Luuk Melisse is the founder of Sanctum, a pioneering mindful movement community that offers classes combining ancient and modern practices, including elements of mental power, Kundalini Yoga, martial arts, HIIT, and primal movement.
Drawing from a background in dance and holistic wellness, and inspired by the teachings of Alan Watts, Luuk created Sanctum to offer a transformative space where individuals can connect deeply with themselves and others.
His mission is to empower people to lead more balanced, fulfilled lives by integrating mindfulness into their daily routines. Sanctum has grown into a thriving community known for its innovative approach to holistic health.
Read on or watch his interview below! The following is a transcription of the video interview.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind creating Sanctum? What drove you (and co-founder Gab Olszewski) to develop this unique moving sequence?
The inspiration behind creating Sanctum, on a very broad level, was that we realized—and that I realized—that we live in a world which is very dominated by disconnection. Sadly, we hardly go to church anymore; the communities that we used to have back in the days, we don't have so much more around us, and loneliness is one of the biggest diseases there is. We wanted to investigate: can we create a community based around movement, based around emotional release, based around expression? That is how we started to create Sanctum.
That brings me to the “how.” How are we doing that? Me, myself, I have a background as a dancer. When I was a little boy, seven years old, my mom took me to a theater performance, and the moment I stepped into the theater, I told my mom, “Mom, this is what I want to do. This is what I want to be.” I ended up being a ballet dancer, and I toured for many, many years. The reason why I fell in love with dancing is it was my way to express myself. I didn't have to use my language, or I didn't have to speak; I didn't need anything—just my own body. It was my way, on my good days but also on my bad days, to express myself, and it was actually my language. It still is my language.
After being a dancer, I ended up in the sports scene, which was amazing, but I also felt that it was very physical-focused. Summer bodies, bigger biceps—I actually missed that feeling of expression that I had as a dancer. And the last thing is my mom. She used to be a medium, so from a very young age I grew up with themes like spirituality. And I wanted to bring those three elements—the physical, the emotional, and the energetic or spiritual—into one experience, into one class.
Can you walk us through the process of developing the Sanctum signature sequence, particularly how you chose the specific movements and techniques that combine dance, martial arts, breathwork, and Kundalini Yoga?
So when we got this bigger insight that we wanted to create a community through movement, through expression, and based on the fact that I wanted to do something based on the emotional, the physical, and the energetic, we started to see and investigate what kind of practices are there already which we can eventually fuse into the Sanctum signature sequence. Because we call ourselves more of a gatherer rather than a creator, and we found out that there are many ancient practices and philosophies, but there are also a lot of modern practices and philosophies. We brought those ancient and modern practices together, and the most important elements we got inspired by while creating our sequence are the power of the mind, Kundalini Yoga, martial arts, high-intensity movement, and primal movement.
And what do I mean with that? The power of the mind goes from philosophies like Buddhism, where you learn that you actually are your own God and you are responsible for your own happiness to modern quantum philosophy, to philosophies like Dr. Joe Dispenza. So the power of the mind is really about the power of your own thoughts, and we wanted to make that really important in our class. The second one is Kundalini Yoga, an ancient practice which actually focuses on the energy within your body, the Kundalini energy, and we try to play with that. Then we have high-intensity movement, bringing up your heart rate, seeing what happens if you tire your body. Primal movement—I'm personally really inspired by moving in the most efficient and primal way, because actually, we as human beings, compared with animals we don't move as efficiently anymore.
So this is a glimpse into the methods and the philosophies we were inspired by. Some of them are ancient, and some of them are modern, and we really wanted to fuse that into one immersive experience, which is led by music with the headphones on.
Were there any specific teachers, mentors, or influencers who played a significant role in shaping your approach to movement and mindfulness?
Yes. One of my biggest inspirations has been Alan Watts. Watts was a philosopher around the '60s and '70s, and he was one of the first philosophers who brought Zen Buddhism to the Western part of the world. And me personally, I'm hugely inspired by Zen Buddhism because Buddhism has many aspects, but one of the aspects is that you are responsible for your own happiness and you are responsible for your own thoughts and for your own choices. And Alan Watts brought that philosophy to the Western part of the world with a lot of humor and joy and a lot of space for imperfections. We still use his voice in our class because his lectures are recorded, so I really like to use his philosophy in class because he brings it in such an approachable way.
Another inspiration has been Dr. Joe Dispenza. Dr. Joe Dispenza speaks about quantum philosophy. So quantum philosophy is a huge philosophy which I'm not going to bore you with right now, but it has a lot to do with Buddhism—that actually everything is energy, right? Everything we see is energy, but also everything we think is energy, and our emotions have certain frequencies. The higher the frequency, the more you attract, and similar frequencies attract similar frequencies. So gratitude attracts gratitude, hate attracts hate, and that's for me a very interesting and a very inspirational way of using the power of the mind in our classes.
Could you describe the typical experience a participant can expect during a Sanctum class?
Yes. So we created the Sanctum signature sequence, and the Sanctum signature sequence is divided into multiple chapters based on the whole philosophy which you heard before. We have three main parts in the Sanctum experience. So the first part is empowerment. In this part, we try to challenge our physical body a little bit—not with the goal to create a summer body or to look good, but actually from the philosophy of yoga, to tire our body. Because we see that when you hit a little bit of resistance or exhaustion or physical exhaustion, you actually open up your mind. I believe that you need a little bit of discomfort in order to grow, and that is what we focus on in the first part of the class. You put your headphones on, and you hear an eclectic curated playlist—from techno music to soundscapes to spoken word of Alan Watts and much more.
So that is the first part, and we have elements of HIIT in here, repetition, breath work, and we bring you all the way to a climax where you think, “I cannot do this anymore,” and then we dive into the second chapter. That is the chapter of connection. We bring the energy fully inwards and we go to a mindful movement, an active meditation if you want to call it that way. We see that after a little bit of discomfort and stress, there is so much more purity and so much more mindfulness in the moment. And this is a moment where the guide, or me with a microphone, guides you through the theme of the class and what we are actually speaking about.
And the final chapter is the release and elevate. So we bring the energy up again, but the final part is very much about emotional release and expression, whereas in the first part it is really about empowering the body, and the second part is really about using your body as a vessel to reach your mind, using your body as a vessel to express any emotion that you might feel at that moment. And we end on a high; we bring the energy up, like the philosophy of Dr. Joe Dispenza, and we share feelings of joy, gratitude, ecstasy, and we feel that all around us because we are all in the same energy. We see how the energy is building up. In the end, we host our experiences always at unique locations because we believe in the power of the full experience. So it's the headphones, we have a sensory design during class with our own body and wrist, and it's often in churches in Amsterdam or London, or outside during very special events at the ruins of Rome or on the beach of Ibiza. So we always try to make sure that all the elements work to make the class more impactful.
You host many classes including all the Frequency Festivals, can you share how you find balance between your personal practice and teaching?
I see and realize more and more that teaching is giving a lot because I want to be an example of taking care of your physical body, of your emotional body, and of your energetic body. So for me, it's really important to take care of those three bodies every day. That means I do many, many classes myself—from primal movement to yoga classes to fitness. So for me, it's really important that, next to the classes I teach, I also inspire myself and I also take care of my physical body.
For my emotional body, there are a few things I do. I meditate every day; that is a non-negotiable. I try to do half an hour in the morning, half an hour in the evening, but if I have less time, I do less. But I need to do it every morning just to reset my mind. But for me, taking care of my emotional body can also be going out with friends and going to a party. So I think well-being has a very holistic approach in that sense. And I take care of my energetic body; sometimes I see a healer, or I see a massage therapist, or I do more energy work like Qi Gong or Kundalini Yoga to make sure the energy around my body and within my body is in balance and in harmony.
And next to that, besides teaching, I realize that I sometimes need to be alone, so that really works well for me—to go into nature or to be a few days alone.
How do you see Sanctum evolving in the future?
I would love to make Sanctum a global movement because I would love Sanctum to be an easy and approachable way for a big group of people to get in touch with themselves and with others—to find that safe space in a community where they can be themselves and where they can express themselves. I want, in the future, millions of people to use Sanctum as a tool to make that deeper connection with themselves and others. So that is where I see Sanctum in the future.
What advice would you give to aspiring instructors or entrepreneurs looking to create their own unique movement-based practices or classes?
I get that question more often, and it's still a weird question because I don't believe yet sometimes that I can inspire. I would say follow this intuition that you have from deep within yourself, or maybe it's even outside of yourself. I never started Sanctum with the knowledge I have right now, and I still know nothing, actually. I'm still growing and learning every single day. So I started Sanctum out of a gut feeling, and one thing led to another. That other thing led to another thing; that other thing led to an idea here, and that idea here led me to an important person who was a key figure in terms of growth. So what I'm trying to say is you don't have to know exactly yet what you're going to do, because if you wait for that day to have your idea fully clear and ready, that day will never come. So make a start. I started with hosting online classes during COVID, and after that, I started hosting classes in a little studio which was from a friend of mine. Those first classes were not even close to what the Sanctum experience is right now. So things will develop on the way, and you just have to trust—trust yourself, make a lot of mistakes, and be sharp with yourself. Learn and see what works for you and where the direction is taking you.
What do you hope participants take away from each Sanctum session?
I think it's a sense of release, a sense of coming home, and a sense of happiness and connection. I would love the participants to feel actually all the parts which they are. Right? So often in a class, you come out pumped in high energy, or after meditation you come out very peaceful. But I would love for the participants of Sanctum to feel both—to feel the energy and the ecstasy and the happiness, but also to feel the peace and to feel compassion. So I would love to infuse all those elements.
Thank you, Manduka, again, for highlighting me. It is a huge honor, so thank you so much.
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Connect with Luuk
Find Luuk on Instagram here. He practices on the Manduka PROlite® yoga mat in Black Sage and meditation cushion in Thunder co-branded for Sanctum.
Read more on Sanctum's locations and the Manduka x Sanctum partnership.
Take a Sanctum signature class in London or Amsterdam or at an upcoming Sanctum Frequency Festival. (Use code MandukaFrequency for a 25% discount off any upcoming Frequency Festival exclusively for the Manduka community).
