Gwyneth Paltrow reveals her longevity routine — which includes bizarre eyes-open meditation
It’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t have a rigid wellness regimen.
“In my early 20s, I didn’t have much of a morning routine,” the Goop founder, 51, said in a webinar for her partnership with Moments of Space, a meditation app, according to Business Insider.
At the time, the Oscar-winning actress was too busy appearing in star-studded blockbusters, partying in the pre-camera phone era and dating Hollywood hunks like Brad Pitt.
“I was either going out with friends and sleeping late or getting up really early to go on set,” she added.
It’s a stark contrast from the Paltrow fans know and love — or love to hate — today, someone who has built a formidable wellness empire and impressive longevity routine.
Now, Paltrow’s morning routine “involves some meditation and some exercise.”
Specifically, she practices “eyes-open” meditation — meditating while focusing on both the environment around you and connecting with yourself during daily activities — and says it helps her “stay present” and “feel more whole.”
“I relied on my eyes open meditation to connect to my highest self, to not lapse into reactivity, to try and keep my ego out of it,” she said, per the Independent. “Especially when we feel something is not fair, or unjust, someone’s not living up to their end of the bargain, or something.”
She also apparently envisions a lofty higher purpose for the practice.
“I believe eyes-open meditation could be potentially important for changing the world and deepening how we connect to ourselves, and others,” she told the Independent. “That meditative state, that oneness, I feel that so much and I think us connecting to that oneness just intrinsically heals division. Because you feel the interconnectedness of every human being, it brings empathy into the forefront.”
This isn’t the first time Paltrow has been linked to unorthodox wellness rituals.
She previously faced backlash for her bone broth meals and has participated in “pretty weird” rectal ozone therapy, in addition to touting luxury wellness products on Goop’s gift guides that are reserved for those who can shell out a pretty penny to afford them.
Paltrow also emphasized the “consistent common denominators” that are tried and true, such as sleep, relaxation and diet.
“Sleep is super important. Managing your thoughts, your mind, I think, is very important for managing stress response. Stress can cause your immune system to not function as highly, that’s well-documented,” she explained. “Also, I think the quality of relationships, and then, of course, not having too much alcohol, sugar, all that kind of stuff.”
But in “crafting [her] longevity plan,” she also relies on “testing” to ensure full-body health, although some experts are skeptical of how necessary such rigorous routine screenings are.
“There are all of these new incredible screening protocols to scan for tumor markers in the blood, all kinds of advanced imaging, and stuff like that,” she said. “And because both of my parents have had experiences with cancer, I’m probably a little bit more proactive than the average person.”
Paltrow is just three years shy of the age at which her father, Bruce Paltrow, was diagnosed with throat cancer. The director-producer, who was 54 at the time, died in 2002 due to complications with the illness, and her mother, 81-year-old actress Blythe Danner, was later diagnosed with the same cancer.
In a way, her father’s diagnosis was a sobering wake-up call from her roaring 20s, the catalyst for her exploration into the “whole world of wellness and mindfulness,” she said.
“My longevity practice will really evolve the more that I learn. And I think I just want to stay really open to emerging modalities and science around what this is going to look like in the next 10 years or so,” she said.
But, unlike the biohackers trying their hand at immortality, Paltrow has no interest in finding the secret elixir for eternal existence.
“I also don’t want to live forever. I’m not one of those people,” she admitted. “I want a nice, long, healthy life, but I’m not looking to live to 165 or anything like that.”
