Daily Inspiration: Meet JC Lynne

Today we’d like to introduce you to JC Lynne. 

Hi JC, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
After working as an air traffic controller for ten years, I went through a very messy divorce. I had to sell everything I owned and go back to school while raising three small children alone. I chose to go into teaching because it would allow me to keep a schedule similar to my kids. I earned a second Bachelor’s degree in English Education and a Master’s degree in Education and met my current husband. He encouraged me to do more with my writing, and in 2013 I published my first novel. 

I have practiced yoga since 1988 and started teaching yoga part-time after my yoga instructor retired. So, teaching in the secondary classroom and teaching yoga in the evenings, on the weekends, writing, and wrangling a houseful of offspring kept me busy. 

I taught grades 6 through 12 for twelve years until our youngest son became seriously ill. He was thirteen, and our oldest son was a Junior in high school. We discovered that teenagers need as much parenting, if not more than toddlers do. After some long discussions and the tough decision to drop my wine clubs, I quit teaching school and stayed home to care for our son full time. I finished my second novel. And once our son’s health improved, I started teaching more fitness classes in addition to doubling my yoga schedule. 

I didn’t feel inspired to return to education. My husband reminded me of the fifteen-hour days, dealing with helicopter parents, bureaucratic administration, and the poor pay, so it wasn’t a hard choice to make. 

I picked up a couple of editing gigs and found a writing community with the Northern Colorado Writers. I started teaching writing workshops and moderating discussion panels. All the while teaching fitness classes and yoga classes. Sometimes as a yoga teacher, it’s nice to take classes once in a while. I would attend other yoga classes and invariably walk away disappointed, frustrated, and often furious with the overt mysticism and simply terrible instruction. 

My husband, who growing tired of listening to my gripes about those yoga classes and instructors, started pushing me to write a yoga book. I am a writer. I am a yoga instructor. I could write a yoga book. So, I took a break from my third novel to write a non-fiction yoga book. 

I was in mid-production of my first novel’s audiobook. The yoga book was scheduled to be published right before the COVID pandemic. And then everything came to a screeching halt—the gym where I taught closed, I ended up with a severe case of COVID, and things seemed especially dismal. 

Our daughter, an award-winning film director, and our son-in-law, a Grammy-nominated audio engineer, called from L.A., where everything not only shut down but also imploded. With sets closed and the National Guard in the city, they asked if they could come to stay with us until things improved. 

Having become empty-nesters the November prior, we had the room and were glad to offer it. During that time, with their help and a fabulous pillow fort, we not only finished the production of my audiobook, but we also recorded and produced the audiobook for my yoga book. 

As summer progressed and autumn loomed, it became clear normal was permanently out the window. Everyone was working remotely, and even I had started teaching yoga online. 

After some off-the-cuff jokes, some hardcore Zillow lurking, and a serious discussion, we concluded that not only could they work from Colorado, but we could build an audiobook production studio to serve the numerous small presses and independent writers here. 

We hunted high and low for a place with room enough for four adults, three and a half dogs (they have a quarantine chihuahua), two cats, and enough land to offer the opportunity to expand. Oh, and high-speed internet. We all work remotely and depend on our internet. 

We landed on 80-acres in Carr, Colorado, about fifteen miles south of the Wyoming border. I call it Wyorado, much to The Beard’s chagrin (The Beard is my husband’s nom de guerre). We’ve built our first small studio in the basement with an eye to building a large studio to serve us long term. 

In addition to audiobooks, we produce podcasts, promotional videos and have produced a short film. I have moved my yoga company to Patreon and have returned to my third novel. Sure, we inherited three feral cats along with the farm, but we also have a tractor, a wind turbine, and a view of the front range that I never grow tired of seeing. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
If anyone has recently sold or purchased a home, they know what a nightmare househunting is. It’s a lot like speed, blind dating. So many of the places we looked at failed to meet potential. We weren’t naive. We knew we’d have to remodel, tear down, build up almost any property we found. We also weren’t prepared for the struggle to sell our house during the pandemic. 

