Terrain Theory

Music by Chris Merenda

Afterparty Music by Brendan Daniel

Oct 30, 2026 1 hr 32 min

Born Not Broken: Rethinking Childhood Illness and the Medical Model | Dawn Lester

Season 5, Episode 233

Show notes

Children aren't born broken. The medical system tells us otherwise.

Several years ago, Dawn Lester and David Parker joined us on Terrain Theory to discuss their groundbreaking book, What Really Makes You Ill?, a nearly 800-page examination of the assumptions underlying modern medicine, germ theory, and the true nature of health and illness.

Now Dawn returns with a new book, A Fresh Look at Childhood Illness, turning her attention to perhaps the most consequential place to begin rethinking health: the very beginning of life.

From pregnancy and birth to childhood vaccinations, fevers, rashes, and routine visits to the pediatrician, parents are confronted with an enormous number of decisions, often within a medical framework that encourages them to see their children as vulnerable and in constant need of protection.

What if we've been looking at childhood illness through the wrong lens?

In this conversation, we explore Dawn's terrain-forward understanding of childhood symptoms, the medicalization of childhood, and her critique of the scientific foundations of virology. We discuss the labels attached to conditions like measles and chickenpox, the tendency to suppress symptoms rather than investigate their underlying causes, and the importance of questioning medical interventions rather than simply accepting them as inevitable.

We also revisit a theme from our first conversation: the language we use shapes the way we understand our bodies. What happens when children grow up hearing that they've "caught" something, that germs are everywhere, and that their bodies need constant protection from the world around them?

Dawn also explores the relationship between a child's terrain and the physical and emotional environment in which they're raised, from nutrition and environmental exposures to parental stress, beliefs, and behavior. We discuss the body's capacity for self-regulation, the importance of listening to children, and why tending to our own terrain may be one of the most important things we can do as parents.

And we arrive at an idea that reframes parenting itself: children aren't just sponges, absorbing everything around them. They're mirrors, reflecting something back to us about ourselves.

Most importantly, Dawn challenges the fear-based messaging that has become increasingly common even within alternative health circles. Her message and her book promote curiosity, critical thinking, parental responsibility, and learning to make decisions from a place of understanding rather than fear.

Learn more about Dawn Lester and her work at https://dawnlester.com/ and https://dawnlester.substack.com/.

Get Dawn's new book, A Fresh Look at Childhood Illness, at Amazon.

Support Terrain Theory and get bonus episode content at https://patreon.com/terraintheory.

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at https://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

Afterparty Music by Brendan Daniel

Oct 23, 2026 2 hr 22 min

Wellness Check #11: The Refiner’s Fire, Limiting Beliefs, and the Art of Letting Go

Season 5, Episode 232

Show notes

It's been nearly a year since Ben and Mike sat down for a Wellness Check on the Terrain Theory Podcast, and a lot has happened in that time. A new marriage, a growing family, a milestone birthday, plenty of music, and a few unexpected challenges have given them plenty to reflect on.

Ben shares what life has looked like since welcoming Hazel into the world, blending a family, and marrying Kelly in an intimate ceremony that carried more spiritual significance than he anticipated. He reflects on the difficulties they've navigated together, the strength they've found in one another, and why some of life's most challenging experiences can also be the most transformative, especially if you see life happening for you and not to you.

Mike checks in on life at 50, from touring and playing hockey to recognizing that the habits and expectations that served him at 30 or 40 don't necessarily serve him today. He also recounts a meaningful return to a music festival that had excluded him during COVID, and how choosing connection over confrontation opened the door to something he hadn't expected: forgiveness.

Then Ben and Mike turn their attention to the terrain between our ears.

What stories do we tell ourselves about who we are, what we're capable of, and what success is supposed to look like? How often do our expectations become the source of our own frustration? And what might change if we stopped trying to control other people's journeys and allowed them to hike their own hike?

Along the way, they touch on sleep, movement, sunlight, aging, eyesight, raising children, and the daily practice of taking responsibility for their own well-being. But the conversation keeps returning to a common thread: the beliefs we carry, the relationships we nurture, and the things we're willing to let go of may be just as worthy of our attention as the physical aspects of our terrain.

