what does 'home' mean to you?

What does home mean to you?

A question pondered over during meal time at Sadhana Forest. A collection of people from different countries, backgrounds, and ages. A glimpse to learning how home is individual. If we’re lucky to encounter a home we experience it differently. A personalised map of comforts, safety, and belonging.

Home is the theme of this month’s 444.

My name’s Max. I’m a yoga teacher and photographer travelling Sri Lanka. 444 is my monthly recap. A breakdown of recent experiences into something 4 me, 4 you, and 4 us. I write these to practice trust in my path. I hope this offers support towards yours.

I schedule these emails to come out at 4:44 on the fourth from where I am in the world. There’s an added thrill when I can’t check to confirm if this sends. I’m (hopefully) writing to you from two weeks ago from the hills on the outskirts of Kandy, Sri Lanka. When this sends, I should be in the final days of my first Vipassana retreat.

Between 444s I write community updates. Shares showing 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.

Read this month’s update supporting free education schools in Bodh Gaya, India.

Shoutout to this month’s supporters Kim, Zach, and Adam!

4 me - mountain therapy

I returned to the mountains because I wasn’t doing well. My perspective was off. I struggled to connect with what surrounded me. I put pressure on Hiriketiya and external things to make it feel like ‘home’.

An opportunity came to teach yoga at an Ayurvedic resort on the hills surrounding Kandy. A short distance away from a Vipassana centre I registered for at the end of the month.

Mountains make me sensitive. A stillness and space to move within. The vast views allow clarity, shedding what no longer serves.

The healing weeks here are helping me connect with a home that lives within.

Find a meditation inspired by the valley beside Yasmin Hill’s yoga shala here.

4 us - words from Thich Nhat Hanh

Home can be confusing, particularly during change. Comforts we connect to home at one point might not be available.

Places. People. Food.

There’s a transition, maybe a gap, until they surround us again.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s words come like medicine in this song.

A reminder that, if home was once felt, it lives in you. With practice, we can find a way to connect to it, embody it, when we need.

Listen to ‘Home is in Yourself’ by Keo and Thich Nhat Hanh here.

4 you - home

What gives you the feeling of home?

Do you find home in voices, smells or places?

Where do you feel comfortable to be yourself?

Does somewhere special store a bank of memories for you?

It’s wonderful reading some of your responses to these pieces. I hope this offers monthly comfort and warmth on your returns home.

Big love,

Max