Last weekend, a summit was hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow’s natural health company, Goop. Held at Manhattan’s Pier 17, In Goop Health was described as “festive” from the outset – with all the makings of a luxurious holiday.
From extravagant food, supplements, potions and bath salts to crystals that were strategically placed to help settle the mind and balance the nervous system, the event had something for everyone in terms of wellness.
Here’s a brief rundown:
Psychedelics as therapeutic agents
According to an article by Vogue, psychedelics were a huge talking point. Guests were fascinated by the notion that psychedelics could be promising and powerful therapeutic agents when it comes to experimental efforts in addressing the roots of mental illness.
“I’m really excited to learn more about psychedelics,” Paltrow told Vogue. “It’s not an area that I’ve had any personal experience with, but I started Michael Pollan’s book, How to Change Your Mind, and the idea that there’s some kind of plant medicine that can be used in different ways to heal trauma I find really interesting, along with all of the science behind it. I really want to learn more about it.”
Food connected to mood
Differing significantly from earlier ideas of wholesale elimination of certain food categories such as dairy and gluten, many of the panelists spoke about double-blind, peer-reviewed studies that suggest a connection between the absence or presence of certain foods and nutrients and specific mood disorders.
In one panel, Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, Uma Naidoo, discussed the potential of specific ingredients to target specific ailments – turmeric for depression, for instance, and ginger for anxiety. She concluded that avoiding all potentially problematic food groups is not always feasible.
Functional medicine for mental health
Goop’s idea on the future of spiritual and mental health was heavily focused on the interplay between the physical and metaphysical.
“We’re certainly at the tip of the iceberg in our understanding of mental health,” Goop chief content officer, Elise Loehnen, said. “In our understanding of the way that our gut and microbiome influence that, of the way our B12 levels influence that, of the wisdom of plants and what they’ve always given us.”
Acknowledging scary subjects
One of the summit’s recurring topics was “an acknowledgement of the fact that it is far more difficult to be radically emotionally vulnerable than it is to hold a two-minute plank” and how this vulnerability has the potential to create more transformation than “even the most chiseled set of abs.”
To set this idea in motion, there was financial workshop where people could release their vulnerabilities in a setting similar to that of a support group. Guests unpacked their financial fears, histories surrounding saving and spending, scaling businesses, and they helped each other figure out how to adequately value their time and expertise.