As always, this conversation is for educational purposes only and reflects personal experience. It is not medical advice.

Remember:
You are light.
You are love.
You are your Primary Healthcare Provider.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to a ton of free & exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at https://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Terrain-Theory
X: https://twitter.com/terraintheory1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@terraintheory

Music by Chris Merenda

Oct 15, 2026 1 hr 20 min

One Toxin to Kill Us All: Glyphosate, Toxic Load & How We Fight Back | Michelle Perro, MD

Season 5, Episode 231

Show notes

What really makes us ill?

Once you begin questioning germ theory, another question quickly follows: if germs aren’t the cause of disease, then what is?

For past Terrain Theory guests like Dawn Lester, David Parker, Tom Cowan, et al, The answer comes down to some familiar forces: malnutrition, stress, and toxins.

In this conversation, we focus on one of the most pervasive of those toxins: glyphosate.

Michelle Perro, MD is a conventionally trained pediatric emergency physician whose work gradually moved toward environmental medicine, nutrition, homeopathy, GMOs, pesticides, and the growing toxic burden she was seeing in chronically ill children. That journey eventually led her to GMOScience.org, where she now works to educate families about the relationship between food, environmental exposure, and health.

We start with glyphosate and Roundup, but expand into the bigger picture: pesticide exposure, the gut and microbiome, intestinal permeability, mineral depletion, ultra-processed foods, children’s developing physiology, organic and regenerative agriculture, household exposures, water, personal-care products, and the cumulative load created by modern life.

But this is not an episode about becoming afraid of everything around you.

It’s about what you can actually do about it.

Michelle makes the case that the first step is reducing the toxic load: changing what comes into the home, becoming more conscious about food and water, paying attention to what is being sprayed around us, and supporting the body’s ability to recover. She talks about her work with children and families and how some simple shifts in lifestyle and food choice led to vastly improved health outcomes.

Then onto the activation piece: rebuilding community around food, supporting local farmers, growing some of our own food again, and refusing to outsource responsibility for our health entirely to institutions.

Because awareness is only the first step.

Agency comes next.

And if we want healthier people, healthier children, and healthier communities, tending our own terrain may also require tending the terrain of the communities immediately around us...and the terrains of those with whom we share that community.

Learn more about Michelle Perro, MD and her work at https://gmoscience.org/ and https://makingourchildrenwell.com/.

Support Terrain Theory and get bonus episode content at https://patreon.com/terraintheory.

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

Oct 8, 2026 1 hr 48 min

Cosmic Connections: Tissue Salts, Cellular Health, and the Zodiac | Lisa Strbac & Natasha Andreo

Season 5, Episode 230

Show notes

When Lisa Strbac first joined us in 2023 to talk homeopathy, tissue salts came up almost in passing. Since then, she’s written an entire book about them. So we invited Lisa back, along with her colleague Natasha Andreo, to give the subject the attention it most certainly deserves..

We begin with the twelve tissue salts identified by 19th-century physician Wilhelm Schuessler, how they differ from classical homeopathic remedies, and the notion that all dis-ease can be traced back to mineral salt imbalance in the body.

Lisa also raises a question that sits right at the heart of homeopathy: are these remedies supplying the body with a substance, or could they be providing information? She shares the story that first convinced her to take tissue salts seriously, and she and Natasha explain how they choose individual salts, what they look for in the face and body, and why taking all twelve isn't necessarily the same as finding the one(s) you need.

There is, however, another piece to this system that Mike and Ben were very keen to explore: each of the twelve tissue salts has also been associated with a sign of the Zodiac.

Natasha, whose work combines homeopathy with medical astrology, explains how she uses birth charts, the Sun, the Moon, and planetary cycles to think about constitutional tendencies and timing. That leads to a fascinating discussion about surgery and lunar cycles, inherited patterns, generational trauma, and a reframe of that notion of "generational" that we hope gets used more.

Somehow Human Design enters the picture too, at which point we learn that Mike is apparently a type reserved for only one percent of people...which immediately made sense.

