Hayley Winter teaching sport-specific yoga at Ipswich Town Football Club, UK, in 2002.

Written by Hayley Winter | 2026

Back in 2003, I was invited to present at the England Football Association's annual training conference. The event focused on the latest advances in performance training, and I was there because of some results that had caught people's attention.

The squad of players I'd been working with had one of the smallest rosters in the league. They couldn't afford injuries. And that season, they didn't have any. They played the entire season injury-free.

When they were asked about their secret, they credited yoga as their only new intervention.

Of course, one injury-free season doesn't prove that yoga prevented injuries. But the players' experience raised some interesting questions about what yoga might contribute to athletic preparation.

That moment stayed with me.

When the FIFA World Cup kicked off in June 2026, the pressure on these players was intense. Representing y...

Originally published 2019 · Written by YSS Founder Hayley Winter

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

When I first wrote this article in January 2019, online yoga education was still finding its feet.

Little did any of us know that just over a year later, a global pandemic would close yoga studios, universities, gyms and training centers around the world. Teachers who had spent their careers working face-to-face suddenly had to learn how to teach through a screen.

For us at the Institute of Yoga Sports Science® (YSS), the situation was different.

We had already been teaching online for more than a decade.

And the journey that got us there began with another global crisis.

How it all began 

Teaching a sports-specific yoga session at Ipswich Town FC, UK, 2001

My interest in yoga for athletes began long before online education became part of the picture.

From around 2000, I had been exploring a hypothesis: could yoga be adapted specifically to support athletic performance?

Originally published in 2018 · Written by Hayley Winter, Founder of the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

My interest in esports has a personal connection that goes back long before I founded the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®.

My first degree was in animation, and my background in graphic design and character animation taught me to study human movement in a rather unusual way: frame by frame.

Through drawing, observing and analysing the body in motion, I developed a fascination with how movement is organised. That curiosity continued into my later studies of anatomy, biomechanics and yoga.

I also worked in games education, teaching anatomy and character design on a course run by a dear friend and colleague. At the time this article was published in 2018, she was CEO of Women in Games, a position she continues to hold in 2026.

Looking back, this article reflects another connection between my creative background and the development of Yoga...

Originally published in 2018 · Written by Lisa Jackman, Yoga Sports Coach™

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

When Lisa Jackman wrote this article in 2018, she was reflecting on a remarkable journey from competitive gymnastics to yoga teaching and eventually becoming a Yoga Sports Coach™.

Her story offers a fascinating glimpse into the experiences that brought people to the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®, often from sporting backgrounds that were quite different from traditional yoga teaching.

It also raises some interesting questions about the historical relationship between gymnastics, physical education and modern postural yoga.

We've revisited Lisa's original article to improve its flow and clarity while preserving her humour, personal memories and curiosity. Her reflections on historical connections remain questions for exploration rather than verified conclusions.

I was 47 years old the first time I ever entertained taking a yoga class.

A friend from work suggeste...

Originally published 2018 · Written by Advanced Yoga Sports Coach, Bonnie Strati

Editor's Note | Revisiting Breath Awareness in Tennis

When Bonnie Strati wrote this article in 2018, she was exploring how yoga breathing practices might help tennis players become more aware of their breathing, both during training and between points on the court.

Breathing remains an essential area of study in sports science, particularly in relation to physiological regulation, attention and individual responses to exercise.

We've revisited Bonnie's article to clarify some of the scientific explanations and refine the practical instructions, while preserving her original teaching ideas and conversational style.

We've all been breathing since the moment we were born.

We take our first breath when we arrive in the world, and our breathing continues throughout our lives, usually without us giving it much thought.

An adult takes thousands of breaths every day, with the number changing according t...

Bonnie Strati and Hayley Winter pictured with Monty, their trusted teaching resource, at the Yoga Sports Science® studio in New York, 2017.

Originally published 2017 · Written by Bonnie Strati

Editor's Note | Looking Back from 2026

When Bonnie Strati wrote this article in 2017, she was reflecting on a journey that had taken her from being an athlete and personal trainer to becoming an Advanced Yoga Sports Coach™ and Director of Operations at the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®.

Since then, Bonnie's professional journey has continued to evolve, including becoming an author.

Looking back, her story captures something important about the early development of YSS: how people from different sporting and professional backgrounds brought their experience into the study and application of yoga within sport.

We've revisited Bonnie's original article while preserving her voice, humour and the historical context in which it was written.

My journey to yoga came through being an athlete...

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 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 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...