Spirit Groove

This review is just for the Spirit Groove DVD in this set. The total time on this DVD is just a bit more than 35 minutes.

I got this set for my birthday in December. I am very sorry I have waited so long to break it from its cellophane prison.

The set has some pieces of art, not pictures-on-the-wall art (because there are no walls), but more like trees and statuary and green fronds. The drums are there, too.

The backgrounders are dressed in just whatever, nothing offensive, nothing about to fall off. They are all barefoot.

I am having a hard time figuring out how to write this review just because it was such a totally different workout experience for me.

I am not a funky person, not one to let my groove thing move me. If there is a party in my pants, I am calling the doctor.

But Misty, that girl could pull it out of me. When she told me to have a party in my shoulders, I did; and boy, did it feel good.

There is no category for this workout that I know of. And let me tell you, when I started this DVD I did not even think it would be a workout at all.

There are drums being played throughout this DVD. There are three drummers, maybe, keeping beat to what the dancers are doing. And they are definitely on beat and it is not intrusive or loud. It just seemed natural to have them there.

Misty starts by having you just move your body, your shoulders, your wrists. Everything is slow and natural. Her voice is soothing. Except for a propensity to say "funky," her chitchat is mellow and in the flow. Doing this part of the workout, I really did feel relaxed and stretched. I think it was because while she guided you what to stretch, made suggestions about what to do, there was no choregraphed stretch per se. There were times where she had us do something and I realized, wait, that is really tight. So I just stayed with it. It was that way in the cool down, too.

This part lasts about five minutes. You start to wonder if this is going to be 35 minutes of letting yourself feel. But then she starts having you do things, always reminding you to do what your body feels. There is some marching in place, but as she tells you don't march like it was an aerobics workout, get low, get high, move your arms. There are side steps, but not your Leslie sidesteps. You can leap if you want, or keep it on the ground. There is an almost interval feel because she has you moving rapidly, then you slow it down, way down, almost voguing Madonna style. Again, surprisingly fun and just right for the way the workout is going.

You will march, but not necessarily in place. She has you moving all about the room. It will be much easier, freer for you to have lots of space.

The music all this time is just what it needs to be, loud and driving when Misty is not talking, just having you move, or it quiets and slows when Misty is wanting you to slow it down, to feel it. There is some structure in that Misty will do eight counts for some things, but those initial eight counts are just to get you in the right frame for the more freewheeling stuff she is trying to get you to do.

I will say while I wasn't expecting to feel worked out, I was a sweaty mess by the end. And I was in a good mood. I felt light. I felt limber. I felt as if I had just turned back to my 10-year-old self, dancing in the living room all by myself and just thinking about nothing.

Now, reading this I would say this is not my type of workout at all. I need structure, I need my instructor telling me what to do, I need all the background people to stay on screen. Wait, what do you mean you want me to feel? But there is just something about the way Misty handled me, yes, me. It is like she wanted me to do what my body needed even when I didn't really know what my body needed. She guided me to test my body, see what needed a stretch, relief.

At this point, I don't even know if I will do the other three workouts in this set. I mean, what if they ruin it for me. The other workouts in the set are Pilates Groove (pilates irritates me); Yoga Groove (I just don't get it); and Latin Groove (I have no rhythm and I may feel inhibited doing something with a real name, like Latin). But then again, Spirit Groove is so far from anything I would ever identify with so maybe I can just take that spirit and move into the others.