Photo: Peloton
Ed Sheeranhas learned to prioritize his mental health.
Taking time for himself and talking to others helped the singer-songwriter get through 2022, which was a tough year: Hiswife Cherry Seabornwas diagnosed with cancer while she was pregnant with their second child.
Now he is partnering with Peloton to offer its first-ever series of Outdoor Walks featuring original audio content from his latest albumSubtract. Through the immersive storytelling experience, members will be able to hear dialogue from Sheeran as they move through his music.
Timed to May’s Mental Health Awareness Month, the audio collaboration features Sheeran chatting with Peloton instructorJon Hoskingfor mindful, low-impact outdoor walks.
In the class “30-minute Ed Sheeran Outdoor Walk,” Sheeran talks about the declining stigma surrounding men and mental health. “I feel like, in the last few years, people are just a bit more open about talking about things, just because you’re not getting the embarrassment of it,” he says in the Peloton class. “Because people are willing to listen, you don’t feel like you’re putting yourself out there as much.”
At the halfway point, Hosking asks Sheeran, 32, how it felt to write such a personal album likeSubtractthat then goes public.
“I think it’s mad weird putting it out, because suddenly, like, strangers know stuff that you’ve been dealing with privately,” Sheeran says.
“The thing I’ve realized from writingSubtractis that everyone is going through something at some point and everyone has something that they’re dealing with and they just don’t talk about. All the subjects on this album, me and my family sort of dealt with them as a family. You don’t go on social media and go ‘Hey guys, this is happening this week, isn’t this hard?’ But putting it into songs somehow makes it palatable.”
“It’s a raw, odd experience putting something out there and not knowing how it’s going to react,” Sheeran continues. “Lots of strangers know my business and I think it’s good because now it’s making them talk to each other.”
Peloton’s Hosking says that he also relies on walking to improve his mood when he’s facing challenges. “I struggle to find a healthy head space. Sometimes when I’m inside in the same environment I’ve been in all day, being outside and just escaping for that moment, I come up with more creative ideas and solutions to different problems that are going on in my life.”
It’s why he’s such a fan of walking as a workout. “From a mental perspective, just leaving my house, being outdoors, or making sure that I’m seeing some sunlight at some point in the day has helped me so massively,” he says. “I’m going to be better for the people around me that love me, all my friends, when I’m taking that time for myself.”
Earlier this week, Sheeran’s new Disney+ docuseries titledEd Sheeran: The Sum of It All, was released. In it, opens up about what it was like tolearn of his wife’s diagnosis. He’d previously said in a press release that he poured his “deepest, darkest thoughts” into his new album.
“I had been working onSubtractfor a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be,” he shared. “Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art,” he said.
“Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.”
Hosking reiterates how important movement is to clearing your head.
“You’re kind of making that commitment to yourself,” he says. “You’re saying, this is my time and I’m outside, and this is me making use of this. And this good for mental health.”
The Ed Sheeran Outdoor Walks drops today on the Peloton platform. Classes can be accessed on thePeloton App, which new Members can sign-up for a free 30-day trial period.
source: people.com
