A vortex of energy

Michael Turner, an Australian musician, was living in the ashram, a place of spiritual retreat, in Ganeshpuri, India in 2005 when he had a chance meeting with founder Nitin Orayan in the early days of Learning Space. Surrounded by children, Michael decided to pick up a guitar and sing them some songs. He remembers his first time playing the guitar for the children, “I started playing something and it was great; the kids loved it.”

The children of Learning Space loved Michael’s songs, and Michael loved playing for a new audience. Michael began writing songs for the children based on a book of poems, coincidentally written by Indian figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, given to him by his young daughter. He began visiting schools in nearby villages, along with other Learning Space Foundation volunteers, to play songs and sing with them. His purpose for being in India quickly became clear, “in a very short space of time, we had a whole program together.”

       These songs proved to be an extremely effective medium for teaching students English. In traditional classroom settings, the children were frequently unlikely to completely engage. However, when music was included, their self-confidence blossomed and suddenly all of them were singing in English. This furthered the mission of Learning Space as it soon became evident that “music was a vehicle for learning English and values.”

Michael returned to his home in Australia in 2006, but the impression of his time with the Learning Space Foundation followed him home. Working in Australia to earn money for his return, Michael’s homecoming to India in 2007 marked the beginning of training Learning Space Foundation teachers in the techniques and methods he had used to teach the children English through music. He also returned with funding from professional music producers in Australia to record an album of songs with the Learning Space Foundation children, titled Peaceful Stars. He and founder Nitin Orayan arranged for a bus to take the children to a recording studio in Mumbai, an incredible opportunity for children who had never been to the city. In Mumbai, they were able to sing alongside professional musicians for the album. After creating the album, Michael recalls thinking to himself “I don't know what this is, but this is really something special here.” Even today, the Peaceful Stars album is played in Learning Space Foundation classrooms.  

Michael has returned to India five times since then, eager to continue volunteering with Learning Space. He describes Ganeshpuri as a powerful place, a “vortex of energy” which Learning Space helps to harness and unlock. He believes that the children helped by Learning Space have the opportunity to express and discover who they are, in the context of the modern world and as individuals. Thank you for sharing your story, Michael!