This is one of the earlier DVDs (released 2004) by husband-wife instructor team Ravi Singh and Ana Brett. As with all of their DVDs, Ana alone is featured on screen modelling the exercises, but unlike with their newer DVDs, Ravi alone provides the voiceover instruction. For those unfamiliar with Kundalini Yoga, is a distinct style which involves meditation, unique forms of breathing such as the breath of fire, and movement patterns combined with breath; there are few traditional yoga postures recognizable from hatha yoga practice.

I have a chaptered version of this DVD (I believe that some of the older releases were NOT chaptered), and the Main Menu is listed as follows:

*Play All
*Tuning In
*Warm-Ups
*Navel Power
*Navel Power - Part 2
*Relaxation
*Mantra Meditation

I have broken down each segment below.

TUNING IN (3 minutes)
As with every Ravi & Ana DVD, they begin here with three repetitions of the chant "ong namu guru dev namu." Ravi then provides instruction on meditating to the word of power "sat nam" throughout the practice. (Note: Ravi cues many breaks for both meditation and relaxation throughout the entire Navel Power routine.)

WARM-UPS (25 minutes)
First is a breathing exercise, breathing in to four counts (sa-ta-na-ma) and then out to one (wahe-guru). Next Ana performs stomach grinds and spine flexes forward and back, then sits on her heels and repeats the spinal flexes. This is followed by a held forearm plank with long deep breathing, then Ana returns to seated on heels for spinal flex with breath of fire (BOF). Seated with her legs out straight, Ana moves forward and back. Ravi then cues holding one leg with BOF. The warm-ups conclude with slow repetitions of elevated bridge (about 3 minutes total).

NAVEL POWER (29.5 minutes)
Lying on the back, Ana starts here with slow bent leg crunches; this is followed by bent leg roll-ups. Next, she holds elevated bridge with BOF. Placing the hands under the glutes, Ana performs double leg lifts and then parallel bicycle. Moving onto her stomach, she does cobra, bent-leg cobra hold, and bow pose with BOF. She then returns to her back, raising her head and heels 6 inches and holding with BOF. Again flipping onto her stomach, she raises all of her limbs (arms front) and holds with BOF. At this point, Ravi cues Ana to stand for oblique twists (alternating hands to sternum), slow side bends, and slow standing backbend to forward bend.

NAVEL POWER - PART 2 (16.5 minutes)
At almost the one hour point into the routine, Ana repeats both the crunches and the bent leg roll-ups. Just when it feels like the workout should be winding down, she holds wheel pose with BOF for about 1 minute (she suggests bridge pose as an alternate). This is followed by parallel bicycle, this time adding BOF and rotation. Next comes alternating leg lifts, and then, sitting on the heels, Sat Kriya performed for several minutes. The final exercise involves scissoring the legs while leaning back on the elbows.

RELAXATION (2.5 minutes)
In this short segment, Ravi cues relaxing and letting go after all the work put into the practice. He also introduces the meditation coming up in the next segment.

MEDITATION (5 minutes)
The meditation repeated here is har har har har wahe guru sat nam har haree, moving the hands in a pattern reaching up the body. At the end of the meditation, Ravi and Ana conclude (as they always do) with a 1.5 minute sequence that includes a closing prayer (a positive wish for self, a healing prayer for someone who needs it, and a prayer for peace on earth), and then a conclusion with a long "sat" and a brief "nam."

As usual, Ravi and Ana did a nice job with this DVD, although I did miss Ana joining Ravi for the narration. I recognized many of the exercises from their other DVDs; in particular, much of this practice felt quite similar to the "Fight Fire with Fire" segment of Fat Free Yoga - Lose Weight & Feel Great. But although I enjoyed this workout in some ways, my main problem with it is that, at a total time of 1 hour, 23 minutes, it felt VERY long. While doing the warm-ups, I kept wondering when they would be over; 25 minutes for the warm-ups alone is much longer than most of the Ravi/Ana DVDs I have tried. Furthermore, as noted above, the practice increases significantly in intensity AFTER the one-hour mark, a level of stamina that is fairly difficult to sustain. I'm not sure that I will do the workout again in its entirety.

This is a well-done DVD, and for fans of Ravi and Ana and/or those looking for a intensive core strength-building routine, I would recommend it.

Instructor Comments:
As always, Ana performs the routine beautifully and gracefully. Ravi's voiceover instruction is pleasant, helpful, and easy to follow. He is gently encouraging, but he sometimes says things that some might find a bit corny (e.g. "almost there, dear").

Beth C (aka toaster)