Namaste is a non-contact greeting with ancient
Hindu origins. It is a slight bow slightly with
hands pressed together, palms touching and
fingers pointing upward, thumbs close to the
chest. Sometimes the word itself may be spoken
while bowing. It can be used both as a greeting
and a way to say goodbye and is a way to show
respect for the other person.
While the gesture originated in India and is still
widely used there and throughout Southeast
Asia today, western cultures have adopted the
greeting as a way to recognize the beautiful
essence within in each of us. Its use today may
be as practical as it is wonderfully healing.
It is practical because it is non-contact. In a
world where many wear face masks and no
longer shake hands as sign of greeting, bowing
makes as much sense as anything. With the
world still only learning about how to co-exist
with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, bowing is
safe and easy but still shows respect and love.
However, it may be more than practical. The
greeting Namaste, says to another person “I see
you. I really see you.” I see beyond your skin and
bones to the amazing power that animates you. I
see beyond where you came from or where you
live to the incredible innate intelligence that
organizes us both. I see beyond your age or
position in life to the remarkable wisdom that
maintains the entire world in existence.
Wow!! That’s pretty big stuff! But truly there is a
principle of organization that is at work in each
of us and in our world. The principle of
organization is as real and applicable as the
principle of gravity. And just like gravity works
on everyone and everything on earth, constantly
attracting things downward to the earth, the
principle of organization too applies to everyone
and everything. And just like the principle of
gravity works whether you know about it, have
studied it extensively, or don’t even believe in it,
so too with the principle of organization. It does
its thing whether you recognize it or not.
In living things, the principle of organization
takes two little cells and grows them into an
incredibly amazing little creature… in the case of
people a baby. It may seem like magic, but it is
the result of a principle in action. More
importantly, that principle of organization
doesn’t stop expressing itself after you are born.
It continues to organize you through your
growth and every stage of life. It is this principle
that your family chiropractor addresses and
works with.
Incredibly, when you honor the magnificence in
someone else with a greeting like Namaste, you
in turn recognize your own magnificence. When
you recognize in someone else that he or she is
incredible, you recognize that same incredible
principle at work in YOU. The love you share is
love that is returned to YOU.
Within us all, is wisdom far beyond our
understanding… an intelligence that constantly
organizes our body and that works not just for
some but for EVERYONE.
It is why you are as incredible as you are. It is a principle of active
organization. A principle, like gravity, that works
all the time, for everyone, everywhere. Aren’t you
AMAZING!?! Namaste.
—By Judy Nutz Campanale, DC, ACP
