About Us
Barry and I launched Wake Up and Breathe! in 2009, but the story began long before that….
We first met in our early twenties. At the time Barry was working for a Japanese corporation and a bit of a fitness freak – he ran marathons, cycled and insisted on dragging me to the gym with him.
I ran a small business from home, often working or partying all night and sleeping all day. I lived in a 3rd floor apartment and my only exercise was climbing the stairs or doing yoga.
Time passed. I was desk bound and no longer a size 0 (UK size 6). No matter how many times I joined the gym I just hated it and always gave up after a few months. As my weight increased (helped on by 2 babies, ME and Crohns Disease), my energy levels decreased.
Barry was still a regular gym bunny and also spent every spare minute studying Tai Chi.
A few more years sped by and Barry had a heart attack. Anyone who’s been in this position will know just how scary it is so we did what thousands before us had done – we vowed to make changes.
And we did…. We sold our business. Barry began to teach Tai Chi and I trained as a Life Coach.
As well as Tai Chi, Barry also taught his clients his own unique Chi Gong based exercise program that he had devised years earlier after suffering severe whiplash in a car accident and it had proved incredibly popular.
We started teaching together on board P&O Cruises Arcadia (Carnival) and incorporating elements of life coaching and from this collaboration Wake Up and Breathe! was born.
