The goop Podcast

“Life is not just the beginning and the end,” says Nora McInerny. “It is all of these tiny things in the middle.” McInerny hosts the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking and is the author of It’s Okay to Laugh, The Hot Young Widows Club, and No Happy Endings. She’s hilarious. This episode is her very honest conversation with Elise Loehnen about grief and loss. Which also manages to be funny. McInerny tells her love stories. Some of them are about her first husband, who died of brain cancer. Some are about how she’s never really “moved on,” and why that is okay. Some are about grappling with grief and guilt and wondering what a “good” griever looks like. And some are about her relationship with her second husband today. And how, when she stopped trying to avoid grief, she felt it all—loss and love—most deeply. Emotions are never tidy, explains McInerny. And most of what makes life beautiful is the messiness of it all. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

We often think the best negotiator is the toughest person in the room. Bring Yourself author Mori Taheripour explains why this is not true: “Our superpower is our ability to have emotional intelligence in a conversation.” Taheripour teaches negotiation and dispute resolution at Wharton, and focuses on the human side of negotiating. Her method isn’t prescriptive. She helps people get out of their heads, let go of self-judgement, and get comfortable with stillness. “When you start talking too much, you’re negotiating against yourself,” says Taheripour. She also coaches people to lead conversations with an open mind, and figure out what feels right—and enough—for them. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Historically in the US, progress has meant exploitation of someone, and usually people of color,” says Rhiana Gunn-Wright, director of climate policy at Roosevelt Institute. Gunn-Wright met with host Elise Loehnen to talk about her work in developing the Green New Deal, a proposal of ideas to address climate change. At its core, Gunn-Wright says this work is about justice and equity. “It’s really easy to talk about decarbonization and not talk about environmental racism.” But that would be missing the point and leave us without a meaningful solution. “If you say no one is expendable, no person is expendable, no community is expendable: that changes how you solve problems,” says Gunn-Wright. Also poignant: her personal experience with “survivor’s guilt” and perspective on why we need to see structural, systemic issues rather than falling for the American mythology of exceptionalism and individualism. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“If you can’t be vulnerable, then how can you expect your patient to be vulnerable?” asks Sherry Sami, DDS. The integrative pediatric orthodontist and cofounder of Be Hive of Healing sits down with GP to help us gain a deeper understanding of holistic dentistry and the different elements that can promote healing. Sami is devoted to looking at the whole picture. She believes that “disharmony in the mouth” could even be linked to a detail from a child’s birth or the emotional traumas of their parents. Today, she shares fascinating (and sometimes heartbreaking) stories about patients she’s worked with. And she offers sage advice for parents: “Be very committed to your own healing, because that’s the best thing that you can do for your child.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

