| "Toni Bernhard is the perfect person to write this book. Drawing on her long Buddhist practice she describes how she has made peace with debilitating illness, clearly passing on wisdom and compassion to others facing similar predicaments. Her words are steeped in the best learning of all: hard personal experience. Reading the book you feel you can trust that she knows, very deeply, what she is talking about. This is a gem of a book." |
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Vidyamala Burch, author of Living Well With Pain and Illness |
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"When we lose our physical health, it can seem like we've lost our life. Toni Bernhard--with unflinching realness and deep insight-- shows us how the fires of loss can clear the way for a new and profound capacity for appreciation, love and understanding. Infused with the wisdom and practices of the Buddhist tradition, this book can bring you more fully alive by healing your spirit."
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Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance |
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| “This book gives insightful wisdom and a solid dose of hope to people who are navigating the daily struggles of a chronic illness. How to Be Sick is a must read.” |
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Lori Hartwell, author of Chronically Happy |
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| “In How to Be Sick, Toni Bernhard writes eloquently of her journey with chronic illness, but does so without ever being stuffy or lofty. This book is accessible for patients and their caregivers as they deal with the myriad forms a chronic illness may take, and the many challenges it can bring. Bernhard creates direct, practical links between the everyday experience of chronic illness and the supportive practices of Buddhism, many of which are elegant in their simplicity. One doesn’t have to be sick to benefit from the advice in this book, which may be the point, this is a book on how to live fully, no matter how compromised your life may be. I highly recommend How to be Sick and found much to apply to my own life in its pages. I will pass this book on to others.” |
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Joy H Selak PhD, author of You Don’t LOOK Sick! Living Well with Invisible Chronic Illness |
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| “Readers need not be Buddhist or meditators to benefit from Toni's wisdom.” |
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Cheri Register, author of Living with Chronic Illness |
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| "There are many things to appreciate about Toni Bernhard’s How To Be Sick, beginning with the title. Who would have thought that there is a “how to” for being sick? But there is, and Toni has created it. She has brought to bear everything she had—her illness, her long immersion in Buddhist practice, her innate personal strengths—and forged a path of inner freedom in the face of adversity. Her book is deeply moving and impressive. I often say to people who ask me about my own illnesses what I gleaned or learned, and I say, “The only good thing about being sick is how it can be a gift for others.” Toni has made it so, and I highly recommend her book as a must-read for anyone who is ill or caring for someone ill. Her gifts will transform you." |
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Lewis Richmond, author of Healing Lazarus:
A Buddhist’s Journey from Near Death to New Life |
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| "This is an intimate, gripping, profound, and eminently useful book about being joyfully and wisely alive no matter what happens to you - including serious illness. Infused with Toni's warm and encouraging voice, it's full of practical suggestions, insights from the hard times, and inspiring perspectives. It will be wonderfully helpful to those who are ill, and to those who love them." |
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Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom |
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"Professor Toni Bernhard has given us a fine book – practical yet exceedingly graceful. After her sudden arrival in the land of the chronically ill she learned many lessons quickly. She imparts those lessons to the rest of us with ease and compassion. As someone who has lived with chronic illness for decades, I found much insight and power in what Bernhard offers her readers. Don’t be misled by the title, it isn’t about being sick as much as it as about living right in the moment. Although Professor Bernhard is informed and guided by her serious practice of the Buddhist life, what she says is accessible to all readers. This book is a love story –about life, the endurance of the human spirit and a testament to a sustaining relationship with her spouse.
Don’t pass up this book – it is a gift to all of us who are unwell and for those who love us." |
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Alida Brill, author of Dancing at The River’s Edge: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness |
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| "Living a life of peace and contentment is not difficult when life is cooperating. But what happens when the reality of our lives is suddenly turned upside down and shaken by hardship or affliction? How To Be Sick by Toni Bernhard is an inspiring and instructive guide for coping with a chronic condition or life-threatening illness but it is much more than that. Each chapter is about unpacking the highest truth in the lowest places of our lives. The book is entitled How To Be Sick but I found that it's really about how to live.” |
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Jim Palmer, author or Divine Nobodies and Wide Open Space |
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| Toni Bernhard has written an encouraging book. She treats sickness as something to welcomed because, when you are sick, that is the obstacle that has to be your gate. This book full of compassion about how to sit sweetly with your difficulties, which means not making yourself wrong for having difficulties. |
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John Tarrant, author of Bring Me The Rhinoceros
and Other Zen Koans That WIll Save Your Life |
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| “Each of us finds our way to live with the challenges and uncertainty of illness. Toni Bernhard found a path that led to balance, wisdom and love. She caringly points us to the possibility of finding happiness even in the midst of difficult conditions. That is a true gift.” |
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Frank Ostaseski, Founder Metta Institute |
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| "In How to Be Sick, Toni Bernhard provides a warm and compassionate guide for navigating illness on a personal and practical level, a level physicians rarely see or discuss with their patients. The greatest compliment I could give this book is that I will be recommending it to all of my chronically ill patients as a guide for remaining happy even in the absence of good health." |
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Dr. Alex Lickerman, physician and former
Director of Primary Care at the University of Chicago |
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| "I am immensely grateful for Toni’s book. We are fortunate that the courage and wisdom with which she faced her illness made it possible for her to write a deeply personal and practical guide for living with sickness." |
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Gil Fronsdal, author of The Issue at Hand:
Essays on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice |
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| “This courageous meditation on how to live with long-term sickness is a fine example of how to put into practice the Buddha’s encouragement to embrace dukkha (suffering) in order to let go of the craving for life to be other than it is. Told with relentless honesty and clarity, Toni Bernhard’s book will help both those suffering from chronic illness as well as their carers.” |
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Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism
Without Beliefs and Confession of a Buddhist Atheist |
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| "Drawing on her personal experiences of both a committed meditative path and the sudden onset of a life changing illness Toni offers a compassionate and insightful road map to finding grace and balance amidst affliction and pain. As she relates her own story we come to understand that even the most terrible life events offer their own lessons in finding an inner poise and wisdom." |
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Christina Feldman, author of The Buddhist Path to Simplicity and Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World |
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| "A very compelling book - great teaching interwoven into the heartful and human drama of family, illness, and day to day reality. I so enjoyed reading it that I passed it to my mother who was moved to tears of inspiration when she read it." |
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Shaila Catherine,
author of Focused and Fearless |
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| "How to Be Sick brilliantly answers one of the most important challenges anyone can face: How to transform suffering into a vehicle for great consciousness and compassion. Toni Bernhard has written an important book that is practical, wise and full of heart. I recommend it to anyone working with chronic pain and illness." |
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James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy
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| "Sickness is inevitable! We all face illness at different times in our life. We can either suffer and let it make us miserable or we can develop compassion for ourselves. How To Be Sick is a good friend to keep close so that illness doesn’t become the enemy." |
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Ed & Deb Shapiro, authors of Be the Change:
How Meditation Can
Transform You and the World
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"How To Be Sick weaves several themes together in a way that is compelling to read. Toni has used her understanding of Buddhism to support her morale through these difficult years and to provide us with this wonderful book."
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Sylvia Boorstein,
author of Happiness Is an Inside Job:
Practicing for a Joyful Life |
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