Lila: Welcome! Today, we are bringing in Elle Ingalls. For those of you who know me for quite some time, you know I’ve done many videos with this beautiful soul and have learned from her and she has learned a lot from me. Today, what we’re going to do is we are going to talk about the Riverstone movement from a student perspective. I want to dive in, Elle. First of all...
Before you started the 42-Day feel good rebellion challenge back in August, what was going on with your body, mind and energy– anything. What was going on beforehand?
Elle: I’m just gonna be straight up for years. I have been working with you for years. In fact, I was that student that you put on camera over and over again.
I’ve always been doing things you've taught me, but I came into the rebellion because I don't really “practice” I just kind of live it and move this way. I know there’s something more for me.
And I made a commitment, not just me, but other women in the group too. When have you made the commitment to yourself, to show up for 42 days to really do something? And you’ve made it so easy, because you’ve made it easy, I said now I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna do this and make this commitment to myself. Beforehand, I’ve been having some issues with my knees. So there was some knee issue that I wanted to see how they might resolve working with you. Just a better shape in the middle of my body too. Those were the two things coming in. I knew there was gonna be something more here. That’s my “before” and why I jumped.
Lila: You went through and did the 42 days, what was your experience and even afterwards? Now that we’re done with that first challenge, what did you experience?
Elle: So much more intention about how I hold my body, move my body, how I keep my body so healthy from a body mechanic standpoint and the way you teach has been so accessible because I’ve been in some other classes with people… you teach is so accessible and easy way to understand and my experience was just gentleness. You never encouraged us to push too hard or do anything that doesn’t feel right. There is a lot of accommodating which doesn’t happen in a lot of classes so that was super cool, Lila. I also felt a lot of camaraderie with everybody else. I didn’t know some of the people there but we really came together to support each other. I also loved how you had a chat for us. We didn’t have to look up another page. We could go into our google drive. We could go in, but you provided so much for us and we could get everything we wanted and you kept the chats going for us too– which is very beautiful. You really thought through all the things we might need to be successful here and how amazing how we all showed up.
I was probably the only one who had to miss the most because I had clients and speaking engagements (prior) but it was incredible. Nobody dropped off. Usually, people kind of drop off. Nobody dropped off, we were there until the very end– the very last day. You gave us a bonus day which was magical. I actually recommitted, I’m gonna go through the next 42-day with you because I need that support. I need that camaraderie, that commitment and because it’s a longer session on Monday and then shorter the rest of the days, it’s doable for me. I can do that. And in between, my son holds a Slack channel where you can put anything you commit to do 15 minutes a day, and because this is less than 15 minutes a day, I’m putting that right in my slack channel first thing in the day and I’ve been doing something everyday since we ended. So this “in- between” part, I’ve told myself – I'm gonna keep my commitment to myself. So I’m using that Slack channel to keep my commitment with what I already learned with you. Besides that, I’m gonna jump in for another 42-days.
My body is worth it, my being is worth it. I’m going to be super transparent and honest. You learn something the one week, and we move on to the new material the second week. I’m forgetting what I did in the first week because I'm all in on the second week. I want this material again so I’m building it in me– so organically and so naturally.
Lila: Yay! So how is your knee?
Elle: My knee still has some issues. However, what you have taught me is definitely helping it and as I play with when there is an issue, I go right into what I need to do based on the footwork that we did.
The system that you teach– those cool concepts that definitely have helped it. After our last day, I woke up and I felt so different in my body. You talk about how you’ve got your own back– I felt like my back body was so much more supportive. I truly understood that concept. I’ve sorta played with that concept for years with you but it was like boom. How I was moving in the kitchen and how I was doing things was just so liquid and so full. It was really really cool. I got a ton of benefit out of it. I highly recommend this to everybody. You maybe do a lot of exercise, this is totally different. It’s not exercise, it’s understanding how your body is put together and moving it in ways that support it and that’s what Riverstone is all about.
Lila: I love that. You’re right, it’s really about knowing your body. So, I’m curious… I want to ask you two more questions. One, what would you say was the biggest challenge about this challenge? What was the hardest part about it all?
Elle: The hardest part– every once in a while, I would figure out– I can’t really do that [certain movement] so I would on my own find… What can I do? And you are very accommodating in that way. You’re very helpful. but even on my own I had to say “I can do this on my own '' and I feel that’s moving my body. That would probably be the biggest challenge.
A challenge for me is, I had to move my schedule around so I was able to be there with you.. And that gets to making the commitment to yourself. We are really good at making commitments to other people and so how are you going to make that commitment to yourself? I just shifted my schedule.
I’m even looking at that… How can I make sure that I’ve wrapped up for a 6pm class? Just making that commitment to yourself to shift the time. It’s so worth it. You can take a 15 minutes short break at your job, just see if you can schedule it in time depending on what the time frame is for you. It’s so worth it. You’re not going to get super sweaty. You can even do it at the office and come back to work without a huge issue there. Your heart rate will go up, but it’s not like you need to shower after you do it.
Lila: I do love that you don’t have to wear workout clothes if you don’t want to.
Elle: I was sometimes dressed to be with a client when I was on… and a lot of times I was in my workout clothes.
Lila: For anybody who might be considering joining, what would you say to them?
Elle: It’s always painful to stay on the fence. If you’ve been thinking about it, just get off the fence and go to the other side. I say this about my work and yours [Lila’s work]. It’s the kind of work that will pay dividends in your life because if you’re not holding your body in a way that’s nurturing, your nerves, all your body processes, you’re hunched over, if you’ve got tension anywhere– if you have back pain, just jump in. I don’t have back pain, thanks to Lila. I don’t have hip pains, thanks to Lila. Those injuries that I have in my knees, it’s my own deal that I’m working on. Unbelievable! I used to have tons of foot pain, remember that Lila? I don’t even remember the last time my foot was in pain now. It’s just incredible how I’ve been able to work with that. And if I feel any of the pain from my old injuries, I work with it the way you’ve taught me. If you want to get out of pain, just jump over the fence, come work with Lila. She’s a beautiful beautiful coach, I tell her this all the time. She comes like an angel on the planet when she’s coaching us. It’s really marvelous and it’s worth experiencing. You won’t regret it for a moment. She always draws to her other beautiful souls so you’ll meet some beautiful people in the container which is always a gift. If you’re thinking about it, make that investment in you. You are worth it. It’s so hard to do sometimes but you’re so worth it.
Lila: This is so good, this is so helpful for me even as a teacher and I really appreciate your commitment to yourself. You are an inspiration to so many people– all around the world. Thank you Elle, I love you dearly.
If you have any questions and you wanna talk, reach out to me in a direct message. And if you want to check out the program go to https://www.riverstonemovement.com/feel-good-rebellion.
