The goop Podcast

David Wallace-Wells is a lifelong New Yorker. He is not a lifelong environmentalist—“at all,” he says. He came of age in the ’90s, drank a lot of “that development, globalization, neoliberal Kool-Aid and really felt the world was getting better and richer.” But learning more about climate change scrambled a lot of his assumptions about the world and our place in it. Today, Wallace-Wells is a columnist and deputy editor at New York magazine and the author of the critically acclaimed number one New York Times bestseller, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. In this conversation with Elise Loehnen, he explains what lies ahead, what policies should be changed, what possible solutions and technologies give him reason to feel optimistic, and what we need to learn from COVID-19 in order to equip ourselves to respond to pandemics of varying natures. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“That taboo dark energy around our sexuality can be a place of great expansion,” says somatic sexologist andeducator Jaiya, who has spent the last two decades studying what turns people on. Jaiya developed something called the Erotic Blueprint, an arousal map that reveals your specific erotic language—sensual, sexual, kinky, energetic, or shapeshifter. She explains how we can discover our own language, better understand a partner’s language, and use this road map to embrace and fulfill our desires. (Take Jaiya's Erotic Blueprint quiz here.)

“When you push people to be colorblind, not only are you pushing them to not see color; you’re pushing them to not see the harm that comes from color,” says Jennifer Eberhardt, PhD. Eberhardt is a social psychologist, a Stanford professor, and the author of Biased, a thoroughly researched, compelling, and comprehensive book on uncovering prejudice and addressing it. Everyone is affected by racial bias, says Eberhardt, but you can learn to override it. Today, she shares critical facts, tools, and strategies that anyone can (and should) use to be part of a meaningful solution. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“The urge to absolve oneself is a kind of low-level thing where we’re trying to get away from our own complicity,” says psychiatrist Mark Epstein, MD. Epstein is the author of Advice Not Given, and his work lies at the intersection of Buddhism and psychotherapy. Today, he’s teaching us about what motivates people and what happens when we let guilt guide our decision-making. He also teaches us about coping with feelings of isolation, confronting complicity, working our way back to the present when our mind wanders, and transmuting anger and rage into compassion. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Whatever is emerging, we want to help people explore it and experience it,” says Rick Doblin. GP interviewed the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) about the impact MDMA-assisted psychotherapy may have on PTSD, eating disorders, alcoholism, and other forms of trauma. Doblin explains the landscape of psychedelic research, how it’s changed, and how close we may be to making MDMA-assisted psychotherapy a legal prescription treatment for PTSD. They also talk about what happens during an MDMA therapy session; how people store, process, and release memories; and what connects one person to another and to the world. Go to MAPS to learn more and to join GP in donating to a fund that supports BIPOC PTSD patients going through treatment and BIPOC therapists going through MAPS training. (And a PSA in case you’re new here: The legal status of psychedelics depends on where you use them. In the US, recreational use is illegal. If psychedelics are taken without careful attention to dose, set [mindset], and setting [environment], it’s possible for things to go wrong. As always, consult your doctor before beginning any protocol.)

“The more logical you are in your approach to your sleep, the more you’re going to screw it up,” says sleep specialist Rafael Pelayo, MD. Pelayo is a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine and the author of the forthcoming book How to Sleep, which will be published in December 2020. Today, Pelayo answers our most pressing sleep questions: What’s really happening when we’re dreaming? Why do we sleep? Can we catch up on sleep? How much sleep do kids need? What causes sleep to become dysfunctional or disordered? How much are you affected by the way your partner sleeps? What can we do to feel rested when we wake up? (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“If you get to some of the fundamental issues that are causing the unrest, you don’t need these Band-Aids,” says Julie Holland, a psychiatrist who specializes in psychopharmacology. Holland is the author of Weekends at Bellevue, Moody Bitches, and most recently, Good Chemistry. Today, she’s explaining the science of connection—with self, with partners, with family, with the cosmos. Holland has researched and studied what good chemistry looks like in the body and how someone can develop it using tools beyond prescription medications. She shares techniques and practices that support the production of oxytocin (a neurotransmitter and hormone that’s key for connection) and allow us to operate from the parasympathetic state, which is conducive to healing and connecting. And she breaks down profound lessons from psychedelic experiences and research that can inform and potentially revolutionize the way we relate to one another. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We have all these mini minds that interact all the time,” says Richard Schwartz, PhD, the founder of the Internal Family Systems Institute. Schwartz believes that different subpersonalities—which he calls parts—make up the capital-S Self. In his audiobook Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts, Schwartz explains how traumas (minor or major) can cause certain parts to deviate from their natural state. He also explains why people cast different parts of themselves into certain roles, which he identifies as managers, firefighters, and exiles. For example, a manager might be the inner critic that is trying to keep you safe. An impulsive, reactive firefighter comes in to distract you from the flames of emotion. And the exile is shrouded in shame. The bulk of Schwartz’s work focuses on integrating these disparate parts and healing them—on an individual and a collective level. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“I like a lot of different topics, and I like to be around a lot of different types of people,” says Arlan Hamilton. “And that keeps me flexible.” Hamilton is the author of It’s About Damn Time and the founder of Backstage Capital, a venture capital seed fund that invests in underrepresented founders. She built the company from the ground up—while experiencing homelessness. In this conversation with host Elise Loehnen, Hamilton shares some incredible lessons from her personal and professional lives. She talks about the nuances of identity, the importance of learning to adapt (sometimes midsentence), and how power, influence, capital, and resources are being restructured—and what the future might look like. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Failure can be the best teacher if you know how to approach it properly,” says Ozan Varol, a former rocket scientist turned law professor. In his book Think Like a Rocket Scientist, Varol shows the benefit of approaching problems with a beginner’s mindset. He explains why it’s dangerous to conflate beliefs with identity and why it’s incredibly productive to ask yourself: What are my assumptions? His work is an unexpected and compelling road map for challenging the status quo, cultivating curiosity (which people lose over time), solving problems, and creating change. (For more, subscribe to Varol’s weekly newsletter. He is also offering bonus content to listeners who purchase a copy of his book.)

