SOUL CYCLE CHURCH?
“The problem isn’t you,” Peoplehood’s website coos, “it’s just life.”
By Christine Embra
You’ve bought a Peloton for cardio. You’ve tried out CrossFit for strength. You’re going to yoga for flexibility, and maybe you’re detoxing to balance your microbiome. Yet your wellness journey feels incomplete. You’re still lonely, still anxious. Where’s the workout for … your soul?
That’s the gap that Peoplehood, a new company from SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice, aims to fill.
“Introducing relational fitness,” Peoplehood proclaims on its minimalist website, “an entirely new concept with one goal: to help you feel better.” This wellness venture, the company promises, will be “a place to grow personally, together.”
It offers (slightly) more detail on its Instagram: “Peoplehood is the spiritual practice of connected conversation. Our Gathers are 55 minute group conversation experiences led by trained Guides in our digital sanctuary.” A New York Times reporter testing out a Peoplehood course (the venture is still in beta) described the “gather” as a session in which “strangers discuss their deepest hopes and fears” and engage in breathing exercises and light stretches.
So is it group therapy? Is it a cult? Is it Alcoholics Anonymous in fancier rooms?
The key is in the language: guided spirituality in a sanctuary.
Peoplehood introduces itself as a new kind of exercise. But if you look more closely, it’s clear that what’s being sold is church...
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