The founders of SoulCycle created the Peoplehood wellness studio

It wasn’t the music, the tough teaching staff or even the intensive training. Instead, Cutler says, “What people got in those rooms was a dose of humanity.” And that, she says, has health benefits that are as important as any hour of cardio.

Behind the sweaty, bass-pumping facade of a SoulCycle workout was an opportunity to look across the room and connect with another person, share an experience, and perhaps walk away with a little less armor, a little more vulnerable, and a little more open. It’s the shift from cortisol to dopamine. The renunciation of escape or flight in favor of acceptance and lightness.

This continuous line, say Cutler and Rice, is an untapped, powerful way to increase health and wellness. It’s also at the heart of the couple’s latest launch: Peoplehood.

find connection

On February 22, Cutler and Rice will open the doors to a wellness studio dedicated to helping clients strengthen their relationships and build soft skills like active listening and empathy.

“We’re now trained to take care of our bodies,” Rice says. “We understand green vegetables and hydration. But we think our relationships will just work. We become parents and our instincts just kick in. We’re getting married and it’s just going to work out. The most important thing to think about is who you love and who loves you. But we don’t spend time understanding how to be in relationships.”

Peoplehood is not therapy or a deep dive into childhood trauma. It’s an invitation to step up for yourself and others to foster what Rice and Cutler call “relationship fitness.” “We hope that people will come and find joy and catharsis in connection,” says Rice. “It’s one of the biggest hits of modern tools and old traditions.”

Based in New York City, the studio offers 60-minute sessions, or “assemblies,” led by trained “guides” who guide participants through practices of breathwork, sharing, and listening. Each Gathering (running alongside a great playlist) has a specific structure, carefully curated after three years of research and consultation with professionals who know how to make space for others – AA leaders, psychotherapists, life coaches, academics, yogis, even kindergarten teachers.

The classes aim to close circles that traditional forms of fitness (yoga, pilates, cross-training, strength, biking, running) draw, which increasingly chafe at the notion that a good sweat is as much a mindless, emotional reset as any authentic one Peer to peer connection or session with your therapist. And as the world increases its reliance on technology, social media and remote work, loneliness and isolation are increasing. (The COVID pandemic has, of course, exacerbated an already dire situation.)

Fighting a crisis of loneliness

Milena Batanova, PhD, is Director of Research and Evaluation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Making Caring Common. She says Peoplehood could be a balm for what’s behind the stats her team has collected over years of research on the subject: 36% of adults say they experience loneliness often or almost always, with 61% of 18 – Up to 25-year-olds report serious loneliness.

Batanova is aware that finding ways to move away from transaction and towards connection seems increasingly important. “In the general lonely sample, a third said nobody took the time to really check on them,” she says. “Even worse, about half of young people wish someone would ask them how they are doing. It’s pretty telling.”

Chrissy Carter teaches yoga in Connecticut and New York in studios for private clients and large companies. She says she also notices a general willingness in her students to go deeper and connect the dots between a movement or wellness practice and everyday life.

“As a society, we struggle to bear witness and are instead controlled by reactivity,” says Carter. “Connection can foster intentional responsiveness by helping us cope with urges to fix, blame, or avoid. It gives us the tools to bring our attention back to the moment.”

Michael Ventura, author of the book Applied Empathy, has spent more than 20 years helping organizations and individuals use empathy to manage transition and change. He has taught the subject at West Point and Princeton Universities, in MBA programs and at large corporations. “A lot of people assume that empathy is synonymous with compassion or sympathy,” he says. “When we explore empathy, we try to understand without letting our own perspective or bias affect that understanding. Then we can network with each other in a meaningful way.”

The thing is, he says, it’s hard work. There is no one and ready approach. Developing these skills is a constant effort, much like building muscle or training for a marathon. “Most of the time it’s going to be uncomfortable,” says Ventura. “But if you do it every day, that muscle gets tighter and eventually it becomes somatized and second nature.”

Instead of a per-class fee, Peoplehood offers monthly memberships starting at $95-$145, with introductory packages starting at $55-$85. Rice and Cutler are betting the membership model will encourage clients to show up more often, though they believe even a weekly visit to the studio can get the needle moving.

How Peoplehood works

A meeting (offered both online and in person) at Peoplehood begins with breathing exercises and music. Then the guide introduces a topic – something in the spirit of the times or maybe a personal experience that can be related to the group – it could be a topic as broad as insecurity or conflict.

Next comes the group exchange, a 30-second opportunity to talk about yourself, followed by breakout sessions of three minutes of personal listening and sharing. There is no comment; no conversation or advice given; and participants agree to keep everything shared strictly confidential. These 30-second to six-minute segments are all about showing up and being present.

Listening for 30 seconds or three minutes feels very manageable and contradicts the common belief that it takes too long to connect. “I have an exercise that I do with my clients,” says Ventura. “They’ll have a one-on-one interview in eight minutes. It’s with someone they don’t work with every day. People are often moved to tears in these eight minutes. It literally just creates the space where people are comfortable and can slow down for human-to-human interaction.”

Cutler agrees, noting that the physiological shift in the brain can really change not only our experience, but our well-being. What actually happens in our bodies when we feel heard is a shift from cortisol to dopamine, she says. Physical fitness is wonderful, but it is only part of the whole. “We’re creating categories,” Rice says, noting that Couplehood and Peoplehood@Work are on the way.

“Nobody wants your advice or your opinion. You don’t always have to say yes. Just: ‘I see you and I hear what you say and I’m really going to take my time to think about it.’ That’s what our children want, our partners; They just want us to be there. And being there is very difficult. It’s timeliness and it’s an amazing gift.”