185: Our Interview with Chelsea Jackson Roberts

Last Updated: April 30, 2023By Crystal OKeefe (#ClipOutCrystal)Tags: black women, body health, Exercise, meditation, physical fitness, school teacher

John Mills joins us to discuss Peloton’s Plano expansion.

Rolling Stone ranks the Peloton alternatives…but why?

Peloton rivals are promising bike deliveries before Christmas.

Zwift enters the at home market

Dr. Jenn – How to stay fitness-focused through the holidays

There was a last-minute cancellation of live classes last week.

Vogue UK had a feature on Cody Rigsby.

Popsugar compares trays for your Peloton.

Forward.com’s editor writes about why they love Peloton.

LinkedIn talks about whether companies like Peloton and Zoom can maintain momentum.

Pitbull invests in CLMBR.

The Turkey Burn classes broke records yet again.

Kendall has a new Movie Buff class.

Tunde is now teaching Bike Bootcamp classes.

A new drop is coming (or may have happened by the time you see this).

Peloton Birthdays – Jenn Sherman and Tunde Oyeneyin

All this plus our interview with Chelsea Jackson Roberts!

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Watch the episode here:

Listen to the podcast here

Our Interview with Chelsea Jackson Roberts

We made it through Thanksgiving.

That’s me rubbing my belly. I gained 7 pounds in the last week. I ate a lot.

Me too, but people expect me to gain 7 pounds a week for the rest of my life.

I enjoyed it.

We’re now back to it.

Can you believe that all of the stuff for the end of the year is already coming? We’re at the beginning of December, so Spotify already put out their list of like, “Here’s how your year wrapped up.”

I’m not saying I listen to a lot of soft rock, but my number one song of the year was by Seals and Crofts. I was like, “That’s a little depressing.”

My favorite genre was pop, which I was not surprised, but that totally is me.

Now they do podcasts too.

Many people tagged us that we were their favorite podcast, or at least we made it to the top five. I’m looking at Eugena Mitchell, Dax Shepard was up at the top of hers. We were number three on her list. Somebody tagged us in one that blew me away. 18,000 minutes, they listened to The Clip Out. We don’t do math.

We have children and we can assign them math problems.

Brian did the math on his own and he says that is a solid 12.5 days that somebody listened to us. It was 12.5 days out of an entire freaking year. I didn’t even know we had enough minutes to make up that many minutes.

They’re pretty long.

In one year though, 18,000 minutes in a year, that’s a lot.

This week’s guest is Chelsea Jackson Roberts. That’s very exciting. It’s been a while since we talked to a Peloton instructor or employee. The last one was Tunde. That was right before COVID took over the world because I had just come back from LA.

I started that whole interview by myself.

I just came back from LA and I was like, “People are wearing masks in the airport.” That was at the beginning of February.

It’s always right around Valentine’s Day when you go. You guys need to check out Chelsea’s post on Instagram. One of the things we talked about in the interview with Chelsea is how people can enjoy yoga more. Chelsea had a whole video that she did with her top tips of how to enjoy yoga more. Since we talked to Chelsea a couple of weeks ago, I have been upping my yoga game. She inspired me.

Besides Chelsea, what do you have in store for people?

There are lots of stuff going on. There are many things going on with Peloton. They’re expanding, what’s going on with their customer service and what’s going on in the market and then their competitors. There are tons to talk about, plus what’s going on with the actual instructors. There’s a new boutique drop, which by the time this airs, will have occurred.

It will already be sold out.

We have lots to talk about.

Before we get to all that shameless plugs, don’t forget we are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeart, TuneIn, wherever you find your podcasts, you can find us, you have no excuse. We expect everyone next year 2021 to have at least twelve days of listening. While you’re there, be sure and subscribe so you never miss an episode. That will help you hit your twelve-day goal. Leave a review if you would be so kind. We have a new review. This is from #KuokoaKristina, “I’ve had my Peloton Bike for over a year now, but since COVID has put a hopefully temporary halt to my incessant work travel schedule, I’ve been getting more active in the online community. That’s how I found The Clip Out. What a treat, I’ve been working my way through back episodes, which has given me a sense of how much the company and community has grown over the years and the coverage of past Homecomings or HRIs. It has me hoping that next year, I’ll be able to meet and celebrate with everyone in New York City. Crystal and Tom have great chemistry. Tom’s lack of interest in anything fitness-related reminds me of my own husband who blames this podcast for my recent Tonal order. If you’re looking for a podcast that’s equal parts informative and entertaining, definitely give this a listen.” Thank you very much for those kind words.

That was a nice review.

Also, we have a Facebook page, if you want to stay up to date with us throughout the week, Facebook.com/theclipout. While you’re there, like the page, join the group. Also, we have a YouTube channel. If you want to go over there and subscribe, we would greatly appreciate that, YouTube.com/theclipout, where you can see all of these episodes in HD glory. There’s all of that, let’s dig in, shall we?

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Joining us is John Mills. John, how’s it going?

I’m doing well. How’s it going?

I’m plugging along.

Coming back to work after Thanksgiving, we go home I’m like, “I’m dragging.”

It’s painful. I’m telling you, it’s like hitting a wall. It’s happy, happy, happy, and then boom, you walk into a wall. We’re back. One of the things that we wanted to talk to you about was this new market indication. We had this new price target here. What are your thoughts? It says it’s at 140 now.

My question to my group was what prompted this? In my mind, I’m thinking we got the confusion with regards to the economy right now. What’s going on with the presidential election and with what’s going to happen with Senate? I’m not getting why there was a price target increased by Needham at this point? We know long-term, Peloton is going to do well. The prospects are all well. Maybe there are other details beyond this that I’m not thinking of. Maybe it’s just that we’re back into the winter season and we knew that COVID was going to pick up during this time of the year, maybe there’s something aspect of that that prompted this price targeting. I don’t get it either. I saw the news and posted it, but I’m not quite sure what prompted it.

Especially when there’s been a lot of negative chatter about Peloton in the short-term, especially with the delivery issues and whatnot. You would think that would make big people slow down on recommendations like this.

Also, Peloton has been a COVID stock, with all the vaccine news that dropped, all the positive news about we’re headed in the right direction of this vaccine, hopefully the world will get to go back to normal someday. You would think that they would lower their price. I get what you’re saying, John, and I’m not sure what this is about either. Maybe it’s simply somebody who’s one of us, it’s somebody who really gets Peloton and they want to be ahead of the curve. Maybe it’s that simple, I don’t know.

My mind goes to what news is out there that I didn’t hear? Maybe it’s that long-term prospects of the idea behind these price targets. It makes sense. It wasn’t that I was arguing that didn’t it makes sense, but why now?

