Harnessing the Mind: Yoga, Hypnotism, and Relaxation Culture in 1950s Britain

This paper examines how yoga was popularised in post-war Britain through the work of teacher and author Desmond Dunne (b. 1913). Drawing on his 1950s mail-order course, publications on yoga and hypnotism, and contemporary print media, it argues that yoga was framed primarily as a psychological discipline—centred on mental relaxation, concentration, and self-mastery—rather than as a physical regimen. Situating Dunne alongside contemporaries such as Paul Dukes and James Hewitt, the paper shows how mid-century discussions of yoga intersected with a wider popular interest in relaxation therapies and drew on ideas from New Thought, hygienic culture, therapeutic hypnotism, and the emerging discourse of popular psychology. By highlighting these connections, the paper identifies a “psychologisation” of yoga in this period and considers how Dunne and his peers shaped the reception of yoga within British culture. In doing so, it illuminates the entanglement of yoga, psychology, and self-help in the 20th century and adds to the growing body of research concerned with the cultural formation of modern yoga in the West.