Jules Mitchell Yoga

10/10/2025

Lifting my arms here in combination with lifting wuth the breath.

In this version of Urdhva Hastasana, I'm elevating the shoulders (sacrilege, I know 😱) and focusing on expanding the upper lobes of my lungs. 🫁 It’s subtle, but the sense of “lift” comes from breath, not just the position..

We explore nuances like this in Breathing Mechanics & Asana (online October 18-19).

Because how you breathe changes what you feel.

10/07/2025

You can’t cue strength, but you can train it.

In my 300-hour training last weekend, we worked this drill in plank and quadruped before even talking about Chaturanga.

Because if the strength in a specific position isn't there, no amount of cueing will create it. But smart progressions might!

I think yoga teachers don't always realize how hard Chaturanga is for many students. It helps to teach it as a pose and not just a transition. I always challenge everyone in the training to teach a class where Chaturanga is the "peak pose." Give it the attention it deserves!

09/17/2025

Words matter. When people talk about “spinal stability,” they often just mean “don’t move your spine.” 🧐

If we don’t question the language, we risk confusing stillness with safety. That’s where media literacy comes in. Terms like stability carry weight, but they don’t always mean what we assume.

“Stability is a heavily loaded term with an unstable definition.” — Richard Bellman

08/24/2025

📍 Where I’m Teaching This Fall 💻🌍✈️

October 11-12, 2025
Online Somatic Principles
1 & 1/2-Day Livestream
Early registration ends 9/20

October 18-19, 2025
Online Breathing Mechanics
1 & 1/2-Day Livestream
Early registration ends 9/27

November 1-2, 2025
Yoga Biomechanics
1-Day in Los Angeles
shefayogavenice
Early registration ends 9/1

November 6-10, 2025
Yoga Biomechanics
5-Day in Taipei, Taiwan
SPACE YOGA
Early registration ends 9/10

December 12-14, 2025
Yoga or the Shoulders
3-Day in Louisville, KY
Yoga Baum
Early registration ends 10/31

All the sign-up links are in the comments. Hope to see you there!

08/16/2025

Yoga Teacher Bingo: the game where everyone wins because we’ve all been there. 😂

✔️ Said ‘one more breath’… and held it for 10 more.
✔️ Lost your train of thought mid-cue.
✔️ Demo’d a pose you didn’t actually mean to teach.
✔️ That moment when your playlist betrayed you with an ad.

How many squares can you check off?

08/05/2025

Today, Tuesday, August 5th at 12pm Pacific. If you missed it but want the recording, let me know in the comments or DM.

Deepen your knowledge and teaching skills in yoga through a 300-hour teacher training. Join Jules Mitchell for an unparalleled experience.

07/30/2025

I'm teaching in the Los Angeles area Nov 1-2!
https://www.julesmitchell.com/yoga-biomechanics-los-angeles/
If you or any of your yoga teacher friends want to join me, sign up by August 1st to save $100. The course is at shefayoga in Venice, but is hosted by me, so you'll sign up through my website. Since I'm hosting it myself, there are studio rental fees and travel costs, hence the advanced early registration deadline. I don't think I need to explain more. Sign up today, and I'll see you there. 🙏

07/27/2025

Free Q&A session on August 5th for my 2026 online 300hr YTT. Sign up here: https://www.julesmitchell.com/300hr-qa/

07/10/2025

Feeling “tight”?

So is everyone else. It’s called being at your end range, not a personality trait. 😏

Your hamstrings aren’t broken. Your hip flexors don’t need saving. You’re just... human with normal sensations.

📣 My Science of Stretching webinar is coming up on July 31st. And yes, we talk about this (and way more). Details in comments.

07/06/2025

I was surprised… and also not surprised 😒
Turns out weekends don’t belong to women.

You're doing the laundry, the errands, the meals, the driving, the planning, the scheduling, the parenting. And somewhere in there, trying to grow as a yoga teacher? Nope.

So I am sticking with the schedule that actually works better for you - weekday sessions. Space to be present for yourself.

One-off weekends are great for individual courses. But a 300hr YTT that's spread out over a year? It's just too hard to keep everyone online and on task.

🎥 I explain more in the video.

👇 Do weekends feel like yours? Or do they belong to everyone else?

Want to talk more about it? Join the Q&A on August 5th. Links in the comments.

07/02/2025

14 ways to practice high crescent lunge. Swipe to see them all. Put your favorites that I missed in the comments.

1️⃣ Reach up and back for the wall and then push for a nice backbend.

2️⃣ Back foot on the wall, the heel as high up the wall as your toe extension will allow.

3️⃣ Reach hands up the wall, a great way to work around any low back or hip flexor sensitivity.

4️⃣ Sit backwards in a chair to support the back hip and push to lift the chest.

5️⃣ Front foot on 2 blocks takes some of the range off the back hip and still lets you lunge deep.

6️⃣ Hold a heavy bolster or blanket in your arms stretched out in front of you to help engage the abs and find the stack.

7️⃣ Hold a bolster overhead to help with shoulder flexion coupled with T-spine extension.

8️⃣ Bend the back knee onto 2 blocks for a great stretch feeling with a little less range.

9️⃣ Back foot on a blanket cuz 😈

🔟 Front foot on the wall for extra range.

1️⃣1️⃣ Belt around the pelvis with a forward pull on the back leg side to add some extra lines of tension to the anterior and medial stuff.

1️⃣2️⃣ Sandbag near the front hip crease for an added sense of grounding and anchoring of the pelvis.

1️⃣3️⃣ Hold a kettlebell overhead because 💪 and 🔥

1️⃣4️⃣ In a handstand at the wall.

Join me in my online 300hr YTT in 2026 and you'll put variations like these into practice and purpose. We will talk about why you would choose them, for whom, and how to blend them into a larger sequence.

Registration is open. Link in the comments.

03/08/2025

If you're tired of scrolling social media, seeing conflicting points of view, and wondering who is right, then my flagship course, Yoga Biomechanics, is for you. I give you the foundation to think critically about methods, styles, points of view, industry opinions, and more. You learn to think for yourself rather than rely on trends, authority figures, or one-size-fits-all answers. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by contradictory information, you'll gain the tools to analyze, question, and apply biomechanics and principles of exercise science in a way that makes sense for you and your students.

If you’ve ever:

✔️ Wondered why some poses feel great one day and awful the next
✔️ Been confused by contradictory yoga advice
✔️ Wanted to stop worrying about whether you’re “doing it right”
✔️ Needed better ways to support students with pain, hypermobility, or injuries

…then sign up today.

March 21-23, 2025
9am - 5pm Pacific time
Replay available for 30 days
Yes, you may miss a session

Link in the comments