Lynnel Westerman and Bart Gould offer longevity and spirituality classes in their new community space, The Barn
By Ellen Orr

Their love story began as so many do: at a three-day silent meditation retreat in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She was a just-retired music/arts teacher and mother of two grown children, who was grieving the recent death of her own mother; he was a 65-year-old ordained minister and spiritual counselor with four grown children and one child at home.

“I walk into the retreat center, and there is [longtime Texarkana yoga instructor] Donna Blair with her two friends, one being Lynnel,” Bart recalled. “Donna’s always dressed to the nines, always appropriate, and so I look at her, and I go, ‘I suppose your people are going to be better behaved again this year than mine’—because I’m known to be kind of a renegade.” At that point, Lynnel made eye contact with Bart, pointed to herself, and shook her head. He was immediately enthralled.

Bart and Lynnel attended a family reunion in Montauk, New York, in 2019. submitted photo.

“I got no chance to talk to her,” he continued. “In Zen meditation, you sit facing each other in silence, so for three days, I just watched her, and it was like—she’d light up and just fill the room with this energy . . . like a lighthouse.”

After the retreat, Bart Gould returned to his Shreveport home and emailed Lynnel Westerman. They went on their first date on St. Patrick’s Day 2012 and have been together ever since, splitting their time between his home in Shreveport and hers in Texarkana.

Lynnel, originally from New York, worked in elementary special ed and arts education for 38 years, at Pleasant Grove ISD and then at Texarkana ISD. Upon her retirement in 2012, she pursued yoga teacher training through the Massachusetts-based Kripalu Center and slowly began teaching classes at Texarkana College and Texarkana Yoga. Over time, she collected a loyal sangha, or spiritual community, of yoga students—primarily but not exclusively seniors, and mostly women. (Bart was often, though not always, the only man in attendance.)

Bart, also born in New York, lived all over the country before relocating from Chicago to Shreveport as an adult; he chose the Ark-La-Tex because it was midway between where his parents had settled, in Oklahoma and New Orleans. “I used to get corn dogs here,” he laughed. “There used to be a place outside of Texarkana on the north side—a must-stop for corn dogs.” He was an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist church, held a doctorate in ministry, and had a long history with meditation as a spiritual practice.

Bart spent many years as a UU minister before establishing a smaller spiritual community in Shreveport. He and Lynnel spent many Sundays in a friend’s living room, meditating, engaging in book studies, and discussing spiritual tenets. Bart continued (and continues) to offer spiritual counseling professionally.

For years, Bart and Lynnel practiced their spirituality together and supported each other, but in 2020, the dynamic subtly shifted. When COVID-19 made travel and in-person gatherings unsafe, Lynnel pivoted to Zoom. While many people of all ages were intimidated by the move to virtual operations, Lynnel embraced the opportunity.

“I had taken a couple of yoga workshops on Zoom, and I thought, ‘Well, I think I could do that,’” she said. “So, we went through the whole process of getting that started, and then we thought, ‘Well, if we can do yoga on Zoom, we can do meditation on Zoom. Why not?’”

At this point, Bart’s youngest child was attending college, and he was spending more time in Texarkana. They began gathering their various sanghas online. More than ever, Bart and Lynnel were partners—in life and in spiritual guidance.

Soon, the yoga classes, meditation groups, and study groups expanded to include people from all over the country—and then all over the world. Even when in-person gathering was again permissible, Lynnel and Bart gladly continued online, in community with people from various backgrounds and time zones. However, they missed being with others in-person—so began the birth of The Barn.

Lynnel, who has lived in her Myrtle Springs home for over 40 years, had a standalone garage built on her property in 1993. “Over time, it had been a garage, it had been a shop, it had been a place for my teenagers to hang out, it had been storage,” she said. “I just thought, ‘Man, I really, I really want to do something with that, and I want to claim it as mine.’”

Bart and Lynnel, with the help of a friend, spent two years renovating the space. Two walls are covered in doors that Lynnel salvaged in 1993 as cheap wall material. Rearranged to fit the new space, they provide visual interest and inspire countless metaphors from meditators. The many bookshelves house Bart’s library of texts on spirituality, world religions, psychology, and neuroscience. Equipped with chairs, yoga mats, and props, the space is an idyllic spot for yoga, meditation, workshops, and other spiritual activities. And, with a strong WiFi signal, Lynnel and Bart are able to offer hybrid classes—so none of their non-local sangha members are excluded. (This also allows locals who are ill or mobility-impaired to attend safely.)

Though their teachings are applicable to adults of all ages, Bart and Lynnel are especially passionate about helping older people grow their spiritual practices, improve their health, and have new experiences. Longevity is the name of the game.

“Our brains are very conservative, and they resist change,” Bart said. “The feeling associated with ‘I don’t have neural pathways for this’? It feels weird. It’s about not letting that subtle pushback stop you.”

In her yoga classes, Lynnel often instructs people to interlace their fingers—and then to relace them differently. “It feels weird, right? Anything new is going to feel weird at first.”

Accepting this weirdness is one key to longevity. “Trying something new is good for you,” Bart said. Lynnel furthered his point, referencing the scientific concept of neuroplasticity; the more you learn and grow, the more able you are to learn and grow.

“If you want to stay young,” she said, “try something new.”

Bart and Lynnel epitomize this principle. “I can’t believe I’m in my mid-70s, and I’m creating something new,” Lynnel said.

The Barn currently hosts weekly yoga and meditation classes, which are also available via Zoom, as well as private sessions by appointment. So far, two daylong retreats have taken place in the space, with more to come. Lynnel and Bart also envision workshops, visiting teachers, spiritual ceremonies, and other mind-body experiences in the future.

“Our practices are rooted in compassion, self-compassion, and loving-kindness.” – Lynell westerman
Photo by shane darby.

A website is in the works. In the meantime, anyone interested in Lynnel and Bart’s offerings can contact Lynnel via her Facebook page, Yoga With Lynnel. They encourage anyone who is nervous, especially older people, to reach out with questions.

Bart and Lynnel celebrated Christmas with family members Nick Westerman, Mark Agnew, Amanda Denler, Rod Westerman, and Lily Denler. submitted photo.

“Our practices are rooted in compassion, self-compassion, and loving-kindness,” Lynnel said. “Fear keeps people out. If it’s health or body [fear]—your back, your knee—you know, we’ve had knee replacements and hip replacements. We get that, and we know that. Guess what? That’s not the end of it. That is just the beginning, because now look what you can still do. That’s pretty exciting.”

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