The rise of celebrity-led wellness retreats

I’m sitting in a wood cabin in The Lakes by YOO in the Cotswolds, by the shores of a seemingly vast and beautiful freshwater lake. The snug space is warmed by a flickering fire. Dr Deepak Chopra is standing three feet away from me. He is talking about integrating the body, mind and spirit, and how the physical world is simply a construct.

The spiritual guru, who once led a world-record 93,000 people in a mass meditation in Toronto, is now dispensing his wisdom in smaller batches. It’s just two dozen of us in this cabin, on a four-day retreat – and we’ve got Dr Chopra all to ourselves.

Joining long public lines or crowds for a brief audience with the likes of Dr Chopra or the Dalai Lama may be worth the effort, but those wanting more intimate face time with these celebrated wellness gurus are turning to exclusive retreats. And it’s a two-way street – celebrities are increasingly signing up to host such gatherings as a way to connect on a deeper level and share their tips for physical and mental health.

In May 2024, neo-soul singer and songwriter Erykah Badu co-curated Merasa: 7 Days of Regeneration at Desa Potato Head retreat in Bali. A Reiki master and qualified doula, Badu helps rejuvenate minds and bodies through talks, workshops, energetic healing and holistic health advice. Meanwhile, bestselling author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle has run retreats at Costa Navarino, giving inspiring talks by the Ionian Sea about knowing yourself and recognising your “egoic patterns”.

Over in London’s Chiswick House and Gardens, broadcaster Fearne Cotton holds the annual Happy Place Festival, a live and expanded version of her popular podcast featuring her chats with the likes of actress Minnie Driver and former rugby star Jonny Wilkinson about how the meaning of life fluctuates, and why we should submit to the unknown and not try to control it. This year, thousands gathered at Cotton’s festival to watch in-the-flesh versions of those uplifting discussions, alongside live music and workshops on reducing stress. No doubt the thrill of proximity to these big-name speakers is part of the attraction.

For Deepak Chopra, staging a small and exclusive retreat has appeal. “The setting is idyllic,” he tells me in view of The Lakes’s sprawling green hills. “It’s more intimate than usual, and with a very diverse group of people – from the UK, Europe, Australia and Latin America. It’s very unique.”

Here at his retreat, guests can schedule one-on-one sessions with Dr Chopra or chat with him at the dining table. I take advantage of my one-on-one time, looking for the answer to a question I've often wondered: “Is there a difference between memories and dreams?”.

“Both are the same,” he replies. “Dreams are triggered by memories, and memories are fundamental to any experience. What we experience as the world is also memory. You see that tree but by the time you see it, what you saw has moved on. So what we call everyday reality is a lucid dream in the vivid ‘now’. The whole thing is a dream.”

Chopra begins each of the three mornings leading a pre-breakfast meditation and ujjayi breathing sessions in a sunlight-flooded room. We are then led through Jivamukti-inspired yoga by former actress, Sadie Frost, who took up the practice as an antidote to the toxicity of her celebrity life.

The rest of the days are filled with wide-ranging talks by Dr Chopra, from reducing anxiety by stimulating the vagus nerve, to the importance of ridding ourselves of toxic foods, toxic relationships and toxic emotions. Thankfully, the atmosphere is highly non-toxic. There’s a warmth and camaraderie between guests and speakers, and I have the privilege of talking to some fascinating individuals – people like Wei-Wu He, one of the scientists involved in the Human Genome Project. Our conversation meanders from fighting autoimmune disease (“It’s mainly about diet,” he says) to lung cancer. It’s eye-opening stuff.

Dr He is also an executive chairman of Human Longevity, which can help identify such cancers through its genome database. The company scrutinises the genetic makeup of its subscribers, developing ways for them to fight chronic age-related diseases and stay as biologically young as possible. “Control your biological age and you control your rate of chronic age-related disease,” says CEO David Karow, a tall and muscular embodiment of his company’s aims. Now partnering with the Chopra Foundation, Human Longevity’s execs are at this retreat to give talks about improving your “healthspan”. It’s all about insulin sensitivity, inflammation, detoxing; reducing oxidative stress and optimising our hormones and cellular health.

Meanwhile, Dr Chopra believes we can reverse our biological age by reframing the meaning of ageing, i.e. adopting a timeless identity and perceiving the body as a ‘field of awareness’ rather than a physical object. This circling of spirituality and science is very Chopra-esque. And it is reflected in the list of speakers, an incongruous motley crew of radiologists, microbiologists, astrologers and spiritual practitioners. Among the latter are Priscila Lima de Charbonniéres, founder of Soulloup, “the first astrological wellness” app, which offers a personalised guide to self-awareness using NASA data, yoga and meditation. In my one-on-one session with Lima de Charbonniéres, she intuits highly personal struggles of mine and advises me on how to deal with them. Later I join a group session with Estelle Bingham, the congenial holistic therapist, healer and author who lives up to her nickname “The Heart Whisperer” when she induces cathartic tears among a couple of attendees.

Some of the guests here may be high net-worth individuals but their values are a little different from previous generations. “Health is the new wealth,” Karow says, with smart watches often favoured over glinting statement timepieces. He shows us his Nowatch, a device that tracks things such as his cortisol levels, sleep patterns, to help him improve his daily habits. Nourishing the body, mind and soul is the ultimate luxury.

I eat delicious meals, take walks around the lakes, practise yoga and guided breathing. I receive an IV vitamin infusion, and then a facial from Augustinus Bader, the world-renowned expert in stem cell research. The man himself then talks to us via video link about his company’s innovations in skin care and repair. On our final morning we have breakfast in the Manor House, by its sunny terrace. I’ve sworn to lay off the sugar, do daily breathing exercises, let stuff wash over me and pay extra attention to Chopra’s “Four As”: Attention, Affection, Appreciation, and Acceptance.

In a world awash with pseudoscience and celebrity gurus promoting faux-wellness and snake oil cures, some wellbeing seekers consider the likes of Dr Chopra, Fearne Cotton and Erykah Badu more trustworthy sources of realistic and well-rounded health. Successful, aspirational, their highs and lows sometimes played out in public – participants want to learn from these luminaries and interact with them in a different, more profound way. In turn, some celebrities want to use their public platforms more meaningfully and intimately, without the star-struck feverishness. And the hotels and resorts make a killing. Wellness advice, good food, chilled vibes, beautiful surroundings and aspirational speakers – it’s a win-win on several fronts. Now that’s what I call holistic.