“Conventional medicine failed me. It is my mission to not have it fail other people as well,” says Amy Myers, MD. The New York Times–bestselling author of The Autoimmune Solution and The Thyroid Connection sat down with Elise Loehnen to talk about autoimmunity. Seventy-five percent of people with autoimmunity are women, explains Myers, and she believes that autoimmunity is spiking in children. She suggests manageable ways to look at and adjust diets to meet your personal health needs and food sensitivities. And she shares her own health journey—including a mold scare—and many tools for cleaning up home environments and removing potentially toxic or harmful factors (like mold) that could impact your health. Myers empowers us to take back our health and encourages us to be aggressive advocates for our own healing: “Do not give up.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“You’re never fully cooked,” says Chelsea Handler. GP catches up with her friend about her approach to activism, comedy, and self-discovery—which she writes about her in latest New York Times–bestselling book, Life Will Be the Death of Me. They start by talking about White privilege and why and how Handler set out to first dismantle it in her life. “How do you get okay with making yourself feel uncomfortable?” asks Handler. How do you allow your perspective to shift consistently, avoid getting stuck in your opinions, resist binary thinking? How do we have conversations without getting angry? In this vulnerable and still hilarious conversation, Handler reframes self-awareness—the greater purpose of becoming more self-aware is a collective benefit, not individual. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

Ibram X. Kendi—the number one New York Times–bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist, Stamped from the Beginning, and Antiracist Baby—is a historian of change. This summer, he’s moving to a new academic post at Boston University, where he’ll become the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. In this conversation with Elise Loehnen, Kendi talks through the historical myths, misconceptions, and dangerous oversimplifications that have contributed to current racist policies and systems. He debunks (with historical proof) the idea that we can’t create systemic change without overwhelming personal change. He reframes the differences between segregationist, assimilationist, and anti-racist thinking: Ensuring that there is resource equity across different spaces and that spaces are not segregated does not mean that spaces should be homogenized. In a country that is roughly 60 percent White people, Kendi pinpoints why it’s critical that we reject standardization and make room for more culture. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“There is a system that is a sustainable new business model in which health becomes the determinant,” says Jeffrey Bland, PhD. “Not just production per unit acre.” Bland, who is known as the father of functional medicine, joins host Elise Loehnen for a wide-ranging conversation on how long-defended systems (in medicine and elsewhere) have failed and how we can make them work and make them just. He also explains why we’re not hardwired and how our environment influences the way our genes are expressed. He talks about the importance of regenerative agriculture (and an interesting plant, named Himalayan Tartary buckwheat). Bland calls himself an optimist; he reminds us that we have the power to throw out old models and create new, better ones: “Miracles are out there, and they can be duplicated if we ask the right questions.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“You can’t grow up Black in America and not feel outraged by the terrible health disparities that are still going on every day,” says Nadine Burke Harris, MD, the first surgeon general of California. GP got on a video call with Harris, who is an expert on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Her book, The Deepest Well, explores the connection between adversity, trauma, and toxic stress in childhood and health outcomes later in life. Much of her work focuses on interventions that can mitigate and heal the long-term effects of childhood adversity. (For example, Harris explains that a child’s DNA can change when their adverse experiences are combatted with safety, stability, and nurturing relationships.) She talks about bringing trauma-informed care into the medical field through the ACEs Aware initiative. And what it looks like to heal oneself and break the transgenerational cycle of passing trauma onto our children. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)