Mar 29, 2005
February 2005
An acquaintance of mine was in a taxi in Nanjing, China, the other day and out of the clear blue the driver turned around and exclaimed: “I saw your friend shopping on television!”
Needless to say, this acquaintaance immediately became quite nervous and figured there was either a serious language problem or the driver was a few cards short of a full deck, or both, and replied: “You saw my friend shopping on T.V.? How do you know it was my friend?” To which the driver very animatedly countered: “No, no, not shopping – he was hopping, and I saw him not only once but twice!”
Well, yes, I guess I have been doing a lot of hopping lately while breaking 3 Guinness records in China and I have been on national television a few times, but how that driver ever connected his unsuspecting passenger to me will forever remain one of those unfathomable mysteries of life!
I actually never intended to break the stilt-racing record in China. In fact, if it weren’t for two stubborn buddies of mine, I probably never would have broken the stilt record ever, in any country.
Jan 27, 2005
But don’t get me wrong – I have gotten respect in my life – at least twice that I can remember! A few years back, I was dog-sitting a wonderfully gentle but impressive pit bull. We went out for a walk one day and as we passed a neighborhood teenager and made eye contact, I noticed a strange look in his eye. It was blocks before I was able to identify that unfamiliar look – yes, it was respect! On another occasion I was training for the crawling record at a local track, and after a few grueling miles I suddenly noticed someone’s feet blocking my path. The twenty-something wise-guy quipped, “Hey, haven’t you outgrown crawling yet?” I was impatient to continue so I decided to stretch the truth a little and replied, “Oh, this is just some martial arts training I do from time to time to keep myself sharp.” The poor guy couldn’t apologize profusely enough and backed away with urgent and genuine respect!
As much as I enjoy appearing silly, while in China this winter I thought it would be more appropriate to attempt something more dignified at the Great Wall. I had been practicing balancing a pool cue on the tip of my finger while walking, and if I could cover more than 5 miles without the cue stick falling off it would count as a new record. Okay, it’s not that dignified, but it’s a lot better than my only other choice which was to bounce on a kangaroo ball (also called a spacehopper) for a mile in the fastest time. Guinness had established the category but no one had actually successfully done a mile yet. A kangaroo ball is one of those large air-filled rubber balls that kids sit on and hop around on while holding on to the handles.
Oct 30, 2004
October 2004
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Photo: Ashrita practicing in his kitchen.
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It is said that failures are the pillars of success. I guess I learned the hard way the truth of that statement!
Just after the orange nose-push adventure I was invited to go to England to break a record on a T.V. show commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Guinness Book of Records. It was going to be a big extravaganza – a national, live broadcast featuring 50 record attempts spanning two hours. Actually, the producers wanted me to be ready to break two records in the studio, each one lasting one minute. It was decided that I would attempt to do the most jumps with a jump rope while bouncing on a pogo stick (the pogo stick is tied around my waist) and the most revolutions of a hula hoop around my waist while standing on a Swiss ball. I got pretty good at coordinating the pogo stick and jump rope, but the ball feat became a daunting challenge. The Swiss ball is also known as a “stability ball” but the reason eludes me – I must have fallen off that thing hundreds, possibly thousands of times!
Mar 24, 2004
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Photo: Ashrita hula hooping at Uluru, Australia in January 2003
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One of the advantages of breaking a Guinness record, as opposed to participating in other athletic competitions, is that you have the freedom to choose the date and venue of your event. The more creative you get with choosing the location, the more opportunity there is for fun and adventure, and the more challenging the event often becomes. The sky is literally the limit! I’ve been lucky enough to break records while soaring over Vermont in a hot air balloon (not advisable), juggling underwater in an aquarium in New Zealand (thrilling), doing step-ups in Howe Caverns (cool), and hula hooping in the Australian outback (hot).
Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy to get permission to follow your dreams, especially when it involves a large building. Once, I had the brilliant idea of attempting the high kick record at Radio City Music Hall, but I got politely turned down. When I approached the Burpee Seed Company about doing the squat record, also called “burpees,” at their headquarters, I was amazed that they seemed totally uninterested. But my best plan was to break the record for balancing on a Swiss ball in front of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. I would dress up all in red, stand on the bright yellow ball, and call it performance art! The museum responded as if I was out of my mind.
Dec 29, 2003
I’m just hoping that my friend Durjaya Pliske doesn’t find out when or where my next record attempt is going to be. Don’t get me wrong – you can’t find a nicer guy, but whenever Durjaya shows up to one of my events, something unusual happens, and it invariably involves butterflies!
Durjaya is a professor of biology at a university in Florida, but his passion is butterflies. He even used to breed the winged creatures to help pay his way through college. In fact, he is so into butterflies, it almost seems like he attracts them wherever he goes.
The first time Durjaya came with me on an adventure was in Japan. We were both on a spiritual retreat with my meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. I decided to take a break and attempt to set a new Guinness record by climbing 16 miles up and down the foothills of Mt. Fuji on a pogo stick! As we traveled on the bullet train from Tokyo to Gotemba, just to make conversation, I asked Durjaya about his butterfly collection. Mistake number one. For two hours, to be polite, I feigned interest in his stories. Mistake number two. Durjaya was convinced he had discovered a dormant lepidopterist.
