A 45-year-old man from the Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu has reportedly performed yoga for 69 records straight, with an eye on the world record in the field. V Gunasekaran, a yoga teacher by profession, told International Business Times India that his aim behind the record attempt was to spread awareness of yoga.
The record attempt for the "Longest Yoga Marathon (Male)" took place in an auditorium in Pollachi in the Coimbatore district of the state. It started at 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 18, and ended at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21, which was being observed around the world as the second International Yoga Day.
Gunasekaran told IBT that he had performed 240 types of asanas "that impart great body strength." He said he had performed 15,000 asanas in total over the duration of 69 hours. "Guinness World Record rules stipulate that record attempts have only 10 minutes' break every two hours. Accordingly, I took a break of just five minutes every hour," he said.
According to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, Gunasekaran consumed fruits during these breaks. The PTI report also quoted Gunasekaran as saying the four-day performance happened in the presence of a live audience and a timekeeper, and there were videos of the performance as well, though no adjudicator from Guinness World Records was present at the occasion.
"Although I got support for my effort from all over, there was not much by way of financial assistance, barring a a sponsor," Gunasekaran, who says he has been teaching yoga in 40 schools in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Dindigul districts of Tamil Nadu for 10 years, told IBT.
He said in a written statement that he had undertaken rigorous practice for six months to prepare for this marathon 69-hour yoga session. He had to take into consideration the fact that he would have to perform for the entire duration without sleep or even proper rest.
