Contorting yoga with ideology

London-based poet, novelist, pamphleteer, and activist Stewart Home, who makes “headstand paintings with the canvas placed above him and brushes held in his toes”, wants to “discourage those thinking of taking up modern postural practice for health reasons from doing so”.

- CHINTAN GIRISH MODI

This mission, articulated in the concluding chapter of his book Fascist Yoga: Grifters, Occultists, White Supremacists and the New Order in Wellness, is an unusual entry point into yoga because it is not geared towards boosting productivity, losing weight, or finding a work-life balance.

Instead of trying to sell yoga as an ancient one-stop solution to modern woes, he urges the reader to be sceptical of what is on offer. He writes, “I can’t and wouldn’t want to prohibit modern yoga. Nevertheless, if someone wishes to pursue a back-bending yoga practice — or become a contortionist — they should know in advance that it may result in long-term physical injuries.”

Mr Home examines the nexus between yoga, fascism, White supremacy and the occult in North America and Europe from the twentieth century right up to its heyday in the 1970s. His statements must be understood in that political and cultural context rather than extrapolating them hastily to make sense of how yoga evolved elsewhere in the world, especially in India.