You’ve got your top hat all picked out, so you don’t want to talk it down. Maybe it’s stuff like this that Peloton is still expanding. They’re building their Plano operation out even more.

It could be. For everybody out there and you get excited about hearing about the Plano operation, I want to point out this is for customer support. I saw a lot of people chatter saying they were going to go there and maybe this was going to be like another studio. No, it’s not. It’s an already existing facility and they have support reps. The interesting part is that they leased it and they’re growing even more. I’m glad that they are, that’s great. I can’t believe it’s 2018 because I remember reporting on this. I remember talking about this. They’re already expanding.

It makes you wonder, a lot of call centers don’t have an identification on the building. Even if you did go there, it may not say Peloton.

That’s true. They don’t want to encourage you to go.

My understanding is this legacy central is actually like a complex, one of those places that you see lots of tech places, lots of tech companies. It could be identified, I have no idea but either way, it’s funny. I also remember seeing that somebody mentioned in our group when they saw this that somewhere in California, I want to say it was Orange County, Peloton has leased space there as well. I found that interesting because I don’t know if that’s customer support, but I also don’t think that it’s a studio because I think we would know that. I think we would have heard some rumblings if that was the case. What the heck are they leasing space in California for?

I can’t imagine them expanding from a studio standpoint until COVID is completely under control.

We’ve seen some showrooms pop up. I agree with you on that. As it relates to the Plano place, what did they say? They had 27,000 square feet and now they’re expanding it to 90,000. The work sounded like it wasn’t supposed to start until January. It’s going to be a little while before that actually gets up and running.

Although it’s December, January is not that far away.

It’s 2020, you feel like you’re stuck in March still.

That’s my mind thinking 2020 is going to repeat.

No, it cannot repeat. Nobody wants to redo this year.

Moving right along, Rolling Stone had an interesting article.

That article there confuses me.

I thought your comments were very interesting. I saw that in your Facebook group, you have a list of all these different competitors and how Rolling Stone ranks them. Considering the Peloton is the best, they agree with that. That’s the leader. Then it starts listing out all the rest of these. What are your thoughts?

When I first read it, my first thought was I was throwing it out there as information. I just thought, “They consider Peloton the leader and here are 4 or 5 others, and they’ve ranked them. I guess the order looks right. To my group, here’s that information.” I wasn’t thinking much about it, until someone responded and was like, “Why are talking about hardware?” Then I went back and re-read it and I was like, “You’re right. They’re ranking them strictly based on the hardware of the bike. Wouldn’t the software or the classes, the content play a role in how you rank them?” It was a great point. Especially since they rank the Bowflex VeloCore Bike as the number one or number two behind Peloton, when we already know they have no off-bike classes, they have no live classes, and they only have 75 classes in their catalog total, which is crazy.

The thing that I found most counterintuitive about this whole article is the fact that Rolling Stone magazine is about music. That’s the reason it exists. If you’re going to talk about fitness bikes or indoor bikes, none of them compare to Peloton because none of them are going to have the music selection that Peloton does. If you’re a Rolling Stone reader, you would think you like music enough to where none of these other bikes are going to make you happy in the way that a Peloton is going to make you happy.

I wonder if this is somehow on purpose because we just had the interview with the head of music. I find it very interesting because that interview was in Rolling Stone. As far as I know, in all of my searches, I have never seen a mention of Peloton in Rolling Stone prior to this. Now within a month, I find that fascinating.

My guess there is they probably did some qualitative research and found out that a disproportionate number of their readers have Peloton. They do research like that all the time. That’s my thought is that they figured out that even though it’s music adjacent, it’s not directly music related, that their readership is more likely to have one in it and enjoy it and have a passion for it.

That makes sense. If it was strictly about music, I’ve got to admit it makes sense. Peloton and what they’re doing with music and how they’re trying to use that and they’re becoming an influencer in that space. Then we know Echelon inked some type of deal to do more with music. You think Echelon would be higher up?

I think Echelon just inked a deal with K-Tel.

I don’t know what it is, but both of your faces are cracking me up, so I know it’s good.

The article confused me. When you look through what their criteria was when they were ranking them, it gets very clear it’s very hardware based. It’s based on the resistance and the structure and how supportive the bike is. I don’t know, it’s an odd ranking when you look at it.

You have a good point, Tom. Why not hit music? Why not rank them by music? That bugs me. I feel like now we need to get somebody from Rolling Stone, and we need to question them, whoever wrote that article.

Oscar Hartzog.

Get Oscar on the phone.

Moving along, you had an interesting post about Peloton competitors and how they’re positioning themselves this holiday season.

You talked about SoulCycle and you could get it by the holidays, then they threw in a Theragun.

Their image of themselves is like, “You can get our bike by the holidays.”

It’s not only them that are doing that. I’m noticing that SoulCycle has done that. NordicTrack is doing that as well. Now, I saw an ad from Echelon. They’re putting that to the forefront of their advertising. It’s like, “By the way, you might not be able to get Peloton soon, but you can get ours within the next 3 to 4 weeks.”

Yeah, but they’re just going to want to get rid of it.

I’ve heard you say this before, Tom. It’s like you would think that if that space is having problems with distribution and production coming from overseas, then wouldn’t it be like everybody?

Yes, it would to a point, but I guess if now that the COVID mania has slowed down their sales, maybe they’ve got some stocked up.

What if they had a really big shipment that came in and maybe it’s here now and it’s just that their demand isn’t as strong as what Peloton’s is.

It must be something like that. Actually, I do get the SoulCycle one, because SoulCycle hasn’t done a whole lot of advertising. They literally just introduced this commercial that post is referring to. It would make sense that they would have some bikes that they could deliver. The other guys, I don’t get why they’re able to do this, but Peloton is struggling with such a backlog. That disparate difference in demand, it’s that much larger.

I feel like right now Peloton is Coke in a world with no Pepsi. It’s a whole lot of RC Colas.

I think they’re all fighting to be the Coke or Pepsi or whatever you just said, but none of them have risen to that level at this point. Echelon keep beating on the door, they’re so loud, but I don’t see that they’re ever going to be there. I think NordicTrack has a much better chance of that occurring. SoulCycle, I don’t know, they have a ton of riders, but I don’t know, especially with all the issues that they have had.

I know we talk about all those issues with SoulCycle. I don’t know how broadly advertised all those issues are, but I know a lot of people love them. I was doing a ranking in my group. I usually do it by Twitter followers. Some of these companies are public like Peloton and Nautilus, whereas others like ICON, which is NordicTrack and Echelon and MYX, they’re not. I don’t know how to rank how popular, how well they’re doing, so I use these social platforms. I normally use Twitter. I used Instagram to rank them, then of course, SoulCycle is off the charts. Whereas as normal, Echelon is way at the bottom, which is weird to me. It’s starting to confuse me. They’ve got all these products. They’ve got this boatload of products. How are they at the bottom of all these social follower lists? I don’t get it. I know they’re doing something wrong, I just don’t know what it is.

