After doing yoga for a few sessions, way back when I first started to experiment with yoga practices to see if I like them or if they made me feel any better or helped to change up my hum-drum workout routine, I started to wonder what the word, or term “namaste” meant, at the end of many yoga sessions, when the instructor bows their head and has their hands in prayer position in front of their chest.

Well, turns out there are some different interpretations of the meaning of namaste, but they all mean generally the same thing, of course it’s a good, peaceful meaning that tries to bring hearts and souls and minds together, and bring peace to the individual.

The whole idea behind namaste is an acknowledgement of oneness with eachother, with the earth, and with the universe, and we all know too well how this meaning and the basica idea that we were all created from the same “materials” gets lost in translation what with the news today being filled with murder, rape and people treating other people, and animals, cruelly.

Not to get off on a tangent, but I do believe that yoga nd meditation can help us get back to the basics and enjoy others and enjoy ourselves more, and have more of an appreciation for people and the diverse personalities they offer, no matter what their baggage or personality flaws.

Namaste, as determined in many writings, means, simply, “I bow to you”, as a way of honoring others and recognizing that we are all equals and deserve equal respect. It is a way of saying that no matter what your financial status, your history, your family’s stature, or where you’ve come from, we are acknowledging that we are all equal spiritually.

As determined by Deepak Chopra, a notorious author of metaphysical ideas and self help, has given the meaning of namaste as “the soul within me honors the soul within you”. Again, the same basic idea that we all honor one another for what’s inside, our eternal souls, not our egos and other extrinsic factors that do not make up our true spirit.

So, when you say namaste, you are honoring another person. Try doing it silently in your head the next time someone makes you mad, it actually helps take away anger and replace it with acceptance and forgiveness, and then you are not wasting so much time on negative thoughts and energies.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Random Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.