SEEKING HEALING

The accident that shaped Sanford's life happened in 1978 on the way home from a Thanksgiving trip. His family's car hit a patch of ice on an Iowa road and skidded off an overpass. Sanford's father, Loren Sanford, and his older sister, Laura, were killed. His mother, Paula, and older brother, James, escaped without injury.

"People in Duluth knew of the accident and what happened to my family. But people didn't know what I'd gone through," he said. "It kept me separate."

In the book, Sanford writes in intimate detail of his ordeal in hospitals and his growing sense as he became a young man that he needed a sort of healing he couldn't find through traditional medicine.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a philosophy degree, he earned a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Santa Barbara in California.

In 1991, with the help of a yoga teacher named Jo Zukovich, Sanford began doing Iyengar yoga, which focuses on stretching and proper body alignment in yoga moves. He began to listen to the long-silent parts of his body that were paralyzed. He now can feel what he describes as a surge of energy through his paralyzed body.

Sanford shares his passion for yoga by teaching it to disabled and able-bodied people. He started a nonprofit business called Mind Body Solutions that has a yoga studio in Minnetonka, Minn., and serves as a base for his mission to teach others about the importance of mind-body connection. He teaches workshops around the country.

His wife, Jennifer Sanford, is an important part of his life and his work. They knew each other at Ordean Junior High School and both graduated from East High School in 1984. After their first year of college, they lost contact until their 10th high school reunion, when a romance blossomed. Two years later they were married. The couple lives in a house set amid woods in Orono, Minn., on the western edge of the Twin Cities.

Sanford began writing his memoir six years ago, shortly after their son, Paul, was born. Paul's twin, William, had fluid on his brain -- a condition called hydrocephalus -- and died in utero.

Seeing life and death together like that was a clarifying event in his life and Sanford said he knew it was time for him to get serious about sharing what he had learned about the importance of the mind-body connection.

At the Duluth Writers' Workshop at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Sanford found encouragement for his writing. One of his teachers, Minnesota author Patricia Weaver Francisco, helped him fall in love with writing.

"I had to change from philosophical, academic writing to becoming a storyteller," he said.

Jennifer, who has a background in marketing and public relations, made sure that what he wrote had clarity. "We're a good team," he said.