"a scholarly density", though after that it was a lighter read, Shearer arguing that the practice had always been an inward-looking "mind-yoga", and that the west has turned it into a fitness- or health-oriented "body-yoga". The paper reports that Shearer told it that he took three years to write the book, cutting some 40,000 words of detailed history (such as of the Bihar School of Yoga) from the draft. The Hindustan Times stated that Shearer had an "agenda" to argue "that body-yoga as it is practised in the west does not have any basis in Indian yoga, which was more spiritual and mystical." The reviewer however found the book "rich in anecdotal data" and found his sensitive account of the teacher-pupil relationship and the current scandals about abuse "nuanced". Interview The Baptist theologian Albert Mohler interviewed Shearer about the book. Asked why he had written it, Shearer replied that he had learnt Transcendental Meditation at university, and was interested in India, having had relatives there. He then learnt Sanskrit to study the texts. He agreed the book was controversial. Asked whether suburban yoga is "the same thing" practised by yogis in ancient India, he said it was a good question, and the one the book tried to answer, but it depended on why people were practising yoga. Using it as exercise was fine, but it was not "the full meal"; treating body yoga as the whole system was "selling yoga short". Shearer agreed with Mohler that yoga had always been understood to be "a unity", and found the Christian perspective interesting and deep; the book's final chapter addressed the question of religion, and whether it could fit with yoga. He thought there were "many affinities" between Christian traditions such as of the Desert Fathers and yoga, and noted that Catholic priests were expected to be celibate. He supposed that many Christians who found Hinduism unacceptable would find yoga a practical way "to access their own inner depths". He agreed with Mohler that the transition from ancient Indian practice to the consumerist, individualist, and celebrity-filled western varieties was full of contradictions, and that it was "certainly misappropriation". References Primary This list identifies each item's location in Shearer's book. Secondary Sources External links Excerpt published in The Wire 2020 non-fiction books Yoga as exercise Meditation C. Hurst & Co. books