Functional medicine psychiatrist Jeffrey Becker, MD, takes an uncommon approach to depression, anxiety, and mental health. Becker, who is also a cofounder of Bexson Biomedical, examines the genome, the gut, and micronutrient levels before prescribing drugs to a patient. He was an early advocate of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy for treating depression. “We are absolutely the nexus of body, mind, and spirit,” says Becker. Today, he talks about the chemical, biological, emotional, and spiritual components of mental health. And he gets into a deeper conversation with host Elise Loehnen about consciousness. “There’s a lot of programming that has reduced our consciousness to a level that allows us to survive,” Becker says. When we honor the layers of our existence, he believes we can remove some of the limits we often struggle with in everyday life. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“The cause of all suffering is what we’re thinking and believing,” says Byron Katie. Katie is a legendary spiritual teacher, the author of Loving What Is, and the creator of a self-inquiry method that she calls “the Work.” Today, Katie guides Elise Loehnen through the Work in her life. The process involves asking four basic questions that can turn a negative belief on its head. Katie reminds us that emotions are emotions—not enemies. She invites us to do deeper within and ask ourselves this question: Who would we be without our stories? (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“It’s not really science,” says David Michaels, PhD. “It’s public relations disguised as science.” Today, the epidemiologist and author of The Triumph of Doubt explains how frequently science is manipulated across industries—from tobacco to personal-care products to football. During his tenure as the assistant secretary of labor at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Michaels uncovered shocking truths about the way major industries distort scientific studies and withhold information at the expense of consumer safety. To resolve this, Michaels believes we need to restructure the way research is conducted and how we consume it. He offers a few key solutions for creating change at the consumer level and beyond (like voting, banning attorney-funded studies, and consulting unbiased scientists to analyze data). Ultimately, this is work that will protect the integrity of science and keep us all safe. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“Our votes with our fork, our votes with our wallet, make a difference,” says Mark Hyman, MD. He sat down with GP to talk about his latest book, Food Fix, and what led him on his own personal path into functional medicine. As a physician, Hyman looks for the root causes of chronic health issues—and the factors that contribute to optimal health. He says a lot of it boils down to food and our agriculture system. Hyman explains that disease is correlated with the way food is produced in our country (and around the world). The future, as he outlines it, is more hopeful than you might think, though: Big food companies are realizing they need to make changes. Farmers are being supported to increase regenerative agriculture and increase water conservation. And there’s a lot we can do now, today, on a personal level—and some of it is simple. “Just eat real food,” says Hyman. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We think about loneliness as a stereotype of the person sitting alone in a corner at a party,” says former surgeon general of the United States Vivek Murthy, MD. “But loneliness doesn’t usually look like that.” The author of Together joins host Elise Loehnen to explain the downward spiral of loneliness: When we don’t feel comfortable showing up as who we are, we tend to try to be somebody we’re not. And when we become focused on seeking validation from others, we feel even more isolated. Today, Murthy shares strategies for easing loneliness, building connection, embracing our vulnerability, and moving toward a people-centered life (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We are all meant to feel alive and to feel powerful,” says Peter A. Levine, PhD. “That’s what being a human is.” The psychologist and author of Trauma and Memory joins Elise Loehnen to talk about how trauma lives in the body and how it can work its way out. We learn some of Levine’s favorite strategies for energetic movement, like skipping and chanting. He says the key to moving trauma out of the body is “bringing the energy up and then letting the energy settle.” He teaches us a sound exercise that helps move energy through the body and ease stress. Levine explains the difference between memory and traumatic memory, and how recovering—and processing—traumatic memories might help us heal. “All trauma shuts down our vital force,” says Levine. But when we begin to understand how to process our pain, we can free ourselves from shame and disembodiment—and find our way back to empowerment. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“We’ve attached importance and status to busyness,” says Brigid Schulte. The director of the Better Life Lab at New America and the New York Times–bestselling author of Overwhelmed joins Elise Loehnen to dispel the busyness myth. She also breaks down the varied ways our home and work systems make it particularly difficult for women to just get to the end of the day. She suggests solutions for changing this structure and easing the enormous pressures many women feel around balancing career, childcare, and running a household. They also talk about gender roles at the office and in parenting (and how we can encourage men to take on different roles as fathers). And Schulte shares some of her strategies for building a better work-life balance. One of her tips: Start asking yourself what one thing you need to get done each day to feel less overwhelmed and still accomplished. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

Today, Daniel Pink teaches us how crack the code of “perfect timing.” The New York Times–bestselling author of When and Drive explains that much of our lives is episodic: We tend to think of projects, days, and life events in reference to beginning, middle, and end. And Pink explains that our brain and our mood function differently over the course of the day. Becoming aware of these patterns allows us to hack productivity. Pink shares fascinating studies about the best time of day to make a critical decision and when not to have a medical procedure—and also why the “nappuccino” (drinking a coffee before a fifteen-minute nap) might be the best secret he knows. We also learn about why kids benefit from slightly later school start times and why taking breaks is essential for higher performance for everyone. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“You’re desperate to find causality even where there is none,” says Kate Bowler. She’s a historian at Duke Divinity School and the author of a memoir called Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved. And she makes us laugh, even when she’s talking about death, dying, and grief. In this episode, Bowler tells Elise Loehnen about what happened after she was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in her mid-thirties. She shares the moments she stopped feeling like a person, the pressure she felt to be “the best” cancer patient, to find explanations, to treat everything as a lesson that she needed to learn. She talks about how her beliefs eventually shifted. And how, perhaps the biggest lesson is that it’s not always on us to figure it all out. “I was never a problem to be solved,” says Bowler. “I was just a person to be loved.” (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

GP got on a video call with Peter Attia, MD, data-focused physician, longevity specialist, and host of The Peter Attia Drive podcast. She asked Attia about the research and science evolving around the COVID-19 pandemic and what’s known (and not) about how viruses function—and how our bodies respond to them. Attia provides helpful updates on antibody testing, along with his thoughts on what might come next. He also speaks more broadly about health span and the factors that support our immune function; sleep, unsurprisingly, is perhaps the most important, he says. And Attia shares the toolbox he uses to manage stress: mindfulness meditation, journaling, and steady-state aerobic exercise. Attia believes that the more information you have, the better—and we felt a little more peace of mind after listening to his perspective. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)

“I try to create the illusion of simplicity because life’s too complicated,” says Eileen Fisher. Today, the founder and clothing designer joins Elise Loehnen to talk about her appreciation for simplicity (which Loehnen shares). Fisher reveals that her own discomfort inspired her career—she could never understand why women were so willing to suffer to look good. Beyond creating a simplified system for style, Fisher shows us a different way to define and run a company: She doesn’t see herself as the sole leader. She thinks of her brand as more of a big collective, and the company is partially owned by its employees. But Fisher is probably most proud that her company is in the process of becoming fully sustainable—and it’s a fascinating, hopeful process for all of us to get a glimpse into. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)