Lead story
Editor's note:
Many yoga classes across the United States end with a ritualized "namaste," often followed by the phrase, "The divine in me bows to the divine in you." The practice has become controversial. Some critics accuse Western yogis of cultural appropriation – adopting a practice without fully understanding its history or context.
Jeremy David Engels, a scholar of yoga at Penn State, argues that it is not. Claims of cultural appropriation often assume that there is one authentic version of yoga that Westerners have stolen. But yoga traditions are diverse, with no one authentic lineage. Additionally, namaste is not the name of a deity, and does not play a central role in religious rituals. Rather, it is a commonly used greeting in South Asia.
Far from being an act of appropriation, he argues, saying "namaste" can acknowledge our interconnectedness. "When you bow to another person while saying namaste," he writes, "you are honoring something precious in them." In doing so, you are also honoring those same qualities in yourself.
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Commentary and Analysis
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