(From most transformational to least)

SCHOOL / PRACTITIONER

EXTRA EXPENSES

TOTAL INVESTMENT

Epically out-of-this-world transformative!

Coaches Training Institute CTI

Sonoma, CA, USA

$1,415 USD flights YVR-SFO, $640 USD hotel, $200 USD car rental

For the first time ever I felt the truest form of belonging, gained lifelong soulmate friendships that are thicker than 3,000 year old oak tree roots, felt safe to cry away decades of pain, had my heart cracked wide wide open, felt loved for who I am (warts and all) not just for what I achieved or can do for others, finally saw through loving eyes (of others and my own) who I really am and how fucking powerful I am, experienced in-the-moment mastery of my own creativity (which I never knew I had), have never felt so held and championed like this before, stopped fearing my own power, did things I never knew I could, discovered a new kind of sourcing of courage, deeply understood the value of being before doing, acknowledged my own disowned talents (introversion, high sensitivity, giftedness, the non "sexy" leadership skills) as super valuable (ie, rah-rah-rah skills does not necessarily make a great leader), discovered my natural talent to make people cry and/or laugh without even trying, understood the power, usage and impact of my natural calm and zen aura, acknowledged that I am a seer (I see everything clairvoyantly clear), accepted that I know A LOT and if others feel "lesser than" it's because THEY put THEMSELVES in the "lesser than" box, have never been so inspired by tribemates' stories, courage and being, have visited my tribemates and other CTI Leadership grads in 20+ countries all over the world reconnecting like it was yesterday, viscerally and painfully discovered how I lived 3+ decades thinking I don't matter and in one liberating moment acknowledged the lie and was freed, until this very day, some of my tribemates and I use TGFL (thank god for leadership!) on a weekly basis!

3x 9€ bus, 20€ taxi

1997€ ($2,344 USD)

Not enough words in the English language to describe this experience of Oneness, Evil, serenity, play, torment, elation, warmth, confusion, merging with the Moon, chanelling grace, raising the vibration of the Earth, full comprehension, awe, lightning rod inspiration, deep cellular healing, consciousness expansion, massive expansion in compassion and empathy, paralysis, hilarity, reunion, soulmate friendship, truth, surrender, laughter, hardship, rising strong, insanity, Union, sweetness, energetic amplification, death and resurrection, terror, Love and above all ENLIGHTENMENT

450€ ($528 USD)

Imagine the power of a 7-day green juice detox multiplied by 800X, full physical, emotional and mental purge + cleansing, for the first time in my life felt what it was like to be truly held/embraced/protected by others and the Divine, and not have to hold up the sky all by my lone wolf self, experienced an exquisitely peaceful emptiness/void that I wanted to stay in forever, full surrender to "I AM"

150€ ($176 USD)

Mind, body, soul and spirit scattered to the four corners of the Earth, deeply surrendered to an explosive expeience of terror (which I'd been terrified to feel my own terror, so surpressed it for 3+ decades), of release + relief, death + rebirth, transcendental oneness, and the lightness of Being, holy fuck!

Deeply Transformative

San Antonio, TX, USA

$500 USD flight, $590 USD hotel, $1,750 USD senior faculty supervisor, 3x $125 USD annual renewal fee, 2x $225 CAD bi-yearly insurance, $30 USD taxi

Finally felt safe enough in this context to feel my shame, face it, speak it, take away its power, acknowledge where it came from (parents, Chinese culture, cultural female disempowerment, filial piety), and turn that "pain juice" into creativity. AND was last cohort to be trained by Brené Brown herself (future trainings lead by her senior faculty)

Concsiousness School + Holotrophic Breathing Workshop

Inner Mastery + Alberto Varela

324€ ($ 374 USD)

Faced and channeled the pain of every single "husband maker" on Earth and dissolved it on their behalf

Coaches Training Institute CTI

Vancouver, BC, Canada

5 months (took me 13 months to complete)

In my bones living the truth of: 1. "Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind." and 2. "Act 2" is messy in the middle and rumbling through it is the best way to create a deeply authentic and connected and innovative and brave business team for my business. AND 2019 facilitators will be trained by Brené Brown herself, with likely her senior faculty leading future trainings, so get in while she's training!

Concsiousness School + Sweat Lodge Workshop

Mindfulness + Ego Disidentification

Vancouver, BC, Canada

$440 CAD ($338 USD)

Vancouver, BC, Canada

$900 CAD ($692 USD)

Knew something was wrong when I knew what to do in life/biz, but was paralyzed to do anything. My Daring Way supervisor called it, "You are showing every symptom of PTSD." Most sessions was like watching paint dry, but I had faith that this would work. By the last session, I experienced The Big Thaw, where every micro-fiber of my nervous system simultaneously let out the world's biggest exhale and I was liberated. I was unlocked... unfrozen.

Mindfulness + Ego Disidentification

Antigua, Guatemala

$45 USD bus from El Salvador, $40 USD transfer from Guatemala City, $220 USD hotel

$1,920 USD Simplero.com

Was taught the in's and out's of client filtering, marketing funnels, e-product sequencing, and core messaging, while being championed with laughter and light-heartedness (note: I have ZERO entrepreneurial background), was told what to do to create six-figure business

Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) + Somatic Respiratory Integration (SRI)

Dr. D Mehler (NYC) + Dr. J Chen (Vancouver)

Breath/Movement/Energy Entrainment

New York, NY, USA + Vancouver, BC, Canada

6 months + bi-weekly sessions

My spine learned to connect body movement, with breathe, with energy to release physical, emotional and mental tension, while helping me avoid carpel tunnel surgery (woohoo!)