Join the conversation as we make connections between our cellular health and the cosmos above.

To learn more about Lisa and her work, visit https://lisastrbac.com, follow her on Instagram at @lisastrbac, and explore her homeopathy courses and practitioner training at the Academy of Integrative Homeopathy.

To learn more about Natasha and her work, visit https://natashaandreo.com.au and follow her on Instagram at @natasha.andreo, where she is most active.

Support Terrain Theory and get weekly bonus content at http://patreon.com/terraintheory.

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

Oct 1, 2026 1 hr 43 min

Don’t Park There: Fear, Attention, and The Field | Dr. Suzy Harris

Season 5, Episode 229

Show notes

Four years after her first appearance on Terrain Theory, Dr. Suzy Harris returns for a conversation that starts with COVID, adverse events, jab detoxification, and quickly moves into much deeper territory.

Suzy shares what she has been seeing in her chiropractic and natural health practice, how she approaches lymphatic movement, circulation, detoxification, and recovery, and why she remains open to questions that challenge even the frameworks she currently uses. We also talk about the importance of being able to disagree without immediately dismissing one another, especially in a space where skepticism is supposed to be a feature, not a liability.

From there, the conversation turns toward mindset, consciousness, attention, and what Suzy calls "quantum mindset coaching". We ask what “the field” actually means, whether thoughts can influence physical reality, where science ends and interpretation begins, and whether any of this requires a belief in God, spirit, or something beyond the material world.

At the center of the conversation is a simpler question: where are you putting your attention?

Fear, anger, resentment, grief, and uncertainty are all real. The point isn’t to deny them or spiritually bypass them. It’s to notice them, feel them, learn from them...and, as Suzy puts it, not park there.

We also revisit health freedom in Vermont, the lessons of COVID, personal agency, scarcity, manifestation, skepticism, and the possibility that changing our relationship to the world may begin with changing what we continually feed within ourselves.

Learn more about Suzy and her work at https://cedarwoodnaturalhealthcenter.com/ and also follow the work of Vermont Stands Up at https://vermontstandsup.org/

Support Terrain Theory and get weekly bonus content at http://patreon.com/terraintheory.

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

Sep 24, 2026 1 hr 30 min

Rethinking Medicine: Psychedelics, Place, and the Work of Healing | Beana Bern

Season 5, Episode 228

Show notes

Beana Bern is the founder of Rootstock Retreat, a ten-acre retreat and community in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, where she works with psilocybin through immersive medicine retreats and seasonal microdosing programs.

In this conversation, we rethink what we mean when we use the word “medicine.” Beana shares her own decades-long relationship with psychedelics and explains why mushrooms can be remarkably efficient at showing us where our pain, patterns, and stories come from...while challenging the idea that the psychedelic experience itself does the work of healing.

We talk about our own early experiences with microdosing, the problems with turning psychedelics into another magic pill, and why Beana structures her microdosing work around the rhythms of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. From there, the conversation widens considerably: the medicine of place, reconnecting with nature, developing internal authority without rejecting the need for guides, and learning to recognize wisdom in the world immediately around us.

We also venture into animism, the sentience of mushrooms, energetic and spiritual hygiene, unseen forces, and whether “hallucinogen” is even the right word for experiences that can sometimes feel more real than ordinary reality.

Ultimately, this is a conversation about much more than psychedelics. It’s about awareness, relationship, and expanding our understanding of medicine beyond something we consume to include the places we inhabit, the seasons we move through, the experiences that challenge us, and the living world (terrain) of which we are a part.

Learn more about Beana and her work at Rootstock Retreat: https://rootstockretreat.com/

Use code TERRAIN333 to take $333 of their next Microdosing Immersion: https://rootstock.mykajabi.com/medicine-of-the-west

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

Sep 10, 2026 1 hr 51 min

The Invisible Terrain: Orgone Energy and the Frequency Fence | Sharon Daphna

Season 5, Episode 227

Show notes

Sharon Daphna is a writer, researcher, and creator of The Chembow, where she documents more than a decade of work with orgone energy, orgonite, atmospheric conditions, electromagnetic frequencies, and the ideas of Wilhelm Reich. Since 2014, Sharon has made and distributed orgonite throughout nine western states, experimenting with what happens when these devices are introduced into environments saturated with artificial frequencies.

