The Middle Way Through the Long Haul

Published: May 12, 2021, 2:10 p.m.

Many years before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Toni Bernhard was thinking and writing about the isolating experiences of illness\u2014and what it really means to be \u201cwell\u201d in our society. After an acute viral infection led to a chronic condition, Bernhard was forced to retire from her long career as a law professor and dean of students. She learned to live within her body\u2019s new limitations, and even wrote four books in the process. In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle\u2019s editor-in-chief James Shaheen talks to Bernhard about her Buddhist practice, how her journey to self-acceptance and authorship began, and what advice she would give to people who are \u201ctoo young to be sick,\u201d or those who are suffering from long-haul COVID-19 symptoms. Toni Bernhard is the author of the award-winning How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers, which is now available as a pocket guide. She\u2019s also written two other books on living well with chronic illness.