The Goop Podcast

“You’ve got to meet people where they are,” says Sally Kohn. “But then you don’t have to leave them there.” Kohn, a TV commentator and columnist, appeared on Fox News representing a liberal point of view for many years—that experience alone taught her a lot about listening, bridging, and ultimately persuading. Before that, Kohn worked for more than fifteen years as a community organizer. And today she’s talking to Elise Loehnen about her incredibly helpful, surprisingly funny book The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity. It’s a conversation that taught us about listening to understand—not to argue—and about getting comfortable with discomfort. It also reminded us that we’re all way more similar than we tend to think we are. (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 hung out at Universal Studios with Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o as she prepped for the release of her new film Us (written and directed by the talented Jordan Peele). They talked about Nyong’o’s path to the platform she has today: growing up in Mexico and Kenya, her politician-professor father who was in self-exile, Nyong’o’s education (and why getting an Ivy League degree was important to her), landing her role in 12 Years a Slave, the cultural significance of Black Panther. They talked about shame—in the context of women’s sexuality and also the shame of not understanding something. “Ignorance doesn't have to be permanent. It can be momentary,” says Nyong’o. “You have to allow yourself to learn. And it starts with admitting what you don’t know.” Other highlights: the pair’s perspective on how beauty is being redefined in the culture, Nyong’o’s description of the most “dangerous” (in a good way) actor she’s ever worked with, and some critical tips on getting through a scary movie. (For more, see The

“Nothing itself is addictive on the one hand,” says Gabor Maté, MD. “And on the other hand, everything could be addictive if there’s an emptiness in that person that needs to be filled.” Maté is known for his unique perspective on addiction, child development and trauma, and how this stress manifests in the body. He has written several books, including In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Hold On to Your Kids, and Scattered. In this moving conversation with Elise Loehnen, Maté talks about how early childhood experiences sometimes show up later in life and how we’re all affected by our social, cultural, economic, and relational environments. He also shares from his incredible personal experiences in family and palliative care and ministering to patients in the most drug-addicted district in North America. And he talks about the beauty of medicine—which, he explains, is not about control. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.c

“Nobody changes until they change their energy—and when you change your energy, you change your life,” says researcher and author Joe Dispenza, DC. Dispenza’s work explores neuroscience, epigenetics, quantum physics, and consciousness. He’s become known for helping people heal in miraculous ways. (His latest book is called Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon.) In this episode, he explains what at first appears to be magic, where science and mysticism intersect. It’s possible, Dispenza believes, to change the way you think, the way you act, the way you feel; to change your mind and body. The hardest part: not making the same choices you did the day before, choosing not to live by the emotions that keep you anchored to the past. “People wait their whole lives for something outside of them to change how they feel inside,” Dispenza says. But priming your brain to be a map to a new future—that’s an energetic job in his book. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about li

GP caught up with Dax Shepard at his studio and they covered a lot of ground: They talked about the roots of shame and fear, the things that they find triggering, and trying to figure out how to be intentional. They talked about what erodes self-esteem, what is erroneous to self-esteem, and what builds it. They swapped stories: relationship challenges, second chances at intimacy, navigating parenthood and fame. And they kept coming back to vulnerability—how to approach it, how to get comfortable with it, and what they’ve learned in the process. (P.S. On this episode, you’ll also hear a bit from Shepard’s right hand, Monica Padman. And as always, you can see more on 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

Boston-based clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen has become known for helping people through anxiety, which is something she has struggled with, too. Hendriksen wrote a book about it called How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety. Our chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, asked Hendriksen to share the strategies she’s learned and tested to cope with social anxiety and move from fear and doubt toward authenticity and a genuine comfort with the person you are in the world. (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

“Dads saved the human race,” says Anna Machin, evolutionary anthropologist and author of The Life of Dad. In this conversation with goop CCO Elise Loehnen, Machin calls us to reimagine the role of the modern father, think differently about sex and gender as they relate to parenthood, and explore what it means to be a family, to be social, to form long-lasting relationships. Machin’s research on the anthropological roots of fatherhood and how fathers evolved to be parent figures has an equally extraordinary impact on men, women, and children—and the potential to change what our communities look like well into the future. (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 never thought you had to be any one way to be a person and to be kind and to learn,” says Erin Brockovich, who continues to redefine what it means to be an activist. The tough news, Brockovich tells us, is that Superman is not coming to save the environment, to clean up our water, to kick harmful chemicals out of our neighborhoods. But here’s why Brockovich is optimistic: We’ve had the power all along to rescue ourselves. We do not need to wait for oversight that does not exist. We simply have to believe that we can, that we should, that we have every right to speak up and speak out. And then we can start small, we can start local, and we can make the kind of big, life-altering changes that Brockovich has helped inspire all over the world. (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've been kind of a student of family secrets all my life,” writer Dani Shapiro says. All of her novels have centered around family secrets, and her memoirs have explored secrets in her own family history, some of which she didn’t know existed—until she took a DNA test on a whim. When the results came back, Shapiro learned this: Her father, her beloved father whose deep Jewish lineage Shapiro had always identified with, was not her biological father. Did this mean she was not the person she thought she was? Did it change everything? Did it change nothing? What did her parents (who have both passed) know? Following the publication of her new memoir Inheritance, Shapiro talks with our chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, about searching for answers, exploring what defines us, and ultimately “being willing to embrace and live with a certain amount of uncertainty—just simply not knowing.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audac

