Namaste

The word combines namah, a bow or salutation, with te, to you. In India and Nepal it is ordinary politeness — what you say to a neighbour, a shopkeeper, or someone's grandmother — and it is usually accompanied by the palms together at the chest. It is a greeting, with roughly the weight of good morning.

What it is not is a closing ritual for a yoga class, and that use is a Western addition. The Thai equivalent, culturally and practically, is the wai: hands together, a slight bow, with the height of the hands reflecting respect. In Thailand that is the gesture people actually use, and a visitor returning a wai that is offered to them is doing the right thing.

In a KEO session you will not hear the word used as a sign-off, and you will never see it on a button or a sign anywhere on this site. We end a session with tea and someone's actual name. If a word is going to be said at the end of an hour spent breathing together, it may as well be one everyone in the room genuinely uses — and in Phichit or Bangkok, that is Thai.