Hi Lisa!
– In the first lesson, Rinpoche wants us to focus on memorizing the prayers and understanding the essence of the Outer Ngondro, but there are no accumulations required.
– There were several reasons we decided to limit the course to a year, such as limiting our guarantee, allowing us to manage access for future website shut downs / redesigns, but mostly because Rinpoche wanted people to seriously focus and learn the material in a specific course timeframe. Access was originally going to be just the length of the teaching (7 months for Ngondro), but we decided on one year for all courses in case life got in the way and people needed a little more time to get through the material. We also provide several PDF/audio materials that would help after the course ends. After a year, if students still need more time with the videos, they may optionally re-enroll. I’ve brought up the idea of discounts for re-enrollees, but I’m not sure about that yet.
Hope that helps!
Best wishes,
Nick