Yair Barniv's Personal Pursuits

Yair's Leisure pursuits

Classical Music

First, and foremost, Classical Music is my life-long love. My family members are all musicians ---two of them professionally--- my brother, Rami Bar-Niv, who is a Concert Pianist and his son, Tal Bar-Niv, who is a Trumpet Virtuoso. My father taught me the violin as a child after he had won me over from my Mom (piano). Nowadays, I keep on studying it on my own.

About 10 years ago, I took up the classical guitar, studying with the late Mrs. Anita Sheer. At that time, I also became interested in Flamenco music, because Anita was the President of the "Bay-Area Flamenco Society". My favorite venue for interacting with guitar lovers is the The South Bay Guitar Society.

Personal Growth

I became interested in Personal Growth about 15 years ago; that's when I found out the right terminology for these strange interests. Personal Growth, of course, takes different forms for different people. I started by taking the "SAGE Experience" from Mastery Services. That was a weekend-long workshop --a remote relative of "Est" and "Life Spring". For me, it was an eye opener, and an introduction to the subject of "Humanness". That followed by "Warrior with Heart", from the same wonderful people; four days of an upheaval, and a complete re-evaluation of my life and my mental and physical powers. The next step, naturally, led me into Fire-Walking. This is an experience that defies verbal description. It combines extreme exhilaration, a feeling of "If I did that, I can do ANYTHING", and a tremendous boost of one's self-confidence and belief in the untapped powers we all posses. Jon Cotton (also Carol Ackels of Inner Visions and others) took me further, into re-bar bending/throat-piercing (whichever comes first), and some other hair-raising (N/A to baldies) experiences. Relatively late into my path I have discovered Anthony Robbins; I took his workshop, "Unleash The Power Within" in March 2001.

My interest in Therapeutic Massage also dates back about 20 years. It started with a weekend-long workshop at Esalen., where they naturally taught the Esalen style of massage. Since then, I have taken tens of courses from various organization, such as the Body Therapy Center. Eventually, I got certified by the Western College of Therapeutic Massage --thereby combining pleasure with business. Over there, I mostly acquired the techniques of Swedish, and Deep-Tissue.

Ballroom Dancing

Ballroom Dancing has been my main social activity over the last 15 years. Ballroom dancing encompasses Smooth dances (Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep...), Latin (Tango --International and Argentine, Rumba, Bolero, Cha-Cha, Samba, Salsa, Lambada...), and American (Hustle, Two-Step, East- and West-Coast Swing). My favorite dance venue is the Starlite Ballroom.

The Great Outdoors

I have always been a runner; 15 to 20 miles a week on the trails of Rancho San Antonio can clear up my mind enough... for meditation. I do weight-lifting for cross-training.

Skiing is my fav. It's helped me a lot with my Anatomy studies (knees in particular). I mainly ski down-hill in Tahoe ( Heavenly Valley, and such), and cross-country in Yosemite.

I love water sports: Water-Skiing, Wind-Surfing, Whitewater-Rafting, and Scuba-Diving. In rafting, I've had lots of O.O.B.E's (out-of-boat-experience) in up to Level-IV waters. So, it hardly matters any more whether I am in or out of the raft. Scuba-Diving, I got spoiled --having learned it in the Red Sea. So, those, needing a scuba buddy for a trip to the North Sea, please contact my neighbor....

We hear of people having Near-Death experiences. I am still working on my first Near-Life one.

Contact info: ybarniv@yahoo.com