{"id":6500,"date":"2022-09-26T20:38:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T20:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/?p=2602029"},"modified":"2022-09-26T20:38:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T20:38:57","slug":"this-is-why-so-many-workout-classes-feel-spiritual-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/26\/this-is-why-so-many-workout-classes-feel-spiritual-now\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is Why So Many Workout Classes Feel Spiritual Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At seven in the morning, a group of stationary cyclists furiously pedal to the uptempo electro-beat of a Britney Spears remix. The song is \u201cTill the World Ends,\u201d an uncanny title given that the cyclists are there to find something akin to salvation. \u201cHow you do anything is how you do everything,\u201d calls the energetic class leader, readjusting her headset. \u201cHell yeah!\u201d responds a member from somewhere in the back of the room.<\/p>\n

Lights are dimmed to near blackout, save for a few grapefruit-scented candles in the corners of the intimate SoulCycle studio. You\u2019re cocooned in the darkness\u2014a muted support system that lets you, the individual, shine. Working individually but in the reassuring presence of others, members can focus on themselves. There\u2019s an element of freedom despite being squished together like sardines, a closeness purposely manufactured. Julie Rice, who along with Elizabeth Cutler stepped down after selling SoulCycle to Equinox in 2016, explained<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people were done complaining about \u201cCan you believe they\u2019re going to charge $27 and I\u2019m going to have to sit that close to somebody?\u201d What actually happened was, the lights were dark, and people could all feel the music at the same time, and you could almost feel somebody breathing next to you. Your foot was on the same beat as their foot was on, and all of a sudden it became connected, and it became tribal, and it was dark, and there were candles. The music was amazing and an instructor is telling you that you could be more than you thought you could be . . . There\u2019s something about a moving meditation with other people that are rooting for you, that are holding space for you, that aren\u2019t there to compete with you, that are there to elevate you so that they can be elevated as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heavily contributing to this altered state is the combination of music with movement, similar to the way EDM concerts inspire euphoric emotions. Such strong emotions can spark a spiritual connection to something outside ourselves; we submit ourselves to see the world as something good, beautiful, and powerful. And when we\u2019re deeply entrenched in something, like when we\u2019re wildly dancing at a party, the absorbing activity puts us into a near-trance-like \u201cflow\u201d state<\/a>. We shut off that nagging voice in our head (with all its to-do lists) and redirect our focus to repetitive rhythmic motions. Hence the term \u201closing yourself\u201d in an activity: when you\u2019re so absorbed in pedaling, there\u2019s no room for intruding, ruminating thoughts.<\/p>\n

The self, as you\u2019re accustomed to it, melts away. A \u201cwe\u201d takes over. And suddenly you feel nothing but love and connection to your fellow rider. You look around the room and think, \u201cwe\u2019re all getting through this ride together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pedaling in unison takes on a powerful force, even in its digital equivalent, Peloton. But according to researchers at Oxford University<\/a>, it is exercise\u2019s mood-enhancing endorphins and serotonin (nature\u2019s uppers) that might be responsible for some of those feel-good bonding emotions. In experiments where strangers were brought to row together, they discovered that moderately intense group exercise creates more meaningful social benefits than lower-intensity exercise. \u201cIt may be that experiencing exercise-induced natural highs with others leads to a sort of \u2018social high\u2019 that facilitates group bonding, friendship, and cooperative behaviour,\u201d wrote the study\u2019s co-author.<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, much of SoulCycle\u2019s success also lies in its talent. (Before there were Peloton influencers snagging brand endorsement deals, there were SoulCycle star instructors, often known only by their first name, like Oprah.) The brand does not hire the average fitness instructor. It recruits charismatic performers. Dancers, cheerleaders, actors, models, Broadway veterans, and professional athletes audition in what Rice once called \u201cAmerican Idol on a bike.\u201d The company scouts for charismatic showpeople oozing star presence\u2014the same kind of people who can lead a congregation. Fitness pastors, you could say. SoulCycle promotes talent as the main attraction, some of whom reportedly earn up to $1,500 per class. And they make sure to live up to the hype.<\/p>\n

Instructors say they \u201cstrengthen faith muscles,\u201d supplying a kind of emotional catharsis for those in need of healing. As one teacher explained<\/a>, \u201cI get them to a point where they are so tired that emotionally they are so much more vulnerable. They no longer rely on their physical strength; they have to go deeper. That is when the experience becomes more than a workout.\u201d Instructors motivate, but they also exhibit a slice of vulnerability to connect with congregants. \u201cSorry I\u2019m late, my four-year-old was sick,\u201d one instructor told a class. \u201cIf you thought I looked too young to have a kid, I also have a six-year-old, a ten-year-old, and a divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of SoulCycle instructors develop strong ties with repeat customers, who at times rely on them during moments of crisis\u2014a divorce, a breakup, Barneys closing. Fans report that they\u2019ll text their fitness mentor when they\u2019re going through a rough patch or stop them after class to seek counsel on sensitive matters. This attachment is not unlike the dependence on self-help books, which some researchers say fill in the gaps once filled by organized religion or closer-knit female communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is possible that the emphasis placed on friendship in women\u2019s lives has diminished as we have entered the paid labor market in greater and greater numbers, as the division of labor has become more specialized, and as families have become smaller and more isolated,\u201d writes the sociologist Wendy Simonds in Women and Self-Help Culture<\/em><\/a>. \u201cAll these trends may have helped to professionalize the giving and receiving of advice, at least among the rich and middle class.\u201d What was once a mainstay of female friendships\u2014of telling someone to dump their dumb boyfriend\u2014has now been outsourced to \u201cprofessionals\u201d as a commodified service. One\u2019s psychologist or Peloton instructor has replaced a once ordinary exchange because we\u2019re all too darn busy or far away to be there for one another.<\/p>\n

Fitness brands may have created new ministers, but people need more than just a priest. They need a congregation. People need people. And with those people, they need to feel something. SoulCycle emphasizes \u201ccommunity\u201d as much as it does its impressive talent, and Peloton advertises working out \u201ctogether\u201d in your living room. As the beloved indoor cycling brand posted on Facebook in 2020, \u201cSun up to sundown, you\u2019ll never ride alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

So exercise classes are group therapy and High Holiday services and country club social time all rolled into one. They are, as the sixties \u201cseekers\u201d sought, an experiential spirituality. Whereas once mankind shook at Sinai to bombastic commandments or participated in gleeful revelry with faith healers, now we get a spiritual boost from group cardio. There are now even wellness festivals where 10,000 or more people (80 percent of them college-educated women) join in mass yoga like a Zen revival tent<\/a>. Women are expressing a need for intense tribal gatherings. And Beyonc\u00e9 goes on tour only so often.<\/p>\n

\"The
(Photo: Courtesy Henry Holt and Company)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Buy The Book<\/a><\/p>\n

Excerpted from THE GOSPEL OF WELLNESS: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care<\/a> by Rina Raphael. Published by Henry Holt and Company.  Copyright \u00a9 2022 by Rina Raphael. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n

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When you buy something using the retail links in our stories, we may earn a small commission. We do not accept money for editorial gear reviews. Read more<\/a> about our policy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"This<\/figure>\n

No, you’re not imagining it. <\/p>\n

The post This Is Why So Many Workout Classes Feel Spiritual Now<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-6500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}