The last few days of my #365 day yoga challenge have been dedicated to YIN Yoga. Those of you who know me also know that i have a daily practice, which is mostly Yang and Fluid however this weekend i had the pleasure to be schooled by, Joe Barnett.

To say Joe is awesome is doing him a profound disservice. From the moment i picked him up at the Greyhound, yes thats right he actually took a bus, to his non schlaunt attitude towards monetary compensation for the training, to his shirt that he wore (which he later said was given to him by his mother decades ago) that said IDONTKNOW (fancy sanskrit for i dont know)to his constant reminders in class “observe what you see with your eyes closed” which basically means: feel, listen, trust YOURSELF. He was fricken hilarious, modest, humble and cool. He did not try to dazzle by name dropping, fancy sanskrit and or medical terminology, even though clearly the guy knows it all.

You can tell a lot about a teacher by “who they are” off the mat, podium, or classroom, not only was joe a “yogi” in the room but he also exemplified these qualities outside of the classroom. I learned soo much not just from his lectures but also from observing his demeanour, like the way he made sure he had an individual conversation with everybody in the room, knew their names and made eye contact.

I have observed these same qualities in my other teachers i hold in high regard including: Rockne White, Bryan Kest, David Williams and Christina Sell (although she does not know me well, always takes time to answer my questions)

From the bottom of my root to my third eye, Thank you Joe Barnett,