the goop podcast

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-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices