To Namaste or Not? by Gabe Hopp

The practice of Yoga was disseminated by Eastern teachers bringing the study and practices to the West. In the late 1800s, Swami Vivikenanda brought the teachings of yoga philosophy to the Chicago World’s Fair and then a few years later to rapt students in California.  Later, in the mid-twentieth century, Krisnhamacharya, who is considered the grandfather of modern postural yoga, taught his students and told them to spread the ancient art by taking it to the United States, Canada and South America. You have likely heard of many of his students, among whom are BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Indra Devi and Bikram Choudhury.

Yoga, of course, came from India, through Indian teachers, who then began to teach Westerners how to teach yoga. They taught them poses, and how to teach them. They taught them the Sanskrit language used in chanting, mantra and the names of yoga poses. They taught them traditional Indian cultural references, relevant to living a yogic lifestyle. The point here is that they were teaching authentic yoga rooted in the cultural heritage of India and Hinduism, to Westerners, who grew up with a different set of cultural norms and spiritual experiences.

Each time the practice of yoga is passed down in the West, it is distilled, re-framed and, likely, watered down from the original teachings. ICYMI, there is currently a debate raging in the yoga world about whether or not it is appropriate for us to say Namaste at the end of class. This is one of those teachings that came down through the Indian pipeline, but became a bit, ah, confused over the course of time. It’s an interesting inquiry, because it asks us to consider why we are including it and how it relates to yoga then and today. This conversation recently came up in my advanced training with Christina Sell and I thought it was worth sharing with you all.

Namaste is a greeting. And it is actually very very informal. It’s essentially equivalent to saying ‘hi’ to someone. The more formal use, i.e. “hello” is Namaskar. In both cases, there is an important root word to note: namah. Namah means reverence or adoration or “to bow.” Oddly, we usually say this at the end of class as a way to create closure. But, really, if we were using it appropriately, it would be the beginning of class. “Namaste, yogis”, as a greeting, makes much more sense. But, here we are, in 2024, in which you can buy a tee-shirt that says “namaste in bed” or “namaste all day”; two phrases that couldn’t make less sense if they tried.

As teachers, it is our job to parse out what is important and relevant for us to include in our classes. As a yoga teacher, I try to do my best to demystify the teachings for a western audience. People are not comfortable chanting something that they don’t understand, so I explain the meaning of each chant before we chant. Likewise, people don’t know the context of Namaste and so I try to give a brief explanation of what it means and why we’re saying it in a yoga class, if we use it to close class.

Part of this question is a larger question about the co-opting of Indian cultural norms within a highly modified system. And this is where I personally find it gets complicated. What is okay for us to include and what do we need to let go of? If we remove one thing because it doesn’t belong to our culture, what else to do we need to take out? If we remove Namaste (which it is absolutely fine with me, if you have), does that also muddy the case for using the sanskrit language at all? Or sharing the philosophy of yoga which evolved from Hinduism? Or even just teaching yoga (an Indian art form)?

In my opinion, what makes the difference in what you are teaching is the intent. For now, I’m still saying it, as it gives us the opportunity to bow to ourselves in reverence for our commitment to practice. Maybe you’ve taken it out because it no longer aligns with your current teachings or values. The teachers at OTY do both! Teaching yoga is highly personal and increasingly sticky. I will simply posit that if we begin to strip things away from the original intent of yoga, it becomes bland, devoid of meaning and often simply gymnastic exercises put together in a flowing format. As a humorous anecdote, Christina suggested, instead of yoga, we can change the name to “stretching with a message.” What do you think?