Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

OK. Anyone who knows me well would be shocked that I would even request this DVD, must less do it - and forget about enjoying it! It is way more New-Agey than I generally care for and it reminds me of The Secret - a philosophy I don't subscribe to at all. Despite all that, I REALLY enjoy this workout. I would never do it in front of another person, but I love the feel of my workout space when I do it on my own. I do it a spiritual time as well as a physical/workout time when I put in this DVD.

It is one of those workouts that is really difficult to describe though, so I'll give it my best shot. The best way for me to describe it is that is a combination of a simple cardio workout with some toning and balance emphasis married to affirmations and the development of a positive mindset.

The workout is comprised of four segments: warm up, upper body, lower body, cool down/meditation. The segments include mostly low-impact cardio moves that target that part of the body and they are done while you speak affirmation. The moves are all really simple, although Patricia includes appropriate form pointers when you need to pay attention to the moves themselves. She does include some high impact moves, but I just do the lower impact option she covers first.

Upper body: She starts with the arm patterns and then adds in lower-body movement. The arm patterns include scirssoring the arms, arm circles, overhead reaches, and punches. After you get down the physical moves, she adds an affirmation. The affirmations in this section are all very similar and the pattern is easy to learn. This series is repeated several times, including changing the affirmations to statements about myself.

Lower body: The movements include different types of lunges and squats and she adds balance postures. Again, you get the moves down and then you add affirmations. In this case, there are 2-3 different groups of moves with different affirmations. When you put the moves all together (and they are also repeated several times), the different affirmations combine into one longer one.

Like the rest of the workout, the setting is different - I like it. It looks like a loft with dark wood floors and a brick wall at the back. The colors of the decorations (throw pillows, curtains, candles, etc.) are gold and crimson and orange.

I like the music. It is instrumental and seems well suited to the workout. Patricia is backed up by 5 background exercisers, all of whom I watched while doing my moves. Each section can be played individually from the menu or you can Play All. I've only ever started at the beginning and gone until I was ready to stop.

Patricia is encouraging and motivating in this workout. She tells you to focus on your intentions, how you want your life to be, and argues that you can shape the life you want. However, this all means that she talks THE WHOLE TIME. If you want your instructor to not talk sometimes, this is not a DVD for you. Sometimes, she stands still and explains the positive aspect of the affirmations while the background exercisers continue with the moves.

I found this workout to be deceptively challenging. I got a stronger cardio workout than I thought I would. Plus, liked the balance aspect of the workout. The lower-body section was supposed to have some toning aspect to it, but I found that section to give me a cardio effect as well. I ended up sweating through it - not badly, but enough that I knew I had worked out. Plus, I got into the positive-thinking aspect of this DVD and enjoyed starting my day on such a positive note.

Instructor Comments:
She is incredibly good in this workout. You can tell that she really believes in this program and she does a good job of explaining what she wants and motivating you do follow along - both physically and emotionally.

Laura S.