Annette Sharp: John Singleton heads to LA wellness retreat The Pearl Laguna

It’s been a tough year for businessman John Singleton, so he’s packed himself off to a Californian ashram to restore his jaded chakras and reconnect with his gurus, writes Annette Sharp.

Some of John Singleton’s past loves (l to r): Maggi Eckardt, Liz Hayes, Belinda Green and Venessa Merrin.

At the tail end of a hard year, one marked by failure and loss, John Singleton has packed himself off to a Californian ashram to restore his jaded chakra and reconnect with his gurus.

That the Toohey’s poster boy and one-time best mate of rugby league face-slapper Tom Raudonikis and champion battler Dawn Fraser — both no-nonsense pragmatists — has spiritual gurus is the first surprise.

That Singleton is on a quest, at 82, to find inner peace, solace, balance and maybe eternal youth after a lifetime as a rough and tough working-class hero and occasional boozer, the second.

For Singleton it seems the adage has proven true; money — not even $800 mill — can’t buy everything, and certainly not everyone.

What it can buy is a gallon of Californian lemon water, half a cup of almonds, a good massage and the company of some like-minded travellers eager to cleanse their auras and attend to their weary souls.

Businessman John Singleton’s quest for inner peace has taken him to California. Picture: Ryan Osland

While details of the ad legend’s present location are a closely guarded secret, based on the oft-repeated habits of the human animal this columnist understands Singleton is once again tucked away at exclusive wellness retreat The Pearl, in California’s windswept Laguna Canyon.

There, he can test his legs daily on three-hour hikes through 20,000 acres of rugged hills and, according to the marketing material, use his “physical body to calm and focus (his) mind and spark (his) spirit”.

The Pearl Laguna wellness retreat offers yoga to its wealthy clientele.

Along with hiking, of which Singleton is a enthusiast, The Pearl’s exclusive guests are invited to spend their days practising yoga, weight training, enjoying massages, facials, infra-red saunas, taking dips in a saltwater pool and practising pilates.

The rich lister’s gurus on this quest are experienced yogi couple Geo Takoma, once dubbed “the father of power yoga”, and Katresha Moskios.

Takoma started weightlifting at age 12 before taking up gymnastics at college.

The Baltimore native then went on to become a sergeant with the US Marines, serving for three years in the Vietnam War.

Pearl Laguna co-founder Geo Takoma.

Australian former model Katresha Moskios.

After the war, in 1974, Takoma began practising yoga and by 1975 was a certified yogi.

His celebrity client list includes supermodels Cindy Crawford, Amber Valleta and Cheryl Tiegs, as well as rock ’n’ roll vets Stevie Nicks and Simon Le Bon, and Hollywood elites like Oprah Winfrey and Salma Hayek.

“(Yoga) changed my life,” Takoma has said.

“I like the fact that it keeps me mentally, physically and emotionally in pretty good shape. I can handle things like nobody else seems to be able to – I don’t get stressed. I’m fearless; things don’t scare me.

“If an incident happens, I deal with it. I don’t run from it.”

Singleton has had a tough year, including a marriage to Sarah Warry that lasted mere months.

Moskios, Takoma’s wife, is a Perth native. Australian born and bred.

She worked as a model in, it appears, the 1960s, before moving to swinging London to study health and beauty.

A car accident that left her with facial scars was the catalyst for a career in healing and beauty, leading to meditation and yoga.

She and Takoma met in Mexico in 1974 at a yoga training course, and married soon after. They have been working and teaching yoga together for 50 years. In 2009 they opened their retreat, the 12-bedroom property, The Pearl Laguna.

Moskios is in charge of the nutritional needs of The Pearl’s exclusive clientele.

Singleton at his Central Coast restaurant, Saddles, can expect lots of broth and lemon water while at The Pearl. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Singleton, who has visited the retreat before, will be on a vegetarian diet consuming small meals, lots of broth and juice, buckets of lemon water and alkaline water.

Alcohol, caffeine and refined sugars are out.

A week at The Pearl will set the rich lister back around $9600 — a return first class flight from Sydney to LAX an additional $27,000 — but this is small coin for “Singo”, who has been known to check in for weeks at a time.

During a previous stay, while practising his pranayama breathing and opening his heart to “positive loving energy”, the seven-time divorcee and father of eight even managed to snag a much younger girlfriend, New York socialite Erika Klauer, so maybe his pursuit of a natural experience is not without some merit.

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