“People get used to sometimes feeling a certain way, and they don't know that they could feel better,” says naturopathic doctor and aesthetician Nigma Talib. “I think when people get the taste of what it’s like to feel optimal, they quite often stick to it.” Working with Talib is fascinating because she can connect how you’re feeling to what’s happening in your gut to the way your skin looks. And then she helps you fix it all. She wrote about this process in a book called Younger Skin Starts in the Gut. And as the title suggests, Talib is also known for her approach to aging gracefully—and not prematurely. "Aging is beautiful," she says. "There's something about having those gorgeous expression lines." (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 old friend Elena Brower, yoga teacher and coauthor of Better Apart: The Radically Positive Way to Separate. They talk about their own divorces, relationship endings and beginnings, and transformations. Brower doesn’t believe it’s ever too late to “fix it.” She pushes for taking responsibility for your attitude and reality, vigilantly taking care of yourself during and after the separation, having patience for the process, and having a lot of self-forgiveness. And GP explains why she always says intimate relationships are a meditation on everything that’s wrong with us. (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

“For better or worse, I’m the asshole guy,” Robert Sutton once told us. Sutton is a professor at Stanford and the author of The Asshole Survival Guide. Of course, his work encompasses a lot more. Sutton studies organizational change, leadership, innovation, workplace dynamics, friction. Today, we’re talking a lot about assholes though: What makes someone act like one? How can we identify the tendencies in others and ourselves? How do you get rid of assholes in your office and personal life? And when you can’t, what are the best coping strategies for dealing with one? (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

“Our memory is shit,” says couples therapist and author of We Do Stan Tatkin. “It can’t be relied on, and our perception is like a fun-house mirror…. And so that should give way to more cautiousness, more consideration, and more curiosity than we tend to have, especially in love relationships.” Tatkin’s approach to helping couples develop “secure-functioning relationships” is both realistic and optimistic. His work helps people better understand their partners so that they can become the best possible team together. Tatkin is a proponent of dependency in a relationship—and of not making that a dirty word anymore. His perspective on parenting—and not putting a child at the center of your universe—is also compelling. As for deal breakers in a relationship: Yes, he says, they exist, although sometimes what might appear to be a deal breaker is actually wholly resolvable. And if you’re looking for a relationship, Tatkin says forget thinking about the perfect person, and consider your perfect relationship. (For mor

“I didn't think that anybody thought or felt or experienced the world the way that I did until I came into recovery,” Bill Clegg tells our chief content officer, Elise Loehnen. Clegg is the author of two harrowing, poignant memoirs: Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man and Ninety Days. (He’s also a novelist—read Did You Ever Have a Family—and one of the most respected literary agents in publishing.) Clegg doesn’t often talk about his experience with addiction and recovery these days, which makes today’s conversation feel all the more intimate. Whether or not you recognize some piece of his story as your own or as belonging to someone you love, it’s a conversation that will stick with you. (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 we promote, if you will, acting compassionately, there’s a subset of people who look at this as a soft science,” says neurosurgeon James Doty, MD. But his research and that of others has demonstrated on a scientific level “that when you practice compassion with intention, it has a profound effect on your mental and physical health and wellness and even your longevity.” Today, Doty shares his unlikely personal story with us; we’ll call it miraculous, but he’s an atheist (who is best friends with the world’s great spiritual leaders). Doty, who had a challenging childhood, learned a few lessons—in a magic shop—at the age of twelve that changed his life forever. One was how to manifest, which set him on a course to becoming a successful neurosurgeon, Stanford professor, and wealthy entrepreneur. But it wasn’t until he went bankrupt and lost it all that he felt like he had gained everything. He wrote a book about it—Into the Magic Shop—and now runs the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Educatio

“I think we build up this thesis of who we are, and then it gets shook.” This is how Abbi Jacobson—one of the creators, executive producers, and stars of Broad City—begins to describe the ups and downs of her love life. And the road trip she departed on with a broken heart. It was this adventure that eventually became her poignant collection of personal essays, I Might Regret This. And it was on a different cross-country trek that she caught up with our chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, to talk about humor, aura readings, being a workaholic, how it’s hard to ask for help, and why we need to know it’s okay to rely on other people. Jacobson made us laugh—a lot. (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

Alain de Botton talks to Elise Loehnen about the complexities of falling into, and out of, relationship and how we will always be students of love. 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

Financial expert Farnoosh Torabi knows how to help people get out of debt and in this episode she explores the ways in which we relate to money. 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

Jessice Helm provides insight into how endocrine-disrupting chemicals affect our health and what we can do about them that isn't all-consuming and overwhelming. 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

Howard Schultz, the author of the new book From the Ground Up, tells stories about his time as the Starbucks CEO and how it almost slipped away from him early on and about a moment that gave him a sense of spirituality. 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