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Under Review: intenSati: Great Body, Great Life

great_body_2So, speaking of hippity-dippity, I tried the intenSati Great Body, Great Life workout, which is said to exercise the power of positive thinking along with your body. I had no idea what I was getting into, but with all of the positive reviews on the back cover—with words like “addicted,” “joy,” and “YES”— I was excited to see what intenSati was all about.

Right off the bat, the instructor, Patricia Moreno, emphasizes the power of the mind in this workout. She’s a constant positive force throughout the workout, reminding you to do your best. The warm-up is simple, using active yoga moves to get your blood pumping. You’re introduced to affirmations here, such as chanting “All I need is within me now” to the pace of your squats. At this point in the workout I felt silly for chanting, but I was warm.

After the warm-up, you get into a cardio upper-body workout, complete with more declarations. You start with forward punches, then alternate between punches to the sky and punches to the ground. Each move is accompanied by a declaration, such as, “I am strong, yes” and “Yes, I believe I will succeed.” The affirmations seem so silly at first, but I was near giddy by the end of the segment. The rhythm of the music and drums combined with the chanting, the punches and the sweating made me a believer. I loved it.

The lower-body portion also pairs the affirmations, such as, “The love in me bows to you,” with various active poses. This segment combines a lot of squats, curtsy lunges and leg lifts that emphasize balance and flexibility. You move so fluidly between moves that this section is almost like a dance. The 65-minute DVD wraps up with a yoga stretch section that ends in a meditative corpse pose.

This workout, amazingly, manages to take yoga elements and turn them into an active cardio workout. It manages to make yoga a dance, while also incorporating elements of martial arts. The emphasis of the power of positive thinking really worked its way into my brain. Days later, I found myself chanting, “I am strong! Yes, I believe I will succeed!”

FBG Rating (Out of 5):
Instruction: ★★★★★
Long-Term Likeability: ★★★★★
Music: ★★★★★
Fun Factor: ★★★★★
Meets Expectations: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★

Fit Bottom line: Like no workout I’ve done before, intenSati Great Body, Great Life emphasizes the mind-body connection and turns elements of yoga into a punching, dancing cardio workout. While the positive affirmations may not be your cup of tea, they put me in a fabulous post-workout mood. —Erin

Check out more Patricia Moreno workouts on Amazon!

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Comments

18 Comments
  1. Rachel says:

    Oh this is perfect for the "be happy and healthy" care package I am making for my friend at law school! yay!!

  2. kjl says:

    Wow…five stars…who would have thought?

  3. Anonymous says:

    sounds great! but i would imagine that for the less fit, it would be quite difficult to do an intense cardio workout and speak out loud at the same time. did you not find it hard to catch your breath?

  4. Erin says:

    It can be tough to keep the chanting up when you get winded, but I would just skip one of the affirmations and jump back in when I could. I thought this workout would be easy to tailor to any fitness level.

  5. AlexisW says:

    Okay, I'm SO not a "positive affirmation" type of gal, but your review makes me want to get this! Looks like Amazon doesn't have it, though – any other sources?

  6. Erin says:

    It's available on the Sati Life site at http://www.satilife.com/.

  7. Marisa (Trim The Fat) says:

    That sounds like an interesting workout! I love the positive affirmations part, but I could see myself stumbling all over with the yoga/dance part! Not so coordinated any more… 🙂

  8. cakeandcarrots says:

    Intensati is a fabulous workout, and Patricia is incredible! She attended teh Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC with me this year and she got on stage and did some workouts with us. If you live in NYC, she teaches at Equinox gyms. Nothing is better than saying your mantras while burning calories!

  9. Anonymous says:

    Uhhh… not to nit-pick here (and I'm sure the workout was great), but to whom is this comment adressing, “The love in me bows to you”?

  10. katgirl_9538 says:

    WOW all 5 out of 5!! sounds like a great workout, i might have to check that one out! 🙂

  11. Chrystalle says:

    Sounds awesome! I can't wait to try it now! Question though: is there enough heart-pumping action to count this video towards my cardio goal for the week? Or if I'm shooting for two full body strength workouts a week, can I put this one in the strength category?

  12. Erin says:

    Chrystalle: The upper-body portion is definitely cardio. The lower body is cardio too, but not as intense, so I'd probably count it as low-intensity cardiio/non-traditional strength.

  13. RickyRae says:

    I'm not so sure I could take it the workout seriously if I was chanting…I might just save the positive affirmations until after the workout… 🙂

  14. Sagan says:

    Five stars? Impressed!

  15. Kim says:

    Your review piqued my curiosity so I had Netflix send this to me. So glad I did! I don't think I've ever had a workout quite like it. I've done it two days in a row and enjoyed it both times so far. I felt so good during the first time around, I don't think I realized that I was actually working out. I was surprised to wake up sore today! Thanks for recommending it!

  16. I-will-survive says:

    Your review was so encouraging that I got the insenSati and tried it: GREAT! I usually don’t like workouts because they bore me and only make me think “when will this finish?” but I must say I enjoyed this one. Time run fast, I didn’t seem to be doing anything hard, and when I finished I felt somewhat like “floating” in the air,… and smiled for the rest of the day 😀

  17. Max says:

    Great!!!!

  18. Mellow_D says:

    Kim – thanks for mentioning Netflix! I’m definitely going to give this a try 🙂

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