Part of it is nobody cares.

Going back to the Rolling Stone article when you were mystified about the tact that they took to compare the bikes. I think that what you’re seeing there is that they’re selling bikes, not content, so people don’t engage with the bike in the same way. If you buy an Echelon, you bought a bike and you’re good now. You don’t think about it. If you choose to keep riding it, then you do and that’s the extent of your interaction with it. Where SoulCycle and Peloton are more about selling an image. I don’t even mean that to disparage the product. Obviously, I think Peloton has a good product, but I don’t mean that to disparage SoulCycle. There’s a lifestyle brand that comes along, that’s bundled into their hardware that Echelon doesn’t have.

It’s the same as buying a washer dryer. You’re not following your washer dryer manufacturers online. Maybe you are, but most people don’t.

I think that has some play in it. I think it’s a little deeper and I’ll tell you why. MYX is ahead of Echelon from an Instagram-follower perspective. They advertise themselves as like, “You don’t have to be social with our platform,” but they still have more followers.

They still have a brand identity though. Their brand is that they’re not a brand basically. You can describe each company in a bite-sized chunk, but Echelon is just Echelon.

I think that’s what John thinks. Peloton has 1.1 million followers. SoulCycle has 397,000. NordicTrack, which is ICON, has 286,000. Then iFit has 127,000. ProForm has a 65,000. Bowflex has 53,000. MYXfitness has 35,000. Then 10,000 below that, the last place is Echelon at 24,000. It’s glaring because MYX is even pretty new. I also think that even that people that have a MYX bike or even the people that have an Echelon bike, they’re still following the Peloton content. Many people that I see over in the app, if they do have an Echelon, they’re still following Peloton. They’re still engaged in Peloton’s content. I think that goes back to Tom’s point. It’s like they just bought a piece of furniture. I don’t know what it is. I think you have a very good point. I also think you have a good point. Maybe it’s that, but it’s also something else, maybe it’s both.

It’s interesting that some brands take on a life of their own, going back to the Coke, Pepsi thing. It’s not like you never see a Pepsi t-shirt, but you see way more Coke branded products to the people that embrace Coke as a brand that they want to wear or display in some fashion.

I think their commercials, their marketing, that’s a big piece of that. I can’t imagine anybody ever being excited about Echelon.

I’m a horrible swimmer. I try, I can swim, but I’m exerting way too much effort to go to short a distance. That reminds me of Echelon. They’re putting out all this effort, all this work, all this content, all this hardware, and they’re barely moving. I don’t know what that is, that seems weird.

I don’t know what it is either. I would like to believe that it is karmic. I would like to believe that people pick up on their desperate ickiness. That’s what I would like to believe.

You also got to wonder what the business model is. Are they are the making money? They’re throwing so much stuff against the wall. I guess their business model is if you can’t afford a Peloton, because they make a lot of the less expensive products.

They have their own mirror. To me, their product is, “Somebody else did it. Let’s capitalize on that and try to be this hub for everything, but we’re not going to package it and make it look pretty.” I don’t feel like there’s any thought behind it. To that point, John, I feel like all that flailing around is because there’s no direction. There’s no like, “We are this.” I think that comes from because you’re a copycat and you didn’t have passion for the design of any of those things. That comes across to people. Maybe people aren’t as disgusted as I am by them, but I still think it comes across. There’s no passion. Peloton loves what they do. Their employees love what they do. It shows.

It might not come across in hatred, but as we’re seeing, it comes across just disinterest.

That’s clear.

That one we know.

One more thing that you posted that we thought was interesting was about Zwift and their relationship with Peloton.

The CEO of Zwift was interviewed by Business Insider. What was interesting about it for me is that he talked about the fact that they’re introducing a new smart bike. They’d been working on it and this smart bike is coming out. That’s interesting to me because these have been in the same category, but going after two different types of riders. Peloton is looking for that rider that’s trying to stay in shape, they’re that at-home person, they’re not really a cyclist. They might not even have an outdoor bike. They’re a person who spins and they’re trying to exercise and they want the social aspect. Whereas Zwift, it was more about, “I bring my own bike, I buy a trainer device that connects to that bike. I’m indoors because I can’t be outdoor right now. I have this graphical representation of me riding with other riders in a race.” It’s more about competition. They’re more serious about ensuring that the metrics are right, that your output is right. It’s a serious thing. Zwift’s platform has even hosted actual races during COVID. That’s how serious they are about the competitive cyclist versus Peloton about working out, getting in shape home cyclists. The fact that they’re introducing this smart bike, to me it meant, “You’re trying to overlap a little. For some reasons, you’re trying to jump into that space.” I get why they would.

There are a lot more people like that than the road bike purists.

For Peloton, you could be a road rider and then transfer over into Peloton and then be a person who rides spin bikes. I totally agree with you, John. They’re trying to get people to take their bike and then go outdoors. They want to go the other direction with these users.

The CEO is saying that in there. He’s straddling a couple things in this. He’s going, “We want to give these folks that are working out at home something else they can do.” I think he also recognizes that those serious outdoor riders, they don’t want to hear that. They’re serious about the platform. That to them makes it feel like going into this playground world.

My perception of Zwift, and obviously it’s not my world, is that look down on a Peloton user.

We’re speaking in generalities. There are tons of people that use it, that don’t look down.

It was like, “This is the real way to ride a bike and the real way to bring your bike indoor when you don’t have a choice. If you want to be a soccer mom on a spin bike, that’s what Peloton is for.” It is a dangerous road for them to go down because they could end up alienating their core constituency.

You can hear the CEO trying to play that line in the interview. Not only with those folks, but he’s also trying to play the line with producers of those trainer devices. You’ll hear him in the interview, he’s going, “We’re not trying to eat into their space.” If you’re developing a bike, it stands to figure you’re going to want people to buy your bike. You hear him straddling that in the interview, which to me meant he really isn’t trying to eat into that. He just recognizes that Peloton, 75% of their revenue is hardware. Their margin is 45% on hardware. They’re making a killing on hardware and he’s going, “I’ve got to get a piece of this.” That’s what I hear.

I don’t know how it’s going to pan out, but I will say that I could see him getting some serious play. It depends how people take the education. There’s going to need to be a lot of education around it. I don’t know how that education will be taken in. If it’s a positive take on it, I think they’re going to sell a lot of these. If it’s a negative, then obviously they’re not. I don’t know how it’s going to go because the reviews aren’t out to see how people are using it and what they think of it. It will be interesting to see for sure.

