Super Sick


Book Description

Superheroes aren't sick. They certainly don't have chronic pain, sexual dysfunction, or diarrhea. After all, spandex suits and sudden bowel movements don't mix. Do they? With raw sincerity and tongue-in-cheek humour, Alexander holds nothing back while discussing how to navigate doctors, dating, sex, friendships, faith, and embarrassing symptoms. Part memoir, part research, part pop culture analysis, Super Sick offers a friendly hand to anyone with chronic illness, a reminder that they aren't alone and have much to offer the world. With a new foreword, updated information, and bonus materials, this second edition is a must-read for anyone who has-or knows someone who has-a chronic illness.




How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness


Book Description

Comfort, understanding, and advice for those who are suffering--and those who care for them. Chronic illness creates many challenges, from career crises and relationship issues to struggles with self-blame, personal identity, and isolation. Beloved author Toni Bernhard addresses these challenges and many more, using practical examples to illustrate how mindfulness, equanimity, and compassion can help readers make peace with a life turned upside down. In her characteristic conversational style, Bernhard shows how to cope and make the most of life despite the challenges of chronic illness. Benefit from: • Mindfulness exercises to mitigate physical and emotional pain • Concrete advice for negotiating the everyday hurdles of medical appointments, household chores, and social obligations • Tools for navigating the strains illness can place on relationships Several chapters are directed toward family and friends of the chronically ill, helping them to understand what their loved one is going through and how they can help. Humorous and empathetic, Bernhard shares her own struggles and setbacks with unflinching honesty, offering invaluable support in the search to find peace and well-being.




Living Beyond Your Pain


Book Description

Using mindfulness-based techniques and cognitive behavioral tools, a leading expert on the use of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) teaches readers to transcend the experience of chronic pain by reconnecting with other, more valued aspects of their lives.




How to Be Sick


Book Description

This life-affirming, instructive, and thoroughly inspiring book is a must-read for anyone who is - or who might one day be - sick. It can also be the perfect gift of guidance, encouragement, and uplifting inspiration to family, friends, and loved ones struggling with the many terrifying or disheartening life changes that come so close on the heels of a diagnosis of a chronic condition or life-threatening illness. Authentic and graceful, How to be Sick reminds us of our limitless inner freedom, even under high degrees of suffering and pain. The author - who became ill while a university law professor in the prime of her career - tells the reader how she got sick and, to her and her partner's bewilderment, stayed that way. Toni had been a longtime meditator, going on long meditation retreats and spending many hours rigorously practicing, but soon discovered that she simply could no longer engage in those difficult and taxing forms. She had to learn ways to make "being sick" the heart of her spiritual practice - and through truly learning how to be sick, she learned how, even with many physical and energetic limitations, to live a life of equanimity, compassion, and joy. And whether we ourselves are ill or not, we can learn these vital arts from Bernhard's generous wisdom in How to Be Sick.




Outsmart Your Pain


Book Description

“Mindfulness and compassion practices should be in everybody’s toolbox for a happier and healthier life. [This] book is essential reading for providers who treat chronic illnesses and for those suffering from them.”—Arianna Huffington Pain can be a big, unwieldy box that we struggle to carry all day. But what if we could put down this box, unpack it, and tackle the contents one by one? Outsmart Your Pain is Dr. Christiane Wolf’s radically clear, evidence-based guide to relieving chronic pain with mindfulness, complete with twenty easy guided meditations and self-compassion practices, including: rewriting the “pain story” you tell yourself practicing loving acceptance of your body as it is mindfully working through negative emotions strengthening your inner and outer support systems. By separating your pain from the stressful thoughts and troubled feelings that come with it, you can lay down your burden and live with joy.




Peace with Pain


Book Description

In a body that HURTS... In a body that's EXHAUSTED... There is JOY... There is FULFILLMENT... There is PEACE. Can you be happy and at peace when your body is screaming in pain? YES! There may not be a cure for your physical condition, but there is a way out of the anguish and misery. With the tools in Peace with Pain, you'll discover how to create a joyful and productive life despite the malfunctions of the body. This simple path of focused meditation, mindfulness, and pacing can be followed by anyone who is suffering. Meditation is the foundation of the practice; mindfulness allows you to gain control of your time and life; and pacing all of life's activities keeps you moving forward on the path to peace. Rather than propose a cure for pain and illness, Peace with Pain opens a doorway into the beauty and ecstasy found only in full awareness of the present moment. This book for people with chronic pain is about living with and using your body efficiently as it is, right now.




Making Peace With Chronic Pain


Book Description

Published in 1996, Making Peace With Chronic Pain is a valuable contribution to the field of Psychiatry/Clinical Psychology.




Yoga for Pain Relief


Book Description

It's no secret that yoga increases muscular flexibility and strength, but you may not know that yoga is a proven treatment for back pain, knee pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other chronic pain conditions. Yoga also helps to ease the stress, anxiety, and depression that can create and reinforce pain, making you feel more comfortable in both your mind and your body. Written by a yoga instructor and former chronic pain sufferer, Yoga for Pain Relief is packed with gentle postures and practical strategies for ending pain. This complete mind-body tool kit for healing also includes deep relaxation practices drawn from the yogic tradition and psychological techniques for helping you make peace with your body and dissolve pain. As the ancient practice of yoga releases the hold that chronic pain has over your life, you will begin to feel more like yourself again.




Beyond Pain


Book Description

Beyond Pain is an in-depth look at how people cano not only live with pain but come to see it and all suffering with the eyes of faith. This is also a book about two remarkable, pain-filled lives from Scripture, Job and Jesus. The author believes that Job has much to teach those in pain. He is like each of us, she says, human and trying to do the right thing out of our flawed-but-faithful hearts. And Jesus, of course is the prime example of accepting and embracing pain even as he died on the cross. Though many of us still need strength, courage, and self-awareness to build our faith and ministry, the author says, we have Jesus' light to guide us, and his example to emulate. This book challenges readers to follow the example of Job and most of all Jesus, in accepting pain and in believing there are many joys awaiting them, if they choose to reach out, look, hope and live...beyond pain. Her book is for anyone who lives with deep, life-altering pain and who wants to have more joy, faith, and purpose. As Job did. As Jesus did.




Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness


Book Description

“An important antidote to the dogmatic ‘kale and vitamins’ tone of most ‘self-help’ literature.” —Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, senior writer, New York magazine Popular blogger Ilana Jacqueline offers smart and savvy advice, humor, and practical tips for living with an invisible chronic illness. Do you live with a chronic, debilitating, yet invisible condition? You may feel isolated, out of step, judged, lonely, or misunderstood—and that’s on top of dealing with the symptoms of your actual illness. Take heart. You are not alone, although sometimes it can feel that way. Written by a blogger who suffers from an invisible chronic illness, Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness offers peer-to-peer support to help you stay sane, be your own advocate, and get back to living your life. This compelling guide is written for anyone suffering with an illness no one can see—such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), Lyme disease, lupus, dysautonomia, or even multiple sclerosis (MP). This book will tell you everything you need to know about living with a complicated, invisible condition—from how to balance sex, dating, and relationships to handling work and school with unavoidable absences. You’ll also learn to navigate judg-y or skeptical relatives and strangers and—most importantly—manage your medical care. Suffering from a chronic illness doesn’t mean you can’t live an active, engaged life. This book will show you how.