In this conversation, we explore what might be called the invisible terrain: the energetic environment that surrounds us but rarely enters into conventional conversations about health. Sharon introduces us to Reich’s concept of orgone, his distinction between life-supporting orgone energy and what he called Deadly Orgone Radiation, or DOR, and why she believes orgonite can help transform the energetic conditions around us.

That brings us back to something we’ve explored previously with guests like Mitch the Orgone Donor and Rob Williams: the “frequency fence.” Sharon describes it as much more than electromagnetic pollution. In her view, artificial frequencies can interfere with our ability to sense our environment clearly, think clearly, and ultimately recognize our own power. As she puts it during our conversation, “The frequency fence really is a mind control signal.”

From there, we get into cell towers, Wi-Fi and other sources of electromagnetic radiation, weather modification, geoengineering, artificial intelligence, Reich’s cloudbuster experiments, atmospheric conditions, and Sharon’s experiences “gifting” orgonite throughout the western United States. We also talk about the practical side of her work: how she makes orgonite, where she places it, what she observes afterward, and some simple experiments people can conduct for themselves.

And yes, this conversation goes well outside the boundaries of conventional science. Sharon makes claims about orgone, weather, technology, health, and the forces shaping our environment that remain highly controversial and, in many cases, are not established by mainstream scientific evidence. You don’t have to accept those claims to engage with the larger question they raise.

Because if the organism cannot be separated from its environment, where exactly does our terrain end? At our skin? At the walls of our home? Or should our understanding of terrain also account for the signals, frequencies, technologies, and other invisible influences we're immersed in every day?

Perhaps the most important theme of our conversation, though, is not fear of those influences but agency. Sharon’s work is ultimately rooted in the belief that human beings are far more powerful than we’ve been taught to believe...and that changing our relationship with the environment begins with recognizing that power.

Learn more about Sharon and her work at https://www.thechembow.com/.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Sep 3, 2026 1 hr 41 min

Seriousness Is the Disease: Laughter, Jesters, and Breaking the Spell | Mike Cardamone

Season 5, Episode 226

Show notes

Mike Cardamone is a comedian, writer, filmmaker, and creator of Don't Slap Snooze. Before turning his attention to health, medicine, money, and some of the stranger corners of our shared reality, Mike spent years in advertising writing and producing for major brands. Then COVID happened, he started pulling on threads, and his creative work took a very different turn.

In this conversation, we talk about comedy as a way of communicating ideas that facts and arguments often can’t, and Mike makes the case that laughter can do something particularly powerful: break the spell. Once you can see the absurdity in something, and laugh at it, it becomes much harder to see it the same way again.

We also explore the historical role of the comedian as court jester: someone permitted to mock the king, but only as long as he doesn’t start questioning why there’s a king in the first place. That takes us into censorship, gatekeepers, independent media, George Carlin, the limits of mainstream comedy, and why building outside established systems may matter more than trying to reform them from within.

And yes, things get weird. We talk urine therapy, enemas, fruit fasting, cleansing, Mike’s personal experiments with his body, our strange relationship with food, and even satanic salamanders.

But we also turn the joke back on ourselves. If we’re going to criticize rigidity and dogma in mainstream medicine and science, we should probably notice when those same tendencies show up in the terrain and alternative-health worlds. Mike doesn’t claim to have everything figured out. He experiments, observes, changes his mind, and keeps his sense of humor.

Because as he puts it near the end of our conversation, maybe “seriousness is the disease.”

Learn more about Mike and his work at https://dontslapsnooze.net/.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Aug 27, 2026 1 hr 34 min

The Magic Mushroom Problem: When Psychedelics Become Another Magic Pill | John O'Connor

Season 5, Episode 225

Show notes

We have been open about our experiences with psychedelics and microdosing and the meaningful role they played in our own journeys into Terrain. But as psychedelics move from the counterculture into clinics, retreats and the mainstream, are we at risk of turning them into another version of the very thing they're supposed to replace: the magic pill?

