I recently had the pleasure of corresponding with magician Shankar Junior from India. He related to me an endearing story of meeting Doug as child. At the time Doug was studying Transcendental Meditation and…well, I’ll let Shankar tell it as he told me.  

I met Doug Henning in the late 80’s when he came to India to practice TM. I then had a chance of…performing for him.

He invited me to his ashram over the weekends, and taught me his favorite effects like the Linking Rings, Gene Anderson’s Paper Tear, The Sea Shell Matrix, Rose Petal to Egg, The Pom Pom Stick, etc.

Later, Doug told us that he would not be having anymore visitors since he would be going deep into the study of TM.

On the last day of our meetings, Doug presented me with his personal magic wand along with a letter wishing me all the best in my future.

I still have the audio recordings of Doug teaching me the Linking Rings. I perform his routine in each and every show of mine as a tribute to this great man.