Namaste

Photo from: http://www.yogapaws.com/Portals/13108/images/Bow%20Pose.jpg

Yesterday I got to go to a yoga class on my lunch break, and it was awesome! I hadn’t been to a yoga class in probably close to a year, and since I also haven’t been stretching as much or dancing, man was I tightly strung! It was really nice to stretch out my hips and legs and arms and back…ahhhhh! I was able to still do the front splits on my left leg, but didn’t dare try my right because it would have been embarrassing. I need to apply myself and work myself back into a flexible place!

We did LOTS of planks…both regular and side planks, as well as warrior pose variations, crescent variations, etc…my arms, legs and core feel pleasantly sore today! You know, the “good” sore, not the “Ohmigosh I can’t move today” sore. ;)

At the end of yoga classes, they always say Namaste, and give a little bow with hands together in a prayer formation in front of your third eye. My Fluffy has his own version of this, in which he says “Namaste Bitches” which is hilarious probably mostly to me only. I decided to google the definition of ‘Namaste’ because I am an etymology nerd like that, and here is what I found, taken from http://www.livingwordsofwisdom.com/definition-of-namaste.html:

There a many other interpretations of the meaning of Namaste here are a few:

The God/Goddess within me acknowledges the God/Goddess within you.
The Divine in me recognizes and honors, the Divine in you.
The spirit within me bows to the spirit within you.
I greet that place where you and I are one.
I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace.

No matter which interpretation you choose you should think of it as a divine blessing that honors sacredness and equality in everyone.

As a Christian, I have to take that with a grain of salt, because I don’t believe that I am my own god or goddess, but if I interpret it as God living in me and fellow believers, guiding us together, then it sort of works? I don’t know. I try to stick to the yoga movements and not concentrate on the spiritual side of it, unless I am using the meditation time to focus on the Lord…I try to apply what I have learned into more Biblical terms. As a Believer, my body is a temple of God, but to say Namaste to a non-believer in my interpretation would not make sense. Hmmmhhmmm…quite the quandary, if I do say so myself. Guess I’ll have to meditate on that some more.

Until then,
Namaste (Bitches). :)