Please select a program from my course offerings below. If you’d like a printable pdf instead, you can download one here.
3-Day Flagship Yoga Biomechanics Course
Yoga Biomechanics
If you’re a body nerd, science buff, or simply curious about how to make your asana practice more effective and adaptable, this course is for you. Join Jules Mitchell for a 3-day intensive that brings biomechanics and exercise science into the yoga classroom, giving you practical tools, new teaching strategies, and a deeper understanding of what’s really happening in the body during practice.
Through a mix of lecture, discussion, and movement, you’ll explore how tissues respond to mechanical loading, how to modify variables like force and resistance in asana, and how to use concepts like co-contraction and prop placement to create intentional outcomes. You’ll rethink stretching, strength, and mobility through a science-informed lens and leave with a more grounded, evidence-based approach to teaching and practicing yoga.
This course also addresses the resilience of connective tissue, the body’s extraordinary capacity to adapt, and how to talk about injury and safety in a way that empowers students rather than limits them. You’ll gain a better understanding of how to support a wide range of bodies and experiences while moving away from rigid rules, fear-based cues, and one-size-fits-all alignment.
Topics include:
- What biomechanics is (and isn’t), and how it differs from anatomy
- Load management in asana and the adaptability of connective tissues
- Isometric, eccentric, and concentric contractions
- Using props, positioning, and co-contraction to influence force
- Developing a usable range through resistance stretching
- Rethinking flexibility, mobility, and alignment
- How injuries are defined and discussed in a yoga setting
- Pain science concepts for yoga teachers
- Teaching with clarity, adaptability, and intention
Bring a journal (paper or digital), a curious mind, and a willingness to rethink what you thought you knew.
Book is not required but participants can purchase one here if they wish to have it as a learning supplement.
2-Day Courses
Breathing Mechanics and Asana
An emphasis on breathing is central to the practice of yoga. Where most pranayama practices are promoted for their physiological responses and nervous system regulation, the breathing practices in this course are examined for their effects on the pressure systems of the body. Join Jules Mitchell for a unique discussion on the anatomy and mechanics of breathing and how it can influence posture, pain, and even range of motion. Put the theories in action by exploring how different breathing approaches within the poses create profound results.
Topics include:
- Force and pressure systems
- Thoracic and pelvic diaphragms
- The core and its misconceptions
- The axial skeleton and the soft spine
- Breathing spaces
- Directional breathing
- When and when not to cue the breath
- Best practices for the general public
Somatic Principles for Yoga
As yoga becomes more mainstream and exercise science enters the conversation, it is easy to be consumed by the physicality of the postures. When we continue to emphasize mindfulness, we naturally teach with a focus on sensing and feeling. Somatics, or moving within, is at the essence of all yoga postures, whether vigorous or restorative. In this course, Jules Mitchell draws from motor control theory, the stretching research, and current pain science to explore how and why various somatic principles work. You’ll experience examples from variety of somatic education programs and discover how to incorporate “mini lessons” into your yoga sequencing. Dress comfortably and be prepared to roll around on the floor!
Themes include:
- Learning instead of achieving
- Proprioception and interoception
- Variability
- Neuroplasticity
- Developmental patterns
- Mobility of the ribs, spine, and pelvis
Restorative Yoga Immersion
Restorative yoga traditionally targets the nervous system, upregulating the parasympathetic response and downregulating neuromuscular activity. In this course, you will engage in a vivid discussion about how restorative yoga fits into the narrative of passive stretching. Through the art of masterful prop arrangement, you can maximize certain intentions, addressing individual circumstances including posture, limited flexibility, hypermobility, injuries, and other musculoskeletal concerns. Learn to read the story each body tells, assess a student’s specific needs based on tissue quality, and cultivate your intuition.
Course includes:
- Extensive demonstrations
- Plenty of hands-on practice
- Discussion and collaboration
- Backbends and forward bends
- Sidebends and twists
- Restorative inversions
- Supine standing poses
- Sequencing for specific purposes/themes
Customized Courses (2-4 Days)
Flexibility: Principles, Practices, and Purpose
Flexibility is one of the most popular, and sometimes controversial, topics of the last decade. While it is arguably overrated, it is not as dangerous or detrimental as is often claimed. Moreover, stretching and yoga appear synonymous in the mainstream media and the reaction within the community tends to either glorify or deny the entire notion. Enter Jules Mitchell, author of Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, to help you explore both perspectives while empowering you with education to make informed decisions about why to stretch and when it matters.