There’s some dynamics in here with his community, with the third party that support them. We’ll see how that plays. This should be an interesting one. I can’t wait for their bike to come out.

It will be fun to watch. That’s it for this one, John. Until next time, where can people find you?

They can find me on Facebook in my Run, Lift and Live group or Run, Lift and Live page. They can find me on Instagram, @RunLiftAndLive or at RunLiftAndLive.com.

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Joining us is Dr. Jenn Mann, a licensed marriage, family and child therapist, sports psychology consultant. You may know her from VH1’s Couples Therapy with Dr. Jenn or VH1’s Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn or her long-running radio show, The Dr. Jenn Show on Sirius XM or her app, No More Diets, which you should check out, especially I’m sure a lot of people at the beginning of the year are trying to get re-situated. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Jenn.

It’s good to see you, guys.

It’s good to see you too.

We reached out to our audience within the group and said, “Do you have any questions for Dr. Jenn?” This was one of them and they said, “How can you set yourself up to not be frustrated by the stress of the holidays, eating more than you usually do and exercising less due to how busy it is? How do you not let yourself, I don’t either do that or get beat yourself up over having done that?”

There are a number of things that jump out at me right away. The first is that it’s important that we adjust our goals to the reality of our lives. Sometimes holiday week is the perfect time. I am very intense with my workouts. At this point, I built up slowly, but now I work out seven days a week. My rest day is an active rest day where I’m doing a walking treadmill class and a yoga class or a stretch class. I’m there with all of you. I also know that going at this pace for weeks and months, and even years on end without a break without saying, “This is going to be a lighter week for me. This is an opportunity to give my muscles a break. This is an opportunity for me to give my mind a break.” Sometimes, in order to avoid burnout, we need to adjust our workout schedule so that it’s a little bit lighter. Also mentally, sometimes we need a break. As much as we love our Peloton, we love our instructors and we live to see their smiling faces and their encouragement, at the same time, sometimes we need to take a little bit of a break. The holidays are a good time to do that.

It also is a time where we are working harder in terms of making more food. We’re cleaning up more. We’re dealing with more. We’re wrapping gifts, we’re ordering gifts. There’s a lot to deal with. We’ve got to give ourselves some room to adjust and to make some different goals when we know we’re having a more hectic week. Last week was a great example, Thanksgiving. I did a lot more cooking. Normally, I will stack my classes. I’ll do Core 5, 6 days a week. I’ll do lower body twice a week, upper body, three times a week, cardio for 30 minutes, tread and bike six days, then my active rest day. I was like, “I’m cooking all day long for Thanksgiving. If I’m lucky, I will get to do a twenty-minute Spin class.” I’ve got to live with that. I need to make that okay and say, “This is a great opportunity for me to have a little bit of a rest. It’s important that people adjust. I also think that it is important that we don’t beat ourselves up about it and not make unrealistic goals.

That’s tough to balance because many of us want everything to be perfect for the holidays especially, and there are many high expectations. We want to put more on our to-do list and not take anything off. How do we not beat ourselves up for not getting to it, especially because we’re eating more? Dr. Jenn, we’ve got to eat and work it all off.

We want the holidays to be perfect. Part of what makes it perfect is eating all the junk.

The other thing that makes it perfect is being emotionally present with our loved ones. We can’t be emotionally present when we’re obsessing about, “I didn’t do Robin’s Turkey Burn.” We’re not present because we’re obsessing about the exercise that we didn’t do, or the exercise we’re going to do. That pulls us away from the moment. I think now more than ever, we have to recognize how valuable these moments are and how valuable our lives are and our loved ones are more than ever. To address the part two of this question, which is the emotional eating aspect, that’s something that is a topic that’s near and dear to me. That is what I did my Doctoral dissertation on. I’ve talked to you guys about how I’m someone who’s recovered. I don’t say recovering because I have a wonderful, healthy relationship with food after a decade of an eating disorder that I never thought that I would ever be over in a million years.

You follow me on social media, you see all my Insta Stories. I’m eating pasta, I’m eating sweets, I’m eating salads, all kinds of foods and I’m working out. I’m somebody who feels really good about my body. It took me a lot of therapy and recovery to get here. One of the things that we know is that typically the more we restrict ourselves with food, the more out of control we tend to get with foods that we love. It’s like for every extreme on one end, there’s an extreme on the other. What I talk a lot about, and I have an app that’s based on my Doctoral dissertation and based on the therapy I do with people to help them overcome their food issues, anything from just, “I’m struggling with my weight,” to a full-blown eating disorder, obviously with adjunct therapy as well. My app is called No More Diets. It’s all about learning to listen to your body, learning how to eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re satisfied, not overly full.

I’m a big fan of what I call the hunger scale. The hunger scale is a scale from 0 to 10. Ten is the fullest you’ve ever been, your stomach is going to explode. It’s Thanksgiving full. You feel like you’re going to burst open. Zero is you’re about to eat because you’re so hungry. Five is neutral. What you want to do is eat when you’re a three, which is solidly hungry. If you’re not sure, “I think I’m hungry, but I’m not sure,” you’re probably a four. If you’re starting to get physical symptoms like you’re light headed, your stomach is growling, you’re probably a two. You will let yourself get too hungry. If you’re starting to feel nauseous and really terrible, you’re probably a one.

On the other side of that, five being neutral, six is, “I can tell I’ve got food in my stomach, but I have to run down the block if I had to. Seven is, “I’m full.” Eight is, “I’m stuffed.” Nine is, “I am physically in pain. I’ve eaten so much.” What we want to do is we want to eat when we’re a three, because at three means our body is saying, “I need food. I need fuel. I’m hungry.” Also keep in mind, food tastes better when we’re hungry. When we eat when we’re not hungry, it isn’t as good of an experience. It’s also harder to know when to stop because we’re not satisfying anything physically. We’re eating usually for emotional reasons or because it tastes good. What we want to do is we want to stop when we’re more like a 5 or a 6, so neutral, “I can tell I’ve got food in my stomach, but I’m not full. I’m not uncomfortable, I’m not in pain.” When we are able to have a healthier relationship with food, understand that this is a process. If you’re someone who has deprived themselves of food a lot and then gets out of control, this is a lengthy process, which is the whole reason why I made my No More Diets app. I want people to be able to go through that process, which is a timely process that if you’re looking for quick weight loss, this isn’t the app for you. If you’re looking to heal your relationship with food and feel good about your body, it’s the app for you.

That sounds like a better long-term plan.

I’m living proof of it. I am probably 50 pounds thinner than I was when I was struggling with food and depriving myself of stuff and over-exercising and under-exercising and in hell mentally. Now, I have a healthy relationship with food and I eat what I want and I stop when I’m satisfied. I have a nice balance.