John O'Connor, author of A Short, Strange Trip, joins us for a nuanced look at the psychedelic renaissance through the story of one of its most influential figures, Terence McKenna. John retraced McKenna's journey into the Colombian Amazon, separating some of the history from the mythology and discovering that indigenous relationships with psychoactive plants look very different from the Western stories we've built around them.

The conversation becomes deeply personal when John shares his father's unsuccessful attempts to treat decades of alcohol addiction with ketamine and psilocybin-assisted therapy—an experience that forced John to confront his own expectations about these medicines. We explore the danger of placing responsibility for healing onto a substance, why psychedelics may help us rewrite the stories we tell about ourselves without necessarily making those stories true, and the strange contradiction of rejecting the pharmaceutical model only to replace "take this pill" with "take this mushroom."

We also get into McKenna's complicated legacy, psychedelic shamanism, ego dissolution and spiritual grandiosity, the therapeutic versus recreational use of psychedelics, indigenous plant traditions, the importance of intention and integration, and why it's possible to recognize the profound potential of these substances without turning them into something they aren't.

This isn't a rejection of psychedelics. It's a challenge to hold the promise and the problems at the same time, and to remember that no medicine can do the work of tending our terrain for us.

Learn more about John and his work at https://www.johnmoconnor.com/

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Aug 19, 2026 1 hr 39 min

Your Child's First Terrain Is You | Jenna Cain

Season 5, Episode 224

Show notes

We spend a lot of time on this show talking about creating healthy terrain through food, light, movement, and the environments we choose. But what if our very first terrain wasn't physical at all? What if our terrain was the emotional climate we grew up in, the words spoken over us, and the stories we learned to tell ourselves before we were even old enough to question them?

In this conversation, we welcome pediatric physical therapist, Enlifted coach, and parenting educator Jenna Cain for a discussion about how a child's environment extends far beyond nutrition and toxins. We explore why parents often have to heal before their children do, how seemingly innocent labels can become lifelong identities, the power of asking questions instead of giving answers, and why children's behavior is often a reflection of the nervous systems around them rather than something that needs to be fixed.

Jenna also shares practical tools for raising resilient children and a perspective that feels deeply aligned with Terrain Theory: that the conditions we create—physically, emotionally, and linguistically—shape how life expresses itself.

If you're raising young children, healing from your own childhood, or interested in how our inner landscape influences our health and relationships, this conversation offers a crucial reminder that the first terrain any of us ever experience is home.

Learn more about Jenna and her work at https://www.rootedwellnessstudio.com/.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Aug 12, 2026 1 hr 58 min

Principles Over Protocols: What Terrain-based Naturopathy Looks Like | Nicky Leach

Season 5, Episode 223

Show notes

What does it actually mean to practice naturopathy through the lens of Terrain Theory?

In this episode, we sit down with terrain-forward naturopath Nicky Leach to explore a model of health that looks beyond diagnoses, protocols, and symptom management. Rather than asking, "What's the treatment?" Nicky asks a different question: "What conditions allowed this to happen in the first place?"

We discuss why purpose, community, and the stories we tell ourselves may shape our health just as much as food or environmental exposures. Nicky shares his approach to helping clients uncover root causes, why he believes principles are more valuable than protocols, and how fear, identity, and the pursuit of healing itself can sometimes become obstacles to real progress.

Along the way, we explore intellectual humility within the terrain movement, the importance of remaining open to new ideas, raising children without fear, and why the most meaningful transformation often begins with a shift in perspective rather than a new supplement or intervention.

Learn more about Nicky and his work at https://knowthyhealing.com and follow him on Instagram and TikTok @itsnickyleach.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Aug 5, 2026 1 hr 42 min

Timing, Circadian Biology & Environmental Coherence | Avi Jacobson

Season 5, Episode 222

Show notes

How much of our health and terrain is shaped not just by what we eat or how we avoid toxins, but by the timing of our activities and choices? The when of our lives.

