Toni Bernhard

Our lives can take an unexpected turn at any moment. Mine did in 2001: I got sick with what the doctors initially diagnosed as an acute viral infection—but have yet to recover. I was a law professor for 22 years at the University of California—Davis until the illness forced me to retire. During those 22 years, I served six years as the law school’s dean of students. I had a long-standing Buddhist practice and coled a weekly meditation group with my husband (who’s also named Tony!).   I never expected to become an author but, faced with learning to live a new life, I wrote How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers. Truth be told, I began it as a manual for myself, but when I shared parts of it with others, they encouraged me to turn it into a book. And so I did. To my surprise and delight, it has garnered a worldwide following and has won two 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.         

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