Organic saves the day! |
Having a ball in Italy |
Breaking a record with Pepe, the peppy sloth! |
Ashrita's Record Blog
An Adventure in Eggs
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 12:16 under category
We were in trouble. It was a beautiful day in May and Bipin and I were in Budapest, Hungary. In 10 minutes we were to attempt Guinness record for raw egg catching in front of thousands of kids. The guidelines for the record were quite simple. Two people stand 16 feet apart and one person throws raw eggs at the other person who tries to catch as many of the eggs in a minute without breaking them. The current record was 71 eggs and Bipin and I had done more than that in practice in New York, so we thought it would be “over-easy”. But our confidence was “cracked” when, just before going on stage to make our attempt, we did a trial run. Bipin was throwing the eggs as normal but, for some reason, when I tried to catch the eggs, they exploded in my hands, and I was being “shelled” by raw eggs!
We tried using different batches of eggs, but the results were the same. For some reason, Hungarian eggs are not as strong as American eggs and, in front of national TV and a few thousand kids, I was about to get egg on my face, literally! I remembered that my mentor, Sri Chinmoy, taught me that through meditation it is possible to surmount any problem. After a brief meditation, an idea popped into my head. I ran over to Parimal (one of my Hungarian friends) and asked if he could find us a couple of hundred organic eggs in a hurry! I hoped that organic eggs might have stronger shells.
With these eggs though, Bipin and I had the horrible feeling that we were “poached”. We climbed up on stage and took our positions. Looking out at the enormous parking lot in front of us, we could see the expectant look on the kids’ faces—thousands of ‘em. Read more....
Discovering Global Harmony
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 23:17 under category
There is something about standing on a ball and balancing that gives me joy. I don’t know why – maybe it’s the challenge or maybe it’s because it's so cosmic and looks so cool. Balancing on a ball, to me, is a form of performance art. In fact, several years ago, while looking for a venue to break the record for the longest time standing on a Swiss Ball (the large, rubber air-filled exercise balls found in gyms), I approached the Museum of Modern Art here in New York City. I suggested that I might be dressed all in red and balance on a bright yellow ball on the sidewalk outside the museum. They didn’t take my idea seriously, but I still can't understand why!
Anyway, a few months ago, I discovered that Guinness had created a new category for standing on a different kind of ball – a rolling globe - and I was intrigued. A rolling globe is a hard plastic ball often seen in the circus with performers balancing on them while slowly making their way up and down ramps. I figured that balancing on a globe would be easy since, unlike a Swiss Ball, it is stable. I ordered a 24-inch rolling globe from a circus supply company and, when it arrived, I was in for a rude awakening. I guess the rolling part of “rolling globe” is there for a reason! I could only stay balanced on the ball for a few minutes and discovered that, besides being a workout for the quads and abs, it is torture on the arches of the feet!
Read more....
Easter Island and the Three-Toed Sloth
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Mon, 03/01/2010 - 17:29 under category One of the many things I love about the Guinness Book of Records is that I can almost always find some new event I have never seen or heard of before, and this inspires me into new frontiers of exercise. I’ve derived hours of fitness training and fun from such discoveries as star jumping, orange nose-pushing, frog-jumping, can and string-walking and upside-down juggling. 
It is truly a joy practicing new events and experiencing my progress from day-to-day and week-to-week. As my meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy, says:
When my heart sings the song of newness,
My life becomes the dance of fullness.
Recently, the Guinness people began posting a database of records on their website, and it has been a goldmine of inspiration for me. Okay…some of the new categories are silly – like the record for the fastest time to blow a postage stamp for 100 meters. Other categories sound silly, but are actually quite difficult– like the record for jumping the longest distance on a pogo stick while juggling 3 balls. This seemed tailor made for me so I decided that I would try to break it, and I wanted to do it on Easter Island!
It has long been a dream of mine to visit Easter Island, but finding the time to go has been a challenge. Part of the mystique of Easter Island (called Rapa Nui by the natives) is the fact that it is so hard to get to. The island is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 2200 miles off the coast of Chile and is the most isolated inhabited spot in the world. For most of my record-excursions, I plan on 3 or 4 days including travel time, but Rapa Nui required double that. This year, my annual Christmas retreat this year took me to Columbia, South America, and this 3 week sabbatical afforded me the opportunity to make a side-trip to this remote island. Read more....
Fun With Fins
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 00:40 under category
It is a great feeling to bring joy to others…to make them smile or laugh. In fact, this is one of the main reasons I break Guinness records. I try to find an event that is not only challenging, but also has a joyful aspect to it. For example, one of my favorite record attempts is pogo stick jumping up Mt. Fuji in Japan. Not only were the kids in Japan delighted by the event at the time, but whenever I tell people about it, it almost always brings a smile to their faces. Read more....
It's Lungetime!
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Sun, 11/29/2009 - 17:55 under categoryMy spiritual Teacher, Sri Chinmoy, teaches that the inner life and the outer life must go hand-in-hand. Whenever we do something outwardly, if we can touch it with our spiritual effort, we can accomplish things way beyond our imagination!
I could be accused of being consumed with record-breaking, but really, for me, it is much, much more than that. Breaking records has become an important part my own spiritual quest. Inwardly, the process of breaking a record requires me to go within and depend on the Divine Grace. Outwardly, whenever I break a record, I get tremendous joy and inspiration and hopefully I inspire others as well - or at least make a few people smile!
So, I am always looking for new ideas for world records. Sometimes, I’ll go through the Guinness Book and some record will jump out at me. Often, I’ll return to an earlier record which someone else had subsequently broken. And sometimes, an incident in everyday life will give me an idea for a new record that has never been attempted before. Enter the lunge! Read more....
