Leslie Kaminoff's Yoga Anatomy: Principles

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The Breathing Project

New York, NY

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Purpose

Yoga teachers learn the skills needed to become effective, inspiring, and sought-after teachers

What to expect

PRINCIPLES is Leslie's flagship course that he's been honing for decades. It's a combination of lecture, discussion, practice, and homework, all delivered with Leslie's impossible-to-miss sense of humor. If you’re searching for ways to make anatomy accessible and interesting for your students, and you're ready to challenge your assumptions and find new ways to evolve your practice. This is an intensive home study program structured into three twelve-week trimesters. The course is highly interactive and includes demonstrations, homework assignments, and opportunities for questions. There are no prerequisites, making it accessible to a wide range of students. Curriculum will be One 2-hour video class per week, plus optional homework, consisting mostly of review questions and additional activities to help enhance the learning experience. Most of our graduates say the homework took them 30-60 minutes per week. The classes are structured in three 12-week trimesters for a total of 36 weeks.

Style/Lineage

Leslie establishes his connection to the lineage of T.K.V. Desikachar, a relationship that was pivotal in shaping his understanding of yoga and the breath. Leslie was already immersed in an inquiry about the relationship between breath and yoga practice, and was teaching yoga anatomy & breath to teacher trainees on a regular basis when he first met Desikachar in 1988. Since then the central theme is Leslie's passion for mentoring teachers has been the lesson s learned from his teacher, and like Desikachar, he is driven by a desire to provoke students into finding their own answers and exploring their own experiences, rather than simply being told what to do. His goal is to help teachers and practitioners improve their skills, enhance their personal practices, and become more sought-after professionals in their fields.

Core competencies

By the end of this program, graduates will be able to…

Anatomy, Physiology, Biomechanics

Name the structural hierarchy of the body — cell, tissue, organ, system, organism — and define the role of each level.
Explain the concept of homeostasis as a dynamic balance among body systems and give at least two examples relevant to yoga practice.
Use the lenses of sthira/sukha and prana/apana to analyze at least three anatomical structures or movements in a yoga class context.
Define breathing as shape-change of the abdominal and thoracic cavities and identify the primary structural roles of each cavity.
Explain the SLARA formula (shape, location, attachments, relations, action) as applied to the respiratory diaphragm with accurate anatomical detail.
Demonstrate seesaw breathing and at least two other breath pattern variations to a group, cueing initiation from the accessory muscles rather than the diaphragm.
Define synovial joint anatomy — capsule, cartilage, synovial fluid, menisci, labrum — and distinguish articulating from moving-through-space joint actions.
Explain balanced joint space as a functional criterion, differentiate it from hypermobility and hypomobility, and apply it to at least two common yoga poses.
Name the five spinal regions, their primary and secondary curves, and at least two movement capabilities and structural constraints specific to each region.
Explain the evolutionary and developmental rationale for primary and secondary spinal curves and connect this progression to bipedal function in yoga postures.
Demonstrate a roll-down and roll-up that distinguishes posterior column release (sukha) from anterior column re-stacking (sthira) using breath coordination.
Identify the starting-with-the-breath approach and the joint-and-muscle-action approach as two distinct analytical lenses applicable to any asana.
Explain how base of support, center of gravity, and range of motion (BOS-COG-ROM) interact to create stability and how altering one variable changes the others.
Apply breath-centered cueing to at least four poses from different categories (standing, seated, supine, arm-support), explicitly connecting breath pattern to spinal shape change.