The Magic Word

If you’ve ever been to a yoga class, chances are you’ve heard instructors and students say the word “Namaste,” particularly at the end of a class.  Namaste is a powerful word indeed.  In Hindi, it roughly translates to “the divine in me bows to the divine in you.”

Now, we may not always feel so divine.  In fact, some days we may feel downright lousy, preferring instead to hang out with our buddies in the underworld.  But that’s where “namaste” can be a bit deceiving.  We’re neither fully divine nor fully gutter-dwellers.  We’re a mixture of every type of emotion and experience.  Yoga is just one of many ways that attempt to harness the best parts of ourselves from the hodgepodge of “stuff” that comprises our being.

What’s more, yoga encourages us to be honest with ourselves and accept our reality as it is in the present moment, despite how unsettled or uncomfortable it may be.

And that’s where the magic of “namaste” happens.  Once we let go of our judgments about how our lives “should” be or “would” be or “could” be, we realize that this state of messiness is itself a form of divinity.  We sit through the discomfort, we deal with the yuck, we stare down those aversive emotions – and being able to do that requires some pretty superhuman strength on our part.  It demands of us to be real with ourselves and the outside world – even if doing so makes us vulnerable to hurt.

The fact that we may be willing to go through so much unpleasantness to be true to ourselves is quite divine indeed.  And every time we decide to honor who we really are, we encourage our peers to do the same.

Let’s keep encouraging each other on our paths – Namaste!

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