Open Heart with Lu Leslan
Join musician and filmmaker Lu as she shares intimate stories about finding unexpected connections in life. From exploring identity through names to navigating between cultures, from creative breakthroughs to encounters with nature - each episode digs into moments of genuine human experience. Through vulnerable storytelling and reflection, Lu invites listeners to discover their own surprising connections in everyday life. Send your questions and stories - let's explore these connections together.
Episodes
34 episodes
An Organism on This Planet
DESCRIPTIONWhat if the most honest conversation you can have begins with how your body will be disposed of? In the Season 4 premiere of Open Heart, Lu walks into a small meeting hosted by a company called Smart Cremation and walks...
Season 4 Trailer
Tick tock hear the clock Wake me up and say good night Kiss my salty tearsDESCRIPTIONSeason 3 asked who we are. Season 4 asks how we can look after each other as neighbors. This season, we...
A New Philosophy for Living
What does it mean to live well, knowing everything will vanish without a trace? In the Season 3 finale of Open Heart, Lu gathers the threads of the whole season into one philosophy — the wisdom of effortless action. From the flow of playing the...
The Invisible Connection
EPISODE 9 — THE INVISIBLE CONNECTIONDESCRIPTIONWe spend so much energy drawing lines between ourselves and everything else — classifying, ranking, deciding what matters. But what if the deepest connection is the one ...
The Source Within
Some of us learn early to carry other people's pain. We become the healer — the one who shows up, who gives, who lights the way for others. But what happens when we never turn that healing toward ourselves? Episode 8 of Open Heart Season 3 trac...
Parody in Paradox
All life begins with shit. That's not a metaphor — it's biology. And it might be the most honest thing anyone has said about the human condition. Episode 7 of Open Heart Season 3 traces the same cycle across three scales — the biological, the p...
From Apology to Forgiveness
S-O-R-R-Y. The most spoken word in everyday conversation — and perhaps the least understood. Episode 6 of Open Heart Season 3 takes apart the word sorry letter by letter, examines what apology actually does versus what we hope it does, and asks...
The Border
Every border we live inside — we inherited. Episode 5 of Open Heart Season 3 asks what it cost in human lives — and tells the story of one woman alone in a motel room with yellowish curtains in Tijuana in 1979 — who crossed a border she wasn't ...
Superiority vs. Dignity
Where does superiority come from — and what does it cost us? Episode 4 of Open Heart Season 3 traces the origins of superiority from a ten year old girl winning a woodwind competition to the labels we use to divide ourselves. And then shows wha...
The Why Question
Why do we want what we want? Why do we stop asking the most important question — and fill the silence with consumption, shortcuts and masks? Episode 3 of Open Heart Season 3 traces the why question from the first human who looked up at the sky ...
State of Mind
EPISODE 2 — STATE OF MIND SHOW NOTESThe mind is not a fixed address. It is transient yet powerful — a state of storming weather followed by peaceful calm. No clues for where it is heading or where it will land.This e...
Demons in Ourselves
EPISODE 1 — DEMONS IN OURSELVES SHOW NOTESWe all carry something dark. Something inherited. Something we didn't choose.This episode asks the hardest questions:Where do our demons come from — our genes or ...
Season 3 Trailer
Season 3 of Open Heart arrives June 11th. Hosted by pianist and philosopher Lu Leslan, this season moves inward — through demons, borders, forgiveness, paradox, and the words we repeat without ever questioning them. Not a self-help guide. Not a...
Break Free
What truth remains when you dare to let go of everything that was never truly yours? In this Season 2 finale, Lu explores what it means to break free—not from life or people, but from the accumulated weight of traditions, rules, conventions, an...
Metamorphosis
What if transformation isn't something you choose? In this episode, Lu explores metamorphosis as a magical, unstoppable and risky process happening in all of us—visible and invisible, in darkness and in light. She shares the butterfly's secret ...
Intention
What if intention isn't about achieving—it's about being? In this episode, Lu explores the difference between intention and goals, intention and expectation, and how living with intention requires courage to let things fall apart. She shares pe...
Chaos
What if chaos isn't the problem? What if breakdown is how the system works? In this episode, Lu explores chaos as a functional process—from her granddaughter April's first grade lesson about good and bad germs, to the second law of thermodynami...
Imperfection
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:What if perfection is the deepest illusion? What if the world is meant to be imperfect? In this episode, Lu explores imperfection at the core of human existence—from conversations across countries revealing no ...
Illusion
What if memory is just reconstruction? What if the roles you play aren't the sum of who you are? In this episode, Lu explores illusion as the mechanism that keeps us building coherence where there is none. She shares a personal story about look...
Human Bias
What is the “self”—and who is this “you” trying so hard to become a better version of? In this episode, Lu Leslan explores the curious phenomenon of human bias: how the very self that seeks improvement is the same one tangled in the problems it...
Existence
What does it mean to exist in a world of wars, poverty, and endless suffering? In this episode, Lu explores existential questions through the lens of Wu Wei—keeping perspective without force. She shares the duality of human existence (blessed w...
Duality in Practice
How many times have you felt two opposing truths at once? Wanting to stay AND wanting to go. Loving someone AND needing space. In this episode, Lu introduces the WAIT technique for holding duality without breaking. Learn how to Watch both truth...
Thought Capturing in Practice
What if you could embrace your thoughts with an open heart, without judgment? In this episode, Lu introduces a 5-step process for observing thoughts with curiosity. Learn how to sort thoughts into what serves you, challenges you, and nourishes ...