This is such a great question!! We find that it's so much easier to focus on YOU rather than focusing on the courses. That will make your best fit clear.

Please head on over to this page to see what feels most like you, and please get in touch with us if you want to share more about your personal situation so we can help you choose the best fit.

Great question!! We almost always recommend taking Principles first. If you're on the fence, or you want to learn all the details, read on...

We generally recommend taking the Principles course first if:

* Your primary goal is learning anatomy for the purpose of your own curiosity, or if you're teaching teachers.

We recommend taking Practices first if:

* Your primary goal is focusing on your personal practice, or if you already have a pretty strong foundation in anatomy.

THE SHORT VERSION:

The names are slightly misleading because it makes it seem like one course is *all* theory, and the other is *all* practice, but that's not quite the case. Principles is just more focused on explaining how things work, and Practices is more focused on exploring those concepts in your body.

Both courses are fabulous, but they approach the material in complimentary ways with slightly different focuses...

THE LONG VERSION:

APPROACH:
The Practices course could easily be called the "Personal Practice" course because it's all about exploring the concepts in *your* body. For example, you'll learn a bit about the knee, then be led through a physical practice where you'll be allowed to really explore *your* knee. After that, you'll hear from other students who have just gone through the same thing and hear what a wide range of experiences there are.

After you've done this for 36 classes on all different systems of the body, you will have an entirely new appreciation and subtle understanding of yourself. =)

On the other hand, Principles is the anatomy course that Leslie has been teaching and exploring for decades. There is so much humor, many real-life examples, and a ton of application. The knee class in Principles spends more time looking at the actual structure of the knee, various challenges and injuries, and some strategies for keeping the knee safe in asana & life situations.

​HOMEWORK:
The other main difference is how homework is approached in the two courses.

In Principles, there are homework questions at the end of every lesson that you'll work on, submit to Ti, our Homework Coach, and have conversations about.

The Practices course is more focused on *your experience* as you're moving through certain movement sequences, so the homework is generally to do the practice and share your findings. Because of how the homework situations contrast, this helps some students choose the level of rigor they would prefer.

​STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
If you're still not quite sure which course is the best fit for you, use the turquoise chat icon in the bottom right corner of your screen to drop us a note. When you write, please let us know about your history, your interests, and what you're hoping to get out of the course. We'll help you figure out what's the best fit for you right now.

Each class video is 2 hours long. Plan on no more than 30 minutes of homework associated with each class.

That is the beauty of the internet - you can be as relaxed or as efficient as you want to be! If you would like to move through the course at the same pace Leslie uses when he teaches the courses live, it would take you about 9 months if you did one class per week. (Except for Fundamentals, which is a shorter course, but still flexible on timing.)

Whatever timeline you choose to follow, we recommend involving yourself in the discussions and staying on top of your homework lesson by lesson, rather than leaving it all for the end. We've seen this method work better for students in terms of assimilation & embodiment of the material.

So - watch all 36 classes in 36 days, or take a few years to finish. Either way, apply what you learn in class to your daily life and practice, and then come back with your questions and observations.

We recommend finishing one week's homework before you go on to the next week's video, simply for your own knowledge and focus.

That being said, the only time we check to see if you are finished with your homework is when you contact us to say that you'd like to be considered for your certificate of completion. At that point, we'll go back and make sure you'd finished all the assignments in a manner satisfactory to the teachers and homework coaches, and send your physical certificate of completion.

But no, there is not a date where your access & ability to send in homework "expires," so you don't have to worry about that!

If you want to move at same pace Leslie envisioned when he designed the course, here's what the schedule would look like: ​

• One 2-hour video class per week, plus...
• Homework most weeks, consisting of 3-5 review questions or additional activities to help the material sink in.

The classes are structured in three 10-week trimesters for a total of 30 weeks, and there is a short break between each trimester (like a holiday break and spring break,) so the entire course takes about 9 months.

Though it's nice to visualize what the timeline looks like in person, most online students find it most helpful to fit the online course into their lives, not the other way around. =)

Note for Fundamentals Students:

If you're taking Fundamentals, the above weekly schedule can still apply. But since the course is 20 hours, you can plan on 10 weeks instead of 30.

Though quite a few students finish the course on their own time, we have found that many people still enjoy moving through an online class as a group.

To help with that structure, we offer a few new "group-starts" every year. It doesn't mean that you have to stay with the group. You may even catch up to the group ahead of you, or find a more natural rhythm with the group that starts a few months behind you.

Whether or not you start with a group, Leslie & your YogaAnatomy.net Support Team will be with you on your schedule, no matter what.

If you're a teacher putting together a YTT...

The answer is "absolutely." Leslie & his co-author, Amy Matthews, put together an anatomy course that's specifically designed to be a plug-in for teacher training programs who don't have their own anatomy instructor (or if you just want to give your students Amy & Leslie's perspective.)

​Please check out the info page here to see exactly how we can partner with your school to support your YTT with the YogaAnatomy.net Fundamentals course.

If you're a student looking to earn a certification...

Without having more information, the answer is "maybe." Here's why...

