During the depths of winter, Shamita Achenbach-Konig undertook a challenging seven day run across the length of Austria. She ran 640km over a total of seven days to take her from her birthplace of Bregenz, in the very west of Austria, to her home in Vienna.

Shamita, a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre, undertook this feat of endurance to put into practise Sri Chinmoy's philosophy of self-transcendence.

“I do not have any set goal; my goal is self-transcendence. I always try to transcend myself. I do not compete with the rest of the world. I compete only with myself, and I try to become a better human being. This is my ultimate goal.”

– Sri Chinmoy 1

Sri Chinmoy teaches that physical self-transcendence can also enable us to bring to the fore our inner capacities such as endurance, patience and faith. As Shamita says:

"When we run, we connect with a higher world, with a divine consciousness that is the same as meditation. For me, running is meditation or a long prayer in which thoughts become still…one gains access to levels of consciousness that bring light, joy, peace, and happiness."

During her run, Shamita had to contend with 4,000m of ascent and descent, plus the harsh weather of an Austrian winter. Shamita is a professional cellist by profession but has been running ultra-distance races with the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team for over 25 years.

Related

• Shamita's Run at Sri Chinmoy Races

• 1. Sri Chinmoy, Aspiration-Body, Illumination-Soul part 2, Agni Press, 1993

Recently, Abhejali Bernardova, a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre from Zlin in the Czech Republic, successfully swam across the Cook Strait of New Zealand to become only the 10th swimmer and 4th woman to complete the global Oceans Seven challenge.

The Oceans Seven Challenge was founded in 2008, creating the challenge of swimming seven major crossings of open water around the world.

The swim crossings include The English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar, Catalina Channel in California, Tsugaru Channel (Japan), the Irish Channel between Ireland and Scotland, Molokai (Kaiwi) Channel in Hawaii and the Cook Strait. The swims have to be completed under traditional English Channel rules (unassisted and no neoprene suit)

With the support of fellow members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, Abhejali successfully completed her seventh and final challenge between the two major islands of New Zealand. 

Abhejali's swim occurred in the aftermath of cyclone Gita hitting New Zealand just a few days before.  During the swim, she had to overcome seasickness, jellyfish, strong currents, cold water and many other challenges to finish the 22km distance (as the crow flies) in a time of 13 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds. However, Abhejali remarked on how the tides were so strong, that she spent time swimming but effectively going backwards.

"Maybe for about three hours, or a little longer I basically swam but still actually the current was taking us back, the direction to Wellington and then there were big swells and I was seasick for the first five hours and then a little bit more." (Radio NZ)

Asked how she felt after finishing the epic swim, Abhejali remarked: "Grateful and happy."

• Longer article on Abhejali's feat by Vasanti Niemz at Sri Chinmoy Races
• Video about swimming the English Channel.