Certified Antigravity Yoga Instructor CAGI Fundamentals

New York, NY, USA

$500 CAD flight, $500 USD hotel, $25 USD metro

Discovered how powerful my body is (thus shattering the cultural indoctrinaton that bodies are only tripods to hold up prized brains), merged mind-body lightness of being with play, silliness and flight

Eye opening paradigm shift from a patriarchal "take huuuuuge bites and chew chew chew like a mother fucker" approach to an elegant "discern, magnetise, and align with flow" approach

Identifying of past life karma, discovery of past life imprints of my soul (of why I am the way I am no matter how I try to change, why I cry sooo much when rationally I've got nothing to cry about, why my soul is sooo heavily burdened when I'm a really good and kind person in *this* life), gained such a sense of big picture understanding and spiritual relief and release

Experienced and recognized Joy for the first time, released tears of pure joy!

Transformative...

Certified Antigravity Yoga Instructor CAGI Aerial 1

New York, NY, USA

$0 hotel (stayed with friend, $60 USD train from Philly

Discovered how powerful my body is (thus shattering the cultural indoctrinaton that bodies are only tripods to hold up prized brains), merged mind-body lightness of being with play, silliness and flight

Houston, TX, USA

$1,200 flight from Panama, $60 hotel in Houston

Rising Strong training with Brené Brown, continuing education workshops on body work, dance therapy, improvisation

Houston, TX, USA

550€ flight from Spain, $120 USD hotel in Houston

Organizational leadership training with Brené Brown, continuing education workshops on equine therapy, parts work (aka Family Constellation work)

Deeper understanding and connection to my pyschological parts, my soul parts, my soul family and the unexplainable

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Serenity, comfort, peace, explanation of the ethereal, understanding of archetypal entities at play, introduction to prayer and power of energetic intelligence

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Got me completely and utterly un-jaded about the dating process, re-connected me to my radiance, learned to have some f*cking standards and stop settling for less, realized my self-worth, once and for all stopped dating "projects", "Peter Pans", and "man cubs". Catalyst for a 5-year quest to feel and understand True Love, which I did at my final Ayahuasca retreat (and many moments along the way)

Certified Professional Co-active Coach CPCC

Coaches Training Institute CTI

$1,700 USD coaching supervisor

Coaching skills drill, plain and simple, most women do this for the equivalent of buying a dose of confidence from Amazon.com (most men don't seem to need or want or care about this)

... plus all books that I've implemented or lead training calls on: http://ellanylea.com/book-recommendations

... plus travels to 117 countries, including a "56 countries in 52 years" journey: http://ellanylea.com/blog

... plus all other modalities and trainings: http://ellanylea.com/about-ellany-lea

... plus all the time time devoted to sell-development that could have been business billable hours $500/hr

... plus all the hiring of business support staff (5000€ for branding strategist, $5,000 for lead generation expert, $5,000 for Fb ad specialist, etc. etc. etc.)

They promised 10X results or your money back, but when it came time for money back (I'm an overachiever, there's NOTHING I can't do, but because what they were teaching felt so sleezy and rah-rah-rah fluff and out of integrity) they found aaaaaall sorts of fine print reasons to get out of their money back guarantee. I fell for another "overpromised, underdelivered" program... Sigh. Yet another example of the #1 motto I tell my coaching clients: Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

International Coaching Federation licensing

For credentialing and eligibility for Brené Brown's programs (otherwise would not bother, have found zero value or resonance in their offerings)

$330 USD flight, $500 USD hotel

It was a pitch fest from "gurus" who paid to be there to pitch to us their programs from the stage or from the back of the room

Old white guys preaching waaaay outdated crap sooo far from what dis/empowered women, trailblazers, non-conformists and overachievers need to hear

Signed up to inspire a fellow entrepreneur to sign up because SHE really, really, really needed it! His thick, thick European accent and meditation recordings grated on me, couldn't stand him!!!

Huge waste of money, swindled by scholarship company, but forced me to get super clear or my business identity, embrace the numbers, and practice trusting my work to others

Huge waste of money, swindled by publishing company, but forced me to meet my self-expression chakra for the first time, keep practicing trusting my work to others, experience of working with an editor, felt the value of being championed by an editor, got sobering proof that I didn't die from putting my vulnerable story out into the world

Huge waste of money, but forced to realize that I care a lot about my health, but am not passionate about championing others with THEIR health (if they don't care about their health, my over-caring won't make a different), and it served as great practice for mastery the art of enlrollment and client filtering

They were so right when they said "If you're gonna fail, fail fast." This business was sooo not profitable, even if my passion was 1000%, it taught me the importance of choosing a business partner who is equally invested

Informational, but not geared for implementation or transformation (obviously)

Informational, but not geared for implementation or transformation (obviously)

Membership to wellness advertising platform

They promised that being part of the "network" would bring me business. Hehehe, false. But I got a first experience at being filmed on camera for 3min promo video, and got permanently imprinted at how "yuck, bleh, and shudder" it was to be mentored on how to use Twitter for lead generation. Yuck, bleh, triple shudder just thinking about it again. So it made me very, very discerning on who I hired next to mentor/advise me. Gosh, still so naive, Ella, so, so, so, so incredibly naive. Sigh. And, came face to face with hooooooooow muuuuuuuch self-work I stiiiiiiill needed to do before being camera ready/comfortable. THAT was painful and terrifying because it meant a whole loooooot more money poured into healing and leadership training. Ugh.