If you're working towards a certification with the Yoga Alliance, you must go through an entire curriculum that has been previously approved.

If your teacher trainer is still in the stages of planning the training...
...AND they're on board with submitting one of our courses as your anatomy component, you'll have more than enough hours to fulfill that, whether it's a 200, 300, or 500-hour program.

If your teacher has already submitted the curriculum and one of our anatomy courses is not included...
...You could still use the hours towards your "Miscellaneous" hours, as long as you and your teacher trainer are on the same page.

If none of that works...
...We'll still be here when you need Continuing Education Hours! We're not going anywhere and we'll look forward to having you whenever it works out in your journey.

WHAT KIND OF HOURS?

Whether you're submitting these hours as part of a training, or keeping yourself current with Continuing Education Credits, the Yoga Alliance counts online education as "non-contact hours."

If you happen to study with Leslie or Amy in person during the year at a conference or workshop, you may count any of those hours towards your required "contact hours."

HOW MANY HOURS?

The number of hours will vary greatly depending on how you choose to move through the material.
Here's an example below, using one of our 60-hour courses:
If you complete the entire course, it will be a minimum of 60 non-contact CEUs + homework time.

The Yoga Alliance honors all these activities as non-contact CEUs:

• Watching the core class videos, 60 hours (30 classes x 2 hours each)
• Watching bonus videos (please keep track of your time)
• Homework time (please keep track of your time)
• Online QA with Leslie (please keep track of your time)
• Reading from the book, Yoga Anatomy (please keep track of your time)

CERTIFICATE:

​All hours are currently counted by the Yoga Alliance at a 1:1 ratio (1 hour of online study = 1 non-contact hour; 1 hour of in-person study = 1 contact hour). When you finish the course and all the homework in a manner that's satisfactory to the teachers and the homework coaches, we'll send you a document that certifies your hours of study.

Continuing Education Hours with the Yoga Alliance:

Whether you're submitting these hours as part of a training, or keeping yourself current with Continuing Education Credits, the Yoga Alliance counts online education as "non-contact hours."

If you happen to study with Leslie or Amy in person during the year, you may count any of those hours towards your required "contact hours." This could be at a conference, or a workshop around the world.

Continuing Education Hours with ACE (American Council on Exercise):

ACE has pre-approved YogaAnatomy.net Principles for 2.0 Continuing Education Credits.

Continuing Education Hours with other Organizations:

We've had students successfully use this course for hours with yoga, physical fitness, and continuing education organizations all over the world, including the British Wheel of Yoga, Yoga Alliance in Australia, and many others.

If you'd like to use this course to help satisfy CEUs for your organization, please use the chat icon in the bottom right corner of your screen to get in touch with us. We'll send you the course curriculum so you can submit it to your particular standards organization.

Note: If you let us know which organization you're working with, we might have more details. Please ask!

If you are enrolled in Principles or Practices with Leslie:

Yes. If you finish your homework up to the standard set by the teachers and homework coaches, we'll send you a certificate documenting your hours of study at the end of the course.

If you are enrolled in Fundamentals as part of a teacher training:

Please ask your teacher trainer. If there's a certificate, it will come from them directly, not from us. We cannot grant certificates for this course directly since the content support comes from your teacher training, not from us. Thanks for understanding!

If you are enrolled in the independent study version of Fundamentals:

Yes. If you finish the course and successfully complete one of the final project options, we'll send you a certificate documenting your hours of study at the end of the course.

Though studying online is widely available nowadays, we're the only ones we know of doing it quite like this, so the only way to know if it's right for you is really to try it out and see if it fits. But let's examine potential worries from a few perspectives...

If you're worried that you won't have a personal experience:

One of the things we really focus on is how to bring as much of the in-person experience to the online community as we can. Certain things are impossible to replicate online, like physical touch. Luckily Amy & Leslie teach things like "physical adjustments" less than anything else because they believe it's most helpful to help students find their way into shapes that they can get back into again by themselves.

But some things are actually easier online, like your ability to take your time with the material and converse with the teachers and homework coaches until you feel like you've embodied the information and want to move on. In an in-person class, it's easy to breeze past nuances because you have to stick to a schedule.

Leslie has also introduced Video Q&A for Principles & Practices, which is proving to be fun and useful. Some answers come alive from the added video element, which makes things like demonstration possible. If you can't be in the room with Leslie, this is the next best thing. ​

"A very big thank you to my homework coach for getting me "out of my head" and "into my heart" so that I can be a much more effective and real communicator! The tools available for this course are second to none. If a student reviews the handouts, listens and re-listens carefully, watching Leslie demonstrate and teach, the value as a yoga teacher/therapist is priceless!​​"
Debbie Lenihan, Yoga Teacher, Washington

"I appreciated very much the individual and careful homework tutoring, thank you very much!​"
Judith Kirchmayr-Kreczi, Yoga Teacher, Austria

If you're worried that you won't have enough structure to get through the course if you're at home:

We understand. Since we run the online courses from home, we've become experts at strategies to make this easier on yourself. Here are some things to try:

(1) Schedule a Time and Date in Your Calendar, Just Like An In-Person Class

It's true that "work will always expand to fill the time allotted," and this can feel even more true if you're at home with things like laundry and chores to take your attention. The students we hear from have found the most success scheduling each session into our lives, as if it were a regular class.

