How mega-rich are becoming prisoners of wellness obsession

In the pursuit of health, happiness and spirituality, many of India’s richest 1 per cent are clients of Emily McBurnie, an Australian consultant and psychic.

A woman lights candles in front of her house during the celebrations to mark Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in New Delhi. ‘At sumptuous Diwali parties, a feast is laid out. But the hostess, who has top chefs working for her at home, pulls out a box and pops a handful of vitamins. That’s her dinner.’ Picture: Arun Sankar / AFP

The mega-rich may already employ chefs, a nutritionist, a stylist, a personal shopper or a personal trainer. Some also retain staff to fluff their pillows, wind up their expensive watches or carry designer handbags.

But in the pursuit of health, happiness and spirituality, many of India’s 1 per cent are also clients of Emily McBurnie, a consultant and psychic.

The Australian influencer has been flown by private jet to exorcise a ghost from a tycoon’s mansion, and worked with the wife of a rich politician in Delhi who demanded a liveried servant greet her with a doily-covered silver tray on which to place her Hermes Birkin bag when she came home.

The excesses of the rich and powerful have long been idosynchratic, but Ms McBurnie, 50, has recently started noticing a common theme; that her ultra-rich customers are becoming prisoners of their own raw fruit or fresh juice diets and obsessions with wellness.

One-upmanship among chief executives, tycoons and venture capitalists is becoming less about the latest billion and more about blood test results, analysed for every sign of vigour or ailment.

“It’s about being chronologically 65 years old but having the biological age of 50,” she said.

“Longevity is the new obsession. It’s all about food, your sleep, your kidney markers, your biomarkers. Your skin should be dewy, your hair shining. Straying from the strict rules of a healthy life is seen as a weakness.”

People buy sweets ahead of Dilwali celebrations in New Delhi. Picture: AP

With alcohol, gluten, sugar, carbohydrates and dairy taboo for health reasons, the diets of the fastidious mega-rich were beginning to resemble those of the poorest people in India, forced to eat the same spartan food every day, she said.

“At sumptuous Diwali parties, a feast is laid out. But the hostess, who has top chefs working for her at home, pulls out a box and pops a handful of vitamins. That’s her dinner.”

Emily McBurnie, Australian wellness coach. Picture: The Times

A teacher of yoga, breathing techniques and meditation based in Delhi, the Australian-born “wellness and sustainability influencer” flies around the world advising her clients - politicians and pop stars whose identities she keeps strictly anonymous.

The new obsession, says Ms McBurnie, is in ensuring their brains keep up with the longer lifespan, with many asking her for brain longevity workouts to ward off dementia. They are as popular in Delhi and Mumbai as in New York, Los Angeles and London, she said.

The number of US-dollar billionaires in India increased from 187 in 2023 to 284 this year. Some estimates suggest that the wealthiest Indians are allocating up to 10 per cent of their total spending to wellness, in a market estimated to be worth $US639m ($990m) last year.

Ms McBurnie spoke to The Times from Dubai, where she was meeting an old client, a member of Middle Eastern royalty. Often, Ms McBurnie said, families are as much to blame for problems as the individual. One difficulty she sees across the board is parents struggling with entitled children who appear to display none of the drive that created the family’s wealth.

A qualified trauma practitioner, Ms McBurnie trained under the Canadian-Hungarian physician Gabor Mate, who counselled the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, and diagnosed him with ADHD and PTSD during an interview in 2023.

Her own journey into wellness and spirituality began with a childhood accident in the 1970s when, aged three, she fell into a swimming pool and had a near-death experience. It was a classic “crossing to the other side”, she claimed, after which, by her own account, she started seeing ghosts and having psychic abilities.

In 2008 she moved to Canada to learn yoga and meditation. Two years later, in Bali, she trained yoga teachers for the Four Seasons hotel chain and her consultancy business took off.

In 2016 she landed in Mumbai to work with a billionaire’s daughter as her spiritual adviser, and decided to settle there. India’s mega-rich were “far more superstitious and religious” than their western equivalents, she said.

Ms McBurnie has no website or business card, finding clients through word of mouth. “I’m from the Australian outback and I think my clients value my calling it as it is. Billionaires never hear the truth. With me, they know they will get an honest opinion,” she said.

At home, with her Indian partner, a doctor, and a family of Persian cats, her lifestyle is pared down. She wears no make-up, her hair is not styled, and she is happiest in a loose cotton dress and comfortable sandals.

“I try to live like a yogi with no attachments. I have no handbag, no car. I wear the clothes given to me,” she said.

Her advice to the worried wealthy has also been simplified of late. “For God’s sake, all you need is to sleep well, get out into nature, take a walk and drink water,” she added.

The Times