When I first heard there were Peloton meditation classes, I thought I’d hate them. I was wrong.
Previously, when I’d tried other kinds of meditation classes, I always found myself fidgeting and feeling uncomfortable. There were a number of reasons I felt this way.
One, I was trying to force myself to sit in a “traditional” meditation way. Two, I expected that my mind had to become completely blank for a meditation to succeed. And three, I thought you had to do meditation for a long time with each sitting. Again, I was so wrong.
Why I love the Peloton meditation classes
One of the reasons I’ve grown to love the Peloton meditation classes is because, for me, they are so out of the box. Sure, there are classes that have the instructor sitting up in an easy seat. However, they make it clear that you do not have to sit like them. In fact, they encourage you to find a comfortable way to “be” so you can stay focused on the meditation practice. For me that’s lying down.
Also, it’s a reminder that meditation, like yoga, is a practice. That is, you’re always practicing to get better at what you’re doing. You’re not expected to achieve perfection. It’s like my favorite quote from non-meditation instructor Selena Samuela: “Progress not perfection.” I know other Peloton teachers share these words of wisdom, too.
Anyway, I decided to write this review of Peloton meditation classes, because maybe you’ve been hesitant to try them. So, I’ll outline which kind of classes you can expect to find on the app, who teaches them and anything else I think you need to know.
What kind of meditation classes does Peloton offer
I’ll be honest with you–I primarily take sleep meditation classes. That’s because I have anxiety, and it’s hard for my racing mind to quiet down at night. Falling asleep and staying asleep is an ongoing challenge for me.
Just last night at bedtime I took a 15-minute sleep meditation with Aditi Shah. She uses a couple of different formats for her sleep meditations. Thankfully, last night’s class was my favorite.
That is, she has you go through answering three questions for yourself. One, what could I have improved upon today? Two, did I have a hero moment today? What went well? And, three, what am I grateful for.
Some nights I’ll have a long laundry list of answers for these sleep meditation queries. Others, I might struggle to come up with a single answer. But doing this deep probing questioning is designed to purge your mind of any worries or anxiety from the mind. And it works.
Not just sleep meditation on the Peloton app
Obviously, I like the sleep meditation classes that Peloton offers. But they’re not the only Peloton meditation options. You can also take meditation classes that focus on other outcomes.
In the app you can filter by:
- Mindfulness
- Relax and sleep
- Fitness
- Emotions
- Beyond the Pose
- Breathwork
- Meditation Basics
- Meditation Anywhere
- Zen in Ten
- Audio Only
The meditation classes within these filters might vary from healing meditations to energizing meditations to calming meditations. Some meditations are designed to be a “reset” for your day, such as Zen in Ten. Here is how Peloton describes these classes:
“This 10-minute meditation is meant to help you take a pause and reset during your busy day. It doesn’t matter where you are, at work, school or home, take 10 minutes to cultivate an inner focus.”
Where to find family meditation classes on Peloton
There are even family meditations. However, they are harder to find these days.
Previously, Family was one of the options in the Peloton app for sorting classes by theme. However, the Family option is gone.
Therefore, I had to use the Search feature on the website to find some of the Family Meditation classes. And even then the results weren’t perfect. Hey, Peloton, bring back Family as an option in the app filter.
Access meditation classes through programs and collections
One of the Peloton Programs is called the Power of Sleep. It includes 15 classes over two weeks. It is the only program, per se, on Peloton that focuses exclusively on meditating.
When Peloton originally debuted the Power of Sleep, I took it. At that time, you could follow programs like the Power of Sleep at your own pace. Now, programs have a rigid format that you must follow in order to complete them.
So, I did the Power of Sleep again. It goes over two weeks, and it works. Literally, the last night, during my last class, I fell asleep in the middle of class. I awoke in the middle of the night to find my earbuds still in my ears. The sleep meditation program is that good.
What is the Power of Sleep meditation program on Peloton
Here is how Peloton describes the Power of Sleep program:
“Learn how meditation can be a tool to promote relaxation and pave the way to better sleep. When you meditate before bed, over time, you can fall asleep sooner, sleep deeper, and feel more rested when you wake up.”
While all of the original yoga instructors (Anna Greenberg, Kristin McGree, Ross Rayburn and Aditi Shah) lead at least one class in the Power of Sleep meditation program, Aditi and Ross, shown below, are leading most of them.