This weekend course is designed to provide an in-depth exploration of what stretching is and how to do it effectively. By the end of this workshop, participants will:
- Distinguish between the 6 different stretching modalities.
- Incorporate a variety of stretching techniques into yoga sequences.
- Learn how to increase range of motion safely and effectively.
- Understand eccentric contractions and the latest research.
- Master muscle physiology and how load fits into the stretching narrative.
- Explore connective tissue mechanics in multiple contexts such as pain, injury, and ROM.
- Question the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of stretching practices.
- Recognize common stretching myths and misconceptions.
- Gain the knowledge and skills necessary to confidently talk about how stretching works.
Jules has spent the last decade teaching yoga teachers about the science, biomechanics, and physiology of stretching. Join her for her comprehensive stretching course that will take your education to the next level. Suitable for yoga teachers of all levels, as well as any individual interested in learning more about stretching practices, this course is about stretching your minds as much as your bodies.
Anatomy and Biomechanics Intensive
This course highlights the fundamentals of anatomy and biomechanics with a modern science perspective. Research has changed how we see the body. Prior notions of “wear and tear” have been replaced with a perspective of robustness, repair, and regeneration. Understanding the properties and adaptability of musculoskeletal tissues can greatly inform our teaching. While anatomy is essential to understanding how the body functions, this course goes beyond memorization. You will learn to ask, “how and why,” and take time to reflect on how such inquiries translate into teaching yoga.
Topics to be covered:
Yoga Anatomy:
- Language of Anatomy
- Regions of the Body
- Anatomical Orientation
- Planes of Movement
- Bones, Joints, Muscles, Connective Tissue
- Breathing
- The Nervous System
Yoga Biomechanics:
- Kinetics and Kinematics
- Mechanical Behavior
- Tissue Structure and Composition
- Adaptation
- Capacity
- Alignment
- Stretching
Jules is committed to your enjoyment of and your success in learning notoriously dull material. Her approach is applicable and useful for all levels and her enthusiasm for anatomy and biomechanics is infectious!
Yoga and the Lumbopelvic Hip Complex: Rediscovering Resilience
Introducing an innovative and educational yoga course that examines the anatomy and biomechanics of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex (LPHC) from an evolutionary and adaptive perspective. You’ll learn what skeletal structures such as the spine, pelvis, SI joint, and hip joint can do and are capable of. You’ll reinstate positive narratives around misunderstood muscles such as the glutes, hip rotators, core, and pelvic floor. You’ll then apply these narratives to conventional ideas about yoga alignment and cueing, challenging some of the popular and mainstream ideas about what is safe.
Join Jules Mitchell, author of Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, for a thought-provoking course that will give you the confidence to teach yoga to a wide demographic of students that are often overlooked for being too fragile or having too many unknowns. As always, Jules references recent research and emerging clinical perspectives as supporting materials while maintaining a holistic view of how one experiences yoga. Topics include:
- Applications of pain science
- Directed breathing practices
- Back pain and yoga alignment
- Reframing imbalances and compensations
- Bone, muscle, and joint physiology
- Connective tissue mechanics
- Pelvic floor function
- Scoliosis and asymmetry
- Various lumbo-pelvic-hip pathology
This course is not intended to replace medical advice or treatment.
Yoga Yoga for the Shoulders, Neck, and Upper Spine: From Fragility to Freedom
Spend a dynamic, information-packed weekend exploring the anatomy and biomechanics of the shoulders, neck, and upper spine through the stories yoga teachers often hear (and tell). With a compassionate yet evidence-based approach, you’ll reframe the narratives around backbends, inversions, and other key poses, emphasizing shoulder stability and spinal capacity. Teach with confidence, free from worry and doubt, as you challenge conventional alignment cues and safety myths.
Join Jules Mitchell, author of Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, for a research-driven, practical course designed for yoga teachers navigating the post-alignment paradigm. You’ll gain the skills to guide your students, especially those labeled as fragile or unstable, toward greater freedom, strength, and mobility.
