Many of you have been on protocol, after protocol, after protocol. You have probably taken more supplements than food on some days too. How many times have you tried a homeopathic remedy that “lined up perfectly with your symptoms” or an herbal remedy that “has worked for everyone with your condition” only to find no relief?
The answer may be in your biological terrain. If you have never heard of your biological terrain, then you’re likely still using treatment methods that are stuck in the past.
There’s been a paradigm shift in the making for the last decade or so that is putting our understanding of microbes to the test. Our “kill the bug” approach may not be the complete story.
Since childhood, I’ve had a fascination with the natural world. Whether it was studying it in a textbook, under a microscope, or fully immersing myself in it with my back up against a tree while listening to the sound of a lazy creek. I couldn’t get enough! When it came to school, I especially loved the detail of diagrams and charts from anatomy and cell biology courses. I would spend too much time absorbing their detail and not enough time reading the material.
These pictures and renderings held my attention because I wondered, what connected everything together? There always seemed to be a disconnect between the classroom and the real, dynamic, living world. Sure, the near artistry in the diagrams of cellular structures, biochemical molecules, and anatomy caught my eye and attention during my studies. However, the context in which they existed never seemed to be of importance. No course in high school or college could give me an answer. It wasn’t until much later in my studies that biological medicine taught me the invaluable aspect of context.
Context is commonly overlooked in modern healthcare. In particular, the human body has been reduced to mere parts and pieces only to be treated the same way a clock would be repaired. We have inside of us the most impressive and wonderful design that is infinitely more complex than even the farthest reaches of the universe.
Germ Theory and the Microbiome
In the middle of the 19th century, it was context that escaped one French scientist. Louis Pasteur put forth and popularized the “Germ Theory” based on his elaboration of an unproven hypothesis. He found that “germs” are to receive the full blame as the cause of illness. This model of disease coming from outside our body has fostered our modern static cling to viewing microbes as perpetual nuisances and pathogens that threaten our health.
Despite the discovery of the microbiome (the complex world of bacteria that live within the human body) and the growing body of research showing just how vital it is to our health, modern healthcare is still failing to grasp the role of microbes in our body.
The bacteria present in our body outnumber our human cells. If “Germ Theory” was true then we’d all be a living, breathing, walking infection! Consider the fact the total weight of the microbiome is only about 3-4 pounds, but our body depends upon this tiny contingent of genetic information to facilitate key functions like immunity, digestion, detoxification, and brain activity.
By taking a “kill the bug” approach to healing in this day and age is equivalent to claiming the Earth to be the center of the universe. It is a gross over-simplification and misses the point completely. We need to understand the bigger picture and how everything fits together.
“Terrain Theory” and the Context to Healing
It was the work of Antoine Bechamp and Claude Bernard that produced “Terrain Theory.” Context must have been at the front of their minds during their research, for these two men surely saw the bigger picture of how our 100 trillion human cells interacted and benefited from the trillions of viruses, fungi, and bacteria that are woven into the tapestry of our body.
They found that it was a healthy terrain within our body that creates health. This paradigm shift places us in a more hopeful light as having control over our condition and not as victims.
While the microbe plays a part, Terrain Theory explains that a bacteria, virus, or fungus is only pathogenic in response to its surroundings. Bechamp’s years of research showed that the microbe’s infective character only came to being as a consequence of disease and not the cause of disease. This change in character is described by the phenomenon of pleomorphism (from latin pleo meaning “many” and morph meaning “form”). This means that a virus can become a bacterium and then mature into a yeast or fungus should the environment of the human body allow this change to occur.
With this concept in mind, we can see that improving and maintaining the biological, chemical, emotional, and energetic landscape of the body is to be the focus for health and wellbeing. Much as it is the case for the health of a plant depends upon the health of the soil, so it is the case that our cells require healthy terrain for proper function.
Understanding Mesenchyme
This biological terrain is the landscape of our internal environment that surrounds all of our cells and supports the microbes that support us. Another term for this is mesenchyme, or ground substance. The mesenchyme is the context, the backdrop, for every building block, every scaffold, and every component of the network that weaves the human body together. It is the mesenchyme that affords our body the ability to connect, communicate and regulate every cell and every organ together.
The mesenchyme surrounds every cell and allows for distribution of nutrients and oxygen, elimination of waste, and immune support. This is also where our lymph vessels, nerve endings, and smallest blood vessels are housed. If our mesenchyme is not in top condition, then our cells begin to be malnourished, garbage piles up around them, and the ability for our cells to repair and regenerate becomes compromised.
Modern medicine does nothing to treat the mesenchyme. Most natural medicine practitioners aren’t even aware of it. It doesn’t matter how perfect the herb is for the patient’s condition or that blood labs confirmed the need for a specific mineral, if the biological terrain is not supported then it is all for naught.
The Institute for Restorative Health places an emphasis on supporting your biological terrain as one part of our whole body approach. With every step of the healing process, we understand how every cell (including your microbes) needs to be addressed for complete body restoration.
Has your protocol been missing this much-needed component? The biological terrain impacts every part of how our mind, body, and spirit function. Without tending to this “soil” of our body, we cannot establish proper roots. Without proper roots, our healing can only go so far.
Whether you are struggling with chronic pain or infection, anxiety, autoimmune conditions, depression, or any other chronic condition, make sure that your biological terrain is not overlooked.
