How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide

by Toni Bernhard

Overview

Comfort, understanding, and advice for those who are suffering—and those who care for them.

Chronic illness creates many challenges, from career crises and relationship issues to struggles with self-blame, personal identity, and isolation. Beloved author Toni Bernhard addresses these challenges and many more, using practical examples to illustrate how mindfulness, equanimity, and compassion can help readers make peace with a life turned upside down.

In her characteristic conversational style, Bernhard shows how to cope and make the most of life despite the challenges of chronic illness. Benefit from:
• Mindfulness exercises to mitigate physical and emotional pain
• Concrete advice for negotiating the everyday hurdles of medical appointments, household chores, and social obligations
• Tools for navigating the strains illness can place on relationships

Several chapters are directed toward family and friends of the chronically ill, helping them to understand what their loved one is going through and how they can help.

Humorous and empathetic, Bernhard shares her own struggles and setbacks with unflinching honesty, offering invaluable support in the search to find peace and well-being.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614292487
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	10/06/2015
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	440,364
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Toni Bernhard is the author of the award-winning How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers and How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow. Until forced to retire due to illness, Toni was a law professor at the University of California–Davis, serving six years as the dean of students. She has been a practicing Buddhist for over twenty years. Her blog, “Turning Straw Into Gold,” is hosted on the website of Psychology Today. She can be found online at www.tonibernhard.com.

Editorial Reviews

Let Toni Bernhard be your guide in this life-changing journey.

Larry Dossey

In this comprehensive book, an empathetic Bernhard offers guidance to those whose lives have been turned upside down by illness. Excellent firsthand instruction for anyone dealing with a debilitating illness.

Booklist

An invaluable and eminently practical guide for navigating the many challenges of living with chronic pain and illness.

Joseph Goldstein

Immensely practical and infused with warmth, wisdom, and unflinching honesty.

Dr. Alice Boyes

Toni Bernhard shares her own powerful experience of how mindfulness practice can deeply support anyone with chronic illness.

Sharon Salzberg

This book is so honest, so real, and so practical, it is a must have for everyone, patient and caregiver alike.

American Chronic Pain Association

In this comprehensive book, an empathetic Bernhard offers guidance to those whose lives have been turned upside down by illness. Excellent firsthand instruction for anyone dealing with a debilitating illness.

Booklist

07/01/2015
In this comprehensive book, an empathetic Bernhard (How To Be Sick; How To Wake Up) offers guidance to those whose lives have been turned upside down by illness. Through the author's own struggles, she has found that mindfulness—paying attention with care—can assist people suffering from pain through feelings of isolation and loneliness, ease physical and mental unrest, and enjoy life. Practical suggestions range from asking for help to getting a good night's sleep. Bernhard devotes a valuable chapter to caregivers, providing advice as well as a "not-to-do" list. VERDICT Excellent firsthand instruction for anyone dealing with a debilitating illness.

Library Journal