Guinness World record breaker
Article from the Wall Street Journal: 'Most visitors to Antarctica go to see the penguins and the glaciers. Ashrita Furman went to hop on a pogo stick...It was just another day in the life of Mr. Furman, who holds the ultimate Guinness world record: The record for Guinness world records.' Read full article on Wall Street Journal site...
Okay, I’m as open minded as the next orangutan but, if you ask me, the human currently skipping around the Safari Park is a few bananas short of a bunch – if you know what I mean. Let’s face it, humans walk weird enough as it is - using only two legs instead of on going all fours. But on top of that, this maniac is doing some awkward movement that my trainer calls 'skipping'. For God’s sake, it’s…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
My 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…
Way 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…
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…
One 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…