Namaste

नमस्ते : Namaste.

Tonight soothed my soul.  Amazing, isn’t it?  How often, when we go to soothe another soul, they instead soothe ours.

Tonight, amidst a quiet, candle-lit room, I led some beautiful women through a peaceful yoga session, and at the end, as they rested, I spoke from my heart the words I felt I should say.

Namaste.  It’s Sanskrit, a traditional greeting.  In yoga, it is often used at the conclusion of a practice.  There are many recognized translations, my favorite being, “I salute the light of life within you.”

But it also means that everything good inside of you sees everything good inside another person.  You see who they really are.

Tonight I was in a room full of women who had forgotten how beautiful they truly were.  How much worth and good there was inside of each of them.  As I watched their faces, the change in countenance was indescribable.  It was like lighting a fire.  They just needed someone to see it in them, and to honor it.

Their recognizing again of their own light kindled something inside me again.  Perhaps my own light and inner beauty had been getting lost, as well.

I feel like those women rekindled my inner light.  They looked for their own and found it.  They looked for mine, and found it.  What a difference is made by people who honor and see the light inside themselves and others, rather than casting them aside.

How many people do we brush aside?  How much of our hardness is conditioned?  How much joy is lost because we don’t take the time to see?  We do it to others we deem meaningless.  We do it to ourselves.  We shouldn’t.

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Namaste, my friends.  I salute the light of life within you.  I see the goodness that is in you.

What will you see today?

4 Responses

Leave a Reply to Chantile Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *