PALTROW'S WELLNESS QUEST

The actress has put her movie career on the back-burner to focus on her lifestyle website and company, Goop. So, are you a fan?

“Are you missing something?” the crystal shaman wants to know. I’ve been staring at bowls of amethyst, malachite and rose quartz glistening in the sun, piled ever so delicately on sheepskin rugs. Here at In Goop Health, Gwyneth Paltrow’s inaugural wellness summit, which was took place earlier this month, all of the crystals are enticing. But are any of these stones speaking to me? Is there one that will reveal something about my innermost hopes and dreams? A stone to radiate warmth and joy into my life? Colleen McCann, a blonde in mirrored sunglasses who bills herself as an “intuitive medium” and “reiki master” as well as “crystal shaman,” indicated that this selection process shouldn’t be difficult.

“The crystal carries the energetic vibration that, on a cellular level, the body needs right now,” she said. “It’s literally taking you, like a radar, right to it.”

I try to tune into this invisible, energetic force drawing my spirit toward a specific crystal. But I keep getting distracted by superficial thoughts: This purple stone would look so pretty next to the diamondshaped one! I wonder how these would fit on my office desk? “I feel like you’re missing something,” McCann says.

“Um, yes,” I reply. “I’m missing something.” But in a way, almost all of us at the event were missing something.

Paltrow reasons For Paltrow, her wellness reasons were different. Her crusade has personal roots. At the beginning of the (summit) day,

Why have we created a society where so many of us feel over-obligated with responsibility to the point where we aren’t feeling good – and what can we do about it?” Gwyneth Paltrow

when she emerged onto a stage to greet the crowd – swathed in ethereal pink paisley – she told about how her journey to wellness began two decades ago, when her father (filmmaker Bruce, pictured below) was diagnosed with cancer. She wanted to heal him, to make him feel better, and she started wondering: “Why do we all not feel well? Why is there so much cancer? Why are we all so tired? Why have we created a society where so many of us feel over-obligated with responsibility to the point where we aren’t feeling good – and what can we do about it?”

When the Goop chief executive was asked: Is everyone here truly on a wellness quest, or do most of them just want to emulate you? “Oh, I don’t think so,” she says. “I think what it is is that I’m very, sort of, vulnerable in my quest to, like – I’m transparent in my quest to be a better mother, be a better friend, be healthier. I think there are a lot of people, in this day and age, who are very interested in this idea of wellness and how to improve. I think women in general are really looking for some solutions, some tools, some information. I think a lot of people have been down a conventional route with medicine and are interested in alternative medicine, functional medicine.

“So it’s nice to be able to bring all the experts that we love and who really resonate with us to a broader group.”

Sold-out event Paltrow’s first Goop summit at Culver City was a sold-out event. Tickets for the one-day event which began at $500 went all the way up to $1,500 — instantly creating a self-selecting group. About 95 per cent of the crowd appeared to be white women between the ages of 30 and 50. Dressed in flowery sundresses or Lululemon leggings most came to this anonymous Culver City warehouse to better themselves. Because even if you look like you have it all, the quest for self-improvement never ceases: You can always eat better, parent better, work out better, look better. AP (Amy Kaufman, LAT-TNS)