“We don’t have to fade. In my head, I’m still in my 20s, and I have no intention of ever growing up.” If you ever needed reason to believe that age can be just a number, then Tao Porchon-Lynch is a living, breathing example.
Born in the former French colony of Pondicherry, India, Porchon-Lynch, 97, has been practising yoga for more than seven decades, and teaching for more than 50 years.
“I was only 8 years old when I first came across yoga, and I thought it was a game,” she recalls. “I saw a group of boys on the beach making beautiful shapes. When I told my aunt, she said: ‘That’s yoga. It’s unladylike.’ I said: ‘If boys can do it, so can I.’”
Porchon-Lynch’s colourful life reads almost like the movie scripts she once wrote and produced. She was under contract with MGM as an actor, and modelled for top designers including Jeanne Lanvin and Coco Chanel. She even won a competition in the 1940s for the “longest legs in Europe”.
“After the [Second World War], I went to India again to learn more about the spiritual side of yoga. Then, when I was back in Hollywood in the 1950s, Indra Devi [often hailed as the first woman of yoga] – who knew me when I was younger – asked why I was not teaching. So I travelled to India again to improve my physical practice.”
This spiritual journey has seen Porchon-Lynch rub shoulders with some of the world’s most revered yoga gurus and history’s most prominent activists. She has studied with the likes of B K S Iyengar, Sri K Pattabhi Jois and Swami Prabhavananda; meditated with Maharishi; and marched with Mahatma Gandhi, twice.
“My beloved uncle’s friendship with Gandhi affected me deeply. Meeting him in our home, and experiencing the 1930s Salt March with Gandhi, was extraordinary. He has decorated the walls of my mind throughout my life. Through Gandhi’s example, I became more fearless and resolved to stand up for freedom and what was right,” Porchon-Lynch says.
While these great names have been pivotal in shaping Porchon-Lynch’s life, she says that the commitment to the practice of yoga and the breath – and not some special diet or miracle cream – hold the key to her longevity.
“Your breath doesn’t know how old you are. The most vital thing in the world is learning to breathe. People think they know how, but they don’t. The practices of yoga and meditation help you live each moment and get in touch with your life force. When you feel this energy within yourself, you feel alive and are able to pass this on to others.”
Energy is one thing that Porchon-Lynch definitely seems to have in abundance. While she is a vegetarian, with an occasional taste for shrimp and lobster, she jokingly cites chocolate and high heels as just some of the things she couldn’t do without.
"I teach one or two yoga classes a day, and in between take dance lessons." Porchon-Lynch says. She took up competitive ballroom dancing at the age of 87, and has won hundreds of first-place awards, often against dancers 70 years her junior. She even made an appearance in June on America's Got Talent.
“Then I usually do some media interviews, and I travel a lot to lead special workshops,” she says. “In the past three months, I’ve been to Slovenia, Montenegro, India and the Bahamas.
“To get rid of all that is on my mind before bed, I practise shoulder stands, with about 50 leg lifts up and down and side to side,” she explains. “All day long, your blood has been moving downwards with gravity, so I like to do the opposite. It clears my brain, and helps me sleep. I also massage my hands and feet to keep everything flowing.”
So what’s her message to a current generation who seem obsessed with social media, selfies and reversing the ageing process? “People don’t know how to look within themselves, so they make up all of these pictures about their life. I want them to go back to the breath, and keep focusing on that.
“This life force is inside us, but 90 per cent of people rely on what others say, instead of feeling it. Be in touch with the beauty of nature and oneness, and you will blossom. Don’t think about age. What you put in, your mind materialises. Stay curious, and live every moment.”
Porchon-Lynch is also curious about what Dubai will have in store for her. She flies into the city for the first time to teach at the inaugural XYoga Dubai Festival on February 19 and 20 at Burj Park, Downtown Dubai.
“When I went to India in December, I changed planes in Dubai. Just being in the airport made me curious – there seems to be a special energy. It’s like the whole of the universe is meeting right in that magical place.”
To find out more about Tao Porchon-Lynch, visit her website www.thetaoexperience.com
weekend@thenational.ae
The specs: 2019 Infiniti QX50
Price, base: Dh138,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 268hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy: 6.7L / 100km (estimate)
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
Profile of Udrive
Date started: March 2016
Founder: Hasib Khan
Based: Dubai
Employees: 40
Amount raised (to date): $3.25m – $750,000 seed funding in 2017 and a Seed+ round of $2.5m last year. Raised $1.3m from Eureeca investors in January 2021 as part of a Series A round with a $5m target.
Company profile
Name:+Dukkantek
Started:+January 2021
Founders:+Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based:+UAE
Number of employees:+140
Sector:+B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment:+$5.2 million
Funding stage:+Seed round
Investors:+Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
The years Ramadan fell in May
Bridgerton season three - part one
Directors: Various
Starring: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 3/5
SPAIN SQUAD
Goalkeepers Simon (Athletic Bilbao), De Gea (Manchester United), Sanchez (Brighton)
Defenders Gaya (Valencia), Alba (Barcelona), P Torres (Villarreal), Laporte (Manchester City), Garcia (Manchester City), D Llorente (Leeds), Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
Midfielders Busquets (Barcelona), Rodri (Manchester City), Pedri (Barcelona), Thiago (Liverpool), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Ruiz (Napoli), M Llorente (Atletico Madrid)
Forwards: Olmo (RB Leipzig), Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Morata (Juventus), Moreno (Villarreal), F Torres (Manchester City), Traore (Wolves), Sarabia (PSG)
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES
Directors: John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Stars: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Rege-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis
Rating: 3/5
Where can I submit a sample?
Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.
Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:
- Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
- Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
- Al Towayya in Al Ain
- NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
- Bareen International Hospital
- NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
- NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
- NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
Everton Fixtures
April 15 - Chelsea (A)
April 21 - N. Forest (H)
April 24 - Liverpool (H)
April 27 - Brentford (H)
May 3 - Luton Town (A)
May 11 - Sheff Utd (H)
May 19 - Arsenal (A)
Company profile
Date started: May 2022
Founder: Husam Aboul Hosn
Based: DIFC
Sector: FinTech — Innovation Hub
Employees: eight
Stage: pre-seed
Investors: pre-seed funding raised from family and friends earlier this year
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
Favourite things
Luxury: Enjoys window shopping for high-end bags and jewellery
Discount: She works in luxury retail, but is careful about spending, waits for sales, festivals and only buys on discount
University: The only person in her family to go to college, Jiang secured a bachelor’s degree in business management in China
Masters: Studying part-time for a master’s degree in international business marketing in Dubai
Vacation: Heads back home to see family in China
Community work: Member of the Chinese Business Women’s Association of the UAE to encourage other women entrepreneurs
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
The five pillars of Islam
Genesis G80 2020 5.0-litre Royal Specs
Engine: 5-litre V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 505Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L/100km
Price: Dh260,500
The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
