Fascist Yoga

Stewart Home

£14.99

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Pluto Press
20 July 2025
ISBN: 9780745351124
Paperback
224 pages

From the publisher

The weird and disturbing history of the cult of yoga

'Namaste, fascists! An original and entertaining analysis of the dubious origins of the Western middle class's favourite postural exercise' - The Times

The practice of yoga promises peace, self-realisation and release, thanks to the power of its 'mystic' Indian origins. But what if this is just hype? In Fascist Yoga, Stewart Home sweeps away the half-truths to tell a new origin story of the world's first modern yogi – a Californian escapologist who added some Hindu fairy dust to gym and circus exercises.

Ever since, the world of yoga has been full of grifters, occultists and white supremacists, all out to exploit and recruit via the medium of exercise. From cult leaders to brainwashed followers, TV celebrities and fake gurus, the story of yoga has involved some of the strangest currents of humanity.

Today, the COVID pandemic has activated elements within the modern yoga movement to espouse far-right conspiracies, and QAnon's fascist political programmes mirror some of yoga's key early proponents.

In this new exposé, Stewart Home shows that nothing is sacred.