In 2016, Samunnati Nataliya Lehonkova represented the Ukraine in the marathon at the Olympics; she also has won the Dublin, Edinburgh and Los Angeles marathons. Here she is interviewed by her friend and fellow runner Jayasalini Abramovskikh, and talks about how she came to Sri Chinmoy's path as a child, her training schedule and what inspires her to run.

Jayasalini shares with us a typical day in her life, including her spiritual disciplines - early morning meditation, spiritual singing and reading, and exercise. She also talks about how meditation helps her in her regular job as an economist in Moscow.

Jayasalini talks about how Sri Chinmoy's philosophy strongly resonated with her, but two things she found very surprising - the fact that she did not need to change your outer circumstances in order to be happy, and the discovery that she had a very strong soul's affinity and talent for ultra-distance running.

Sanjay shares his perspective that the lessons that spiritual life has taught him are very simple ones. "The main thing that meditation offered to me was this idea that I could experience love from within....it could be come an abolute lasting reality, not dependent on another person, not dependent on life, not dependent on death. In my own experience, meditation has brought me that sense of love."

Hemabha talks about how she was interested in spirituality from a very young age. After trying many different paths, she explains what drew her to the path of Sri Chinmoy, whilst living in London, UK. 

Devashishu's parents became Sri Chinmoy's students when he was 9 years old; here he describes how the family's first meeting with Sri Chinmoy happened quite by accident in his home city of London.

Pradeep talks about how, when he joined the spiritual path, he had a certain set of preconceptions about the path and the teacher, Sri Chinmoy. Over the years, he came to realise that a real spiritual teacher's role is only to show you the divinity that you have inside yourself.

After some time, Sri Chinmoy would often give his students a spiritual name - a name that reflected the inner essence of their soul. Pradeep describes the story of how he got his name, and learned a lot about detachment and oneness in the process.

Preetidutta, a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Auckland, describes some of the precious meditation experiences she has had over the years.

This interview with Vajin Armstrong, a student of Sri Chinmoy's from New Zealand, was conducted shortly after he won the Swiss Alpine Marathon in Davos, Switzerland in July 2016. Vajin has competed at elite level for many years, and he talks about many topics including the link between running and meditation, his relationship with Sri Chinmoy, and advice for new runners.

This interview is part of the LIFE Voices series, shot and edited by Kedar Misani