I am Ajitha Chellam, (she/her) 20 years old, from the Southern part of India. I have completed my Bachelors degree in Commerce and have recently joined my first job. I have always had a keen passion towards exploring deep questions and finding its answers.
That’s how I came across the LUAN Emotional Museum on Instagram one fine evening and which led me to sign up for my first session.
“Recognizing Beauty in Sound” with Leslie Ackerman on September 17th 2020 was my first session. He narrated about music and how to appreciate it better. I discovered a lot of renowned ancient and orchestral music. It was an eye opening session about the connections between the past and the present music.
What I love about the experiences were they are so neatly structured, impressive hosting, individual attention throughout the session and in the Q&A session and ability to deliver clear content within one session about a topic.
I know, after every Wednesday night I am a bit more educated, aware and kind than the previous day.
The topics which LUAN talks about are everywhere and within everyone. But not everyone acknowledges it or appreciates it. These topics have the power to shape the world into a better place.
As Marion, the Co-founder of LUAN emotional museum always say this before every session,
"We are not alone. We are a pack of 7.9 Billion people on Earth, sharing the same space, dreams and values."
I am from India and at 8:30pm at night LUAN sessions go live every Wednesday. It is a perfect time after a long day to focus and reflect on these topics. I would always feel connected with the speaker and also with the community. To add a note to that, this was the only way I was feeling productive and connected during the Covid – 19 lockdown period.
LUAN always delivers clarity in any topic that they talk about. I personally love the topics which revolve around music and emotions. My close to the heart sessions were “The sacred language of the soul” with Manuela Mejia and “Uncomfortable emotions and creations” with Daniela Escalante.
We are all brought up in a similar way that our parents were brought up. We are fed with traditional and cultural values as we grow. But do we tend to be close-minded to the rest of the world? Are we not open enough to the people who are different from us? Meeting people from different backgrounds, being empathetic, experimenting new subjects will tend to tear that wall. LUAN has one of a unique community which upholds the value of peace, equality, compassion and appreciating creative works. Having different takes on topics and comments from different people makes me feel like I am not the only one feeling a certain way and I’m not alone in the process.
No one is right or wrong in this world. Everyone has their own perspective and ethics to justify their actions. But how much are we empathetic to be inclusive of all? In a LUAN session by Ximena Suarez said:
"Empathy is a muscle that has to be worked on persistently. It’s a continuous process."
Indeed the world is one big family!
Recently in May, I joined the LUAN Global community. It’s a social platform which LUAN has developed digitally to share, reflect on many topics within and along with the community.
I have been receiving daily doses related to art, ethics, value and reflection through many digital mediums such as blogs, videos, podcasts, images and poetry. There are many available exercises which incorporate us to act on a topic along with instrumental music to open up and focus better.
I loved this blog piece which LUAN has recently curated about Komorebi aka Sunlight filtering through the leaves of the tree. It gave me insight over a form of nature therapy called Shinrin – Yoku aka Forest Bathing which essentially means going into the woods, taking long walks, being in touch with our senses and emotions for a mentally soothing experience. Just reading about this, makes me think of how nature can be this amazing healer.
This social platform is so handy and effective because I get timely responses and thoughts from other people. There are people of different age groups from all over the world which give more constructive and reliable feedback on any particular topic. What is better than reading a person and their story for reflection?
LUAN has set up an interactive content map - Stories before Answers, which is a huge bundle of different information together in one page. Truly blessed for the power of technology to connect various topics and people together. My day would never end before checking this social platform.
In this one whole year of following LUAN, I know that I have a community which has the same values as I hold. I know I’m more socially inclined, compassionate and mindful in the present. This has even pushed me to take up a small project about the healing power of music in my college and also to volunteer for many causes.
I would say LUAN is a constant reminder to do better for the world and for our own body.
Thank you LUAN.
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Photography by Ajitha Chellam
