Wendy Baranello (Santoshi), C-IAYT, has been teaching yoga to various populations in New York City for over 20 years.  She has touched countless students in a variety of venues; The YMCA system for 20 years,  at Integral Yoga, teaching meditation in the CUNY system, and Hatha Yoga at Marymount Manhattan College.  She taught yoga at GMHC for several years for people with AIDS, and at the Mind, Body and Spirit program at Rutger’s Church.  Wendy was a teacher at Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis since its inception.  Passionately committed to personal empowerment and social justice, Wendy sees a connection between her work as a Yoga Teacher and Union Organizer for the New York Hotel Trades Council as two sides of the same coin.  She feels that the yoga mat is where yoga begins—a place where we can examine our feelings and observe our impulses in a non -judgemental and loving way.  We then bring our yoga practice off the mat and into the world to take responsibility for healing ourselves and the planet.

Wendy was certified by Integral Yoga in NYC in 1994   to teach various aspects and levels of yoga, pranayama, and meditation.  That same year, she began her study of Iyengar Yoga with Brooke Meyers at the New York City Iyengar Institute .  Wendy has studied with Senior Level Iyengar Teacher Elise Miller since 2002, and completed her yoga for Scoliosis training in 2004, again in 2008, and regularly assists Elise in her teacher training.    Wendy also studies with Senior level Iyengar teacher Joan White who she met in 2003, and is enrolled in Ms. White’s teacher training program.  In addition to her yoga certifications Wendy has a certification in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction from Jon Kabitt Zinn and Saki Santorelli, of the Omega Institute.   She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Farleigh Dickenson University.