Thank you for all that. Until next week, where can people find you?

People can find me on social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, @DrJennMann.

Thank you.

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There was a last-minute cancellation of all live classes.

It’s all live classes at the New York studio. The general consensus was that it was probably a COVID case and they needed to clean the studio. However, there was no mention of that from Peloton. I have no idea if that was it. It could have been like an electrical issue or a water issue, and that has certainly closed the studio before. In this time of COVID, that’s where everybody’s mind goes obviously. Some of the classes showed up on Sunday and some did not. We have all these other classes we can take, so it’s not a huge deal. I’m glad it happened on Saturday and not Thursday completely selfishly, just because there were many classes happening from Thanksgiving. That’s a big day that when you’re home and you get to take the big Turkey Burn and all that. I was glad that didn’t get affected. It’s totally selfish on my part.

—

Vogue UK had article. They had a conversation with Cody Rigsby, Peloton’s King of Quarantine.

I think it’s great that Cody is getting some recognition. You don’t see a lot of Cody articles, so this is awesome. I don’t know how he became the King of Quarantine. There are many of our instructors that I don’t know why they picked him specifically to be called the King of Quarantine. Regardless, it’s a great article and you can read it and then find out more about Cody and his background, which is always interesting. I say that every time we do one of these. I love hearing where the instructors came from, how they ended up at Peloton, how they went from, in his case, dance over to the Peloton life. It’s fascinating. If you’re curious about those details, you definitely need to check that out.

Popsugar had an article about Five Trays That Will Transform Your Stationary Bike.

I thought this was interesting because we had for a little while, one of our advertisers was the Spintray. It’s a great tray that fits on the bike. I think it fits just fine on the Bike+ but there are people that say it doesn’t. Anyway, there are these other options. I thought that this was good to let people know is out there because this is another great Christmas gift idea or holiday gift idea. If you’re looking for something to add to somebody’s bike like, “What can I get for my spouse who loves Peloton?”

Maybe you’re not comfortable buying clothes because you don’t know what to fit or what they like, there are many choices or they sell out so fast.

You’ve got to buy it for yourself if you want to get it.

Forward.com had an article about Peloton, an opinion piece, a letter from the editor no less, “Go ahead and call it a cult, I’m grateful for Peloton.” I love the slug line for their thing, “Forward, Jewish, Fearless since 1897.” I think Jews have been fearless a lot longer than 1897.

The editor talked about all kinds of how much they love Peloton, but specifically they talked about their Sundays with Love, Ally Love, the classes. They talked about how much they like them. I thought it was a good thing to touch on. You don’t hear a lot of articles that talk about one instructor and their special class that they have. I find that interesting to see what resonates with people. Those Sundays with Love classes have taken off people or nutso about it, and I mean that in a good way. That’s the very first class we had that had clothing for it. Cody’s XOXO class came out just before that, but maybe it was just right after. I can’t remember. It’s all been so recent. I buy all the things, I don’t know. Anyway, I thought this was nice. It talks about the gratitude that she has for Ally Love and of course her Peloton. Definitely check this article out. It was a really well-written article. I know it was an opinion piece. I don’t know if that technically is an article, it was a good one though.

Another piece, we’re starting to see more of this, but LinkedIn had an article, Can Peloton and Zoom keep momentum?

This was interesting to me because this article was a collection of articles. They pulled in several different pieces that have come out like from CNBC, the Motley Fool. They talked about different people’s opinions. It was almost like a compare and contrast like, “Here’s why, here’s the for, here’s the against.” Each of these is a link to different articles, and that’s how it was. It was one article but when you click on it, it’s all these different articles. It’s a unique way to pull all these different opinions together.

It’s a roundup.

—

TMZ is reporting. I always feel weird saying that because whenever I say it, it’s almost always somebody died. They’re good about finding out quickly when somebody died. This isn’t about somebody dying. This is about Pitbull, who is most assuredly alive, he donated the CLMBR equipment, which is like Peloton but for climbing.

This is interesting for a few reasons. Jay-Z is involved in this and that is fascinating because as we know, Beyonce just had her big collaboration with Peloton. Jay-Z is involved with this CLMBR, I guess he is one of the backers of it. It looks like they’re going to give access in the actual equipment. It’s very similar to what Peloton just did. For those of you that don’t know what a CLMBR is, it’s this standalone machine that you literally climb. It has classes. I’ve got to be honest. I love technology and I do not understand the point of this at all. This is ginormous.

The thing is as you climb, it’s almost like a treadmill ladder?

Yes, and I have no interest in doing that. Props to them for doing something freaking different. It was not another bike. It’s not another treadmill. They did something different, so props to them for that. I’m not even saying I wouldn’t enjoy it if I used it. Climbing a ladder sounds painful.

Perceptually, it seems like there will be a very limited amount of things that you could do on it.

How are you having all these classes? There are only so many ways you can climb.

Maybe they could sell an attachment that you can put at top and while you’re up there, you could clean gutters. You could have fake gutters to clean when you get to the top.

I don’t know, and I am genuinely curious how they are going to do this because there’s so much interest in it and that surprises me too. Jay-Z and Beyonce are not dumb people. They are very savvy business people. I feel like there’s more to this than meets the eye. I am curious about it, but first sight, I don’t get it. I do not understand this. We’ll see how that lands. It’s also weird that it feels very similar to what Peloton did. We’ll see CLMBR in general. Good for them for donating regardless, that’s still a great thing.

The Turkey Burn ride happened this week.

There were two on Thursday. One was early in the morning, 7:00 AM with Alex. I am laughing for those of you who are not watching the YouTube because Tom has acquired a picture of a Turkey riding a Peloton, and it is really funny.

That’s what I do.

There were two. Alex had one, first thing in the morning, it was 7:00 AM our time. There were 35,000 people on it live. Then Robin did one that was 10:00 Central time, there were 50,000 people on it live. That’s crazy because it was only two years ago that it had a record-breaking ride of 25,000 people. Without even trying, they had 35,000 and 50,000 together in one day. That’s just wow. I didn’t take the Alex ride because I wasn’t going to take two Turkey Burn rides. I also was not going to get up at 6:00 AM to take a ride. I took the Robin ride and it was great. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about the Alex ride as well. During the class, because remember Robin is pregnant, she did an amazing shout-out. She shouted out for this woman who is going to be a grandma. She informed her on the ride that she was going to be a grandma. It was very cool. Shelly Brunick is the grandma to be, and her daughter, Ashley, is the soon to be mom. I thought that was really cool. Shelly posted on the OPP, and it had over 18,000 likes. I got a little teary when it happened. Robin is about to be a mom and she’s dealt with the whole, how difficult it’s been to be a mom. It was a very powerful moment. Also, tons of high-fives. There were many high-fives, I could barely pedal. It was insane. I think I was following 400 or 500 people on that ride, which I think that was a record for me. Also Andrea Barber, I got two high-fives from her. It made my day.

