Meet Joe Barnett
Joe Barnett is an ERYT-500 Yoga Teacher Trainer, based in Tucson, AZ.
For most of his 25 years of yoga practice, Joe has apprenticed under Paul and Suzee Grilley, the founders of Yin Yoga and innovators of a highly popular functional approach to anatomy and yoga asana. Joe assisted many of the Grilleys’ teacher trainings including the first several courses where he served among other colleagues and teaching assistants to help shape the pedagogy and curriculum through deep discussions and evaluations of the evolving course.
During those early years of Yin Yoga, Joe worked directly as a liaison between the Grilleys and the students, fielding practical questions about anatomy, subtle energy and meditation techniques. And more than that, Joe spent time with students who were troubled emotionally and/or psychologically by the deeply personal and internal work of yoga.
After years of assisting his teacher and teaching his own public classes, and with the blessings and support of his teachers, Joe began traveling and leading teacher training courses of his own. Joe has been teaching Yin and Yang forms of Yoga for 2 decades, and continues traveling nationally and internationally throughout each year offering presentations and trainings based on his long-time mentor’s work. Staying true to the curriculum of Paul and Suzee Grilley, Joe provides a deep study (both experiential and anatomical) of skeletal variation, the fascia system, and yoga asana. Staying true to the practice, Joe can also provide the grounding, compassion and sometimes humor needed when students are taken to the deeper levels of awareness that can suddenly arise, and sometimes surprisingly.
Joe has also recently copyedited Grilley’s recent writings on meditation, philosophy and energy work: The Yogi’s Guide to Chakra Meditation, and Chakras Bandhas & Mudras.
He leads experiential studies into the subtle mind/body practices. With a framework of the revered Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita, and the tantric practices discussed and guided in Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama’s enlightened body of work, Joe guides yoga nidra practices and pranayama techniques that combine breath and imagery to soothe the mind, calm the nervous system and nurture Spirit.
Currently, Joe is in training to be an end-of-life doula, he volunteers at his local hospice, and strives to find ways to integrate the education and normalization of death and dying with the philosophies and techniques of yoga.
Joe’s play time is usually spent playing chess poorly, learning Sanskrit, loving his goats and cats and family, laughing in acroyoga, and studying anatomy, including a regular dissection course focused on the fascia layers, and one focused on the brain.
“Joe Barnett has been our friend and assistant for many years. He has two qualities that make him an excellent presenter: he knows the anatomical principles and he relates to people in a sympathetic manner. His presentations are unhurried, hands on demonstrations, this is the easiest way to absorb these ideas.” ~ Paul and Suzee Grilley