Review of How to be Sick by Toni Bernhard

I've been reading a recent book, published in 2010 by Wisdom Publications:  I would definitely rename “How to Be Sick” by Toni Bernhard, calling it instead something like How to be Sane". Toni used to be a law professor at UC Davis, and has been dealing with debilitating Chronic Fatigue for over a decade. She wrote the book as a “guide for the chronically ill and their caregivers” because that is the map she has been living from. And she can probably sell more books directing her marketing to the specific audience of those with chronic illness and their caregivers. The book is a combination memoir and Buddhist-inspired guide. She is very frank about the mental states she experiences, and although she attributes them to the suffering or need to make peace (or not) with her condition, I’d be hard pressed to think of an adult who would not be able to identify with many of the mental states she describes. Framing these as causes of self-induced states of mental suffering encapsulates much of the Buddhist philosophy. Her point, or the Buddha's point, that it is our desires and aversions rather than objective in-the-moment reality that lead to suffering, can be liberating to keep in mind. Further, she offers a number of easily accessed practices to apply in the moment in order to transform those mind states that lead to suffering. However, as a practitioner of energy medicine and qigong I find this approach to be very mental, cognitive,and psychologically based, which tempts me to write an accompanying commentary naming the subtle energies that are out of balance as indicated by the mental suffering and which are shifted by applying these Buddhist practices. --- i.e., those familiar bug-a-boos like lack of grounding, triple warmer grabbing energy to be ‘safe’, scrambled energy adding to confusion, homolateral energy that isn’t crossing and makes every task require more vital energy.

I recommend this book as another resource, an inspiration to keep on keeping on regardless of the particular life circumstances du jour. In addition, Bernhard provides a glossary of sorts to unpack many of the Buddhist terms that are making their way into our common vocabularies.  Reading “How to be Sick” reminds me that just being aware in the moment of what is transpiring within is a gain in itself!