Part 2 of an occasional series
I no longer say, “Namaste.”
Why would this be? For the first thirteen and a half years of teaching, I would almost always close class with this Sanskrit term, sometimes followed by Gandhi's interpretation: "I honor the place in you where the entire Universe resides. A place of light, of love, of truth, of peace, of wisdom. I honor the place in you where when you are in that place, and I am in that place, there is only One of us."
Don't get me wrong, those are beautiful sentiments, and do concisely convey the depth of what a full yoga practice offers—oneness.
So why not end with namaste? Over two years ago, I began a study of the ethics of yoga, particularly walking the line of cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation. I gathered some fellow yoga teachers, and we spent months working through some hard questions piqued by Susanna Barkataki's book, Embrace Yoga's Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. By the way, if you're interested, this book is a wealth of information and will challenge all of your conventional Western yogic thinking.
Through this in-depth study and reflection, I learned a lot. Much of our modern yoga practice has engaged in cultural appropriation, meaning that we've taken select pieces of this rich culture, and appropriated them for our own personal gain. Making yoga only about fitness, $100 leggings or "a good workout," are all examples of ways we appropriate yoga.
Back to namaste: It became clear that the use of namaste at the end of a class felt more and more like cultural appropriation for me, for the following reasons:
· In India, the culture that created this word, namaste, is frequently used as a greeting, instead of as a "goodbye." I have heard other Indian yoga teachers say that if they said namaste as they were leaving a family gathering, people would have been quite confused!
· In India, namaste if also frequently used as an honorarium—a term used for respect to elders.
· What am I truly trying to convey with the word namaste? Am I being performative, because that's what I've always said? Am I trying to politely tell folks that class is over and it's time to pack up?
· Does saying namaste have an air of spiritual depth?
I reflected on what I really did want to convey with my students at the end of the class, in a way that was authentic and appreciative without appropriating. I've opted to often close with another quote or poem, followed by something simple like, "Thank you for your practice and presence today."
Now, if you do hear a namaste from another teacher, it's not a problem. We each have our own paths to walk with this vast experience of yoga. I've heard other teachers explain numerous reasons why they say still say namaste, but often at the beginning of a class instead of the end.
Here's to continual self-reflection and aligning our actions and beliefs.