Om & Namaste, what does it mean? By Eliane Carotta

It's been a while that I was figuring something easy and nice to share. There are two "words" that we usually see on stickers, t-shirts, and even non-regular students repeat in yoga classes or salute in emails, but do people know what it means?

NAMASTE"Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you." Namaste is generally used as a salutation, and can also mean "I honor the light in you that is the same in me." It also could be a more religious salutation where would be described as "I respect the divinity within you that is also within me", no matter what religion it is.
To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart charka, close the eyes, and bow the head. It can also be done by placing the hands together in front of the third eye, bowing the head, and then bringing the hands down to the heart. This is an especially deep form of respect. Although in the West the word "Namaste" is usually spoken in conjunction with the gesture, in India, it is understood that the gesture itself signifies Namaste, and therefore, it is unnecessary to say the word while bowing.

OM - or AUM - is the universal sound and the most holy symbol in the hindu dharma (cosmic and ethical principals about the good and the right). It is also considered to be the root mantra from which all other mantras emerge and to encapsulate the essence of the many thousands of verses of Hinduism's holiest texts, the Vedas.
According to the Upanishads, "Om is the one eternal syllable of which all that exists is but the development. The past, the present, and the future are all included in this one sound, and all that exists beyond the three forms of time is also implied in it".
Often chanted three times at the start and/or finish of a yoga practice, the sound of OM is actually three syllables - a, u, and m. Some people chant "AUM" instead of "OM".