What Does Namaste Mean?

• By Omfit Kam
• January 19, 2016
• No Comments

I’ve always been both skeptical and curious about religion, so when I went to my first yoga class, at the end, the teacher had the class in unison say “Namaste”.  I was in class specifically for physical reasons, and not for dogma and rituals.  I had no desire to be in church to workout, so to avoid being connected to something that was contradictory to everything that I knew about religion at the time, I stopped doing yoga all together.

Needless to say, things have gradually changed to the point, that I do consider yoga as my religion.  Please keep in mind that people are free to utilize whatever parts of yoga that can benefit their life, and leave the rest on the proverbial shelf respectfully, meaning take what you need, and leave the rest.  When I began to understand that, finding my spiritual path was going to be uniquely my own, I began searching for what felt right for me, instead of what I was told was the only way for me, and for everyone else for that matter.

So instead of saying Namaste because that is what everyone is doing in the class, I say it now because I recognize and honor the divine in all beings. The further I go down the rabbit hole, the more the veil is lifted, and God is seen in all things.  Sometimes the joy is so present, that in the oddest of places tears of joy rain from my eyes, just because I can look at something and see the presents of God.  To think that one word with two syllables started a journey that has changed my life forever.  For that I will be forever grateful for how yoga has open my eyes, my body, and my heart.

Nama means bow, as means I and te means you:  I bow to you.

The divine spirit in me, solutes the divine spirit in you.  We can look at most spiritual text, and they all seem to say, we are made in the likeness of the creator, and to that I solute.

Namaste

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