Matthew Sanford

Reviews & Awards

Matthew Sanford’s inspirational voice and work have been widely recognized. His numerous honors include awards from national media outlets and a variety of organizations. Sanford’s book, Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence, also is critically acclaimed. Here are some highlights.

Awards
Winner of the 2007 Minnesota Book Awards — Reader’s Choice Award
Winner of the 2007 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Nonfiction/Memoir


Reviews
Bestseller List  — Non-Fiction Category (Number 2)
(Minneapolis) Star Tribune — July 16, 2006

Bestseller List — Non-Fiction Category (Number 3)
(Minneapolis) Star Tribune – September 3, 2006

EDITOR’S CHOICE  — BOOK:  “(One of…) the 5 things you don’t want to miss!”
Reader’s Digest — June 2006

“…Sanford has done time as a philosophy graduate student, and it shows. His paralysis has taught him powerful lessons about consciousness, and he shares them with lucidity in this funny but wrenching memoir. Still, it’s his story of how he came to embody his grownup life as a paraplegic-complete with wife, kids, and a job as a yoga instructor-that will truly dare readers to appreciate their own bodies and lives.”
Yoga Journal — October 2006

“The memoir is easy to read, although metered with harrowing details. Sanford offers a powerful, honest account of his battle: awakening a spirit within a damaged body.”                 
Psychology Today – August 2006

“Matthew Sanford’s Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence is a literary hymn in praise of yoga as well as an exploration of the nature of consciousness. As a memoir about sudden onset of paraplegia, it truly is transcendent. And yes, it is also inspirational, but not in the usual clichéd sense of the word as it so often applies to stories about disability. Sanford’s writing inspires not because of any drama or melodrama connected to loss, but because it awakens us to non-medical possibilities of healing —  discovering ways our minds can connect with our bodies to open windows to wholeness — something disabled and nondisabled alike can embrace.”
New Mobility Magazine — June 2006 

“Matthew Sanford vividly illustrates the power of mind-body connection in Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. At age 13, this Minnesota native became a paraplegic when a freak car accident sent his family off an icy highway, killing his father and sister. Although Sanford went on to lead a life that included college, marriage and a family, it was yoga that ultimately helped him recover. Working with an Iyengar-trained teacher, Sanford learned to experience his unresponsive body in powerful energetic connections. He’ll never walk, but that hasn’t stopped him from teaching yoga to students both walking and disabled. If you’ve ever questioned the healing power of yoga, this fast read is for you.”
Time Out New York Online — August 2006

“His book (…) is a beautifully written account of his story. It is sobering, with its revelations of just how unbearable human existence can become after such a physical trauma, yet reassuring, through its narrative of how one man can adapt and learn from his own experience what an entire medical establishment had told him not to believe.”

Star Tribune — June 2006

“I see what he’s done with his own life and it inspires me to do more with my own.”  (Student Quote)  
People — February 2007

“(Sanford)…pulls back the curtain on what it means to survive devastating trauma, from returning to a broken life to the uncertainty of finding sexual intimacy with a paralyzed body. Most importantly, Sanford’s groundbreaking account is meant to offer a powerful message about the endurance of the human spirit and of the body that houses it.”      
PN — May 2006

“His message is a simple one that speaks to people who are able-bodied as well as those who, like him, cannot feel their feet.”
Raleigh News and Observer — March 2007

“Matthew Sanford’s story, the one he eloquently relates in his memoir, Waking, tells of triumph and inspiration. … We can all relate. In one way or another, we are all imprisoned in our bodies, and often the connection is severed to various degrees. And for all of us, waking is unity.”
LA Yoga — March 2007

“…Matthew’s secret will change the way I think about yoga, disability and, for that matter, life in general. And it just might do the same for you.”
Whole Life Times — August 2006

“This book is an excellent teacher. It reminds all of us engaged in the healing profession of the power of our words. It also conveys a message for everyone about the power of the human body for healing and connectedness, even when the silence is deepest.”
Explore — Sept/Oct 2006 

“Sanford brings the mind-body connection down to earth through candid glimpses of what it truly means to live in touch with your body. Pick up Waking for a thought-provoking, uplifting reading experience.”
Health/Happiness/You — July/August/September 2007

“His book (…) is a beautifully written account of his story. It is sobering, with its revelations of just how unbearable human existence can become after such a physical trauma, yet reassuring, through its narrative of how one man can adapt and learn from his own experience what an entire medical establishment had told him not to believe.”
Star Tribune — June 28, 2006