Why we did away with "namaste"
Why we did away with “namaste”
We appreciate “namaste,” in the way it’s actually intended to be used
Namaste is a word derived from Sanskrit. In India, a country of almost a billion and a half people, you’ll hear it used as a greeting perhaps in a temple or towards someone of authority or spiritual leadership. Mind you, there are five different families of language in India, hundreds of dialects. It’s a diverse country with a history of colonization, regional phrasing and variations, with lots to appreciate and social norms to understand. A key takeaway? Namaste is a greeting. That’s the intention of the word.
Party in the USA
Truthfully, namaste is not part of our yogic traditions or lineage. It seems to have been appropriated by the West when yoga was commercialized in the US; we can loosely trace it to California in the 1960s. Now there are shirts, memes, bracelets… something from Indian culture has been taken out of context, hyphenated with vulgar or contradicting words, and slapped on merchandise. "Nama-slay," much? Even your’s truly, Barre & Soul, is guilty of using namaste in a way that was divorced from its Hindi heritage. For that, we are sorry.
Namaste is not part of Barre & Soul classes
We learn. We grow. We help our team to choose different language that’s not appropriative. Even accidental appropriation is not okay. That is why you won’t hear ‘namaste,' at Barre & Soul. Maybe you noticed it went away from our classes, maybe you didn’t. NPR has a great article by Indian journalist Kumari Devarajan, “How ‘Namaste' Flew Away from Us.” Among other insights, Kumari shared the aggregate feedback from South Asians was that hearing namaste during yoga “makes our skin crawl…” Doesn’t that feel hurtful? We’re sorry for perpetuating even a moment of that harm and being insensitive. It makes no sense to use ‘namaste' at the end of class.
We’re grateful for increased awareness and the progressive nature of life. Learning, listening.
The love and light in us, does indeed honor the light in you.
That’s authentic. Your partnership means the world.
