Tao Porchon-Lynch (born Täo Andrée Porchon; August 13, 1918 – February 21, 2020) was an American yoga master and award-winning author of French and Indian descent.

She was the recipient of India's highly prestigious award Padma Shri in 2019 for her excellent work in the field of Yoga.

The family owned vineyards in the wine region of the Rhône River Valley, located in Southern France.

At age eight, Tao witnessed a group of youthful yoga practitioners exercising on a beach in then French India, Pondicherry.

This encounter got Porchon interested in yoga, who stated in an interview with Guinness World Records, "I wanted to do the amazing things that they were doing with their bodies.

[5] In her youth, Porchon met the Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi, who was her uncle's close acquaintance,[7] even marching with him on two separate occasions.

[6] She also participated in demonstrations with General Charles de Gaulle and Martin Luther King Jr.[4] In her early career, Porchon worked in the fashion industry.

Notable journalist Quentin Reynolds took note of Porchon, writing that she made a "dark London brighter".

[7] After the war died down, she relocated to the United States, where she got a job as an actress under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,[6] appearing in various Hollywood motion pictures, including The Thief of Bagdad,[8][9] Show Boat (1951), also featuring Kathryn Grayson,[10] and The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954).

Having studied with yoga greats Sri Aurobindo and Indra Devi,[13] she abandoned her acting job in 1967, deciding to become a full-time yogi.

[4] In 2016, Tao Porchon-Lynch received the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Pioneer Award[20] at the United Nations in recognition of her achievements in the sports world.