In this episode, we sit down with Avi Jacobson, co-founder of Kintsyougi and one of the creators of the CRD Challenge—a simple three-week experiment that introduced thousands of people to the principles of circadian biology. Built around practices like morning sunlight, reducing artificial light after dark, eating with daylight, and reconnecting with our natural environment, the challenge became a thriving community before ultimately being entrusted to the Institute of Applied Quantum Biology.

Avi shares his own journey from chronic health struggles and functional medicine to terrain and circadian biology, explaining why he believes many of the chronic symptoms people experience today are rooted in environmental incoherences rather than isolated diagnoses. Throughout the conversation, we explore why light may be one of the most overlooked inputs affecting human health, how timing influences metabolism and energy, why the body responds differently to the same meal depending on the time of day, and how small shifts in our relationship with sunrise, sunset, and artificial light can create profound changes over time.

Perhaps most refreshing is Avi's approach to learning itself. Rather than asking people to accept new ideas on faith, he encourages curiosity, observation, and personal experimentation...using your own body as the ultimate proving ground.

Learn more about Avi, Lauren, and Kintsyougi at https://kintsyougi.com.

Learn more about the Institute of Applied Quantum Biology at https://www.iaqb.foundation/.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Jul 29, 2026 2 hr 2 min

Tuning the Human Instrument & The Science of Resonance | Michael Trainer

Season 5, Episode 221

Show notes

We often think of health as something that's built through food, movement, sunlight, sleep, and the choices we make each day. But what if one of the most influential forces shaping our terrain isn't something we consume, but rather the people we surround ourselves with?

In this conversation, we sit down with author, explorer, and former Global Citizen executive Michael Trainer to explore the science and philosophy of resonance: the idea that our nervous systems, our biology, and even our sense of purpose are constantly being tuned by the relationships and environments we inhabit.

Drawing from years spent studying with indigenous wisdom keepers, neuroscientists, spiritual leaders, and health researchers, Michael shares why loneliness has become one of the defining health challenges of our time, how our relationships influence everything from emotional resilience to physical health, and why finding your own "unique song" may be one of the most important acts of healing.

Along the way, we discuss the biological effects of coherence, the power of community, the role of music in human connection, what ancient cultures can teach us about belonging, and why the strongest medicine doesn't come from a bottle, but from the quality of the people and places that shape us.

If Terrain Theory is about creating the conditions for life to flourish, then this conversation asks a deeper question: Who—and what—are you allowing to tune the instrument that is you?

Learn more about Michael and his work:
https://michaeltrainer.net/

Purchase Resonance: The Art and Science of Human Connection:
https://resonance.biz/

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Book a FREE 1:1 call with co-host Ben Hardy to discuss terrain, health, life, anything! Find a day & time here: https://www.terraintheory.net/pages/free-1-1-call

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Jul 22, 2026 2 hr 24 min

Magic Pills: The Skeptic's Journey Into Homeopathy | Ananda More

Season 5, Episode 220

Show notes

When filmmaker and homeopath Ananda More first encountered homeopathy, she dismissed it as pseudoscience. It wasn't until an unexpected experience while traveling through India that her certainty began to unravel. Years later—even after becoming a practicing homeopath herself—she still wrestled with the question: "is this all simply placebo?" That honest skepticism became the foundation for Magic Pills, a documentary exploring the science, stories, politics, and controversy surrounding one of the world's most debated healing modalities.

In this conversation, we go far beyond the basics of homeopathy. We explore the difference between healthy skepticism and dogma, why homeopathy provokes such intense resistance, the state of the scientific research, censorship within medicine and media, energetic healing, placebo, consciousness, and what it means to follow evidence wherever it leads.

Ananda also shares remarkable patient stories, discusses the global effort to preserve access to homeopathy, and explains why empowering parents with safe, non-toxic tools may be one of the most important investments we can make in future generations. Whether you're completely new to homeopathy or have questioned it for years, this conversation is an invitation to look deeper before deciding what to believe.

