Exclusive Anti-Aging Social Clubs Aren’t Just for the Ultra-Rich

A vision for recreating the bohemian lifestyle as an exclusive health and wellness club

Tim Gurner is an Australian real estate mogul. At 41, he’s worth $929 million. Not bad. And he’s just getting started, with multiple real estate and lifestyle projects underway, including Saint Haven, a private social clubs focused on anti-aging.

According to the Financial Review, “Gurner says his clubs will be social and for networking, but put health and wellness at their core. That’s when he says that he wants to live to 100. It turns out Gurner has become increasingly obsessed about staying young.”

In the pursuit of health and longevity, patrons of Saint Haven can take advantage of IV drips, red light therapy, cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen pods, cycle classes, and other amenities. Private sessions are available from breathing coaches and spiritual healers. After your wellness sessions, you can indulge in a variety of decadent health-food options at the on-site restaurant.

No doubt it costs a small fortune to join, which is fine in the sense that rich people need something to do with all their money. But then again, the rich aren’t the ones in immediate need of jolts to their life-expectancy. The rich already tend to enjoy life to the fullest, for the longest period of time. Really, it’s us non-rich people who could benefit from membership to Saint Haven.

Speaking for myself, despite my lack of millions of dollars in the bank, I wouldn’t mind having access to exclusive wellness resources.

Interestingly, it was during my most destitute periods of life, in my early 20s, when I belonged to exclusive social clubs. These “clubs” (they weren’t technically clubs but might as well have been) were undoubtedly even more exclusive—and more fun—than Saint Haven. The difference being that my clubs were centered around art, rather than health and longevity.

There was this place just south of Broadway in Sacramento. It was an old warehouse partly converted into artist studios and a makeshift music venue. No matter the time of day, a moody, bewitching darkness lurked in the space. Lots of lamps, mirrors, guitars, manikins, wine bottles converted into candle holders... The prevailing vibe could be described, I’d say, as accidental voodoo chic. Needless you say, if you tried to create this space as a real estate project, no matter how much money you had, you could never pull off its magic.

This was just one of the many “private clubs” I belonged to as a poor bohemian. There was the storage facility my friend worked at at night. Want to record a record? Come by anytime and make as much noise as you want! There was also the hippy-glam “13^th and E” house where you could drop by at any time to drink beer, smoke weed, listen to records, talk philosophy, and paint.

For a short time, I had my own social club—the infamous Dudebuddy Mansion—where young artsy types were welcome at all hours to come by to hang and make art. The creative energy of that place was unprecedented. Highly inspired books, records, films, and paintings were created at an incredible rate.

Although these clubs were centered around art, there’s no reason why they couldn’t be recreated to center around health and wellness. It wouldn’t take much money or business know-how. Really, all you need to pull it off is a group of friends with even a halfhearted dedication to the cause.

Find a space. Maybe a warehouse, a loft, or an old house with good vibes and a backyard. Pool your resources to rent it. Then get some workout equipment and a cold plunge tub (only $88 on Amazon). Invest in technology to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, sleep patterns, etc. If you have the space, plant a garden for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Now search through your contacts to find health and wellness experts in your community who are willing to volunteer or provide services for a discount. If you can’t find any such experts, become the experts yourselves. Learn to cook healthy food. Learn to brew your own kombucha. Learn massage therapy. Learn how to lead workout routines. Provide them on a weekly or daily basis.

Since you’re DIY and “underground,” you’re free to explore more adventurous territory than would be available at a place like Saint Haven. Find a local biohacker who can share biohacking services and information. Get a black-market connection to metformin. Get the hookup to magic mushrooms to take advantage of their health benefits. Go wild.

However you might end up cobbling together your health and wellness social club, you’ll gain the added benefit of enhancing your friendships. That’s the main thing I always got out of my exclusive social clubs back in the day. We were fundamentally friends bonding over shared interests. Maintaining strong friendships is one of the best ways to improve your health.

And that’s something the ultra-rich can never have over the rest of us: the ability to form strong friendships. Friendships are free. And while so many of the rich are narcissists and sociopaths, we have every incentive to just want to hang out and have a good time together. In the distant future when the ultra-rich are busy backstabbing each other in their posh longevity resorts, we’ll be having a genuine ball sipping green tea and massaging each other in our backyard health spas. That’s the dream.