“In my personal experience living in India and with my elders and family here in the U.S., Namaste or Namaskar is said when I meet and greet an elder. Using namaste at the end of a yoga class is, at the very least, puzzling to some South Asians. But if you want to practice the correct pronunciation, listen to Deshpande in the video below:
Rather than a hard “t” sound, she describes it as a “th.” The tongue touches behind the front teeth to create what might be described as a clipped lisp.Īs long as you are making an honest attempt and are pronouncing Sanskrit terms as best you can, you can feel comfortable saying the word, our experts say. The “st” in namaste is a little softer than the English pronunciation, Deshpande says. The last syllable starts with a sound that will be familiar to speakers from South Asia, but may take some practice for native English speakers. When you see those two a’s, train your brain to pronounce them with a short “u” sound. But the term is more correctly pronounced nuh-MUH-stheh, according to Rina Deshpande. How is it pronounced?Īmerican English speakers tend to attribute a shorter “a” sound to the vowels and put the emphasis on the last syllable: nah-mah-STAY. “The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another,” says Palkhivala, who began studying under B. The “Divine in you” interpretation comes from the Hindu belief that God resides in everyone, so any person you greet deserves respect. “Therefore, namaste literally means ‘bow me you’ or ‘I bow to you.’” “ Nama means bow as means I and te means you,” says yoga teacher Aadil Palkhivala. See also: Yoga for Beginners: The Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Practice What does namaste mean?Īsk most people in the yoga community to translate “namaste” and the common reply will be something like, “The Divine in me honors the Divine in you.” It’s a lovely sentiment that has inspired many a yoga studio poster.
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Here, we offer “Namaste 101” to help you understand the term and know how to use it with care. It’s so common that yoga doesn’t seem like yoga without this ritual.īut recently, yoga practitioners have been looking more carefully at how, when, and why they’re using the word “namaste.” Does it mean what we think it means? Are we using it properly? Should we use it at all? Some yogis are concerned that the term, which holds cultural significance in South Asia, has been so misused that it has lost its true meaning-and thus its significance. The scene at the end of a typical yoga class: The teacher sits cross-legged at the front of class, takes a deep breath and, pressing hands together in a prayer position, leans into a deep bow and reverently intones the word “Namaste.” Dutiful yoga students mirror the pose and bow low in return, whispering namaste in unison.
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