We thought we’d heard the weirdest Gwyneth Paltrow vagina recommendation when she told us to squat over a bowl of hot water and herbs… until we heard that she wanted us to put jade eggs inside our vaginas. Is this a helpful ancient healing practice, an example of silly pseudoscience, or a real and present danger for female health? We decided to find out.

According to Goop, which sells both jade and rose quartz yoni eggs (yoni is the Sanskrit word for vagina) for between $55 and $66 a pop, these objects are “a guarded secret of Chinese royalty in antiquity.” Purveyors of crystals, including the eggs, note that the practice of using jade eggs has been around for more than two thousand years, hailing from an ancient Taoist tradition linking a strong pelvic floor with increased life-force energy.

Activist and blogger Shiva Rose explains on Goop that while the eggs began as a tool used to “please the emperors,” concubines later found them so empowering that they started to use them for their own pleasure.

Today, Goop claims that yoni eggs can be used not only for muscle tone, but also for chi, orgasms, hormonal balance, detox, and “feminine energy in general.”

How Do Jade Eggs Work?

The healing claims of jade eggs are really twofold. The first characteristic is the crystal energy that many attribute to a specific kind of jade known as nephrite jade.

As Rose explains to Goop, “Nephrite jade has incredible clearing, cleansing powers.” She, and other crystal aficionados, claim that nephrite jade has the ability to take away negativity, balance the menstrual cycle, prevent uterine prolapse, and increase kidney strength.

The second purported element of the egg’s strength comes from its physical form, which presses against the muscles of the pelvic floor when inserted. Physician Dr. Rachel Carlton Abrams notes that the egg can be made of any stone – rose quartz is common – as long as it has the same shape, noting that the egg is best used as a sort of counterweight with which to do Kegel exercises.

“It’s helpful for feeling the pelvic muscles, learning how to relax the pelvic muscles, learning when you can strengthen the pelvic muscles,” she says, noting that many women use the egg to heighten sexual pleasure by increasing both awareness of and blood flow to the pelvic region.

Are Jade Eggs Good for You?

The moment that the Goop article was released, the Internet was inundated by experts claiming that using jade eggs was a useless practice.

“There are no studies or evidence to show that jade eggs help with orgasms, vaginal muscle tone or hormonal balance,” Dr. Leena Nathan, an assistant clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA Health in Los Angeles, told the Washington Post. “Jade does not result in hormonal changes, even when inserted in the vagina.”

Some even noted that using jade eggs could be dangerous, including Dr. Ursula Balthazar, who says that women using jade eggs to strengthen pelvic floor muscles can actually experience the opposite result.

“It can actually erode the tissue that it comes into contact with and end up weakening the muscles,” she says.

California OB-GYN Jen Gunter notes another issue with the practice: infection.

“Jade is porous, which could allow bacteria to get inside, and so the egg could act like a fomite,” Gunter wrote on her blog. “It could be a risk factor for bacterial vaginosis or even the potentially deadly toxic shock syndrome.”

Abrams, however, is one physician who believes in jade eggs, calling the hoopla “ridiculous.”

“It’s a freaking stone egg,” she says. “We’re not talking about putting sponges in you, we’re not talking about sharing it with other people. It’s a pretty benign object.” Benign, that is, as long as it’s being used properly.

“The only way I’ve ever had women be injured with a jade egg is if they try to insert the egg when they are too small, menopausal, too dry, or trying to force it,” she says. “And any good teacher is not going to advise you to do that.”

Method, then, is an important part of the jade egg experience — and somewhere that it seems Goop has steered people wrong.

Rose suggests on Goop that women sleep with the egg inserted, something that Gunter told Vox was “scientifically absurd,” noting that it can lead to toxic shock syndrome, much like wearing a tampon for too long.

Goop also suggests that women wear the jade egg while walking around, which Gunter says can actually cause women to clench their muscles too much, leading to pelvic pain. Release, she notes, is part and parcel of building any muscle, including pelvic floor muscles.

“Contracting constantly is like doing half of a bicep curl and not finishing it — that’s not how you work on a muscle,” she told CNN.

Abrams recommends getting advice from a professional, such as Saida Désilets, one of the foremost experts in jade eggs (though not a doctor).

Abrams even has some suggestions of her own: by running a string through the egg and attaching a small object to it — Abrams suggests a bag of beans — a woman can see in the mirror the control that she has over the egg and learn to isolate different muscles.

Rose also has some suggestions, including boiling the egg to ensure that it’s clean before going through a series of exercises while lying on your back.

“At the start, you can simply have the egg in and begin becoming aware of its energy and presence,” she says. “Then there are muscle tightening things you can do in stages to feel the various sections of the yoni.”

“It’s a very old practice,” says Abrams. “It’s a very safe practice, if people do it in the right way.”

Alternatives to Jade Eggs

Of course, if the idea of a jade egg is a bit tough to swallow, there are other ways that you can reap many of the same benefits.

Gunter suggests using weights specially designed for help with Kegel exercises, such as the ones profiled on Cosmopolitan. These weights are made with medical grade silicone or plastic and are not meant to be worn for long periods of time, thus reducing the risk for infection.

There are also other exercises that you can do that will tighten your pelvic floor without Kegels, like squats, and even products like curcuma comosa that you can use as an herbal treatment.

Whatever you choose to use, be sure that you check with a doctor beforehand, keep any objects you put in your vagina clean, and never do anything that hurts or feels uncomfortable.

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So Gwyneth Paltrow has proven herself a legit health and wellness professional. Her collab with Juice Beauty now has the goop brand extending to skin care. Here’s a look at GP’s new beauty products.

When I heard Gwyneth and Juice Beauty teamed up to create skin care, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them. Not only is GP hot on the health and wellness front these days, but who doesn’t want to know what she’s using on her skin?

The line includes cleanser, facial oil, moisturizer, night cream, and eye cream. Plus, the product I was most looking forward to sampling, a facial exfoliant. If you follow goop on Instagram you’ve likely seen GP modeling this product, which makes it all the more irresistible.

There are certain aspects of every skin care line that are important, aside from the contents. What do the products smell like? How do they feel? And will they look pretty sitting on my bathroom counter?

The goop products come in nice, generously sized containers (always a plus!), with a modern matte finish. They are lightly scented in a totally good way, and def look pretty enough to sit out. Now for the ultra important part … how they behave.

goop by Juice Beauty Product Line Up

Luminous Melting Cleanser: You know how a cleansing oil or balm is better for removing makeup and the day from you face? This rich balm feels so luxurious going on to skin. I recently read that massaging the face in upward, circular motions helps to keep wrinkles at bay and this is the perfect time to work that into your routine. This cleanser makes skin feel clean, soft, and supple. Comes with a muslin cleansing cloth for easy removal.

Exfoliating Instant Facial: Definitely the star of the show, this exfoliant works in two ways. It is a creamy mixture with uber tiny granules to slough away dry, dead skin. But this skin smoother also contains fruit acids, plus alpha and hydroxy acids, to really get down to healthy skin and up the ol’ glow factor. I have sensitive skin and only leave this product on for around a minute. I would recommend using this one at night for smooth, radiant skin.

Enriching Facial Oil: Always my favorite component in any skin care line, this one does not disappoint. A mixture of yummy plant and seed oils that hydrate, plump, and support the skin. This oil blend gives skin a moisturized feel and healthy glow, but is super light and sinks right into skin. An ideal one-two punch for any facial oil.

Revitalizing Day Moisturizer: A light, non-greasy moisturizer for day designed to hydrate skin, fight wrinkles, and brighten the complexion. I love the softness and supple feel this moisturizer gives to skin, and it truly does seem to make the complexion look brighter.

Replenishing Night Cream: Every decent skin care routine needs a good night cream. This one is made with aloe vera and fruit acids to be both gentle and anti-aging. Reduces lines and firms the skin while you sleep.

Perfecting Eye Cream: A puffy soufflé of moisturizing eye cream that hydrates skin without being greasy. This one could be used day and night to keep lines at bay and brighten tired eyes.

goop by Juice Beauty products are made with some certified organic ingredients, ranging from 78%-99%, depending on the product. As for price, yes these babies run toward the higher end as you likely imagined given the celeb creator. Items range from $90-140 per product and you can purchase the Discovery Set of trial sizes for $125.

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Image via goop.com

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Gwyneth Paltrow seems to have her hands in all things organic. And if her most recent personal health obsession turns out to be legit, then the all-natural star may soon have her hands all up in your vagina… figuratively, speaking, of course.

Paltrow knows that any woman who enjoys having sex could benefit from using lube from time to time. But, unfortunately, most lube isn’t organic—and we all know how much Paltrow appreciates organic personal care items.

So, Paltrow is now on a quest: a quest to find the best natural lube on the market. And while you may think her inspiration for finding the holy grail of organic lube was personal, it wasn’t—she was inspired by Lily Tomlin’s character, Frankie Bergstein, in the Netflix series “Grace and Frankie.” In the series, Bergstein has a running joke about developing yam lube.

Honestly, we think Paltrow is onto something—no matter where she got her inspiration from.

After Paltrow was visited by the sexual lube inspiration fairy, she went on a search for a lube she felt was worthy of being sold at Goop, her company. Luckily, her search was successful.

Paltrow is now selling Organics Natural ($13) and Organics Natural Gel ($15). Both products contain water-based solubles, and organic extracts of hibiscus, green tea, and aloe. The products aren’t sticky, easy to wipe off, and won’t stain sheets, clothing, etc.

In addition to finding two great natural lube alternatives, Paltrow’s company also interviewed Maggie Ney, N.D., the co-director of the Women’s Clinic at the Akasha Center in Santa Monica, about all things women’s health related. Ney talked at length about how many lubricants have toxic ingredients that can harm the reproductive system, vaginal dryness, condoms, and more.

A few of the interview‘s more interesting takeaways were the following:

• If you’re in a committed relationship and both partners have been tested for STIs, you can safely use organic coconut oil, olive oil, aloe vera gel, or almond oil as lube. However, if you’re trying to conceive, skip using oil because it could affect sperm motility.
• Men can be negatively affected by lube, too. The ingredients (parabens and endocrine disruptors) in some lubes can be absorbed by the penis and anus. These ingredients can affect sperm, and cause other health issues.
• Vaginal dryness can happen for a lot of reasons, but aging can really affect natural lubrication. “As estrogen declines, the vaginal skin becomes thinner and natural lubrication is reduced,” Ney says. “This can be controlled with natural lubricants like coconut oil, vitamin E oil, or aloe vera gel. Vaginal dryness due to aging can be reversed with vaginal estrogen.”

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Image of couple in bed via Shutterstock

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You know how a good dream makes you feel great? And a bad dream does the exact opposite? So what do dreams mean, and how can they help you kick negative thoughts to the curb and improve your life?

Sometimes they are seemingly random. Other times they are obviously about a life event or struggle. Have you considered what your dreams are telling you?

Some psychologists put a lot of stock in dreams, considering them higher forms of contemplation. Makes sense if you think of dreams as distraction free thought that is much more intuitive than our ordinary daily thoughts.

Not only are dreams interesting, but may be tools to a better life. By paying attention to what your mind is mulling over while you catch your Zs, you can unveil what’s troubling you, working for you, and even gain help in making decisions.

Carl Jung may have been one of the original believers, but dream symbolism is becoming increasingly popular. While dreams are as individual as the dreamer, there are certain themes that seem to run true. Jung disciple and psychotherapist, Carder Stout, recently did a fascinating interview with GOOP that went further into the dream/reality connection.

Stout says not only do our dreams connect with our subconscious, but with universal archetypes. For instance, those naked in public dreams that crop up from time to time? You may be feeling vulnerable or unprotected in some way. Dreaming of a scary woman, maybe even someone you know? This isn’t so much about them as you, representing a part of our own personality that we aren’t so crazy about. And every mother out there is likely familiar with the misplaced child nightmare. Guess what, that one is not a premonition of bad parenting, but a signal that you may be denying the childlike qualities in yourself and need to have more fun. What a relief!

Ready to delve deeper into your own psyche? Start by making notes on dreams in the morning and see if you can come up with real life connections that speak to you. Or type your dream character or symbol into DreamsCloud, a free app that shares insights and scenarios on dreams. Read up on dream interpretation with “Your Mind at Night: Dream Interpretation Guide for Beginners” by Frances Long and “Beginner’s Guide to Dream Interpretation: Uncover the Hidden Riches of Your Dreams with Jungian Analyst“.

Think of dreams as meditation while you sleep, opening up greater insight into the true you. What do you think? Interested in dream analysis?

*Disclaimer: Help support EcoSalon! Our site is dedicated to helping people live a conscious lifestyle. We’ve provided some affiliate links above in case you wish to purchase any of these products.

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Image of woman sleeping via Shutterstock

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ColumnI enjoy a good laugh at the expense of GOOP and Gwyneth Paltrow as much as the next person; it’s fairly irresistible material. After GP announced her breakup with Chris Martin this week, terming it “conscious uncoupling,” there was a viral pile-on of inevitable Paltrow-bashing  — but this is one bandwagon I’m not hopping on.

The now-infamous GOOP post about Martin and Paltrow’s impending divorce is embarrassingly New Age-y and steeped in various Chopra-isms, but before we throw “conscious uncoupling” out with the Italian Sparkling Mineral Water, let’s unpack what it really means. Of course, all the talk of insects and exoskeletons in the post made my exoskeleton crawl. Question for another day: Why do people insist on trying to fit everything they feel, do, see and experience into a version of the Paleo diet?

I know its hard, but let’s stop cracking jokes at Paltrow’s expense and look at our own messy lives for a moment. In many ways “conscious uncoupling” is simply shorthand for breaking up without completely breaking down (or breaking your ex-partner’s head, window, or stereo system – take your pick). It’s separating your lives without including all the ugliness we associate with divorce. It may seem nearly impossible to uncouple with grace, perhaps because we all watched “Kramer vs. Kramer” one too many times. Yet breaking up with a partner doesn’t require a war footing – even if you have good reasons to be angry at your ex.

To me, the root of “conscious uncoupling” is less about endings than it is about beginnings. If there is consciousness at the start, there is likely to be more groundedness and wisdom at the (inexorable) end. To me, conscious uncoupling is a doorway to unlearning everything you’ve ever been taught about love, romance, sex and the way relationships are forged. It’s about disentangling yourself from the complete rom-com-ification of your psyche — knowing that your life is not a fairy tale, and that finding your “one and only” is not your life’s purpose. Most of all, it’s about becoming less binary, and truly understanding why we’re not really built for monogamy. (Note to Gwyneth: this has little to do with grasshoppers.)

Perhaps our addiction to the dramatic, angry, vengeful breakup stems from our deeply misguided conception of love itself. Marriage, that sacred institution, will continue in an endless loop toward the inevitable fifty percent divorce rate if we continue to seek mates the way our ancestors did (and I don’t mean our Paleolithic ones). After all, marriage is a merely a convention – an apparatus birthed by capitalism that indicates ownership of property. We’re choosing our own partners now (at least we think we are – I’d argue that consumerism plays a huge role in our mating dance) but we’re still enmeshed in the constructs and contracts of the Victorian Age.

And as much as we’ve advanced since the first sexual revolution of the 1960s, relationships are one arena in which we’ve made much less progress than we think we have. Sure, women aren’t chattel anymore, but we continue to announce betrothals with engagement rings, a blingy down payment on a future sex partner. Considering the way we treat sex workers, it’s rather interesting that few balk at the idea of men symbolically buying their future brides with diamonds. Just sayin’.

These are institutionalized conventions that we haven’t shed yet, and it may be a while before we do. Before we can leave the antiquated concept of marriage to the annals of history, we have to first make it legal for all humans – we’re at least working towards that. Besides, it’s helpful for filing taxes.

I know I mention “Sex at Dawn” ad naseum in this column, but the poly community has a lot to teach us about jealousy, ego, and co-dependence – the downfall of many a short and long-term relationship. There’s a term often used in the poly community called “compersion” defined on Wikipedia as: “… an empathetic state of happiness and joy experienced when another individual experiences happiness and joy.” So instead of feeling jealous when our partner experiences pleasure from a source other than us, we feel pleasure derived from their pleasure.

Think about that for a moment. Do you feel joy when your partner does? Or does the idea of your lover experiencing happiness unrelated to your body, your ideas or thoughts or worldview, make you a little bit uncomfortable? What all of this really comes down to is that in an ideally balanced world, one where “consciousness” is not just a buzzword, we’d embark on relationships already whole. It is when we take our broken selves and try to solder them back together via a relationship that we fail. Not that we need to be whole before experiencing love — that would mean that very few of us would get the chance to be in relationships, as wholeness is a lifelong project.

The issue here, and the one embedded in the concept of “conscious uncoupling,” is that wholeness can only come from within. No partner can make you whole, even if you temporarily believe that to be the case. If you seek validation (sexual or otherwise) from others — you’ll always come crashing back to down to Earth, utterly defeated. Instead, the life-project, the bucket-list item, should not be “finding love” unless it starts with finding authentic self-love first.

We are fixated on forever, and we need to loosen our grip. Some of us will find and partner with people who will be our life-long loves. Some will even manage to have a thriving sex life for decades, even though this is quite rare. Some will be intentional serial monogamists (like me). Some would rather be alone, either after a long marriage, or no marriage at all. So let us go forward consciously coupling, uncoupling, and whatever comes in between. As long as we know that nothing is, or should be, forever.

Got a question for Stefanie? Email stefanie at ecosalon dot com and she’ll answer it in the next Sexual Healing column.

Keep in touch with Stefanie on Twitter: @ecosexuality

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The post Stop Making Fun of Gwyneth and ‘Conscious Uncoupling’: Sexual Healing appeared first on EcoSalon.

To you doers of good, we say thanks. You clean up after yourself. You say kind things in YouTube comments. Your DIY projects make killer Christmas presents, and you always know where to get the best arepas. But sometimes, we really wish that you’d give it a rest. Need us to get more specific?

7. The Advice-giver. In his mind, he’s the only person in the world with access to the internet. And it’s his responsibility to make sure that you know everything he does. He’s just trying to help, so why are you getting so defensive? His favorite response to any good news is “Actually, did you know [that can kill you and everyone you love]?” For example, you just posted a video from your phone of your baby taking his first step. He writes: “Actually, did you know that the radiation from cell phones are probably the leading cause of peanut allergies today? Just a thought before you point that death ray at your baby’s head.”

6. The Experimenter. If you can cleanse it, she’ll pour lemon juice on it. If she reads an article about the evils of shampoo (“My God, they put chemicals in it?”), she’ll dump every bottle she has and buy a lesser evil. A pair of $90 running shoes designed to mimic the experience of not wearing shoes? She wears them to the farmer’s market. She drank raw milk every day until she gave up dairy, and whether she’s Paleo or vegan, you can bet she’s going to tell you exactly what she had for lunch today, whether you asked her or not.

5. The Petitioner. Every Facebook status is a link to another atrocity you have to learn about right now, followed by an online petition that will halt said atrocity immediately by adding your name to an instantly-generated email that will be sent to your local state representative. “You guys really need to sign this, or else they’re going to close Planned Parenthood forever and replace it with farm factories staffed exclusively by violent police officers and plastic bags.” Her profile picture is lilac today, in a mark of protest against a recent crime against human rights, and if you don’t know what crime that is, you’re clearly part of the problem.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow. For cupping, for GOOP, for cheating on poor Matt Damon and then killing everyone in Contagion – take your pick.

3. The Label-Free. “I don’t think labels belong on people. I’m pansexual. But honestly, even think that term doesn’t really begin to capture my shimmering, omni-gendered nature. It’s such a shame that we have to use such limiting means of communication like language to express something as fluid and subversive as sexual orientation. I actually prefer to identify as a ball of glitter that pulses and contracts with the cycles of the moon. Or a dolphin made of teamwork. I haven’t decided. Oh, I own four pairs of custom-made fairy wings; why do you ask?”

2.The Fundraiser who Needs Fundraisers for Self-Worth.

“Don’t forget that my 10K/Ironman/cross-country bike trip to fight/raise awareness for/cure AIDs/breast cancer/global inequality/child slavery/non-GMO seed banks is next week!”

“Oh, can I not just write a check?”

“Can a check fill my Facebook Charity Walk 2011 album with 50 unique crowd shots? Can a check send me monthly emails thanking me for doing my part and reminding me that this year we’re going to exceed our goal and they couldn’t do it without me?”

“I guess I just don’t see how giving to charity and exercise are related, other than they both generally seem to be good things. You don’t do push-ups to resist global food distribution inequality or anything.”

“So are you going to donate or what? 50% of all donations will go to race-day expenses and staff salaries, but the rest directly funds life-saving research. And Cancer Awareness apparel. But 3% of all sales from the apparel goes back into the research fund! Which is evaluated and redistributed at the end of the year by a team of paid accountants.”

1. The Office Watchdog. We’re not sure who you are, because you seem to operate under the cover of darkness, but we see the trail you leave behind. The suspiciously chipper notes in the kitchen (“PLEASE BE SURE TO WASH ALL DISHES AS SOON AS YOU’RE DONE USING THEM – THANKS!!!!” and “DO NOT PUT FOIL IN THE COMPOST BIN; SOME OF US HAVE TO GO THROUGH IT AND CHECK FOR NON-BIODEGRADABLE ITEMS :)”) belie an undercurrent of rage and bile so potent it nearly chokes you. Please seek help.

Image: Fanpop

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