“Namaste,” a common greeting in India and South Asia, has become a global cultural phenomenon – the word appears everywhere, from wellness retreats to political events to pop culture.

In many yoga classes in North America and Europe, it is a ritual to end practice by saying “namaste,” which means, in global yoga culture, something like “the divine in me bows to the divine in you.”

This tradition is not without controversy. Some critics accuse Western yogis of cultural appropriation whenever they say it.

Their argument is that in India, namaste basically means “hello” or “goodbye.” In the West, however, yogis have transformed this word into a catchphrase laden with “overblown interpretations” and a “faux gravity” to better sell yoga, writes journalist Kumari Devarajan in an NPR article.

Others disagree with this view. Swami Tattwamayananda, the head of the Vedanta Society of Northern California in San Francisco and a leading authority on Indian ritual and scripture, told me: “It is perfectly appropriate for everyone, including Westerners like yourself, to say namaste at the end of your yoga classes.”

As a scholar of communication and ethics and a longtime yoga teacher, I explore this controversy in my 2026 book “Living Namaste: A Practical Guide to Mindfulness, Yoga, and Building Community.” My conclusion for those who are wondering: Yes, it’s OK to say namaste. I will explain why.

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