Originally published 2016 · Written by Trainee Yoga Sports Coach™ Karla Oblak

The Yoga Sports Science® programme to become a Yoga Sports Coach™ is an amazing journey within the fields of yoga and sport. Two separate but integrated concepts, they bring together everything I have been looking for, and the decision to enrol in the programme was absolutely the best possible choice for me.

The journey began even before I enrolled.

When I first met YSS Founder Hayley Winter at the enrolment interview, I knew it was the right thing to do. She answered all my questions about the programme, went through the whole course outline in detail and told me that the journey to becoming a Yoga Sports Coach™ required commitment and dedication, but that it would be very rewarding.

When I heard about the knowledge I would gain, my inner wish to become a Yoga Sports Coach™ said yes!

I Didn't Know What to Expect

As this was my first online training course, I did not know what to expect.

I can say that...

Originally published 2016 · Written by Yoga Sports Coach™ Benjamin du Bernard

As a lifelong enthusiastic amateur athlete and a yoga teacher of six years, I had felt for some time that, as passionate as I was about yoga, I hadn't quite found my 'groove' where teaching was concerned.

My search to complete the picture brought me to Yoga Sports Science® (YSS), and it felt like it might finally help me bring together my two passions in life: sport and yoga.

But I hesitated!

My Doubts About Training Online

One of my doubts was the online nature of the course.

How can such a physical subject, which relies so much on personal interaction and feedback, be taught online?

Well, it can, and to amazing effect.

The subject matter is delivered in a variety of ways, including documents, videos, one-to-one and group tutorials, and webinars.

As you learn about the subjects and reflect on them through your own practice and in your own time, there are plenty of opportunities to engage with and ta...

Originally published 2015· Written by Yoga Sports Coach™ Lesley Durke

In April 2014, I finally took the enormous step of giving up my part-time job, with the security of a known, regular income, to become a self-employed yoga teacher and Yoga Sports Coach™.

This was not a random or spontaneous decision, but one that had been in the planning for several years. Yet it still took a lot of courage and self-belief to get to the stage of handing in my notice.

I had been a gymnast for over 20 years, starting at the age of three, and had spent a lifetime trying many forms of exercise and sport, including dance, athletics, climbing, fitness classes and yoga.

I had also had a career as a specialist pharmacist in orthopaedic and trauma medicine, but working for myself in a field that combined wellbeing with exercise and physiology was where my heart lay.

My Main Turning Point

I passed my yoga teaching qualification in September 2012 and set up my first class in the same month.

In September...

Originally published 2015· Written by Trainee Yoga Sports Coach™ Chrissie Tarbitt

When I first discovered Yoga Sports Science®, I have to say I was excited and apprehensive in equal measure.

Excited because it seemed to offer everything I was looking for to take my business to the next level. But could I possibly afford the time and investment when I'd only just decided to start my own business?

Following a great telephone conversation with Yoga Sports Science® Founder Hayley Winter, it didn't take me long to take the leap of faith and dive in.

I'm now halfway through the 500-hour Yoga Sports Coaching course and, I have to say, my experience so far has exceeded my expectations.

One might be forgiven for thinking that this kind of distance-learning model could compromise the quality of tuition, course content and opportunities to collaborate with fellow students compared with a more traditional classroom experience.

Not the case.

The content in the modules is superb, the learning...

Originally published 2014· Written by Yoga Sports Coach™ Lexie Williamson

‘Why Do Cyclists Need Yoga?’ was the title of my talk at the Dare 2b Festival of Cycling. Thousands of fans had gathered at Harewood House in Yorkshire to watch the 2014 Tour de France riders stream out onto the Dales.

I was invited as a Yoga Sports Coach™ and author of Yoga for Cyclists (Bloomsbury Publishing) to share some of the potential benefits of yoga with the festival crowd. 

Why Do Cyclists Need Yoga?

It's a valid question.

After all, cyclists don't swing a club through 180 degrees like golfers, lunge sideways like tennis players or require the multidirectional movement skills of a footballer.

In fact, cyclists generally aim to minimise unnecessary upper-body movement, and this is one reason to turn to yoga. The muscles that stabilise the legs, hips and torso work to support riders as they maintain a relatively fixed, flexed position for extended periods.

Road-riding posture is another reason t...

Hayley Winter and Kate Crouch in the Strength & Conditioning area at Cambridge University Sports Centre.

Originally published 2014· Written by Yoga Sports Coach™ Kate Crouch

On Thursday 20 February 2014, we held our first Yoga Sports Science® Clinic for 11 athlete members of the University of Cambridge Sports Centre.

We were lucky enough to have the session led by Hayley Winter, Founder of the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®, who came to the Centre and was amazed by the fantastic facilities we have here.

The session was also supported by the Centre's very own Yoga Sports Coach™: me!

Bringing Different Sports Together

We had a huge variety of sports represented among the athletes attending: running, heptathlon, triathlon, powerlifting, modern pentathlon, cycling, rowing, cricket, gymnastics and real tennis. Our Fitness, Strength and Conditioning Manager, Tristan, also joined us.

Hayley took the athletes through a range of techniques involving breathing, mobility, shoulder movem...

Originally published 2013· Written by Yoga Sports Coach™ Rebecca Coales

When I trained as a Yoga Sports Coach™ in 2012, I worked with a freediving athlete as part of my Yoga Sports Science® (YSS) case study research.

It had occurred to me at the time that I might end up applying the principles to myself as an international freediver, but little did I know that I would go on to become a record-breaking athlete.

Applying What I'd Learnt

I'd been freediving for four years and practising yoga for about the same length of time. I'd also been teaching yoga for two years when I started the Yoga Sports Science® (YSS) course.

I wanted to gain a better understanding of the functional aspects of yoga in relation to the biomechanics of sport and discover new ways to work with athletes.

My case study gave me time to study freediving biomechanics closely, from videos of elite athletes to divers in my own club.

Having worked with a diver for 10 weeks to improve her monofin technique (underwate...

Originally published 2012 · Yoga Sports Coach™ Annelize Ferreira shares her personal experience of competition nerves.

Ten months ago, I would never have thought that I would be moving a 15 kg barbell plate 84 times from ground to overhead, performing 49 unassisted pull-ups and racing my way through 210 double-unders (all against the clock) in front of a 2,000-strong crowd.

I was competing as part of a six-member team at Europe's largest CrossFit competition: Divided We Fall CrossFit Games 2012.

As a recreational CrossFit fanatic, this was the ultimate test of my physical progress and an opportunity to compare my fitness levels against approximately 236 other women attending from across the UK.

Weeks of intense training and a few injury scares were finally behind me, and I was faced with the biggest challenge of all: competition NERVES!

Instinctively, I put into practice the skills I had gained from my Yoga Sports Science® training. I took myself off to a quiet corner, settled int...