I wrote the following post about a year ago on my MySpace page and found it interesting to revisit today. Matthew Sanford is a Minnesota resident who founded the yoga studio and nonprofit, Mind-Body Solutions. Hearing him speak last spring was truly the moment that all of this yoga stuff came together for me. He helped me "get it."
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May 31, 2007
As I grow older and more cynical, it gets harder and harder to impress me. Despite this attitude I've developed, I have to say that I was recently blown away by a certain individual: Matthew Sanford. Mr. Sanford was the keynote speaker at the yoga conference I recently attended. I went to his session just to fill some time during a three hour lull in the programming. I left with goose bumps a new appreciation for life, yoga, and the power of the human spirit.
Mr. Sanford, who happens to be from Minnesota, was thirteen when he was in a tragic car accident in Iowa. His sister and father were killed in the crash and he woke to find himself paralyzed from the chest down. He spent the next dozen years learning to cope with his disability and to essentially forget the rest of his body. The traditional medical establishment told him that his body was dead --- the only reason he should keep his body intact (and not amputate his now "useless" legs) was to provide balance when he sat in a wheel chair. Quite a load to bear, wouldn't you say?
At some point in his early twenties, Mr. Sanford attended a yoga class. Seems silly right? How can someone do yoga postures (asanas) with just their head, neck, and arms? It doesn't work that way. But his partnership with an open-minded and dedicated yoga teacher allowed him to develop a powerful practice. He is now a yoga teacher himself at the Courage Center.
What do we learn from his story? For one, we learn to challenge the status quo. We learn to recreate what is possible. We learn tenacity. We learn hope.
But even bigger than all of that, we learn about the power of the life force that is in all of us and binds us all together. All of our bodies are limited in some way. We practice yoga postures (and the rest of what yoga means) to open up and align our bodies, minds, and spirits so that the energy can flow and we can be present. Sure, Mr. Sanford got a raw deal when it comes to his earthly body. But his life force is still there and yoga opened up the possibility for it to flow again. That is powerful. Mr. Sanford's story finally brought together for me what this journey I'm on is all about.
You ought to check out his book, Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. It is definitely on my summer reading list. Peace.
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