This post is a part of a series introducing the presenters of our 2019 yoga conference, (March 22-24, 2019) sharing more about them, our own perspective and intentions for their involvement, and how their unique offerings contribute to the larger conference experience.
Professional Bio
Matthew Sanford is an expert in the process transformation through the healing power of yoga. Paralyzed from the chest down at age thirteen and beginning yoga at age twenty-five, Matthew knows firsthand the transformative effect that yoga can have on the mind-body relationship and how it can transform trauma, loss, disability. He is an internationally recognized yoga teacher, a sought-after public speaker. He is the author of the critically acclaimed WAKING: A MEMOIR OF TRAUMA AND TRANSCENDENCE (Rodale: 2006).
Matthew is a leader in the accessible yoga movement and has also emerged as a leading voice in the integrated health movement. He won the 2010 Pioneer of Integrative Medicine Award from the California Pacific Medical Center’s Institute of Health and Healing. Previous recipients include Dr. Deepok Chopra, Dr. Dean Ornish, and Dr. Mehmet Oz.
The most important design element for our yoga conference is that it is open and welcoming for everyone in the yoga community. It must be a conference that embraces everyone, has offerings for everyone, and importantly, helps professional yoga instructors teach in more inclusive ways. In every way Matthew helps make the conference better than it would be without his presence, and I’m deeply humbled to have the opportunity to work with him.
From my personal perspective on what I see, for as much as accessibility seems to be a part of the foundation of Matthew’s offerings, it also seems to only scratch the surface of what he brings in his teachings. Watch any number of the videos of him that you can easily find on google (my favorite is Jessa Walters, one of the original conference co-founders interviewing him) and you start to understand that he’s had very real discoveries and insights most people have not, and he shares these insights in a unique and amazing way. Really, you should take a few minutes to check out some of the linked videos above.
Matthew has previously presented at the Minneapolis Yoga Conference, although this is the first time he’s presented since our acquisition of it in 2016, and I’m simply thrilled that he’s returning this year.
You can learn more about the workshops Matthew will be teaching at the 2019 Tula Software Minneapolis Yoga Conference, along with dozens of other presenters bringing hundreds of workshop hours, at https://tulasoftware.com/myc2019. Join us at The Most Comprehensive Yoga Conference in the Nation, March 22-24, 2019.