THE COLLECTIVE

Into the Well’s mission is to provide an inclusive space where people feel inspired to find wellness in who you are through the balance of music, movement and life. We work to create peace in our communities and families, by first creating peace within ourselves.

The collective represents inclusion, whole body wellness and self-care. We create space for our contributors to speak to a wide variety of topics that enhance our mission.

Ellen James

Founder

Founder Ellen James is passionate about creating space for all people to find peace and wellness in life. Into the Well’s mission stems from a life-long love of dance and her personal journey with movement and music for health and emotional healing. Inspired by a family history of chronic illness and her own diagnosis of Graves’ Disease, Ellen found peace in her body through ballet and movement. Through her practice, she realized that movement and music wasn’t just helping her feel at home in her body, but was allowing her to work through grief and move towards emotional healing. Knowing we all carry our own emotions and experiences, Ellen’s primary goal for Into the Well is to provide an inclusive space where people feel inspired to find wellness in who they are through the balance of music, movement and life. Ellen brings a message of self-acceptance, self-care and love to all people, at any place in life. Ellen currently teaches her own unique movement barre class called WellBarre that creates space for all individuals to find goodness and authenticity in.

Mary Lu Hare

Body Talk

Mary Lu is a self-described yoga fanatic and food enthusiast who loves talking to anyone about anything. She can regularly be found at hot yoga or on a run right before going to eat burgers or barbecue with friends. She feels empowered by challenging her body and trying new things. Mary Lu started BodyTalk after a series of conversations with 7-12th grade girls who discussed openly the pressure they felt to ‘fit in’ to a prescribed shape and look. After years of working in luxury retail and struggling through disordered eating, Mary Lu connected personally with these conversations and wanted to ensure that all people were given space to voice their experiences and be encouraged to practice self-love, acceptance and bodily self-care. Mary Lu lives fully into the belief that all bodies have immeasurable value and worth. Taking care of our body is not about shrinking ourselves, but instead is about accepting that our body is valuable now – just as it is – and that to be our best and most authentic selves we have to take care of our heart, mind, soul and body. Mary Lu is beyond thrilled to contribute to the inclusive, empowering and loving space Into the Well provides!

Lauren Iden

Well Strength

Lauren Iden is an animal lover, powerlifter, jigsaw puzzler, and newbie skateboarder. During her 10-year career in education, Lauren discovered strength training and it was life-changing. As someone who had always lacked confidence in all areas and wanted to shrink in almost every situation, strength training taught her that she carried more power than she ever thought. Being stronger in her body led to her being stronger in her daily pursuits and interactions. Strength training was such a life changing activity that she transitioned from her career in education into a career in personal training, where she still gets to teach every day. Lauren believes that all bodies are capable of becoming stronger than we’ll ever imagine, that we all have the right to – and should – take up physical space, and that physical strength and the principles learned through strength training – belief, self-determination, patience, and perseverance, to name a few – can carry over into all areas of our lives.

Lori Hooper

Child’s Pose Yoga

Lori is a HUGE animal lover and rescuer and believes that animals can be some of our greatest teachers. As a former teacher herself, Lori’s passion for cultivating young minds and a lifelong love of yoga led her to start Child’s Pose Yoga. She enjoys teaching kids fun yoga poses, sitting with them in a meditation circle, and watching their faces light up when they’ve learned something new. Lori believes that all children are capable of using yoga to find confidence and acceptance from within. She enjoys the creative process of getting to know each child in class and working to figure out their individual learning style and what makes them tick. Lori is happy to be part of the collective and to share her passion for yoga with the world.