The Story of Yoga: From Ancient India to the Modern West is a cultural history of yoga by Alistair Shearer, published by Hurst in 2020. It narrates how an ancient spiritual practice in India became a global method of exercise, often with no spiritual content, by way of diverse movements including Indian nationalism, the Theosophical Society, Swami Vivekananda's coming to the west, self-publicising western yogis, Indian muscle builders, Krishnamacharya's practice in Mysore, and pioneering teachers like B. K. S. Iyengar. The book has been received warmly by critics in the western world, who found it erudite, informative and well-written. In India, The Hindu found it a readable account of how an ancient path to enlightenment had become a profitable wellness industry, while the Hindustan Times considered that Shearer had an agenda to argue that western body-yoga was unrelated to Indian spiritual yoga. Context Alistair Shearer is a cultural historian of India; he was a lecturer at SOAS. He teaches meditation and has co-founded a retreat hotel in Kerala, South India. Book Content The book is divided into two parts, with some 350 pages of narrative in 30 chapters. The first part steps through the history of yoga, from ancient times onwards, in 19 chapters. The older history covers the origins of yoga from around 500 BC, the forest sages, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, yoga in Islamic India and under the British Raj, and the impact of Indian nationalism. The modern history covers the Theosophical Society, Swami Vivekananda's coming to the west, "roguey yogis" like Pierre Bernard, muscle builders such as K. V. Iyer, yoga at the Mysore Palace with Krishnamacharya, and pioneering teachers who brought yoga to the west, including B. K. S. Iyengar. The story then moves on to yoga for women, and pioneering female practitioners or yoginis such as Indra Devi. The part concludes with an account of pioneers like Yogananda, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with his Transcendental Meditation. The 11 chapters of the second part describe yoga "today", including both what Shearer calls "body-yoga" (physical practices, mainly the yoga poses called asanas) and "mind-yoga" (meditational practices). Body-yoga is introduced with an account of Bikram Yoga, the science of yoga, yoga teacher training, the British Wheel of Yoga, Yogendra and Kuvalayananda's attempts to treat yoga as science, and Sivananda Yoga. Mind-yoga is covered with discussion of the concepts of Patanjali-style meditation and Mindfulness.