The Goop Podcast

GP is joined today by an actress, producer, and director whose work she’s admired for many years, Robin Wright. Wright has just released her feature directorial debut, Land (which she also stars in), about a woman suffering immeasurable loss who retreats to an abandoned cabin in the Rockies to find a new way to heal. Today, they talk about making career pivots, executing an artistic vision, and betting on yourself. They also discuss how we heal from trauma and why Wright felt called to make a movie about human kindness. “When you are faced with adversity,” says Wright, “it’s other humans that help pull us through and give us faith to live.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GP catches up with her friend and functional medicine practitioner Will Cole, DC. Cole is the author of the new book Intuitive Fasting: The Flexible Four-Week Intermittent Fasting Plan to Recharge Your Metabolism and Renew Your Health. GP has been following Cole’s protocol this past month, and he joins her today to talk about her experience and how she’s been feeling since she started (spoiler: never better). They also talk through the tenets of intermittent fasting, what it means to be metabolically inflexible, and how quickly a damaged gut can rebound.(For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“When something bad is happening, we tend to focus on that problem really narrowly,” says psychologist Ethan Kross. “But if you lose the ability to step back and see the bigger picture, that's when it can become problematic.” Kross explains how negative chatter can impact our lives and how our ability to introspect can better serve us. He also walks GP through his tools to soothe our inner voice when we find ourselves ruminating. “Negative emotions like anger, sadness, anxiety—they're good for us in small doses,” says Kross. “When they become bad is when we bathe in them.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Sometimes the greatest strength comes from holding course when there aren’t answers, when there isn’t the best outcome around the corner,” says Kristine Gedroic, MD. Gedroic is a Harvard graduate, a fellow of the American Board of Family Medicine, and the author of A Nation of Unwell: What Went Wrong?. She’s spent the past decade helping thousands of patients heal from chronic illnesses. She’s the kind of doctor people turn to when they feel like they’ve already tried everything. She joins host Gwyneth Paltrow today to talk about her journey to integrative medicine (which began with her own health scare), how to optimize our body’s own detoxification pathways, and the key foods and herbal remedies that she regularly leans on. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“There’s no such thing as a perfect harmony with nature,” says John Chester, the farmer and filmmaker behind The Biggest Little Farm. “There’s a comfortable level of disharmony. There is purposefulness in this disharmony.” Chester and his wife, Molly, founded a regenerative biodynamic farm (Apricot Lane Farm) that became famous through their stunning documentary. He joins GP today to talk about what he’s learned over the last decade being in deep relationship with the ecosystem of his land and how he and Molly have reframed their many roadblocks into opportunities (and found patience when their end goal was nowhere in sight). He and GP also talk about how soil health impacts the quality of our diets, things to look for on a food label, and his hopes for the future of American farming. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“When you have someone in your life who is experiencing illness, especially as a young person, it can be so impossible to bear witness to that,” says author Katherine E. Standefer. “Because then you are confronted with your own lack of control.” Standefer’s debut memoir, Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Cost of Saving a Life, is stunning. Today, she joins host Elise Loehnen to tell the story of the rare diagnosis that led her on a mission deep into our fractured medical system. She shares what it was like to sit with vulnerability, what she learned from the avoidant tendencies of many of her doctors, and how she began to make sense of her complicated relationship with the medical advancements that were meant to save her. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“When people ask me about the biggest issues in mental health, I say: Stigma is problems one, two, and three,” says psychiatrist Nina Vasan, MD. In addition to seeing patients in her private practice, Vasan is the chief medical officer at the mental health company Real and the executive director of the Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation. She joins GP today to talk about the long-tail mental health impacts of disasters and how trauma sometimes strengthens one’s resiliency. They talk about why addressing mental health can—and should—be part of our daily life. And Vasan shares coping strategies for different and persistent stressors, including ways that managers can be more mindful of their employees’ needs. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Daniel Lieberman is a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and the author of the new book Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Today, he joins host Elise Loehnen to break down the history and science behind why so many of us have trouble exercising even though we know it’s healthy for us. For one thing, Lieberman says, the pull to not exercise is a basic human instinct, which, if you ask us, is validating. They also chat through why there is no universal prescription when it comes to workout routines. But, he says, a good first step is taking stock of what you’re trying to achieve and then figuring out what you enjoy doing. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re kicking off 2021 with a different kind of episode. Today, instead of being joined by a guest, GP is doing a lightning round of AMA, where she answers a handful of listener-submitted questions. True to form, your questions ran the gamut: what her perfect night in looks like, which wellness habit never caught on for her, advice for moms launching new businesses, and more. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Celeste Headlee’s book—Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving—she examines our fractured relationships to work. Why do we use productivity as a measure of self-worth? Where does our obsession with efficiency come from? In this episode, she shares strategies for maintaining healthy boundaries around work and play and for developing more transparency between managers and employees. She also sells us on taking time off: “When someone takes all their vacation days, they actually end up being more productive, more effective, less error-prone, and more creative than someone who doesn’t.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Resmaa Menakem is a trauma specialist and the New York Times–bestselling author of My Grandmother’s Hands, which examines how racial trauma is deeply embedded in the body. He joins Elise Loehnen today to discuss his work as a somatic healer, what he believes will happen nine generations from now, and why it’s not possible to “think” your way out of White supremacy. “To develop an individual response to a communal horror is inadequate,” he says. “Niceness is inadequate.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Otto Yang, MD, an infectious disease researcher at UCLA, is leading a global clinical trial on COVID-19 sponsored by the NIH. GP, who had COVID-19 in early March, is a part of the study and has gotten to know Yang’s work over the past several months. Today, they talk about the long-tail symptoms of the virus, what scientists have learned about antibodies and immunity, and what is still unknown. Yang answers questions about the vaccine and what we can expect to happen next year. He also shares, from the perspective of a scientist, how he processes fear around this virus. His biggest learning in the last year? It involves the surprising resilience of the human spirit. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“I didn’t want to just write about loss,” says religion scholar Elaine Pagels. “I wanted to write about coming back from it and finding you can still have joy and a wonderful life. Because for me, that was a surprise.” Pagels is a bestselling author and the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Today, she joins host Elise Loehnen to discuss her books Why Religion? and The Gnostic Gospels and the journey that led her to writing them. They talk about how religious traditions can shape how we understand ourselves, whether Pagels thinks there’s such a thing as sin, and why she considers herself more of an explorer than a believer. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GP catches up with her friend Pharrell Williams and, no surprise, the multihyphenate artist has a lot of ground to cover. They talk about his parenting philosophy and how its shifted during the pandemic. They talk about his creative process and being a pluralist in a world that wants everyone to pick a lane. They discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and his dreams for the future: “I love my nation because of its progression, but I’m really in love with its untapped potential,” he says. And he shares the story behind the accelerator he’s just launched, Black Ambition, which invests in Black and Latinx students and entrepreneurs, providing not only capital to get their ideas off the ground but hands-on mentorship, as well. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“They could have gone in one of two directions,” says author Lacy Crawford. “Either start asking real questions and listening for honest answers and face the reckoning of what these boys had done to me. Or go the other direction and bury the girl. And that’s what they did: They buried the girl.” In Crawford’s memoir, Notes on a Silencing, she shares the story of the assault she suffered at boarding school when she was fifteen years old and the subsequent attempts to silence her. Today she joins host Elise Loehnen to talk about misplaced shame, our perception of bravery, addressing a destructive culture, and how her definition of healing has shifted with time. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mellody Hayes, MD, is an anesthesiologist, a healer, a spiritual teacher, and a powerful voice in the psychedelic movement. Though Hayes has worked in traditional medicine for her whole career, she says her spiritual life greatly informs how she approaches human healing—and she keeps up with medical journals and Pema Chödrön in equal measure. Today, she joins host Elise Loehnen to talk about the societal stresses that contribute to illness, how psychedelic medicine could help heal intergenerational trauma, and why love is at the center of everything she does. “When you try and shame someone into correction, you get obedience, but you haven’t won their participation,” she says. “How do we shift people? Believe it or not: We love them more; we love them harder.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Katherine May’s newest book, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, she explores how we relate to the painful periods in our lives—and what we can gain from normalizing the need to rest and tend to our wounds. In her conversation with host Elise Loehnen, May says that one reason many of us feel ashamed about our dark periods is because we’re taught to look down on other people’s misfortunes. This in turn makes it difficult to respect our own pain. May shares what changed for her when she allowed herself to see sadness as a need and not something to run from. For example, it helped her stop feeling addicted to productivity and busyness and begin to let go of the need to control everything. “We have got to stop feeling responsible for controlling our lives because that attempt is devastating us,” she says. “And it’s a lie—we just cannot do it.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-pol