Meditation collection classes
On the other hand, you can find meditation classes through the collections section on the app. This includes the following collections:
- Made for Travel Collection, which Peloton designed with Delta Airlines. These are the classes you can access from the seat back of an airplane, which I wrote about in this article about Peloton and travel.
- Peloton Family Collection, which includes yoga and meditation classes from Kristin McGee
- Peace Meditations Collection
- Gratitude Week Collection
- Stacking Stuffers Collection
- Women’s History Month Collection
- Breathe In, Speak Up with Chelsea Jackson Roberts leading some meditation classes
- Cultivate Inner Calm, which is all guided meditations
The biggest drawback of using Collections to find these Peloton meditation classes? There is no way to filter within a collection for a specific kind of class or a specific instructor. I wish Peloton would add this functionality. So basically you have to keep scrolling until you find the meditation class you want to take.
Length of meditation classes
Like all of the Peloton classes, you’ll find meditation classes in a variety of lengths. Currently, your options are:
- 5 minutes
- 10 minutes
- 15 minutes
- 20 minutes
- 30 minutes
The most popular, if you will, length is the 10-minute classes. There are literally thousands to choose from.
Who teaches meditations
Not surprisingly, the same Peloton instructors that teach yoga also teach meditation. However, there are some non-yoga teachers leading meditations, too.
Here is the alphabetical list of which Peloton instructors guide meditation classes
- Mariana Fernandez
- Anna Greenberg
- Kristin McGee
- Kirra Michel
- Denis Morton
- Ross Rayburn
- Cody Rigsby
- Chelsea Jackson Roberts
- Nico Sarani
- Aditi Shah
FYI, on the app, instructors are listed in alphabetical order by first name. I’m a traditionalist so I’ve listed them here in alphabetical order by last name.
Meditations in languages other than English
Since Peloton brought on multilingual yoga instructors, they’ve recorded meditations, too. So, for example, Mariana Fernandez teaches yoga in Spanish and English. And now she offers 35 meditation classes. All of them are meditation classes in Spanish.
In addition, Peloton instructor Nico Sarani teaches yoga in German. Well, now she’s teaching meditation in German, too. Currently, there are 31 German language Peloton meditation classes on the app.
Best Peloton meditation instructors
I think telling you who I think the best Peloton meditation instructors are is so subjective. Because what I like in meditating may not be what you like in meditating.
But here’s what I can tell you: my favorite meditation instructors align with my favorite Peloton yoga instructors. So that would be Aditi, Anna and Ross.
Truthfully, I’d add Denis to that list, too. However, he only recently started recording meditation classes. And right now they’re all breathwork classes. I’m not really interested in doing breathwork.
So, overall I would say this: when you’re ready to take meditation, take a class with an instructor you already know and like. I’m guessing this will make it more likely you will enjoy the experience overall.
Benefits of taking meditation classes
Of course, there are mental and psychological benefits of taking meditation classes. As I mentioned, I have anxiety, and listening to a Peloton meditation class before bed helps to calm my mind.
However, there are other, more superficial benefits, too. One, you can use a simple five-minute meditation to earn a blue dot and therefore keep your Peloton streak going. Two, you can earn badges for taking meditation classes.
Granted, there is no Peloton meditation badge per se. However, if you take the classes as part of some of the themed collections I’d mentioned above, such as Women’s History Month or Stacking Stuffers, then you’ll get that theme badge.
Here is my post that explains Peloton badges.
And three, meditation classes count towards your milestones. In fact, I know plenty of people who reached their century class–that’s 100 classes–in meditation before reaching their century ride on the bike. If you have the Peloton hardware and get your first 100th class in meditation, for example, you will get your Century shirt.
Here is my article about Peloton milestones.
Final thoughts on Peloton meditation classes
You may be skeptical that Peloton meditation can help calm your mind, go to sleep or deal with your anxiety. I know I was. However, now I’m a convert. I’ll listen to a meditation class whenever I need to calm down or regroup.
Also, I’ve discovered some incredible music through these meditations. Previously, my go to music for relaxing was Enya. However, in many of Aditi’s earlier classes she would play a piece of music called Divine Intervention by Eskimotion.
Now, this music has become almost Pavlovian for me. If I were to listen to it outside of a meditation class–it’s on Spotify as well as Amazon Music–I find myself falling asleep within five minutes.