The Inception of

The Institute of Yoga Sports Science®

'At first, I thought Yoga was slow and boring...'

On the recommendation of a friend, she took a yoga class.  Hayley said, ‘I disliked it at first. I thought yoga was slow and boring. I had been used to strong, fast and dynamic movements that challenged my body daily. Yoga seemed like a waste of time, until about 3 weeks after my first class.  I started to feel less pain and begin to get my strength and agility back’.  This was the start of her life-long journey of researching the benefits of yoga. She has never looked back.

Yoga is the Missing Link in Athletic Training

Hayley first started to make connections between yoga and its benefits to sport almost 20 years ago. When the English Institute of Sport invited her to work with an athlete in their performance environment, she began to realize yoga was the missing link in strength and conditioning training. 

As a result, she spent the next 10 years working with athletes and their coaches, from the English Football Association to Performance Directors with the British Olympic Association. She has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities across many different sports. It was during this time that she developed Yoga Sports Science®, (YSS), and the Yoga Sports Coaching™ Courses providing world-class sports-specific yoga education to yoga, healthcare and fitness professionals.

Professional Yoga Education

Hayley developed the syllabus for the YSS 40-hour Foundation Course, the YSS Yoga Sports Coach™ Course and the YSS Advanced Training because there was nothing that linked yoga and sport into education and provided yoga teachers and healthcare professionals with a qualification that would give them career opportunities in both the world of yoga and in sport.

She had a vision which has evolved Yoga Sports Science®, to becoming the Institute of Yoga Sports Science® where modern sports science approaches are united with the authentic science of yoga, enhancing athletic performance.

Scientific Evidence

Hayley’s quest to prove that the science of modern day yoga could improve athletic performance lead her to study a Masters in Applied Sports and Exercise Biomechanics at Roehampton University in London. It was during her time in the biomechanics labs that the Yoga Sports Science® Research Method emerged.  

Hayley understood that if an athlete incorporated sport-specific yoga into their regular training program, their performance would benefit. The problem was how to prove it.

Proving Yoga Works

The perceptions Hayley encountered with athletes and coaches was they thought they needed to be flexible in order to ‘do’ yoga. That it was mainly practiced by women wearing purple lycra and there were not enough stats on yoga to prove its efficacy. 

Hayley began to explore this problem with her colleague Dr. Maggie Bunting at the University of East Anglia in the UK. The research problem was to try and find a way to collect data in the athlete’s natural setting without interrupting their experience of yoga.  The other issue was to analyze and present credible data for athletes and their support teams to review enabling them to make an informed choice regarding incorporating sports-specific yoga techniques into their training.

They hypothesized that incorporating sports-specific yoga techniques into an athlete’s training program would lead to improved performance by that athlete and a reduction in injury. As scientists, they needed to evaluate this hypothesis, which meant undertaking a systematic evaluation.  They adopted a case study research method approach, which has been incorporated into the Yoga Sports Science® Course syllabus since 2009 and is still being conducted today with students worldwide who train with Hayley and her team of global experts. 

Today The Institute of Yoga Sports Science® has one of the largest research databases in the world on the efficacy of yoga to improve athletic performance, with Yoga Sports Coaches™ in 13 different countries delivering sports-specific yoga to athletes in their communities.

Physiotherapists that train with Hayley, use the Yoga Sports Science® methods in their clinical practices. 

The Future of Yoga for An Aging Population

Last year The Institute of Yoga Sports Science® became an accredited yoga school in the US, with its campus at Eastern Athletic Club, Brooklyn Heights, New York.

Hayley has applied her unique approach using the science of yoga to help people improve their everyday performance needs. 

People attending Hayley’s sessions have shared concerns about loss of balance, living with muscular pain and discomfort. They wanted to feel more energized; feel stronger andexperience greater agility. To have more control and confidence in how they moved. To manage stress. To sleep better. To have greater concentration and retention of memory. To have performance strategies to survive and thrive city living.

The Results

As a Yoga Sports Scientist Hayley has helped athletes achieve marginal performance gains that mean the difference between winning and losing. Helping an athlete get 1% increase in their performance takes them from being a silver medalist to winning gold.

Within a short time of taking Hayley’s sessions, clients who had been regularly attending shared some remarkable results. Reports of no more pain. Improved balance, coordination, and concentration. An increase in general health and well-being. The performance gains made by these regular yoga practitioners were not marginal, but significant and in some cases, life-changing. 

Compliance Through Science

Hayley believes that one of the most significant reasons for the dramatic success she has had with both professional athletes and the general public is that people learn about the application of the science of yoga with their own bodies. 

She also believes that a person's understanding of the underlying science dramatically impacts rates of compliance. People that regularly apply these simple techniques to their life, get the results. They feel empowered by their participation in applying the scientific methods of focused yoga. 

Supporting the Development of Yoga

Hayley is supporting the British Wheel of Yoga in the UK in the development of their online yoga education. She is also supporting the British Wheel of Yoga by providing specialist 'Yoga for Athletes' and 'Science of Sequencing' modules for their continuing education programs.