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WORK TITLE: Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 2/12/1960
WEBSITE: http://www.cupcakesyogaandjesus.com/
CITY:
STATE: TX
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
512-245-2951; http://www.hhp.txstate.edu/Faculty-Staff/Faculty-Directory/Lyn-Litchke.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born February 2, 1960; married; children: Zac.
EDUCATION:Ohio State University, B.S.; Texas State University, M.S.; Texas State University, Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Texas State University in San Marcos, associate professor of recreation therapy in the Department of Health and Human Performance, 2002-present. Certified Recreation Therapist. 200 hour Integrative Yoga Therapist. Certified Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga Teacher. Drumtastic® Instructor. Yoga Empowered Student (Y. E. S.) Club, faculty advisor. Best Friends for Life San Marcos Parks and Recreational Youth co-founder. Worked formerly in early intervention, physical rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals.
AVOCATIONS:Yoga. Baking.
AWARDS:Presidential Award for Excellence in Service, Texas State University, 2016.
RELIGION: ChristianWRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Lyn G. Litchke is a writer, recreational therapy professor, certified recreation therapist, and yoga instructor. Litchke received her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and her master’s degree and Ph.D from Texas State University. Litchke worked in early intervention, physical rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals for twenty years before returning to school to receive her doctorate. After receiving her Ph.D., she began teaching at Texas State University as an associate professor of recreation therapy.
Litchke is a certified Lakshmi Voelker chair yoga teacher and two-hundred-hour integrative yoga therapist. Her main areas of research include aiding individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, young people with autism spectrum disorder, and wounded veterans. Litchke is married and has one son.
Litchke’s first book, Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus: Overcoming the Sticky Situation of Addiction, tells her story of addiction recovery though faith, yoga, and baking. Litchke opens the book with a portrait of her former life, as a high-functioning alcoholic and helicopter parent. She writes about her son, Zac’s, difficult teenage years, made harder because of his own struggles with addiction. As Litchke attempted to control his behavior and keep him from harm, she was regularly turning to alcohol. When Zac received a prison sentence for marijuana possession, Litchke recognized she needed to make a change in her life. Instead of attempting to control her son and numb her own pains with alcohol, she turned to God.
It took a year from this moment for Litchke to actually give up alcohol, but in that time she developed a formerly unknown relationship with faith. When Litchke did decide to get sober, she joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Additionally, she dedicated herself to baking cupcakes and creating inspirational bumper stickers to replace her drinking habit. She also began practicing yoga, which was hugely transformational for her and essential to her recovery process.
Mirroring the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus is divided into twelve chapters. The titles of the chapters, such as “Out of the Dark Chocolate into the White Light” and “Go Bananas for God with Peanut Butter” are allusions to both cupcakes and the steps of recovery. Each chapter is accompanied by one of Litchke’s cupcake recipes.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews described the book as “a mishmash of lightly sketched topics but still a beneficial, uplifting memoir of recovery.” Helen Dumont in MBR Bookwatch wrote, “as inspired and inspiring, as it is real-world practical,” adding, the book “will prove to be a life-affirming, life-changing, life-enhancing read from beginning to end.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2017, review of Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus: Overcoming the Sticky Situation of Addiction.
MBR Bookwatch, September, 2017, Helen Dumont, review of Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus.
Dr. Lyn Litchke
Associate Professor of Therapeutic Recreation
Lyn L
Education:
B.S. The Ohio State University
M.S. Texas State University
Ph.D. Texas State University
Contact: ll24@txstate.edu or 512-245-2951
Dr. Lyn Litchke is an Associate Professor of Recreation Therapy (RT) in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas State University in San Marcos, where she has taught for 16 years. She is the 2016 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Service. She has been a Certified Recreation Therapist for 34 years; a 200 hr. Integrative Yoga Therapist; Certified Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga Teacher; and Drumtastic® Instructor. She is the faculty advisor for the new Yoga Empowered Student (Y. E. S.) Club. Her overall area of research focuses improving quality of life for persons with disabilities through various RT interventions. Recently her research efforts have focused on utilizing Drumtastic® and yoga as interventions for children and youth in Special Education partnered with college students. Her courses include hands-on community and clinical lab opportunities working with persons of all ages and ability levels. These include programs such as adaptive aquatics, fishing, adaptive sports, and autism summer camp. She is the co-founder of a recreation inclusion program called Best Friends for Life San Marcos Parks and Recreation Youth. In addition, her passion involves veterans engaging in a variety of adaptive water sports such as fly-fishing, scuba, kayaking and paddle board yoga. She and her students also engage with Special Olympics, Paralympics, and Wounded Warriors Programs.
