Happy New Year! Today we take the opportunity to look back at how Gwyneth and Goop defined Wellness in the 2010s. I argue that while Goop lacked a soulful center, Gwyneth is working in the grand Esoteric tradition of seeking the sublime through one's relationship to the body. I look at the current aesthetic detritus of exercise culture, challenge the bad rap on “self-optimization,” and meet Gwyn in her New Age quest for Something Beyond.

Discussed:

“How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million,” Taffy in NYT Magazine

Lauren Oyler on the Goop Cruise for Harper’s

“Gwyneth Paltrow Looks Back at 15 Years of Goop and More,” Marisa Meltzer in NYT

Outlive by Peter Attia

My fave episodes of the Goop podcast: