Anicca
Anicca - the Pali word for ‘impermanence’.
S.N. Goenka hammers ‘anicca’ into your skin across ten days of vipassana. He romanticises the old language serenading each Pali word to you. Anicca has become the theme to this month’s 444.
My name’s Max. I’m a yoga teacher and photographer based in Sri Lanka. 444 is my monthly piece reminding me trust my path. I hope reading this offers you a moment to connect with yours.
I break down recent experiences into something 4 me, 4 you, and 4 us at 4:44 on the fourth from wherever I am in the world.
It’s green season. Rice crops are thriving. Towers of green rise roadside.
Two kingfishers meet outside my window between dunks in the pool. They sunbathe before flying through the palms towards the sea.
Between 444s I write community updates. These share the impact small groups of people have on the world. My ‘buy me a coffee’ page exists to continue the chain of acts of kindness. Anything I raise above essential photography costs I donate to the causes.
Find my ‘buy me a coffee’ page here.
The video is ready from my last update supporting free education schools in Bodh Gaya, India. I look forward to sharing it with you soon.
Shoutout to this month’s supporters Kim, Zach, and Adam!
4 me - making it through
Connection to the word ‘anicca’ forms after vipassana. A succinct description of what you moved through.
A reminder that each moment, painful or wonderful, is fleeting. The next experience will soon encompass the one that you’re in now. An empowering teaching that you can be with and move through anything.
4 you - gentle is okay
I bounce from extreme to extreme. Sometimes it’s for curiosity of experience. Other times it’s for seeking answers to what’s already here.
Do you need to sit in a vipassana to receive this message?
No.
Sitting still for eleven hours a day for ten days isn’t accessible to everyone. People don’t want to take time off to be tired, hungry, and breathe through a mouldy throat.
There are gentler ways to experience life’s ebb and flow. You’ve likely already done it. Come to see reality exactly how it is. Moved through highs and lows to recognise that you are here now.
It could be going through photos of your younger self. Remembering their world in comparison to yours today. What they went through to give you the clarity that you have now.
Reflecting or journalling from your day. Noticing all that has come and gone.
4 us - Light, Dark, Light Again
This newsletter has quoted all Angie McMahon’s Light, Dark, Light Again album by now. The outro to her closing track ‘Making It Through’ resonates (again) with this piece.
Time is supposed to run out, time is supposed to
Sun is supposed to go down, sun is supposed to
Like your mood, like your power, like your battery
Rise, fall, rise, life, death, life again
Sky, ground, sky, day, night, day again
Rise, fall, rise, life, death, life again
Sky, ground, sky, light, dark, light again
Find the full track here.
Have a great day,
Max