Dr. Lyn G. Litchke
Dr. Lyn Gorbett Litchke is an associate professor of recreation therapy at Texas State University in San Marcos, where she has taught since 2002. She is the 2016 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Service. She has been a certified therapeutic recreation specialist for over twenty-five years. Lyn has practiced in early intervention, physical rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals for twenty years prior to getting her doctorate in adult professional and community education at Texas State and teaching there. She is a certified Lakshmi Voelker chair yoga teacher and two-hundred-hour integrative yoga therapist. Her yoga and meditation research is dedicated to helping persons with Alzheimer’s disease and those who love and care for them; youth with autism spectrum disorder; and Wounded Warriors on the water engaging in paddleboard yoga.
Her son Zac completed his chair yoga certification with Lakshmi and just finished his two-hundred-hour yoga teacher training course. Zac and his mom continue to bring the healing magic of yoga to persons who need it most.
Dr. Lyn, as she is called by her students, is still pursuing God and all His wonder for her life. She is sober and symptom-free of IBS and anxiety, thanks to cupcakes, yoga, and Jesus! By the way, this is being published in honor of her fourth sober birthday! Best birthday ever!
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Print Marked Items
Litchke, Lyn G.: CUPCAKES, YOGA,
AND JESUS
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Litchke, Lyn G. CUPCAKES, YOGA, AND JESUS Westbow Press (Indie Nonfiction) $30.95 2, 7 ISBN:
978-1-5127-6907-4
One woman details her journey of finding Jesus, overcoming alcoholism, and helping others do the same.
Litchke spent most of her life as a high-functioning alcoholic. In this debut, she first shares how she
endured her son's turbulent teenage years that were filled with heartache and uncertainty because of his
struggle with addiction. When he was sentenced to prison for marijuana possession, it was a turning point
for both mother and son. Litchke writes, "I hit my knees and gave my life to Jesus." She transformed from a
helicopter parent to one who put her trust in God. Over a year later, she finally faced her own alcoholism
and made a decision to get sober. In addition to attending a 12-step recovery program, she strove to replace
her drinking habit with baking cupcakes and creating inspirational bumper stickers. She also discovered
yoga, which played a vital role in her personal and spiritual development: "I had finally created a space to
accept myself without judgment....I think God just wants us to create a space during yoga to invite Him in."
Yoga and counseling gave her the courage to approach her husband about his drinking problem and assist
him in his recovery. Litchke's candor, especially about her parenting mistakes and alcoholism, brings power
to her words. Her conversational, gung-ho writing style may inspire like-minded Christians but will
probably turn off others. For example, she says that she used to think born-again Christians were "weird"
until she became one. "I love being weird. I just love Jesus! I am a Jesus junky for sure." Because the topics
are so varied--parenting, alcoholism, cupcakes, yoga, Jesus--some readers might skim sections that don't
particularly interest them. That said, the book carries great value as a clear-cut, real-life example of
recovery from addiction. Also, sweet-toothed readers will enjoy the cupcake recipes that accompany each
chapter. A mishmash of lightly sketched topics but still a beneficial, uplifting memoir of recovery.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Litchke, Lyn G.: CUPCAKES, YOGA, AND JESUS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504217477/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=328222f1.
Accessed 23 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504217477
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Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus
Helen Dumont
MBR Bookwatch.
(Sept. 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus
Lyn G. Litchke
Westbow Press
c/o Thomas Nelson Publishers
PO Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214
www.westbowpress.com
9781512769074, $30.95, PB, 146pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: "Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus: Overcoming the Sticky Situation of Addiction" by certified
therapeutic recreation specialist Lyn G. Litchkeis is a modern day and true story of the Bible coming to life
in the 21st century as a mother and son overcome the "sticky" situation of addiction.
It contains 12 easy to read chapters turning the 12 steps of recovery on their head, literally by doing yoga
inversions. Each individual chapter highlights one of the 12 miracles experienced by the mother who
commemorates them in 12 cupcake recipes with flavors such as: "Out of the Dark Chocolate into the White
Light," and "Go Bananas for God with Peanut Butter," as she bakes her way through 5pm happy hour
instead of drinking.
"Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus" shakes up the notion of what an alcoholic looks and acts like. For example,
you can be a very successful athlete, professional, and a compulsive drinker. "Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus"
dispels the myths that you have to wait to hit rock bottom in order to get help and that getting and staying
sober has to be some nail biting miserable ride.
Critique: As inspired and inspiring, as it is real-world practical, "Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus: Overcoming
the Sticky Situation of Addiction" will prove to be a life-affirming, life-changing, life-enhancing read from
beginning to end. While very highly recommended for both community and academic library SelfHelp/Self-Improvement
and Religion/Spirituality collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists
that "Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus" is also available in a paperback edition (9781512769050, $13.95) and in a
digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).
Helen Dumont
Reviewer
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
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Dumont, Helen. "Cupcakes, Yoga, and Jesus." MBR Bookwatch, Sept. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511292672/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4c08c5de.
Accessed 23 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A511292672