Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. The brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the book was co-founded by twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter in Fleet Street, London, in August 1955.
Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the United States after moving to New York City in 1964. Chinmoy established his first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had 7,000 students in 60 countries. A prolific author, artist, poet, and musician, he also held public events such as concerts and meditations on the theme of inner peace. Chinmoy advocated a spiritual path to God through prayer and meditation. He advocated athleticism including distance running, swimming, and weightlifting. He organized marathons and other races, and was an active runner and, following a knee injury, weightlifter. Some ex-members have accused Chinmoy of running a cult.
Cigar box juggling is the juggling of rectangular props that resemble cigar boxes. Wood block manipulation was thought to have started by Japanese prisoners who were given small wood blocks as head rests for sleeping. Cigar box manipulation was developed as a vaudeville act in the United States between the 1880s and 1920s, and was popularized by W. C. Fields. Originally, performers would take actual boxes that cigars were stored in and nail them shut to create their juggling props. Today, cigar boxes for juggling are typically purpose-built, hollow wooden or plastic blocks with suede or foam rubber padding attached to the sides.
An egg-and-spoon race is a sporting event in which participants must balance an egg or similarly shaped item upon a spoon and race with it to the finishing line. At many primary schools an egg-and-spoon race is staged as part of the annual Sports Day, alongside other events such as the sack race and the three-legged race.
William Arnold Pearl was an American professional bodybuilder and athlete. During the 1950s and 60s, he won many titles and awards, including winning the Mr. Universe contest five times, and was named "World's Best-Built Man of the Century". He later became an expert trainer and author on bodybuilding.
The sack race or potato sack race is a competitive game in which participants place both of their legs inside a sack or pillow case that reaches their waist or neck and hop forward from a starting point toward a finish line. The first person to cross the finish line is the winner of the race.
Extreme Pogo is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks on specially designed "extreme" pogo sticks. These pogo sticks have the potential for jumping over 3.6 meters in height. The sport draws inspiration from other action sports, such as Skateboarding, BMX, and Parkour. Athletes will have various focuses in tricks or street style bouncing using urban environments as obstacles. Extreme pogo can be seen in athlete exhibition teams, content on sites such as YouTube, and also the annual Pogopalooza: The World Championship of Pogo, which has been held worldwide, although is currently based in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, home of Xpogo, a business which produces the competition and manages many properties in the world of extreme pogo.
Love Devotion Surrender is an album released in 1973 by guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, with the backing of their respective bands, Santana and The Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album was inspired by the teachings of Sri Chinmoy and intended as a tribute to John Coltrane. It contains two Coltrane compositions, two McLaughlin songs, and a traditional gospel song arranged by Santana and McLaughlin. It was certified Gold in 1973.
Vurtego or Vurtego Pogo Sticks are a variation of the traditional pogo stick in which the spring mechanism used for jumping is air, as opposed to a traditional metal coil spring. They are designed as a high-end pogo stick, capable of jumping to extreme heights and enabling riders to perform a wide variety of tricks.
The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race is the world's longest certified footrace. In 1996 Sri Chinmoy created this event as a 2,700-mile (4,345 km) race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles (4,989 km).
The Self-Transcendence 6- & 10-day Race are two concurrent multiday running events, held in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, a large public park in the borough of Queens in New York City. The course is one mile long. They are held annually in April and organized by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team.
Sabrage is a technique for opening a champagne bottle with a saber, used for ceremonial occasions. The wielder slides the saber along the body seam of the bottle to the lip to break the top of the neck away, leaving the neck of the bottle open and ready to pour. The force of the blade hitting the lip breaks the glass to separate the collar from the neck of the bottle. The cork and collar remain together after separating from the neck.
Hooping is the manipulation of and artistic movement or dancing with a hoop. Hoops can be made of metal, wood, or plastic. Hooping combines technical moves and tricks with freestyle or technical dancing. Hooping can be practiced to or performed with music. In contrast to the classic toy hula hoop, modern hoopers use heavier and larger diameter hoops, and frequently rotate the hoop around parts of the body other than the waist, including the hips, chest, neck, shoulders, thighs, knees, arms, hands, thumbs, feet, and toes. The hoop can also be manipulated and rotated off the body as well. Modern hooping has been influenced by art forms such as rhythmic gymnastics, hip-hop, freestyle dance, fire performance, twirling, poi, and other dance and movement forms.
Pogopalooza: The World Championships of pogo is an annual championship that brings together the world's top Extreme Pogo athletes for multiple days of competition, exhibition, and world record setting. Along with the competition, Pogopalooza also features the largest exposition of pogo stick companies, a Free Jump/Clinic area for people of all ages to try out an array of pogo sticks – classic to extreme, along with sponsorship activations and experiences associated with the event. The organizers of Pogopalooza refer to the event as "the largest pogo stick event on the planet." Started by YouTube personality Pogobat in 2004 in a parking lot in Lincoln, Nebraska, Pogopalooza entered its 18th year for 2022 and has grown to be the largest and most widely attended property associated with the sport of Extreme Pogo.
Arthur "Al" Howie was a Canadian long-distance runner who won more than fifty marathons, ultramarathons, and multiday races in over two decades, including the 1991 Trans Canada Highway run in the record time of 72 days and 10 hours. A brass plaque on Victoria's Mile Zero marker commemorates this athletic event for which he raised $750,000 for a fund for children with special needs. Two weeks after running across Canada he won the Sri Chinmoy 1300 Miler in New York improving on his own world record time. Both the Trans Canada run and the 1,300-mile (2,100 km) race qualified for the Guinness Book of Records. He lived in Duncan, B.C., from 2005 until his death in 2016. He had been receiving treatment for Diabetes I. The City of Duncan awarded him the Perpetual Trophy for Excellence and Sportsmanship in December 2007, and in 2014 he was inducted into The Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.
Alastair Galpin is the 2nd biggest Guinness World Records breaker of the 2000s decade, breaking 38 World Records, behind Ashrita Furman. He immigrated to New Zealand in 2002, and says that his career in Record Breaking was inspired when he met champion rally driver, Simon Evans, in Kenya in 1998.
Stig Åvall Severinsen is a Danish freediver. He is a four-time world freediving champion and holder of multiple Guinness World Records. He also wrote Træk Vejret – mere energi, mindre stress (2009), published in English in 2010 as Breatheology – The Art of Conscious Breathing.
Challenging Impossibility is a 2011 documentary film which chronicles the weightlifting odyssey of the spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, who in 1985 at the age of 54 took up weightlifting and performing feats of strength using the power of meditation. His lifts were featured on newscasts worldwide, inspiring people to transcend their personal limitations and to abandon their concepts of the restrictions of physical age. Directed by Natabara Rollosson and Sanjay Rawal. The film was an Official Selection of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and premiered April 22, 2011.
Impossibility Challenger is an event in which amateurs and professionals meet, and try to excel, with records and world records set up. The event takes place in different locations each year, mostly in Europe, and is organized by the Sri Chinmoy Centers.
