Not Seeking

Namas/te--”Bow”(“salutations,” “greetings”)/[to]You”

RATHER THAN SIMPLY “Hello,” namaste aspires to acknowledge a deeper reality of inseparability:

The light in me bows to the light in you, 

and when we come together in that light we are one.

BECAUSE WE ACKNOWLEDGE this oneness, our bows can activate “not seeking” as our forward moving action.  Since we are one, the need to seek something is challenged.  “Not seeking” deeply expresses and actualizes the niyama of santosha or “contentment.”  We are deeply content right now in this moment with no need or fundamental benefit to seek more.  Psycho-spiritually, not seeking generates the foundational experience of calmness that can flower into deeper experiences of tranquility and harmony and grace.

When we physically or mentally bow to each other or to the flower or to the water, the action can express even more than insight of oneness and be an action step: We are not seeking.  This is deep yoga of insight and action that is quite different from a more facile yoga as sequences of poses with a bow as hello or respect.  And this is not exclusive to yoga, but rather is a more universal deep body-mind-spirit practice.