SoulCycle CEO 'very bullish' on London as first UK studio opens.

A SoulCycle class in action. Photo: SoulCycle/Maria Bentley

What is SoulCycle? Is it an exercise class? A lifestyle? A religion? A cult?

“You’ve got 60 people moving to the rhythm of the music in the candle light,” Melanie Whelan, SoulCycle’s CEO, told Yahoo Finance UK. “You lose yourself to the rhythm of the music and you lose yourself to the beat and you find yourself in that darkness. What happens then is you come out into the light, you’ve got 60 people who’ve just had this shared experience and 60 people waiting to go in.”

At its most basic level, SoulCycle is a 45-minute exercise bike class that sells its own line of clothes and merchandise. 

Sixty people at a time spend the majority of an hour pedalling on stationary bikes in a dark room to pumping music.

But something about the class and the brand has connected with people on a deeper level. The New York-based company has attracted a cult following in the US. Michelle Obama is a fan and Oprah celebrated her 60th birthday with a private class. A friend from New York recalled a former roommate going multiple times a day.

“People come for the workout because it’s physical, musical, emotional, and inspirational,” Whelan said. “But what makes us different is we are a community business that really is about driving personal breakthrough on the bike in the room, and then also connection in the lobbies of the studios afterwards.”

By Oscar Williams-Grut.

Full story at Yahoo News.