Conscious Uncoupling: A Goop GIF Explainer

Photo: Jesse Lirola/BFAnyc.com/BFA NYC

To keep balance in the universe, when something was broken in the world (Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s marriage), something else was brought into the world: Conscious Uncoupling. What is that thing?

Well, it is something for which there are many free online seminars and five-week-courses, and 60-minute audio seminars, and life-transformative courses. It’s the sort of thing where after divorcing, you go on a Bahamian vacation with your ex.

In eight words: Conscious uncoupling is divorcing without being a jerk. In more words, there are six main ideas, as we have pieced together from various online guides to conscious uncoupling:

1. Divorce can be a positive transition, as opposed to a destructive break.

2. Separation means recognizing that the arc of the relationship is complete.

3. But, just because the relationship has completed, the connection isn’t over: That’s because “when we take a lover, it’s as though we breathe this person into the very center of our soul, inviting them to take up residence and root down within us.”

4. There is an emphasis on being present for the people who are affected by your separation (namely, children).

5. The main struggle is to understand that your sadness is from other psychic stuff you have going on; it’s not related to this breakup or this person.

6. Ultimately, conscious uncoupling is a way you can make divorce a “healthy and beautiful process.”

Conscious Divas says that it’s “an inside job organized around a choice — a commitment — to radically and lovingly develop that sense of self experiencing this heartbreak.” And of her conscious-uncoupling course, Rebecca Ocean writes that you can “reclaim your power and begin to embody your most radiant self … not in spite of your breakup, but through a deep healing of your breakup.”

The leader in conscious uncoupling, Katherine Woodward Thomas, described her own divorce as an “incredibly loving, caring and contained experience.” Her five steps include:

Session 1: Finding Emotional Freedom

Session 2: Reclaiming Your Power & Your Life

Session 3: Breaking the Pattern, Healing Your Heart

Session 4: Becoming a Love Alchemist

Session 5: Creating Your Happily Ever After Life

If you do it right, here’s something that you could say:

We were awakening to a new way of separating, and the special way we completed our relationship amazingly allowed both of us to also heal our heartbreak from past relationships.

The results sound amazing. It will make you want to get married, only so that you can divorce, only so that you can become a truly realized person.

Conscious Uncoupling: A Goop GIF Explainer