Books by Toni Bernhard, J.D.
Wisdom Publications
buy now [2]
I've been following the work of Toni Bernhard at PsychologyToday.com through their marketing on Facebook, and I really enjoy how she writes about having a chronic illness and decreased function. I remember well being 29 and having had my health go from tipping from fine to some problems to clearly 'a big problem'; unable to climb a flight of stairs, carry a heavy box or bag, or walk a block, I was scared that I'd be one of the % with chronic fatigue syndrome that didn't get better.
I've gone on to work for over two decades not only at recapturing my wellness -- though it is illusive -- to complete college and have a career as an occupational therapist which eventually took me to working with people with chronic illness. In insurance-based medicine, you cannot just do an evaluation the first day, you have to send people home with some sort of exercise or activity, which can be difficult when they have a complex history to take in the first appointment.
Frequently, I would set them up to start learning Mindfulness Meditation at the very beginning because it would help them to get centered and be better at navigating all the decisions they have ahead of them with a chronic illness. They would become more compliant with their home program and simply 'get further faster'. It can be ultra simplified to this: get comfortable and concentrate on breathing in and out (eyes open, eyes closed, sunglasses on, whatever makes you feel safest), and breathe from your belly, let the lungs 'follow that lead', for as long as you feel like doing it for that session. Maybe have a note pad handy to scribble things that pop in your mind. Ideally do this at least 2x/day every day and maybe take note mentally or otherwise how long you went each time. It'll increase with practice.)
I didn't ever formally study meditation the way that people like Toni has to become so expert at integrating it into a spiritual practice, but it was my subjective observation backed by scientific studies that were supporting each other. In my years studying to be an OT, I had picked up a book and the tapes that accompanied it, called "Full Catastrophe Living", by the granddaddy guru who brought East to the West, Jon Kabatt-Zin (it might be Kabat-Zinn, I can NOT keep it straight which). He's an esteemed researcher at an esteemed college who had studied way back in the 70s, the meditation of the East/India. Wikipedia does a good job about him, I think, if you're interested.
If they were my patient/client for 1-2 months, and if they started at the beginning of our time together and were compliant with practicing, they and I would see the benefits of their time having more oxygen to the brain and rest of the body, the clearing of the toxins, and ALL that comes from this 'work' (that's pretty easy 'work', relatively speaking). By the time we were leaving off from each other ('called 'discharge' in insurance/allopathic worlds), they sometimes were quite transformed. In theory, it would also shorten their length of time needing therapy and thus saving their resources for other things, and that includes their insurance benefits.
I found it was helpful to my patients/clients that I'd 'been there' and understood. Naturally, I'm therefore always looking to include information at Lumigrate which includes appropriate, reliable sources from the chronic illness set.
I encourage you to follow the link and see what Toni has to say about her history with Mindfulness Meditation -- she does a good job of talking about the difference in her approach before and after chronic illness occurred in her life.
And it has THE BEST response for those who say they try meditation and just don't want to do it! So please, go read what Toni has to say -- it includes some instructions and I think is a GRATE piece for those interested in meditation and the mind/body connection. Or not! ~~ Mardy
From Psychology Today -- About
Until forced to retire due to illness, I was a law professor for 22 years at the University of California – Davis, serving six years as the law school’s dean of students. I had a longstanding Buddhist practice and co-led a weekly meditation group with my husband. Forced to learn to live a new life, I wrote How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and their Caregivers (Wisdom Publications, September 2010). The book is Buddhist-inspired but is non-parochial. The tools and practices in it are intended to help anyone. I live in Davis with my husband, also named Tony, and our hound dog, Rusty.
How to Be Sick has won two 2011 Nautilus Book Awards: A Gold Medal in Self-Help/Psychology and a Silver Medal in Memoir. It was also named one of the best books of 2010 by Spirituality and Practice.
