Sue Varma, author of Practical Optimism, served as the first medical director and attending psychiatrist at the World Trade Center Mental Health Program, treating civilian and first-responder survivors in the aftermath of 9/11. She shares how her work there led her to develop a framework for practical optimism. She explains what it means to be a practical optimist (and why it's different than blind optimism), ways for moving forward if you're feeling stuck, and how small intentional changes have the power to impact our physical and emotional health. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Legendary author Anne Lamott discusses the many ways love can transform us. She shares how she learned to break free from perfectionism, the spiritual value of crying, the mantras that help ground her in self-love, and her new book Somehow. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Katara McCarty is the founder of Exhale, an app focused on the mental wellness of Black women. Today, she shares her personal life story with Gwyneth. They talk about how McCarty’s work has been informed by a unique survey she conducted in 2023. And what it means to hold space: “I think that holding space takes acknowledging the fullness of the person you’re holding space for,” McCarty says. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gwyneth is joined by Lisa Mosconi, author of The Menopause Brain. Mosconi is an associate professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine and the director of its Women’s Brain Initiative and the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program. Today, Mosconi explains how hormonal shifts during perimenopause and menopause can impact cognitive health and shares some of the clinical trials and brain-imaging work her lab is doing to better understand this stage of life. They about the foods that can support brain health at any stage of life and Mosconi’s perspective on why menopause can be seen as an opportunity, particularly from an evolutionary standpoint. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re sharing a conversation from our last In goop Health summit. Kim Little is a software developer, lifelong meditator, and cofounder of Moments of Space, a new meditation app that teaches an eyes-open technique. Little joined Gwyneth onstage to talk about how we can find deep connection throughout the everyday. (GP uses the eyes-open technique during her walks and has found it so beneficial that she’s recently come on as a co-owner and community director at Moments of Space.) At the end of their conversation, Little shares three ways to approach the eyes-open method and guides us through a live meditation. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The author of Conscious Grieving: A Transformative Approach to Healing from Loss joins Cleo Wade to discuss how we go about rebuilding a life, or finding wisdom in grief. They talk about how men and women often process their emotions differently, and why it can be difficult to acknowledge loss and to sit with our grief. "We have to start by just being in it, and it's actually the hardest thing because everyone tries to move out of it as quickly as possible," says Bidwell Smith. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cleo Wade is joined by Corey Keyes, author of Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down. In today's conversation, Keyes explains how he measures the states of languishing and flourishing, and what we get wrong about mental health. And he shares the personal story of his own search for meaning, which sparked his research all the way back in 2002. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gwyneth is joined by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of Supercommunicators to talk about the art and science behind meaningful conversation. Duhigg explains the three types of conversations, what makes certain ones work, and the traits of highly effective communicators. He also shares a few tools for reframing difficult conversations and his most important tip for moving past small talk. And at the end, GP shares the dinner-party question she likes to ask to build connection. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cleo Wade is joined today by Cole Arthur Riley to discuss her new book— Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human—and her personal journey through spirituality. Riley shares what led her to write a prayer book that embraces questioning as part of faith and what happened after she allowed herself to question her own spiritual beliefs. They talk about discovering spiritual communities among writers and artists, using breath and other rituals as a form of prayer, and finding the beauty and meaning in contemplation. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Psychotherapists Barry Michels and Kristan Sargeant lead this special episode—part workshop, part conversation—on the shadow. (Michels is perhaps best known for cowriting The Tools and his pioneering psychotherapy work with his coauthor Phil Stutz, which Sargeant continues to evolve.) For them, the shadow is the tool that has the potential to bring about the greatest growth and transformation. How to begin to use it? Today, they walk you through getting to know your own shadow—the parts of yourself that you've rejected or pushed deep down into the unconscious. They show how your shadow can become an incredible source of wisdom. And a conduit to living as your full, authentic self. (To join their work on the shadow, see their upcoming event lineup.) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices