Hindus are criticizing Gwyneth Paltrow’s expensive yoga and meditation goods/services promoted through her lifestyle brand GOOP.
The products in question are part of GOOP’s “2017 Holiday Gift Guide.” One of them is a “Meditation Band,” which uses “soothing sounds from the great outdoors to gently guide you back to a meditative state.” It sells for a whopping $350.
The guide also pushes for a “Love Yoga Retreat,” which costs $2,100 — way above the usual price at many yoga studios ($8 – $23) and the reported average cost of around $12.
In a recent statement emailed to NextShark, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said that Paltrow should not push unreasonably high-priced products for the ancient practices when their techniques could be mastered with little to no cost at all.
Zed also stressed that Hindus have been practicing meditation for thousands of years — without the assistance of Paltrow and her products. Today, there are countless tutorial videos on yoga and meditation on YouTube for learners to practice these spiritual arts themselves.
GOOP was launched in September 2008 “out of Gwyneth Paltrow’s kitchen” as a weekly newsletter. The company states its values:
“We believe that the little things count, that good food is the foundation of love and wellness, that the mind/body/spirit is inextricably linked and we have more control over how we express our health than we currently understand, that it’s better to buy fewer things that are better.”
Are GOOP’s goods and services overpriced? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