A Lesson Remembered
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 00:52 under categoryWay back in 1974, after a meditation with his students, Sri Chinmoy invited us to suggest a spiritual quality. He then composed an aphorism especially for each of us around that quality. When my turn came, I suggested the quality “grace”. Sri Chinmoy meditated for a few seconds and then in a melodic voice, he composed an aphorism. I have learned so much from that aphorism and yet there have been times when I have forgotten those valuable lessons.
Regular readers of this blog are familiar with my good friend, Bipin, who often breaks records with me. This past July, Bipin and I were looking for an adventure and we decided to go to the Grand Canyon to attempt the 3-minute record for catching the most grapes in one’s mouth thrown from 15 feet away. Bipin is the thrower and he is a virtuoso at throwing small objects, especially fruit, very rapidly and with pinpoint accuracy. Upon our arrival at the Grand Canyon, we were awed by its beauty and vastness. That evening we explored the area for a suitable record-breaking location and decided to attempt the record the next morning right on the walkway of the Canyon’s South Rim overlooking the vast panorama. Read more....
Joy Days in Italy
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 11:03 under category
I get tremendous joy whenever I visit Italy, a joy that starts weeks before I embark on the plane! About a year ago, I was about to head out to the airport to pay a visit to my Italian friend Priyadarshan who lives in a beautiful city an hour north of Verona. Because I tend to get restless sitting still on long plane trips, I decided to expend a little excess energy by sneaking in a quick run. At that time, I was training to break the Guinness record for the fastest mile run while balancing a milk bottle on the head, so I decided to do my run with the milk bottle. I quickly cycled over to Jamaica High School track, but was disappointed to find the 10-foot high gates locked. Normally, I would have headed over to another track in the neighborhood, but because I had very little time, I just hopped the fence to get my run in.
I love running with a milk bottle on my head. Although it is silly, it still requires a high level of concentration. Well, after a couple of laps, along the fence at the far side of the track, I heard what sounded like a dog running alongside me! I could hear his dog tags jiggling and his loud panting. I was running alone inside a gated track, so I imagined the dog had to be running on the outside of the fence, and he had to be large since I could hear him so distinctly. Of course, because I was concentrating on the milk bottle, I couldn’t turn my head to look. On my next lap around the track, again I heard the dog but this time my curiosity got the best of me. I took the bottle off my head to investigate. I was shocked to see that the dog was actually inside the track running alongside me. And it was no large dog. No – it was a tiny dachshund! Read more....
My Folly in Bali
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 11:51 under categoryOne of the greatest blessings of my life has been to travel to different parts of the world to attend Sri Chinmoy’s concerts dedicated to world harmony. This would also present the opportunity to attempt a Guinness record in a foreign country. It has made for some interesting sightseeing – I explored the Great Wall of China while hopping on a kangaroo ball and I experienced the power of Ayer’s Rock in the Australian desert while hula hooping!
A particularly fun part of breaking records in other countries is observing people’s reactions to my – admittedly wacky – feats. How people behave says so much about their culture. For instance, Japan is an incredibly polite and reserved society. As I pogo sticked up the foothills of Mount Fuji, the Japanese appeared to hardly notice, acting as if seeing someone hopping up the mountain was an everyday occurrence. However, as soon as I was a few yards past them, invariably I would hear delighted giggling.
At the other end of the spectrum are the Malaysians. The Malay people are incredibly proud of their national achievements and all kinds of Guinness type events are officially encouraged. They even have their own book of records! When I visited Malaysia, I was surprised to find myself looked upon as a minor celebrity. Everyone bent over backwards to accommodate me, and I incredibly got permission to attempt the underwater juggling record in the country’s main aquarium. Minutes before the event, the director of the shark-filled aquarium told me not to worry – he would have divers in the tank ready to come to my rescue. I might get injured, he said, but he reassured me that I would make it out alive! Read more....
The Joy of Sushi Cutting
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 10:46 under category“Okay, let’s take this nice and slow and no one will get hurt. Put the sword on the ground and back away.”
The policeman was shouting out his orders and he was quite serious. I suddenly realized that I probably shouldn’t have been cutting apples on the sidewalk in front of my friend’s restaurant in Flushing, Queens -- with my samurai sword! But the Daily News photographer didn’t think anything was unusual, and I was having so much fun doing the demonstration that I never imagined that it might be considered dangerous (and pretty stupid)! Read more....
Every Dog Has His Day
Submitted by Ashrita Furman on Tue, 12/23/2008 - 19:08 under categoryI love dogs…tail-wagging dogs, rub-my-belly-please dogs, enthusiastic dogs, loyal dogs, always-willing-to-please dogs. Some of my blog readers may recall that I once broke the record for the most jumps on a pogo stick in a minute while holding a cute dog named Suki in one arm, in front of Scotland’s famous Greyfriars Bobby dog statue.
During a recent trip to Vermont to attempt a stilt-climbing record attempt up Mount Equinox, I was delighted to see a sign in our motel’s lobby:
Dogs are welcome in this motel. We never had a dog smoke in bed and set fire to the blankets. We never had a dog who stole our towels or played the TV too loud. We never had a dog that got drunk and broke up the furniture or punched holes in the walls. So, if your dog can vouch for you, you are welcome too.
And sure enough, the next day, I met a super energetic Cocker Spaniel in the parking lot who had obviously vouched for his owners!
Anyway, I gave that introduction about dogs just so when you heard about my latest record you wouldn’t think I was totally crazy! When the 2009 Guinness Book came out in September, a new category caught my attention: catching the most Maltesers in a minute in your mouth thrown from 15 feet away. (Maltesers are the British version of chocolate covered maltballs.) This record seemed quite beatable because my friend Bipin and I hold a similar record for the most grapes caught in a minute. But, to make it more challenging, I instantly decided to attempt this record with a dog on my back! Read more....
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