Kendall had another Movie Buff ride. What’s a movie without a sequel? Movie Buff Part Two.

It was all about the ‘80s. I haven’t gotten to take this one yet because stupid meetings, stupid work.

Did she do the entire ride, holding the Peloton over her head while we were in a trench coat?

I don’t know because I haven’t gotten to take it, but I don’t think so. I think it was a whole host of these music or movies. I don’t know which one she hit yet, but I can’t wait to find out. This is on my must-take list. If anybody out there took it, I want to hear all the details. It aired on Monday, 11/30.

There are new Bike Bootcamp On-demand classes that have dropped.

That’s not what it says.

What does it say?

It’s a new instructor for the Bike Bootcamp Classes. Tunde has been added to the roster.

I didn’t know how to read it because I’m like Tunde is already an instructor, that’s not new.

She is, but she is not an instructor for the Bike Bootcamps. That’s what it was trying to say. If you had read any of my posts, you would have known this already. We know how much he follows me on Facebook. This is big news because Robin is one of the instructors for Bike Bootcamps. I believe this is phase one of getting ready for her to be on maternity leave. Also, I hope that this means Tunde will be doing Bike Bootcamps for the long-term because everybody I know wants her arms. Everybody talks about her arms a lot. She’s going to be doing the Bike Bootcamps, which means she’s going to kick our asses. This is amazing. On 12/02, an on-demand class dropped at 10:00 AM Eastern and there are also live classes that are coming up on the schedule, so big news.

Then there is a rumor that by the time you’re reading this, there will have been a new boutique drop, and it will be sold out. I’m sure by the time you read this, it’ll be gone, so I don’t know why we’re talking about this at all.

This is where you go to know the things. Besides I said rumor, so I don’t know that’s what’s going to happen, but it’s supposed to hit Thursday morning.

That’s also why it’s important to join the group, follow you on Instagram, things like that because when those things happen, you post them there and people can get it right away.

When I hear these rumors, I’d like to share it with people because I want everybody to get as much clothing as they can. I want them to be happy. I want them to get the Peloton apparel. That’s the news. I can’t wait to see what it’s going to be. I can’t wait to buy some things.

—

Finally, we have a birthday that we missed, which was Jenn Sherman, whose birthday was the day that we’re recording.

That’s why it got missed because last week was too far ahead. December 2nd, happy birthday to Jenn Sherman.

Tunde’s is coming up on December 5th.

Join her live for one of her brand-new Bike Bootcamp classes. She will be excited, and you can celebrate her birthday with her since she celebrates our milestones with us.

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Joining us is Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, an internationally celebrated Peloton yoga teacher-scholar and Lululemon Global ambassador who founded Yoga, Literature & Art Camp at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2014 after receiving her doctorate and educational studies from Emory University.

Thank you, Tom and Crystal, for having me.

That leads us to our first question that I know a lot of people have. What do we call you?

People are calling me Dr. Chelsea. I have not requested that but I think it’s sweet. You can call me Chelsea.

Our readers put a lot of these questions together. One question that we saw over and over was in your classes, you have this energy and light that you managed to bring to classes. It makes them accessible. Whether it’s advanced or it’s a beginner class, they’re still accessible for all levels. How do you do that?

First of all, I appreciate that acknowledgment. I do work hard and deliberately to make my classes accessible. I think about myself. When I first stepped into a hot yoga class, I fainted. Once I came back, I was like, “That was intense. I wanted to go back.” That’s my personality. I wanted to go back for some more. I think about the insecurity and the self-doubt of like, “Am I doing it right? Do I have the right body type for this? Do people think that I even need to be here?” I keep that person in the back of my mind whenever I teach. I’m a former school teacher, I taught third-grade in Atlanta, Georgia. I think about my students and I think about how I can capture the attention of a third-grader, of an 8 or 9-year-old right now. That’s what I bring to the yoga mat. I’m glad that it’s resonating with people out there.

It is working.

That’s impressive that the first time you fainted and now you run that. I rode a motorcycle once, crashed into a tree. I do not teach a motorcycle class.

I understand that, but yoga was a little different. I also started to not go to the hot yoga classes all the time. I got a fuller and wider expanse of understanding of what yoga could be.

You start with lukewarm yoga and work your way up. What made you bridge the gap from taking a class to teaching it?

When I was starting my yoga practice, I had graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. I lived in New York. I was in graduate school at Teachers College, Columbia University. That’s where I did my Master’s program in Education. It was during that time that I started the transition and I wanted to give yoga a try. I moved back to Atlanta, I became a school teacher, and during that time, I was simultaneously going to yoga teacher training while I was a school teacher. It was a no-brainer for me. I’m seeing these connections. I feel more relaxed and grounded whenever I would come from school and do my yoga practice. The wheels started turning and I was like, “What would happen if I started to introduce this to my students?”

I was at a title one school where the majority of the students are below the poverty line. There were a lot of issues in the classroom. I thought, “What if we integrated breathing, movement, and all of these different things?” That’s where I started to see the connections. After teaching for over seven years, I decided to apply that program at Emory. I got this fellowship and it was a five-year program. I said, “Why not continue what I’ve already started?” That’s how I started my PhD work and made that connection.

I’m interested because I don’t know much about the world of yoga. You have gone to some very prestigious educational facilities, which have price tags attached to them. Is yoga a career path that says, “I can pay off my student loans?”

Absolutely not. You and my father would have a great conversation. He is not understanding any of this. He was like, “You’ve got a PhD and now you’re teaching yoga? I don’t get it.” I had to break it down to Frank Jackson really quick. I knew that I had already invested time, money, energy in education. I knew that I had to continue that trajectory, whether it was being a school teacher or getting into the tenure track positions in universities. I knew that there was something about this practice of yoga, and my dissertation in particular focused on how black women and brown women could work in the community with younger women who self-identified as women of color, and how yoga could be used as a tool to understand, how to learn and process learning.

I started to make those connections and I said, “I’m not going to abandon that investment in my education. I’m going to make this connection.” That’s how the path happened. I have also experienced being a yoga teacher in a studio. It’s a challenge to make ends meet as a yoga teacher and things are changing now. I’m grateful to be at Peloton to be able to have this platform to share yoga at such a wide expansive range.

Now that you’re at Peloton, have you taken time to rub your dad’s face in it?

All the covers of Yoga Journal magazine are placed around the house. I have my mother doing that.

During the intro, when Tom was introducing you, he said that you had founded the Yoga, Literature & Art Camp at Spelman College. How did that come to be? It sounds like it was very organic, but I’m curious to hear the origin story.

