Thanks to the power of its “mystic” Indian origins, yoga promises peace, self-realization, and release. But what if this is just hype? In Fascist Yoga, Stewart Home sweeps away the half-truths to reveal a new origin story of modern postural practice.

Starting with the world’s first modern yogi—a Californian escapologist who added Hindu fairy dust to circus exercises—this history reveals a community full of grifters, occultists, and white supremacists, out to exploit and recruit via the medium of exercise.

From Aleister Crowley to Ezra Pound to Heinrich Himmler, cult leaders and brainwashed followers, TV celebrities, and fake gurus, the story of yoga has involved some of the strangest currents of humanity with a dangerous understanding of wellness.