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...

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 2014· Written by Yoga Sports Coach™ Vedant Patwardhan

What happens when the traditions of yoga meet the contemporary demands of competitive sport?

In this short video, Yoga Sports Coach™ Vedant Patwardhan, from Pune, India, shares his perspective on the differences between traditional yoga teaching and the Yoga Sports Science® approach.

A long-standing yoga practitioner and former professional cricketer who played at national level in India, Vedant brings a valuable combination of personal experience, sporting knowledge and yoga education to the conversation.

His observations offer an opportunity to explore how traditional yoga practices can be understood and adapted through the lens of sports science, with consideration for the specific physical and psychological demands placed on athletes.

At the Institute of Yoga Sports Science®, this relationship between yoga and contemporary movement science has been central to our educational approach.

The aim is to und...

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...