That was my dissertation. I did a case study. I’m an ethnographer by research. That means that I studied the culture of how we learn and how people communicate. I look at yoga as a culture, as a way of learning and understanding. That’s how I arrived to, “What if we have this case study?” I went back to my home, Spelman College. They opened the doors for me to have this test. I was like, “They trust me and the parents trust me with their children. This is amazing.” I had this case study. I called up some certified yoga teachers who I knew in the community, one of my closest friends, Octavia Raheem, she’s also a former educator. We co-directed this case study and I was the researcher on it.

I’m done with the case study and my dissertation. I’m getting ready to apply for tenure track positions. The children who were a part of the case study, their parents, families, and friends started writing us emails asking, “When is the next camp going to be?” This was supposed to be a one-time thing that I was doing my dissertation on. They made that happen. I told my husband, “What am I going to do?” He said, “What do you want to do?” He supported me every step of the way. We founded Yoga, Literature & Art Camp in 2013. He said, “We need to have some sustainable way to make sure that we can fund this.” That’s when we started our nonprofit Red Clay Yoga in 2014. It’s still going strong in Atlanta. We have a community of educators, researchers, yoga teachers who are continuing the work that we started during my dissertation.

What’s the significance of Red Clay? I feel like that means something.

If you’ve ever been to Georgia or the South, you may notice that the dirt is red. We wanted to go back to our roots. My family’s origins are in the South, Mississippi, Nashville, Tennessee, and Shane’s family are from Louisiana. It was like, “Let’s represent the Red Clay.” It stuck and here we are.

Someone commented that you talk in your class sometimes about getting curious. They were wondering what you’re curious about these days.

I’m curious to see what happens if people who think that yoga is not for them step into that and get curious about why they think yoga is not for them. That was one of my processes that I had to go through. I interrogated a lot of different systems, and even in the yoga class where I’m supposed to be thin and getting all of society out of my mind. I couldn’t help it because my experience wasn’t separate from what I was experiencing out in the world as a black woman. When I would go into the yoga studio, sometimes people would make assumptions that I had never practiced yoga before.

I was a certified yoga teacher, even when teaching yoga in festivals and conferences, people would still question if I was the master teacher. Those are the things that I’m not blaming the person who doesn’t think yoga is for them. I’m more so asking the question of why. When we began to merge that with this practice of yoga, which yoga by definition means to join, to yoke, it means union, then we cannot compartmentalize how we see ourselves show up in the practice with how we see ourselves show up in the world. I’m interested to see what would happen if people thought that, “No, yoga is not for me.” What happens if they step into it and give it a try?

It’s interesting you say that because one of the questions that we had for you is people have tried yoga a few times and it didn’t work. What made you fall in love with yoga? Why did it click for you?

It wasn’t love at first sight. After all, I fainted in my first class. Maybe I need to go to some therapy to figure out why I am drawn to this now. I was in this hot yoga class and we had these mirrors all around us. I remember the hardest thing was for me to look at myself in the mirror for whatever reason, what I was going through at that point in my life. It was hard for me to look at myself. It was once I started looking at myself that I started to fall in love with the practice. I had an aversion to embracing the body that I was in or that I currently am in now because it’s the same body. I had these thoughts that were imposed by society about what I thought I should look like to even step into some yoga pants or whatever it may have been.

For me, the yoga started working once I started to see that the yoga is about me understanding who Chelsea is, and all of the things that it has accumulated in my body, that my body will remember even if my mind tells me, “I wasn’t impacted by that thing. That thing didn’t bother me.” The more that I started to center and honor my experiences, that’s what made me fall in love with the practice more. It’s not all rainbows and cupcakes all the time. There are times where I’m like, “Do I need to get on this mat? Yes. You need to get on the mat.”

When your body is telling you, “No, we don’t need this right now,” give it a try and not feeling like you have to be super critical if you’re not busting out of handstands every single class. Allow yourself to breathe. I know that that’s what I want to articulate with yoga. I think it’s beautiful. The practices, postures, and shapes. Also, I want people to know that yoga is not just about the shapes. It’s about being in your body, breathing and allowing yourself to be present. For me, that was the hardest and the scariest part initially to get through, to be with myself.

How do you know if you’re meditating or you’re just thinking when your eyes are closed? I feel like you have a good sense of this based on your last answer.

There are moments where I’m still trying to figure out, “Chelsea, what is on your mind that you cannot focus on the breath?” The biggest practice and lesson that I’m learning is that if I’m allowing myself to listen to the breath as it moves in and out of me. That’s a form of meditation. I also don’t have to meditate for twenty minutes for it to count. Perhaps, I get two minutes in of being present to my breath. I tell people, “If you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, sit back. Even if you got 30 seconds, close your eyes, take a deep breath.” I have my Apple Watch on now. I love the breathing reminder. That’s meditation. I want people to know that it doesn’t have to be this profound expression.

We don’t have to go to the Himalayas and be ordained monks in order to meditate. Meditation happens for some people when they’re on the bike, tread or strength class, but more than anything, meditation is one point of focus. For me, that’s the breath. When you practice with us in our meditation classes, you’ll often hear us, “Use the breath or visualization as a tool.” It’s not being critical or not taking yourself seriously. I know that’s hard to do, but if third graders can meditate, I’m pretty sure that we’re capable. That’s a tall order because third graders also don’t have all of the accumulation that we’ve had over a lifetime to think about. If those thoughts pop in, you breathe in, exhale, “Not now.” As simple as that.

It’s funny because I think many Peloton owners are with type-A personalities. We’re all about, “I must ace that. I must do that.” We get in our own heads when it comes to meditation and yoga.

Have you ever seen a yoga teacher fold a yoga blanket? We are some intense people. Our folding yoga blankets is an art. It’s like origami. I’m like, “Why are we intense about this?” We do the same thing. That is what I’m working on as well through my yoga practice. As you can see, I’m serious about education. I’m doing my homework out there and making sure everything is done. Yoga also brings in this playfulness for me as well to balance it out. If you are that type-A personality and you want to free up a little bit, take that Beyonce yoga class. There’s a range throughout this practice that I’m in love with.

I would think that as a Spelman graduate, this collaboration has to have some special meaning for you. Could you talk about that some?

First of all, when I gathered myself off the floor when I found out that this was happening like, “Come on, Beyoncé?” Then Spelman College, and many other HBC Youth, historically black colleges and universities, that was an absolute dream come true. To be a Peloton yoga and meditation instructor at this time is like, “What did I do to deserve this place in life?” It meant the world to me to be seen in that way to have our story elevated. A lot of people aren’t familiar with why HBC Youth even exists. I think that Peloton and Beyoncé made it very clear. That was a moment that’s going to last forever. People are still buzzing about it. I still pop into my Beyoncé yoga class. There are at least 100 people practicing. Anytime that I go on there, people are excited and it meant so much to the HBC Youth students who received those two years subscriptions and memberships.