GP is joined by Ed Catmull, cofounder of Pixar, former president of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and author of the New York Times–bestselling book Creativity, Inc. They talk about what it takes to establish the kind of company culture Catmull is revered for. The first step, he says, is creating a space where people feel free to speak candidly, to be vulnerable, and to take risks. They talk about what can lead a team to feel disconnected from their creativity and how to help people cultivate inspiration again. And he shares some of his insights on effective leadership: “One of the rules for the powerful people is they’re supposed to shut the hell up for the first ten or fifteen minutes,” says Catmull. “If a powerful person speaks, they set the tone for the meeting. And you’re much more effective if you enter a discussion rather than set the tone.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more

Kevin Weinfurt, PhD, is the vice chair for research in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. His work measures sexual function and satisfaction and how sexual well-being can be impacted by illness and other changes in health throughout our lives. Weinfurt talks about why he believes doctors tend to avoid the subject of sex and how he and his colleagues hope to change this. He also talks about the role that intimacy plays in sexual wellness—i.e., holding hands, making eye contact, and simply touching. And he explains some of the psychology around our relationship to our sex lives, like why sex can be so important to some people but not to others. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“The Northern Cheyenne people have a saying: A nation is not defeated until the hearts of its women are on the ground,” says Lucy Rain Simpson, executive director of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. “And that was a primary tactic. If you want to break a nation down, you purposefully try to make women no longer respected.” In her role, Simpson works to safeguard Native women and children. Today, she unpacks much of what is misunderstood about the rampant sexual violence on Native land, including that over 90 percent of the perpetrators are non-Indian. She explains the impact of federal mismanagement and complacency around these crimes and why assaults against women are particularly corrosive in Native culture. And she shares ways that we can begin to break the cycle of violence, as well as a vision of what justice would look like. “If we can come back to a place where women are sacred, that gives us the foundation for building everything else up,” she says. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)