
What I found there, in those days in the mountains is as follows.
Pic by @heaven_and_highwater
Surrounded by city – I do my best to unscramble these thoughts. Inward my mind travels as I imagine my soul, a placid lake of forgotten dreams waiting to be awoke. With shores subdued in quiet, an expansive aquatic terrain of glass . . . silver and cobalt, reflects tiny starlight twinkles in her slithering wake. The lake she sleeps- stirring slightly only at midnight like a gentle giant. Her upper lip quivers delivering kisses made of silk, wet and firmly pressed against the omnipresence of the Moon.
In the black expansiveness of silence – I AM.
I source my own sense of being through her glassy, reflective eyes as I dwell. I swallow bubbles of air and dive below even the furthest reaches of the surface light. It’s quiet in the bottom of the lake.
I think I will like it here with no struggle to float, I can flow like honey. Here, the insistent restlessness of dog paddling for freedom, does not exist. I embrace the deep waters and there is no struggle. Here, I embrace my life as is -instead of fighting against it. Maybe the drowning is inevitable, to appreciate the breath upon its welcomed return.
Humans are such funny things with minds wound up so tight.We fire thoughts like coil springs against ourselves, waging wars and epic battles in the name ego, in the name of self-righteousness. I sit in coffee shops contemplating the days, when we all stop pretending to ignore each other.
Chatter regurgitates from below, stirring the pool. We begin to heat the mysterious lake we once hid beneath…killing the fish, boiling the plants, churning the air into toxic gas. All mythology, love and wild magic spirits slink away from the trouble we have begun to create with our spinning self-deprecating negative minds.
The reflection becomes troubled, skewed and tumultuous…we lose our connection to the higher source now unable to see the anchoring light of the moon.
We do not see at first that the reflection in this lake is representative of our connection to her- to him… to this unearthly goddess of light… an avatar of the everything that is inside us. We do not see- that which we desire, causes us this suffering. We do not see how we boil the water with our misguided thoughts.
Remember that there is no perfectly guilty party in life and no one who gets away scot-free.I say, do not succumb to the torture of loss.Let it wash over you like the tide.Let the burns heal and the internal battle fade into a blaze of your memory.
Life and amazingly wonderful things want to happen to you- sometimes you just have to get out of your own way to see it.
Pic by @heaven_and_highwater
Jump off waterfalls, go play in a park, meet someone new, buy yourself a fancy healthy dinner or cook an awesome meal for one. Don’t criticize- acknowledge- that this is where you are today. You are amazing and capable.
Breathe. Bend and Stretch.Help others.Be good to yourself.Love completely, practice random acts of kindness.
Yoga music and a Yoga DJ’s are becoming common place with events sweeping the nation infusing the celebratory festival environment, with yoga practice. Just five years ago, having a live DJ or live band in your local studio was a rarity. Some may have heard of a DJ Drez playlist, or if your were in LA you may have gone to a special event to hear MC Yogi. However, for the most part, you probably practiced yoga in silence.
Today, there’s an entire roster of DJs on yoga-festival lineups, and up-and-comers like (SYF Presenter, DJ TAZ), Bhakti Styler, and more booking regular gigs in studios and event spaces across the country.”– Andrea Ferretti of Yoga Journal
But what is yoga music? Is yoga music simply derived from a series of Sanskrit chants? Is it Kirtan? A Gong? Or, is it a playlist created by the teacher for his or her flow class? Does music played in a yoga class, lessen the authenticity of yoga? Many of us have asked these questions ourselves, and have heard both sides of the argument.
“While some yoga teachers dismiss the live-music trend, as a mere ‘distraction’ from yoga’s most powerful exercises, such as listening to your breath or observing your thoughts to bring calm and focus, others see it as a tool for going inward, for timing the breath to the beat, or for simply feeling joy during the practice.” – Andrea Ferretti of Yoga Journal
“There is a time and place for a quieter, more introspective practice, and you shouldn’t dismiss that,” says Stephanie Snyder, a San Francisco–based vinyasa teacher who travels across the United States and Europe and teaches some classes with a live DJ.
Lets start with the basics. Music played in a yoga class most notably, provides a new way to market the practice to a more diverse demographic such as those from other regions, spiritual beliefs, physical shapes and ages. Since the benefit of yoga, we hope, is to bring it to everyone. Therefore, some yoga, is better than no yoga. Right?
Perhaps what we should look at is that music itself, in this scenario, is getting a bad rap. Music for thousands of years has aided the human condition, aided our consciousness evolution, provided solace in every emotional scenario, and plays an integral role in virtually every culture since the beginning of time.
Enter DJ Taz, a person who both defines this new sub genre, but also is growing inside of it. While India may be a starting point for this indescribable subset of music, musical accompaniment, that flows as we do – it has become an integral part of our lives in the Yoga community.
“My Mission in life is to help awaken the collective consciousness with music. “ DJ TAZ
Isn’t that good news for a brighter future for yoga? If the term ‘yoga music’ seems so fleeting and undesirable perhaps its speaking to something deeper. If the point is union, why are we judging the vehicle that carries us there?
“I’ve talked to a handful of classical Indian musicians who say that their music is their yoga, which makes sense: classical asanas and pranayama were performed at certain times of the day, to attune the yogi to nature’s rhythm. Ragas were invented with the same idea in mind.” – Derek Beres
Tazdeen Rashid is a yoga DJ. brings a high vibrational energy to any crowd instantly by mixing a wide range of music beats and rhythms including, Ancient New World, hundreds of electronic Remixes, House, Kirtan, Devotional, and cosmic sounds. His vision is to be a channel to cause the expansion of all those around by tapping into the creative wisdom of the body and allowing them to feel, let go and awaken.
For DJ Taz, his music is his yoga. Taz has been producing and part of creating mindful events globally over the last few years and as a musician, he plays guitar, keyboard, Native American Flute, didgeridoo and hand percussion. He takes these instruments and connects to the Divine and what comes through has the ability to move his crowd to connect to their Divine higher selves.
The aim of the yogi: unifying all seemingly disparate elements into one continuous moment. Just as we celebrate the change in our physical practice as we progress and bend into new asanas and states of meditation, we can also appreciate the changes in our perception.
Still, a persistent yet undefined image of ‘yoga music’ continues to wield its confusing head. I say, breathe and let it go. The fact is friends, while India may have been a starting point for this indescribable subset of music, the result is an amazing new platform in which we can all come together and celebrate.
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