Vajin Armstrong, of Christchurch Sri Chinmoy Centre, finished 8th in the Commonwealth 55Km trail race championship held in Llandudno, Wales. He finished the 55KM race in a time of 03:43:13.

Members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre frequently give free meditation classes in cities around the world, our online meditation guide can give a few insights into the practise of meditation.

On 11 July 2011,, Abhejali Bernardováb from the Czech Republic became the 27th  member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team  to successfully swim the English channel. ( making a total of 42 successful crossing). She completed the swim in a time of 14 hours and 37 minutes.

This video gives an insight into the experience of swimming the English channel, one of the toughest endurance tests in swimming. It is said fewer people have swum the channel than have climbed Mount Everest.

On September 2nd, Boris Purushottama Grebenshikov offered a concert of music in honour of Sri Chinmoy's 80th birth anniversary. Purushottama was accompanied by tabla virtuoso Samir Chatterjee and a host of international musicians from the Sri Chinmoy Centre. The musicians played to an appreciative capacity crowd in the Skirball Center.

After concert. Backdrop, picture of Sri Chinmoy

International musicians from Sri Chinmoy Centre performing with Purushottama

In July 2011 twelve singers from around the world visited Iceland to perform Sri Chinmoy’s songs at a variety of churches throughout the country. The 12 male singers sang Sri Chinmoy's songs acapella to audiences across Iceland. These performances capture the simplicity, soulfulness and purity of Sri Chinmoy's music. In the video, the performers talk a little about the experience of singing in this concert tour.

August 27th, 2011 was the 80th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy's birthday.

New York Councilman and Park Director complete the world's longest garland in honour of Sri Chinmoy's 80th birthday. (photo Prashphutita)

To mark the occasion, Ashrita Furman and 170 members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team created a new Guinness World Record for the world's largest garland of flowers.

NY-Councilman and Park Director complete the world's longest garland (photo-Jowan-Gauthier)

Using 80,000 carnations, the team created a 2.15 mile garland of flowers around a lake in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Ashrita Furman spoke of the event:

“My friends and I have a tradition to express our gratitude to Sri Chinmoy as he inspires us to discover inner peace, joy and strength through meditation. On the occasion of Sri Chinmoy's 80th birthday anniversary we wanted to do something special. The huge garland expresses the deep gratitude we feel. There was an great feeling of oneness and harmony because people from 35 countries were connected by the garland in a circle symbolising planet earth.”