Strange bleats and whinnyings like I’ve never heard draw me towards a lush spring paddock. Scores of goats mill around munching grass, or chilling. They are not the bleaters. The peculiar noises come from a pair of long-necked, quiff-topped quadrupeds straight out of Dr Seuss… chasing each other from one side of their dandelion-speckled patchContinue reading “A Norfolk sanctuary for animals saved from the abuses of people”
Author Archives: Martin Yelverton
A report from the frontline of UK Grim with Sleaford Mods and Cold War Steve
Boris Johnson. Nigel Farage. Jacob Rees-Mogg. Liz Truss. Matt Hancock. Piers Morgan. Jeremy Clarkson. Priti Patel… The list goes on, a grotesque cast of the privileged and entitled who ooze across the husked-out landscape of modern Britain in this powerful video by the artist Cold War Steve (Christopher Spencer) for the title track of theContinue reading “A report from the frontline of UK Grim with Sleaford Mods and Cold War Steve”
The Bricks’ Reverse Alchemy EP revels in their wild musical DNA
NEW MUSIC Reverse Alchemy EP by The Bricks If you like a bit of hard-hitting post-punk rock ’n roll, check out this new EP by The Bricks from York in the UK. They’re tight, they throw time around, they rock out totally, they even funk it up some. It’s a really interesting sound: in theContinue reading “The Bricks’ Reverse Alchemy EP revels in their wild musical DNA”
Advertising Standards Authority highlights cruelty of the meat industry (and its own hypocrisy)
At first glance – as a vegan, at any rate – it was easy to be irritated by news last week that Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority had banned a TV advert by Vegan Friendly UK on the grounds that it was “likely to cause distress” to viewers. It’s not a particularly gruesome ad, showing aContinue reading “Advertising Standards Authority highlights cruelty of the meat industry (and its own hypocrisy)”
A guided run through the full Pawanmuktasana Series of gentle yoga exercises
Join me in this video for a guided run through the full Pawanmuktasana Series, an excellent three-part sequence of simple yoga exercises designed to gently mobilise and energise the whole body, working through most of the joints and major muscle groups. While it is a physical practice, you will, as always with yoga, get moreContinue reading “A guided run through the full Pawanmuktasana Series of gentle yoga exercises”
Dive in and flow with Total Immersion, the technique that takes the slog out of swimming
REVIEW Total Immersion Effortless Endurance Freestyle swimming workshop with Susan Cheshire Moving through water – being immersed in the same element that makes up around 60 per cent of a human body – is a deeply meditative practice for me and swimming is one of the few activities during which the Babel in my headContinue reading “Dive in and flow with Total Immersion, the technique that takes the slog out of swimming”
A smaller post-pandemic National Animal Rights March but just as passionate about a more compassionate world
With only around 1,000 people taking to the streets at this year’s National Animal Rights March in London – compared with 12,000 at the last similar (pre-pandemic) event in 2019 – the drummers were more important than usual. Events like this are all about creating a vivid spectacle to attract the attention of the publicContinue reading “A smaller post-pandemic National Animal Rights March but just as passionate about a more compassionate world”
You don’t need to cross a facilitator’s palm with gold to breathe better but breathwork practices can definitely help
Breathwork – or doing breathing exercises as a formal practice – is big right now. It means the internet is crawling with “breathwork facilitators” selling lessons in how to breathe better. There definitely appears to be a need for this as it’s widely claimed that many of us don’t breathe properly – often leading toContinue reading “You don’t need to cross a facilitator’s palm with gold to breathe better but breathwork practices can definitely help”
The more you look into the ancient history and philosophies of yoga, the more you see there is no one true yoga
BOOK REVIEW The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga’s History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices by Daniel Simpson In the non-digital world yogis tend to get on with doing yoga. But in the great virtual ashram of the internet – the shop front of a multi-billion-pound industry – yoga teachers queue up to tellContinue reading “The more you look into the ancient history and philosophies of yoga, the more you see there is no one true yoga”
Netflix’s exposé of Bikram inspired me to look beyond the predator and find a great yoga practice
The Netflix documentary Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator served to confirm all my biases about Bikram Choudhury, the peacocking, underpanted father of Bikram Yoga, or “hot yoga” as it’s known when not done under his trademark. You don’t have to see too many clips of him in full flow to note that he’s almost a parodyContinue reading “Netflix’s exposé of Bikram inspired me to look beyond the predator and find a great yoga practice”
Bardo Burner 