Learn more about Ananda and her work:

🎬 Magic Pills film: https://magicpillsmovie.com/
🎓 Homeopathy courses & waiting list: https://magicpillsmovie.com/
📧 Contact Ananda: info@magicpillsmovie.com

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Jul 15, 2026 1 hr 51 min

Disease Begins In The Heart: Stillness & The Middle Way | Tommy Hughes

Season 5, Episode 219

Show notes

Tommy Hughes returns to the Terrain Theory Podcast for a conversation that builds on our first exploration of Classical Chinese Medicine and takes it into even deeper territory.

Drawing from the ancient medical classics, Tommy explains why Chinese physicians believed disease begins in the heart, how chronic emotional patterns can eventually become physical pathology, and why the body's symptoms are often the final chapter of a story that began years earlier. Together we examine the Chinese understanding of anger, fear, purpose, stillness, and the relationship between the inner climate and the outer world.

The discussion moves through cancer, trauma, suppression, homotoxicology, Wu Wei, and the symbolism behind the ancient Chinese character for cancer itself. Tommy also shares why martial arts traditionally came before medicine, why biohacking can become another form of striving, and how the Taoist concept of non-doing offers a radically different approach to cultivating health.

Rather than searching for another protocol or optimization strategy, this conversation points back toward something much older: restoring harmony, returning to one's original nature, and learning to move with life instead of constantly trying to control it.

To learn more about Tommy's work, follow him on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@naturallytom2302 or reach out to him at naturallytom@tutamail.com.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to exclusive content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice. You are your own primary healthcare provider.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

After Party Music by Great Balancing Act

Jul 8, 2026 2 hr 19 min

Everything We Forgot About Hemp | Anya & Jacob Smith

Season 5, Episode 218

Show notes

Cannabis has become one of the most polarizing plants in modern history, but hemp may be the more important story.

In this episode, Ben and Mike sit down with Florida cannabis cultivators Anya and Jacob Smith of Green Smith Family Farms to explore the remarkable versatility of hemp and why so much of its history has been forgotten. The conversation moves well beyond CBD and THC into living soil, terpene diversity, clean cultivation, and why the health of the growing environment may directly influence the quality of the medicine it produces.

Along the way, they discuss hemp's potential to replace plastics, produce cleaner building materials, improve agriculture, fuel engines, and even reshape entire industries. They also share practical guidance for finding high-quality CBD, explain why many experienced cannabis users naturally gravitate toward lower-THC products over time, and reveal a simple tip that can completely change the experience for anyone who has ever overdone THC.

If terrain is the sum of the conditions that support life, then hemp deserves a much larger place in that conversation than it currently occupies. This episode explores why.

Follow Anya and Jacob on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/greensmithfamilyfarms/ or send Jacob an email at jacob@thehempcorp.net.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to weekly bonus episode content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Explore our growing list of intentional Terrain Support products at https://www.terraintheory.net/collections/terrainsupport

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

AfterParty music by Brendan Daniel

Jul 1, 2026 1 hr 43 min

Victimhood, Mindset & The Stories That Shape Your Health | Mark England

Season 5, Episode 217

Show notes

Change your mind? More like change your mindset.

In this episode, we sit down with Mark England, founder of Enlifted, to explore the relationship between language, breath, mindset, and health. Mark argues that mindset isn't some abstract self-help concept: it's simply the story we tell ourselves about our lives, our bodies, our relationships, and our circumstances. And when those stories become rooted in fear, victimhood, or the belief that we're somehow broken, they can shape everything from our behavior to our physiology....and ultimately our health itself.

We dive into why victim consciousness may be one of the biggest obstacles to healing, how trapped emotions and "trapped breath" keep people stuck, the hidden power of language, and why writing down our stories can fundamentally change our relationship to them. Along the way, we discuss trauma, cancer, Lyme disease, chronic illness, breathwork, coaching, personal responsibility, and the delicate balance between acknowledging suffering and identifying with it.

Mark also shares his own journey through injury, addiction, self-destruction, and recovery, as well as the experiences that led him to develop the Enlifted method. The conversation touches on everything from emotional detoxification and health identities to parenting, purpose, manifestation, and the subtle ways our words influence our reality.

