Recent TV Interview
Ashrita Furman interview from Jaitra Gillespie on Vimeo.
About Ashrita
As a kid I had a huge fascination with the exotic places and people listed in the Guinness Book of Records, but being a non-athlete, I never imagined ever actually getting a world record myself. Years later, as a teenager, I became interested in Eastern spirituality and began studying meditation with Sri Chinmoy. Suddenly, I was filled with an inner joy and a seemingly inexhaustible energy. Sri Chinmoy also taught me about his philosophy of self-transcendence, that when you have access to the divine power we all have within us, nothing is impossible. Under my teacher’s guidance, I eventually learned how to incorporate my newfound energy into my spiritual life while pursuing athletic goals, and I realized that it was time to fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a Guinness recordholder. In 1979 I set my first record by doing 27,000 jumping jacks, and it was such a thrill that I immediately began training for the next record and I haven’t stopped since! I have also been fortunate enough to travel with the group that often accompanies Sri Chinmoy on his international concert tours of music dedicated to world harmony, and I’ve had the opportunity to set records at some of the most magnificent wonders of the world.
