Overthinking SoulCycle

I went to a SoulCycle class with some friends. I’m out of shape, so here’s where my defensive, panting-for-breath mind wandered to while trying to hide and not die in the back row… First, a caveat: if you enjoy SoulCycle, fabulous! I realize a lot of people get tremendous benefits from it, like a great workout, community, affordable psychotherapy, and a light dose of spirituality. I’m all for this.

BUT! Do we really need to be YELLED at to push ourselves any more than we already do in this hustle burnout culture? As the people-pleaser/overachiever that I am, when someone says, “stand up, push, give it your all”, I’m inclined to obey. But every time I obediently pushed harder, it felt like a betrayal of all the work I’ve done to cultivate mindfulness in my life. Being told to push is at odds with listening to our bodies. I know I’m not the only people-pleaser out there who will do what the teacher says, even if it means pushing past your body’s pleas to take it easy.

There’s a tension between pushing ourselves in a healthy, life-affirming way, being gentle with ourselves, and doing what people ask of us.
We’re in an epidemic of burnout–we’re being asked to push ourselves beyond healthy limits at work and in life logistics. We’ve trained ourselves to ignore our body’s limits 9 to 5; I’m not crazy about tacking on an additional 45-min of “pushing” during my leisure time.

I personally would respond better to an instructor who encouraged me to push at ~85% effort, trust my body, and ease off when I’ve hit a limit. I suppose I’m describing yoga.

If you feel I just had an anomalous, bad SoulCycle experience, I’m totally open to hearing evidence to the contrary.

For now, I’ll be saving my $$. If you love SoulCycle, keep loving it! For anyone out there who goes to these classes and finds yourself obeying the instructor’s commands over honoring your body’s limits, and the voice inside you is quietly asking you to NOT push yourself any more than you already do in your life, I’m here to give you permission to listen to that voice and be gentle with yourself. See you at yoga :).