Whether you're navigating a diagnosis, working through old emotional wounds, or simply trying to better understand the connection between mindset and healing, this conversation offers a perspective on the stories that shape our health... and how changing those stories might change far more than we realize.

Learn more about Mark and his work at https://www.enlifted.me/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/enliftedcoaches.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to weekly bonus episode content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Explore our growing list of intentional Terrain Support products at https://www.terraintheory.net/collections/terrainsupport

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

AfterParty music by Brendan Daniel

Jun 24, 2026 2 hr 7 min

We're Here to Teach Nature | Mike Winner

Season 5, Episode 216

Show notes

Mike Winner has spent decades exploring the intersections of health, consciousness, philosophy, technology, and human potential. Many listeners know him as the longtime co-host of Alfa Vedic alongside Dr. Barre Lando, but his latest project, TerrainTV, may be his most ambitious yet: a centralized platform designed to bring together some of the most influential voices in the Terrain movement.

In this conversation, Mike joins Ben and Mike for a wide-ranging exploration of the BioTerrain Model, the evolution of the Terrain movement, and why he believes Terrain extends far beyond biology. The discussion moves through pleomorphism, natural law, sovereignty, consciousness, the role of thought in shaping our reality, and the deeper philosophical questions that often emerge once someone begins questioning conventional ideas about health.

The guys also dive into Mike's history with Alfa Vedic, the vision behind TerrainTV, and how artificial intelligence unexpectedly became a tool in bringing that vision to life. Along the way, they touch on alchemy, reincarnation, Atlantis, joy as a health practice, the importance of maintaining a sense of wonder in an increasingly mechanistic world, and why humans might be here to teach nature.

Whether you're brand new to Terrain or have been exploring these ideas for years, this episode offers a fascinating look at where the movement has been, where it may be headed, and why the conversation continues to expand far beyond the question of germs and our physical bodies.

Learn more about Mike at his website https://mikewinner.com/ and at https://terraintv.com/.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to weekly bonus episode content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Explore our growing list of intentional Terrain Support products at https://www.terraintheory.net/collections/terrainsupport

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/

Music by Chris Merenda

AfterParty music by Brendan Daniel

Jun 17, 2026 1 hr 48 min

The Body Doesn't Lie: Osteopathy, Flow & Energy Healing with Dr. Caroline Hartridge

Season 5, Episode 215

Show notes

What happens when the illness that nearly killed you turns out to be the catalyst for your greatest healing?

Dr. Caroline Hartridge began her medical career firmly rooted in the conventional system. But after years of unexplained symptoms, a missed diagnosis, and a near-death experience during medical school, she found herself questioning everything she thought she knew about health, healing, and the human body.

A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, craniosacral therapist, Reiki practitioner, and health consultant, Dr. Hartridge now helps people address the deeper roots of illness by exploring the intersection of mind, body, spirit, environment, trauma, and energy. Her work is grounded in a simple but profound principle: the body does not lie.

In this episode, we explore the foundations of osteopathy and how it differs from conventional medicine, the science and philosophy behind craniosacral therapy, the role of fascia in storing trauma, and why emotional and physical injuries may be more connected than most people realize. We discuss concussions, chronic pain, nervous system dysregulation, the body's innate self-healing mechanisms, and the surprising parallels between kayaking, surgery, and energetic medicine.

Dr. Hartridge also shares her personal healing journey, her experiences helping patients navigate the medical system during COVID, her work with medical cannabis, and why she believes true healing requires more than simply managing symptoms.

Learn more about Dr. Hartridge on her website at https://www.drhartridge.com/.

Support Terrain Theory on Patreon! Our member platform gives you access to weekly bonus episode content. Check it out: https://www.patreon.com/TerrainTheory

Explore our growing list of intentional Terrain Support products at https://www.terraintheory.net/collections/terrainsupport

Terrain Theory episodes are not to be taken as medical advice.

If you have a Terrain Transformation story you would like to share, email us at ben@terraintheory.net.

Learn more at http://www.terraintheory.net/

Follow Terrain Theory:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrain_theory/