I saw some stuff on Twitter of one of the recipients and it was great to see how visibly moved she was by it.

When you think about 2020 in general, some of the students are having one of the most transformative experiences of their lives, whether they weren’t able to walk and graduate or they’re starting their freshman year. What a nice way to extend like, “We see you and we’re here to support you. We’re here to bring you into the community.” That’s what I love about this partnership.

A large part of going to college is that community experience and networking capabilities. As much as that’s true for college in general, I feel like it’s doubly true for HBC Youth. To have that stolen from you would have to be beyond frustrating.

We’re made up for it.

In all the different work that you’ve done in education and with your foundation, have there been any moments that you’ve worked with young adults that have stood out to you that are super memorable?

I remember our administrative chief who’s about to be graduated to co-director, Chloe Blackmon. Chloe found me when she was a high school senior. She found me on Instagram many years ago and she knew about me. I’ve been on the cover of Yoga Journal. She wrote to me. I was like, “Who’s this sweet girl?” She was like, “I’m on my way to Spelman College. I would love to volunteer with you at your camp.” I was like, “There’s something about her.” This young woman has now become a certified yoga teacher. She graduated from Spelman College, finished her Master’s and now she is legitimately running Yoga, Literature & Art Camp since Shane and I have moved here to New York.

That moment right there was like, “This is what it was for. It was to mentor young women. It’s to mentor and remind them that there is something here for them once they get here to see themselves in leadership positions.” That’s what Spelman did for me. It was normal for me to see a black woman as a president of a college or to see a dean and all of these leaders. Those moments where I see the young women who have matriculated through the program, and have now become certified yoga teachers and graduating from college, those are the moments for me.

That’s powerful. What a legacy that you’re creating.

I think of yoga as an industry as being a fairly white space. Did you have any challenges coming up through the system as you were developing your own style of instructing?

In the Western world in particular, it is very much dominated. If you google yoga and images, you’ll see exactly what we’re talking about. The point of where I was headlining a conference one year and someone walked in and thought that I was in there to clean the room. These are the moments that we have as black people walking in this world. It was huge for me to always remember where I’m from. I’ll never forget where I’m from. I’m from Dayton, Ohio. My granny is 95 years old, still thriving, and driving. I remember what she has gone through. She was born in the ‘20s and experienced the Great Depression. She experienced Jim Crow segregation. She’s from Nashville, Tennessee.

How dare I not continue to walk in that legacy? Anytime that I get an opportunity or any time that I have to do a call-out on where I see inequities or someone being marginalized, regardless if it is race, gender or ageism, I have to speak up. That is the commitment that I made when I stepped into this role of being such a visible yoga teacher. It was tough. I remind people that yoga spaces and communities are still made up of the people who make up this world.

Although there are so much joy and beauty in this world, there is also a lot of pain and suffering. I’ve experienced harm in yoga spaces specifically because I am a black woman. It’s my work and my commitment to always open the doors for people who may not have the opportunities, to always remember that my path is a prologue to what I’m experiencing now, and to always remember that future and those young women who are coming. It’s been challenging, but the reward on the other side when I’m afraid to speak my truth is more than that fear.

How do you balance yoga with more hard-hitting exercises like cardio and weights?

They are complementary. I feel like they support each other. I can hold a plank for at least five minutes. Now, I have to prove it and put it on Instagram and tag you all. I know that my yoga practice supports how I show up in a strength class or even my endurance on the bike and vice versa. How I was saying that I can be a bit type-A at times. I feel like when I get on the bike with any instructor, I’m allowing myself to show up fully. I see the complementary pieces and I hope that members if they haven’t given yoga a try, we have a spectacular roster of yogis and meditators who bring it. It’s a complement.

How do you know what is an appropriate amount of each exercise to put in? I’m always worried about trying to stay on the thinner side. I feel like I’ve got to burn a lot of calories and yoga doesn’t necessarily burn a lot of calories, but it does the strengthening because you’re holding the poses. What’s a good way to integrate that from a timing standpoint?

Start out with a meditation. We have five-minute meditations so that you can be attuned to what your body needs. That’s when I quiet myself. I can say, “Chelsea, what do you need now?” It may be a vigorous workout or it maybe, “I’ll just coast here a little bit.” My yoga practice makes me more aware of what else I need or if I’m going too far. I don’t want to harm myself because then that puts me out of the game for a while. We are burning a lot of calories in yoga, like both power yoga classes and sun salutations over and over. Knowing that it’s a different way that it hits. It hits different when you are in a yoga practice. Use your yoga and meditation practice as a check-in even for your other workout modalities.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day. Before we go, in case people aren’t aware, where can they find all of your stuff?

On Peloton, I’m offering yoga and meditation. Also on social, I am @ChelseaLovesYoga. Thank you both.

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That brings this one to a close. What pray tell do you have in store for people next week?

We are going to talk to Elijah Winfrey.

Until then, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook.com/CrystalDOKeefe. They can find me on Instagram, Twitter on the Bike and of course the Tread, @ClipOutCrystal.

You can find me on Twitter, @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TomOKeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page, join the group. Don’t’ forget our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/theclipout. You can subscribe to us over there as well so you can watch these shows and all the images we share throughout like pictures of a turkey on a Peloton. It’s very exciting. That’s it for this one. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep pedaling and running.

About Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts

Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts is an internationally celebrated Peloton yoga teacher, scholar, and lululemon global ambassador who is highly regarded as a leader in a new generation of yogis who are passionate about expanding the visibility of who is commonly seen as Teacher. Chelsea brings her deep Midwest roots to the mat with a style of yoga that is accessible to all bodies and levels of skill.

Chelsea has graced the cover of Yoga Journal twice and has been featured in countless media outlets that have highlighted her unique ability to articulate her love for yoga and meditation through service.

Widely recognized for her work with yoga and teens, and making connections between literacy development, storytelling, and yoga, Chelsea founded Yoga, Literature, and Art Camp at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2014 after receiving her doctorate in Educational Studies from Emory University.

Chelsea  has toured the world as global yoga ambassador for lululemon and advocated for local communities as founder of Red Clay Yoga and faculty member of Off the Mat, Into the World.

Since 2002, Chelsea has honed her style of yoga that blends contemporary hip-hop, electronic, and R&B with asana. An expert in slow-flow and restorative yoga, Chelsea prides herself in creating classes that leave her students with a strong sense of belonging and accomplishment.

Chelsea’s smile is infectious and her patient yet inspirational tone adds to her magic, a spell that deepens connections and calls her students into action.

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