The Goop Lab

When I started goop in 2008,

I was like, "My calling is something else besides, you know,

making out with Matt Damon on screen or whatever."

And now, it's this modern lifestyle brand.

To me, it's all laddering up to one thing, which is the optimization of self.

Like, we're here one time, one life...

Like, how can we really, like, milk the shit out of this?

You have a hundred needles in your face, Elise.

Just another day at the office.

The opportunity that we have with the goop lab

is that, as a company, we can go out in different groups

and go on a much deeper dive into some of these topics

that our readers are curious about.

- - This is gonna be my first experience

- with mushrooms. - Oh!

- - You have to let go of your ego.

So what happens in a workshop?

- Everyone gets off. -

What the fuck are you doing to people?

We get to explore, like, is this real? Do we feel better?

And grapple with some topics that are hard

and embarrassing or shameful.

Isn't that beautiful?

- - Relax.

That was, like, next level shit.

So, are you guys ready to go out in the field

and make a ruckus?

- Yeah. - You can handle it, right?

You can cry, you can scream, you can pound the ground.

The only thing we don't do is get sexual with each other.

And we don't take our clothes off.

But other than that, like, literally anything goes.

Just let it rip.

But once you take a psychedelic,

- you're in on the ride. - You're fucked, basically.

- Down the hatch. - No turning back.

We know at goop, obviously, that psychedelics are controversial.

But what we try to do at goop is to be open-minded

and explore ideas that may seem out there or too scary,

so that people can have access to the information

and make up their own minds.

Yeah, a little bit of anxiety doing this on camera,

but whatever.

You know what's on the other side is just total freedom.

Oh, fuck.

Very intense, full body experience.

I was melting into the floor.

Time and space around me had just dissipated.

I think it was the most important experience of my life.

I feel like a different person.

What have I gotten myself into?

Okay. Welcome.

It's such an honor to have you both here.

What a pleasure. Thank you.

Can you explain to us what MAPS is?

MAPS is the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.

And it's an organization that supports and does and fundraises

for psychedelic research.

I would personally love to know a little bit about the trajectory

of using psychedelics as a healing modality.

Psychedelics have been part of the human history

for thousands of years

in the context of spiritually, healing, and celebration of transitions.

In the '60s, we had a battle

between the young folks, the hippies,

the baby boomers... and we had the drug warriors.

Psychedelics were then criminalized.

Well, psychedelics are back,

and they're being used in the context of treatment.

Why do you think it's coming into the mainstream now?

You know, depression, anxiety, suicide is all increasing,

despite what we thought in the '90s was this renaissance

of psycho-pharmacology, you know, Prozac, Celexa, Zoloft.

Psychiatry left psychotherapy behind and we embraced these drugs

that we all know give terrible side effects.

And really, as a culture, we're hungry for something else

and for something to help us heal.

Right.

So we wanted to explore psychedelics in a therapeutic setting.

Um, we decided to try psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms,

in Jamaica, where their use isn't regulated.

How did you choose who went on the trip?

So, the goop staff sort of nominated themselves

and raised their hands.

I'd say almost everyone at goop wanted to go to Jamaica.

And we wanted to sort of explore different experiences.

Renee, who just wanted to feel more creative

and more like her authentic self.

I wanted to have a sort of psycho-spiritual experience.

And lastly, two people who wanted to work on processing some personal trauma.

So, we brought Jenny, one of our photo editors,

and Kevin, who's worked with Gwyneth for about ten years.

I know Kevin is your family at this point.

He is one of the most special,

loyal, loving people in the world.

- I know. It makes me cry. - Me too.

- Here we are at LAX eating almonds. - Good morning.

There's Jenny.

- Renee, are you gonna sleep on the plane? - I have an eye mask.

I have a pillow. I'm ready to sleep.

- Here we go, Jamaica, baby! -

Oh, Elise upgraded to first class.

How do you feel about that?

Good for her, I feel very happy for her.

So, unlike the clinical trials,

we're doing this in a more ceremonial setting.

But our amazing facilitator, Gillian, is affiliated with MAPS.

And Richard and Sasha who work with her

are also very experienced therapists.

They're like... psychedelic elders.

So, welcome to the opening circle.

I just want to tell you just a little bit of context.

So, the indigenous people who have used these medicines for years

have really traditionally used them curing illnesses,

like physical illnesses.

And they're rather perplexed by us Westerners

that show up and want to connect with the divine.

They think we're a little odd

and what is missing is, in their context, is that is our illness,

is that we do not have any connection

with anything other than ourselves and the material world.

So this is the medicine.

I really appreciate that you're joining us on this journey together

and... we'll see you on the other side.

There must be something that made you go, "I'm gonna do this,

and I'm gonna do this in a therapeutic setting

rather than a party setting."

And so, we're really curious about what that is for you,

so we can help you with that.

I would like to understand myself in the context of a bigger universe,

beyond how I intellectualize it in my brain.

I want to surrender to the experience,

- let it happen. - Yeah.

Try not to mentally override,

which is my inclination.

Anything that happens is perfect.

You can't do it wrong, so you can simply relax.

Oh, that's so much easier said than done.

This is gonna be my first experience

- with mushrooms. - Oh!

I've been feeling a little trapped and confined,

and so, to find that freedom, to spread my wings.

So, I'm here to just let go more and do a lot of healing

and get over a lot of trauma that I've experienced when my dad died.

So, I always associated myself with him.

I always felt more close to him.

And when he killed himself five years ago,

it really just... I mean, the doors swung open,

and I've realized that he spent much of his life depressed.

And we as a family just didn't have the knowledge

of recognizing that.

It was just like, "That's how he is."

So, I assumed when I had those feelings,

that was just how I was.

I didn't really process it for a while.

It was five years ago,

and I just started going to therapy this year.

Well, I want to acknowledge you're doing great, so...

Thank you.

And doing things the right way, you know. You're here.

You're asking questions. You're expressing yourself.

It's really beautiful. I commend you for that.

Thank you.

How are you doing?

Um, it's a little nerve-racking, for sure. Absolutely.

If you know, I've gone to Peru and done ayahuasca,

and you're in this ceremony house with all these strangers,

and you're shown something from the medicine.

Then you're just sort of set off on your own, and it's like,

"I saw something and, like, what does that mean?

- And who can I talk to - Yeah.

- about something I saw?" - Yeah, it's so important.

How do you work through that? And then you kind of bury it back down.

- This is why we're doing this work. - Yeah.

What is it you want to shift? What are you up to?

Well, you know, I sort of grew up with an absent dad and, uh...

- so I think it's like... - Mmm.

it's definitely caused issues

just getting close to people, letting people in, you know.

- Because you can't trust them? - Yeah.

And just it's been a struggle through most of my life.

Have you found other men that you connect with, that...

Uh, I mean, I have some friends.

Yes, I've had a few boyfriends here and there.

But, you know, it's just sort of, you get too close,

and I just sort of shut the door and pull back.

You know, we have questions that we can't answer...

- Mm-hmm. - ...questions from our childhood.

And so the medicine is there as a tool,

so we can use it as a tool to get some insight.

It's interesting, one thing that you said that was very resonant about Kevin,

is that you said he's a seeker and he's on this path.

All I want for him is that he would have a kind of catharsis

that he could come home and bring back to his life.

For him to find love and love himself.

Because he had tried so many things

and his experience in Peru, where he went to do ayahuasca,

and essentially he had no idea really

- what he was experiencing. - It's actually very scary.

Psychedelics amplify painful memories.