Unfortunately, we also listed our house during a strange limbo between the outrageous bidding wars we heard about from friends who had recently sold. It was also election season, so surprisingly HUGE campaign flags began appearing, and two bids disappeared after those flags debuted. Sadly, we took a loss rather than sell at a fair price. 

No matter how often I dreamed of a family commune, I wasn’t entirely prepared for the realities. First, we had been empty nesters for several months before the pandemic hit. Navigating two extra people after months of a clean kitchen was a shock. And I know they felt the pinch of “moving in with their parents” after living on their own for over ten years. 

Both The Beard and I have had to work on leaving our parent roles behind. Our first impulse is to help out, but our roomies are adults and don’t need us in that way. Mostly. So, we’ve had to pay attention to maintaining healthy boundaries. We all have different daily routines and sleep habits. So, we’ve had to negotiate roommate pitfalls. 

I know they struggle with perceptions of “Oh, you moved in with your parents!” But we’re building a business and a larger community with space for yoga retreats, music performances, and even some guest cottages. It’s easy to lose sight of that when many societal expectations are pushing back against our vision. 

And, of course, money. We have a lot of time, skills, and talent, but our long-term plans, including building a small-profile home for them, require a lot of capital. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
In a world filled with yoga mysticism and esoteric bullsh*t, I like to bring it all back to common sense. My yoga is not only informed by over thirty-five years of practice but therapeutic and science-based principles. I am proud to push back against the hyperflexible, hyper-thin influencers/celebrities out there promoting unhealthy yoga. 

It isn’t only magazine covers and Instagram pushing yoga myths. Yoga studios are filled with instructors teaching things because their instructors taught them. I’m a researcher. Earning my Master’s degree meant writing a thesis that means thousands of hours of library research. Because I am a research addict, it never feels like work. 

When I took on teaching yoga in 2006, it meant certification and, for me, a deep dive into what yoga IS versus what it isn’t. I think there is a danger in knowing a little about a thing, as I believe we’re seeing in our current social and political climate. I taught my students to recognize logical fallacies, to use primary source materials and peer-reviewed sources, and to think critically rather than blindly consume information. 

I bring that to my yoga style. The fundamental truth about yoga is that there are zealots as there are in any conservative philosophy. Once during a yoga training, I explained my reasoning against using Namaste. Mind you, that training was full of young, white, middle-class yoga instructors, and I felt sure I might be burned in my bed that night. Of course, it was also a vegan, gluten-free retreat, so they all might have been a tad hangry. I know I was. 

The truth about Modern Transnational Physical Yoga (which is most yoga in western society) is that it’s complicated and not at all what most instructors, programs, or YouTube videos promote. And that’s okay, but stop with the hoodoo woo-woo nonsense! 

What’s next?
Aside from creating the kicking-assedness, premier audio production studio in Northern Colorado, I am so excited for the day our first guest cottage is complete and we have our solar array. Our farm campus is going to be self-sustaining and climate change aware from our future greenhouse to our entertaining pavilion. 

This summer I’m hosting my first yoga retreat in Grand Lake with the hope that it is the first of many. I would love to help my clients explore the state, keep things reasonably priced, and as always offer none of the bullish*t about yoga I see all around me. 

I am halfway finished with my third novel, so that needs some work, and I would love to get a part-time writing gig for an outlet that I can support. 

I think we as a workforce have proven we don’t need to be IN the office to get things done. And of course, I’d love to see my books become my main source of income though I don’t think I’ll ever stop teaching yoga. I’m going to be a ninety-year-old hag preaching against lotus pose with a glass of wine ready to drink AFTER practice! 

Pricing:

• Yoga starts at $10.00 per month on Patreon
• Developmental editing $350.00/10k words
• Audiobook or podcast production is project-based.

Contact Info:

• Email: me@jclynne.com
• Website: https://theeffingyogablog.com/ | https://jclynne.com/ |  https://www.nganopress.com/
• Instagram: @jclynnenow. @effingyoga @nganopress
• Facebook: @jclynne. @theeffingyoga
• Twitter: @JclynneNow. @theeffingyoga
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3JvTtNNcRR3Cy40DJW0xNw