John R. MacPhail spent twenty-five years in the business world, beginning at a Toronto investment firm, and has always had a passion for reading, learning, and teaching. MacPhail has a business degree, is a certified yoga and yin yoga teacher, a squash coach, a competitive squash player, has a black belt in taekwondo, and has trained in meditation. He teaches yoga a few times per week at a yoga studio, the  YMCA and an addiction recovery facility, teaches squash to adults and kids, and hosts yoga retreats. 

MacPhail lives on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, with his wife, Kimberly, their two German Shepherds, Nero and Raven, a cat named Minuit, and a variety of wildlife that trek through their yard in the country every day. His writing space overlooks the local harbor which is busy with fishing boats, cruise ships, and the ferries going back and forth to Newfoundland. Watching the slow-motion daily traffic in the harbor in front of him has a therapeutic effect similar to watching a giant aquarium in constant motion. From his home in the country, MacPhail lives by the twelve spokes of the wheel of life principle.