The Meaning of Namaste
What does Namaste mean? And why do teachers use it in yoga classes?
Namaste is a Sanksrit word. It comes from the root namah and the dative case pronoun te (namah becomes namas when used with the dative case pronoun).
Namah means bow, reverence, or salutations and te means to you. Therefore namaste can be translated as I bow to you. Namaste within the Vedantic traditions is recognition of the divine Atman (loosely translated as soul) residing within us all.
The greeting Namaste is usually performed with the palms together and fingers pointing upwards in front of the chest. This is in known as Anjali mudra and is a further gesture of reverence. It’s also mudra we perform to chant at the start of class. Namaste or namaskar is used as a respectful greeting for an elder, guest, teacher or stranger.
If in doubt…leave it out
Yoga teachers often use namaste to end their classes. Personally, this isn’t something I’ve ever felt comfortable saying, mainly because I always understood it as a greeting rather than a closure, and I never heard my Indian teachers say it.
I’ve also heard from many South Asian teachers and students that they either find it offensive or out of context when said at the end of a yoga class. Therefore if like me, you’re not a South Asian yoga teacher and you’re not sure if your use of namaste is culturally you may want to consider ending your class in another way.
Like most Ashtangis, I do use the Sanksrit names for asanas and numbers in my class. For me, it’s important for teachers to learn asana names, and some basic Sanskrit so we can pronounce these terms correctly and use them in the right context. In doing so we play our part in honouring and preserving the yoga tradition now, and for future generations
