Online: A Buddhist Guide to Living with Chronic Pain and Illness
with Toni Bernhard
Sunday, August 23rd, 2026 | 5:00pm – 7:00pm ET
It’s no fun to get sick, have little stamina, or experience chronic physical pain. Aside from reminding us that life is uncertain, unpredictable, and often does not conform to our wishes, these challenges can provide a measure of peace if we know how to respond skillfully.
Toni Bernhard, the acclaimed author of How to Be Sick, returns to NYI for a two-hour online program about adjusting gracefully to life with chronic pain and illness. She’ll use the Buddha’s teachings to address the specific challenges that those who are sick or in pain face.
Many of these challenges are faced by everyone in life, whether healthy or not, such as feeling let down by others. Together, through discussion, reflection, and meditation, we’ll explore how to cope with uncertainty about the future, the relentlessness of symptoms, feeling dismissed by doctors, managing loneliness, caregiver burnout, and several other topics.
Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of experience with meditation or Buddhism.
Online Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level. Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Bring a Buddy: If you are a member of our Circle of Friends, you’re invited to bring a Dharma buddy to this program for no additional cost. Simply select “1” from the drop-down next to the Bring a Buddy level, and enter your special discount code (provided in your Circle of Friends welcome email) to reduce the price to that of a single, standard registration. This registration will grant attendance for you and your buddy.
Volunteering
All of our programs rely on volunteers to support our teachers and staff with various tasks and responsibilities. Volunteering allows you to participate in our programs at no cost. To inquire about volunteering opportunities, please fill out our inquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Teacher(s)
Toni Bernhard
Toni Bernhard has been studying and practicing Buddhism for 32 years. She has written four books, three on chronic pain and illness, and one that is an introduction to Buddhism. She practices in the Theravadin tradition but draws on Zen and Tibetan Buddhism in her writing. The books are How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers (2nd Ed. 2018, also available in a pocket-sized edition, written in 2020); How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness (2015); and How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow. Her blog “Turning Straw Into Gold” is hosted by Psychology Today online. Before becoming ill in 2001, she was a law professor at UC Davis, serving six years as the dean of students. Today, she is an accomplished artist. Her website is tonibernhard.com.