Topics include:
- Teach confidently using principles of pain science
- Support the thoracic spine with breathing practices
- Unpack myths about “good” and “bad” posture
- Understand hypermobility and how to teach with it in mind
- Address shoulder issues like weakness or stiffness
- Ease neck complaints such as tightness or soreness
- Modify poses to support scoliosis
- Understand the anatomy and biomechanics of the neck and shoulders
- Explore connective tissue mechanics for injuries like tendinopathies
- Shift the narrative from fragility to freedom through yoga pose breakdowns
This course is not intended to replace medical advice or treatment.
5-Day Courses
Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined
This advanced training follows the narrative of Jules Mitchell’s groundbreaking book, Yoga Biomechanics: Stretching Redefined, bringing the concepts to life through direct application. While stretching is part of the conversation, the course goes far beyond it, offering a broader, more nuanced look at how we build and apply strength, mobility, and flexibility in a yoga context.
You’ll learn what strength really is (and isn’t), how mobility differs from flexibility, and where yoga fits into those frameworks. We explore force as a variable you can intentionally manipulate in your teaching. Strategies include co-contraction, thoughtful prop placement, positioning the body relative to gravity, and leveraging friction from various surfaces. You’ll explore different types of muscle contractions and learn how force vectors influence joint actions and cueing strategies. You’ll also learn to reason through how much force a muscle might be producing and whether it’s acting in a lengthened, shortened, or mid-range position.
Expect to leave this course with a practical, adaptable toolkit for guiding group classes and private sessions with confidence, clarity, and biomechanical intent. Along the way, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the body’s remarkable capacity to adapt, the resilience of connective tissues, and why yoga remains a safe and effective practice, even in a landscape where misinformation about movement is widespread.
We’ll also look at how these ideas apply to breathing mechanics, offering a fresh way to understand and teach breathwork not just from the nervous system lens, but through the lens of pressure, force, and muscular effort.
Topics include:
- Strength, mobility, and flexibility: definitions and distinctions
- Load management and adaptation in connective tissues
- Isometric, eccentric, and concentric contractions
- Using props and co-contraction to explore and influence force
- Force vectors, friction, and resistance in asana
- Muscle actions and positions beyond stretch
- Breathing mechanics through a biomechanical lens
- Moving beyond alignment rules and ambiguous cues
- Human resilience and safe application of yoga
- Teaching with clarity, adaptability, and critical thinking
You’ll also complete a short assignment where you evaluate a yoga-related scientific paper, building your confidence in reading research and applying evidence to your teaching. No prior experience with research is necessary; this part often becomes a course favorite.
Bring a journal (paper or digital), a curious mind, and a willingness to rethink what you thought you knew.
Breathing Mechanics, Somatic Principles, & Restorative Yoga
This sensory-rich, asana-centered training combines breathing mechanics, somatic principles, and restorative yoga into one transformative experience. Led by Jules Mitchell, MS, CMT, ERYT500, this course integrates current science with time-honored movement practices to support healing, regulation, and resilience.
You’ll explore the anatomy and mechanics of breathing, not just for nervous system regulation, but for how it influences posture, pressure, and movement. You’ll learn how somatic education and motor learning principles can enhance proprioception, interoception, and neuroplasticity, helping your students learn and adapt through mindful movement. We’ll also examine how restorative yoga fits into the stretching conversation and how thoughtful prop placement can support a wide range of musculoskeletal concerns with clarity and purpose.
Expect a balance of research review, movement exploration, sequencing practice, and collaborative discussion. You’ll walk away with renewed insight into how the nervous system influences movement and how you, as a teacher, can support positive change through clear intention, creative sequencing, and presence.
Topics include:
- Anatomy and mechanics of breathing
- Pressure systems and diaphragms
- Proprioception and interoception
- Motor control and neural adaptation
- The role of imagery in performance and learning
- Somatic inquiry and movement variability
- Restorative yoga sequencing and prop setup
- Supporting hypermobility, injury, and nervous system regulation
- Teaching with nuance, responsiveness, and confidence
Bring a journal (paper or digital), comfortable clothes for movement and floorwork, and an open mind for sensing, exploring, and redefining what it means to practice yoga.
