Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence

Authors: Sanford, Matthew
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale, Harmony/Rodale, Harmony Rodale
BISAC/Subject: BIO026000, HEA009000, BIO033000
ISBN: 9781605298733, Related ISBNs: 1594863024, 159486845X, 1605298735, 9781594863028, 9781594868450
Classification: Non-Fiction
Number of pages: 272,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: Matthew Sanford's inspirational story about the car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down is a superbly written memoir of healing and journey—from near death to triumphant life.

Matt Sanford's life and body were irrevocably changed at age 13 on a snowy Iowa road. On that day, his family's car skidded off an overpass, killing Matt's father and sister and left him paralyzed from the chest down, confining him to a wheelchair. His mother and brother escaped from the accident unharmed but were left to pick up the pieces of their decimated family.

This pivotal event set Matt on a lifelong journey, from his intensive care experiences at the Mayo Clinic to becoming a paralyzed yoga teacher and founder of a nonprofit organization. Forced to explore what it truly means to live in a body, he emerges with an entirely new view of being a "whole" person.

By turns agonizingly personal, philosophical, and heartbreakingly honest, this groundbreaking memoir takes you inside the body, heart, and mind of a boy whose world has been shattered. Follow Sanford's journey as he rebuilds from the ground up, searching for "healing stories" to help him reconnect his mind and his body. To do so, he must reject much of what traditional medicine tells him and instead turn to yoga as a centerpiece of his daily practice. He finds not only a better life but also meaning and purpose in the mysterious distance that we all experience between mind and body.

In Waking, Sanford delivers a powerful message about the endurance of the human spirit and of the body that houses it.
Sign up for our literacy platform for reading at home

LightSail includes up to 6,000 high interest, Lexile aligned book titles with every student subscription. Other titles are available for individual purchase.

Watch the power of

Lightsail in action

×

SUPPORT GROWING READERS

Immediately Engage Students
Immediately Engage Students
Simple intuitive design has classrooms reading within minutes.
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Students love the LightSail experience and naturally spend more time reading.
Accelerate Literacy Development
Accelerate Literacy Development
Students reading 25 minutes a day on LightSail are seeing 2+ years of Lexile growth in a single year.

LightSail Education is a comprehensive Lexile and standards-aligned, literacy platform and digital e-book library. Including multimodal learning functionality and featuring books from leading publishers, LightSail holistically assesses and nurtures each student on their reading and writing-to-learn journey, throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

*LightSail offers a 2,000 or a 6,000 title bundle with its student subscriptions. Other titles are available for individual purchase.