The unconventional work culture at Goop lab and Gwyneth Paltrow.
I admire Gwyneth Paltrow deeply and her ideologies strike me as very progressive. Be it her marriage and divorce with Coldplay singer Chris Martin, her choice of work, her efforts with Goop or even her jokingly sharing how her current husband and ex are friends on Instagram with #Modernfamily, I am always left in awe. I look up to her way of dealing with all of this with utter grace and maturity.
Her new docuseries touching various topics surrounding psychedelics, mental health, aging, female sexuality, etc. is such an inspiring piece of media. In the series, each episode touches a different not very often spoken on large platform subject. The series explores how these topics can be overcome with some help from the right agencies. Gwyneth has encouraged employees to participate in topics they want to personally explore.
In the first episode, representatives from MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for psychedelic studies) discuss with Gwyneth on how the study on psychedelics was not funded until recently, giving in to the rise in suicide, depression, and anxiety. They go onto explore how some in controlled quantities are given to cancer patients as they live in constant fear of death and that cancer might come back. A group of Goop employees test on themselves under the guidance of MAPS commonly renowned indigenous drug Ayahuasca. The team bonds over this experience and what they hope to rectify or discover with this trial.
Another episode talks about the importance of humans connecting to nature and building resistance to extreme environments. All with the help of some breathing exercises and training your mind to believe it can do it. Wim Hof, also known as Iceman takes a team of Goop employees willing to try this for themselves to Lake Tahoe in winter and help them swim in extremely cold water. He talks about the benefits it can have on dealing with stress, helping your body build resistance and overcome anxiety. He had scientists inject himself with the ebola virus and he was able to stop his body from reacting to it, only by breathing exercises strengthening its immune system.
The most interesting episode for me was the one featuring Betty Dodson. She and other women at Goop who want to feel more confident about their bodies and sexuality talk about the stigma and myths surrounding female genitalia, masturbation and female body positivity in general. She talks about how women feel so vulnerable because there is so little representation of what their genitalia should look like. Over 40 percent think there is something wrong with them because it doesn't reflect the popular image (Which is almost always a more glamorized version of reality). She holds workshops with women on the importance of orgasms, of communicating with your partner about what you want, eye contact, consent and practice of being vulnerable in general.
How beautiful is it that someone is finally communicating on a large scale the topics that need to be spoken about. Removing decades-old barriers of shushing and not speaking about these things out loud. Taking the guilt and shame out of wanting pleasure. The more comfortable a society gets talking about these things the closer we are to the opening doors of possibilities for generations to come. If anyone could have done it, it was Gwyneth Paltrow. Thank you for helping chart a path and understand what progressive, feminist, educative and innovative media and content should look like. Its a must watch!
It is evident that work culture at the Goop lab is indeed very immersive and growing. I don't know of many companies that go that far to help their employees with sexual identity workshops or mental health and psychedelic trials. Its almost as if Goop is not only changing media and content online its also influencing employee-employer relations dynamic. This may very well result in more cohesive teams, a better employee working dynamic, employee motivational levels and more.
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