(2) Have a Dedicated Space Where You Take This Class

Do you ever walk into a yoga studio and decide to turn around and do your laundry instead? No. Because our brains expect certain activities to happen in certain places. This is a concept that psychologists call "structural determination."

If you carve out a special spot in your own home for class, it will be easier to keep from being distracted once you begin. Something as simple as making tea, grabbing your favorite notebook, and sitting in the same space on the couch each week can be enough...

• You can mold the course around your own life.If you value a flexible schedule, you won't find anything more accommodating than how we run our online courses.
• You can come back to the material at any time.We have students who've graduated from the course who come back, review videos, keep asking questions, and keep assimilating more information into their classes. This is what we want! This is an ever-growing body of information and our journey as "students of yoga" will never truly be over.

"From the very first lesson, I felt like I had learned much more than I had anticipated I would from each individual lesson.

The entire course was well sequenced while taking complex ideas and teaching them in a way that is clear, comprehensive and practical. It takes subjects that can be daunting and overwhelming and made them relatable. The structure and homework guidelines really kept me on track so that I could stay committed. The bonus material is such added value as well, so thank you for including it!

My experience was amazing. One thing that I really appreciated as a online student was hearing back from my homework coach after submitting my homework. I loved her feedback and looked forward to hearing back from her after each submission and it made me feel more connected as a virtual student!

This experience has added so much value and depth to my skills as a teacher and in my own practice. I currently teach on a part time basis so I liked how I was able to take fresh ideas from each lesson and actually play with teaching them in my classes. I have noticed a new confidence in myself and have received great feedback from students as I continue to use my new knowledge that I have gained from this course. It has also really helped refine who I am a teacher and clarified which direction I will go in my future studies. I struggled with committing to a training that would take me away from home or this online study and I have to say, this was the best choice that I could have made. I will highly recommend this course to others without a doubt!

As a full time stay at home mom and a part time yoga instructor, thank you so much for making a course like this with world renowned teachers, available to students across the globe! It has been incredible to be able to learn this caliber of information while my little guy is snug in his bed in the next room! I look forward to more studies with you in the near future."
Mei-Ling Chow-Mintenko, Yoga Teacher, Canada

The answer depends on why you're nervous, so read on to see if you identify with either of these scenarios...

"I'm nervous because I'm not very good with computers..."

We've never had a student decide that the course was not a good fit because it was too difficult to handle from a technical perspective, regardless of age, previous computer experience, or language.

"I'm nervous because I live at the top of a mountain and my cell-phone connection is my only access to the internet..."

This one can be more difficult.

You'll be either streaming or downloading 2-hour video files, so we've found it to be most efficient if you have access to a solid high-bandwidth connection. You can still take the course if you don't have that, but it may mean overnight downloads, or going someplace with a faster connection to download, then watching later at home.

We've had students who are very dedicated to the course who've made this work, but it's nice to have a realistic expectation from the beginning so you know what to expect.

"I thank you Leslie and Amy for bringing this material into the world and making it available to online students.

My greatest fear was to have troubles with the internet, but all your material was so well prepared and organized, there was no problem at all.

I appreciated very much the individual and careful homework tutoring, thank you very much!

I took everything into my teaching. Maybe to me most important ideas of all: many explanations about anatomic representations of the yogic picture-language (e.g. what is kundalini, what is chanting good for, etc)."
Judith Kirchmayr-Kreczi, Austria

P.S. If you're curious about how your internet speed stacks up, here's what you can do:

• Click here to go to Speedtest.net and run the test
• Then, use the chat widget in the bottom right corner of your screen to email us and let us know what your download and ping numbers are. We'll figure it out together.

Wahoo!! Currently, we have members from 46 countries:

1. Spain
2. USA
3. Mexico
4. China
5. Puerto Rico
6. Italy
7. Denmark
8. Belgium
9. Trinidad & Tobago
10. France
11. England
12. Canada
13. Australia
14. Germany
15. Finland
16. Ireland
17. United Arab Emirates
18. Turkey
19. Japan
20. Scotland
21. Russia
22. Austria
23. India
24. Brazil
25. Greece
26. South Africa
27. Taiwan
28. Kenya
29. Luxembourg
30. South Korea
31. Netherlands
32. Panama
33. Slovenia
34. New Zealand
35. Vietnam
36. Saudi Arabia
37. Hong Kong
38. Thailand
39. Macau
40. Qatar
41. Israel
42. Lithuania
43. Malaysia
44. Lebanon
45. Morocco
46. Peru

If you've signed up for our free newsletter, welcome to the community! You'll continue to receive great free content every week with your subscription.

If you'd like to be able to access Leslie & Amy's professional training courses, we'd love to have you, and that does require an additional enrollment.

Please check out our course page to see the list of available courses and learn about your options for Continuing Education.