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [3] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
Links:
[1] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-straw-gold/201201/mindfulness-meditation-why-do-it-and-how-do-it
[2] http://www.amazon.com/How-Sick-Buddhist-Inspired-Chronically-Caregivers/dp/0861716264?SubscriptionId=AKIAIRKJRCRZW3TANMSA&tag=psychologytod-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0861716264
[3] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[4] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/mindfulness-meditation-psychologytodaycom-chronic-illness-expert-toni-bernhard-jd#comment-2673
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/mindfulness-meditation-psychologytodaycom-chronic-illness-expert-toni-bernhard-jd#top
[7] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/1899%23comment-form
[8] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/1899%23comment-form
Comments
Last night I was saddened to see, but SO happy that I was looking and caught the news, that one of my first FB friends with fibromyalgia passed. I believe she was about my age --- her daughter did a lovely job of sharing the news on her mother's FB page, but I was surprised to see her daughter was still a teenager. My father had severe fibromyaligia symptoms when I was a teenager -- when I learned about what causes and contributes to the symptoms and 'environmental illness' in general, I realized his childhood symptoms were indicators of what would transpire in his adulthood.
Like an apple not falling far from his tree, I have had a similar course but hope that what I learned and took action on is allowing me to have a different outcome and I certainly have had a much better quality of life in my late 40s and early 50s than my father did. I hope this for any children of parents who have these conditions -- that they learn what we have here on the "Load Theory" topic from Dr Spurlock which steps you through looking at genes and then 'load' put upon them by things the body, mind, spirit encounters. (If the postiives outweigh the negatives, things can stay with chronic wellness, not illness, essentially.) Blessings to all involved, with my condolences and thanks to this online activist who was 'there' when I arrived on the Internet in 2009 trying to get the message and education out.
Recently, the woman went on FB by "Carla Smiley", but when we'd corresponded from April 2009 until May of 2011, she'd had a different last name on FB, perhaps her actual last name, I presume. There were new photos in the last three years since we'd 'lost touch', and one has her saying (essentially) "this is why I got the nickname smiley, long ago". A grin and brightness about her that would be described as 'light up the room' perhaps, or certainly 'a ray of light'. I thought about how much she reminded me of my OT classmate friend Anita. I thought she reminded me of me, too -- we could have been sisters we looked a lot alike in the past.
As I looked back after having a little fuzziness on our history but knowing there had been one of respect but maybe not ever connecting on collaboration as I'd wished and intended, I saw that I'd asked her to become one of the writers in the forums. She wasn't able to follow through on it, but in the process she sent me ONE link and she said she cannot count how many times she had watched Jon Kabat-Zinn on this YouTube video link I share with you here today in Carla's honor. I opted to add it as a comment under this topic about Toni Bernhard on Mindfulness Meditation because I am prefering for 'energy conservation' on the content at Lumigrate to have there be fewer threads but with more reinforcement on each thread of the concept there, when possible.
www.youtube.com/watch [5]
Again, thank you to all who have been active in raising awareness and getting education out on the Internet about fibromyalgia. I hope that the information I have created in recent weeks and years in the forums, without the use of guest authors and experts is providing 'one stop shoppin' for ease of study and allowing people to have the latest information in a rapid way. (I created, for example a topic about pyrole disorder in a week, weaving information from psychiatrist, nutritionist, addictions specialists (with a biochemically based program), researchers, etc., which would have taken months to form the relationships to have them writing on Lumigrate, about what they've already published on the Internet.
We are now in really our 'third layer' where I'm creating the content and linking without the extra step of having them become a 'resident expert' at Lumigrate. So please, if you have fibromyalgia or someone who does, look at the host of information our forums hold. The Environmental Illness versus Wellness Forum is where much of the new information goes, as well as in the other applicable forums. Such as the forum about the mind where you'd look for meditation and the mind/body connection to wellness and illness remediation. And I so very much appreciate the connections I made with women in 2008 and 2009 as Lumigrate was being created and I was adding into what was going on at Facebook for the fibromyalgia community. Carla being one. Smiley for you, Carla, thank you and blessings be.
(Though I know it's also very 
and 
.)
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [3] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!