A Journey with The Whole Health Project Founders, Rachel and Lucy

Q; First, can you explain a little more about who you both are and how The Whole Health Project started in lockdown?

A; Sure! We’re Rachel Fearnley and Lucy Foster-Perkins and we are co-founders of The Whole Health Project where we offer online Trauma Aware teacher training in breathwork, meditation and Yin Yoga. 

We’re both British but we met in Bali where we bonded over passion for travel, surfing, building our separate businesses and creating extraordinary lives!  In 2019 Rachel invited me to buy ½ of her surf and yoga retreat business, The Pineapple House, so that we could join forces and grow the business together.  In 2020 The Pineapple House was having its best year yet when COVID hit and the Indonesian borders closed.  Within a couple of weeks we’d gone from a full retreat to zero income and a lot of outgoings! We needed to come up with something, and fast!  This was the moment The Whole Health Project was born and we haven’t looked back since!

Since then we’ve created 3 more online teacher trainings and 3 business trainings and taught hundreds of students! 

Q; The first course you launched was your Online Breath Coach Training which was an instant success, why do you think that was?

A; When Rachel and I first looked at what we could create we knew the product needed to meet a few criterias - it needed it to be of value to our community, it needed it to be online and it needed to be scalable.  

The answer was clear - if COVID was teaching us anything, it was teaching us these 2 things - the importance of our breath and that the “safe and consistent” jobs that we’ve been taught to depend on were not always safe and consistent when the world was turned upside down. And so, Rachel and I put our years of experience of teaching breathwork into our 25 Hour Online Breath Coach Training.  The training was an instant success as it focussed on not only the power of the breath, but it gave our students an opportunity to carve out a new career or side hustle that they were passionate about and that they could do anywhere!

Even now, our Breath Coach Training is our most popular training and we’re blown away by the feedback we get from our students about how it’s changing their lives and the way they work with their clients! 

Q; You and Rachel and navigated a lot during the time you’ve worked together - a pandemic, motherhood, illness, living together and then living in separate countries.  What’s been the main reason your partnership works so well? 

A; Good communication and trust!  We’re both driven with our work but we also deeply value our free time and time with our families.  We’ve created a support system around us so that we don’t need to work every day and we take time out if/when life throws us a curveball.  In order for this to work within our partnership we rely on a deep level of trust and great communication.  It feels amazing to be held by each other and an honour to support the other person when they need it!

Q; All your trainings now “Trauma Aware”. What does this mean and why was it important for you to add this element to the courses?

A; Being Trauma Aware (or Trauma Informed) is the understanding that we all have various degrees of trauma and trauma triggers, and if the trauma is not integrated or healed it can block you from achieving your goals and potential.  

Rachel and I have been in the wellness industry for over 20 years, collectively, and have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Sadly though, we have seen too many practitioners who are practising without this fundamental understanding of trauma and are sometimes doing more harm than good.  It felt vital that we offer our Trauma Aware Facilitation Training so that our students have the tools and knowledge that equip them to create a space and inclusive space for everyone. 

For our students it’s been a win win. Not only can they understand and recognise trauma in their clients and students, but they’ve gained the insight to be able to integrate and heal their own trauma as well. 

Q; You’ve both lived pretty unconventional lives before meeting in Bali. What does life look like now that you’re both mothers and business owners?

A; Yes, Rachel used to race boats around the world and I used to be a contemporary dancer before I left that career to teach yoga to surfers and chase waves! 

After living in the tropics for 8 years I now live with my partner, toddler and stepchild in London and Rachel is a solo Mum in Bali, where she’s lived for almost 10 years. Life is slower for both of us now as we both have daughters and run our businesses at home, but we both love our lives and wouldn’t have it any other way!  I still surf though I’ve swapped tropical waves for colder atlantic swells and Rachel lives in a quiet village with a wonderful community.

Q; What’s the bravest thing you’ve done?

A; For me, it was leaving a relationship in Australia and moving back to Bali with only a few hundred dollars, no job and no plan!  For Rachel, it was embarking on a journey of solo motherhood after falling pregnant on a tinder date! Both decisions were some of the best decisions we’ve ever made!

Q; And finally, what are you most proud about since creating The Whole Health Project?

A; It has to be the feedback that we get from our students. We are always blown away when we hear how our courses have changed our students’ lives - from curing anxiety and exhaustion to carving our new careers and travelling around the world teaching breathwork, Yin Yoga or meditation.  Every time we get a message of gratitude from a student it makes our hearts explode and we feel incredibly proud that our courses have had such a positive impact on our global community!

Q; Where can our readers find more about The Whole Health Project and check out the courses you offer?

A; Check out www.thewholehealthproject.co. We’ve got some free workshops to get you started and our courses and trainings are evergreen - which means you can sign up and start them any time!