Forget the Organism, Shift the Terrain!

                      

                                    Somewhere in the hills of Portland, Jamaica....

It's flu season. Mary got sick but Jane didn't. Same virus, different outcome. Why?

In our rapidly changing terrain of environmental toxins, stress, evolving bugs, chronic diseases and limitations of pharmaceutical medicines we are faced with a new frontier of health problems that calls for a new approach to health. One that no longer focuses solely on the organism as the cause of disease (the main premise of biomedicine, a reductionist model), and instead looks to it's terrain.

An organism is largely the victim of its circumstance so by shifting it's terrain we take the "root cause" of disease one step further. Shifting the terrain in turn shifts the organism.

Mary is a single mom who is stressed out at work, constantly worries about not meeting rent, has a poor diet, doesn't have time to exercise, is not sleeping well, and frequently experiences anxiety and depression. Jane is a successful entrepreneur who works at home and spends time with her children with the help of a nanny, attends yoga classes regularly, eats clean, whole foods every day, sees a naturopath and is in a happy marriage.

Jane's psychosocial, biological and spiritual terrain is very different from Mary. Jane's terrain is one that has created space for the Vis,  the vital life force, to permeate such that all body systems respond effectively to the impending danger of a virus. With a thriving immune system the virus has no chance at surviving in the robust terrain of Jane's body. On the other hand, Mary's immune system is completely compromised. Her vitality is low and sluggish and immune system not sufficiently armed with nutrition, rest and Vis…the formula for increased susceptibility to the effects of microbial invaders.

We all experience "invading organisms" of all kinds: from our bacteria and viruses, to toxic human relationships. We can point fingers at the bug, at the "perpetrator", and many times we MUST pull out arms against the organism…be it antibiotics in a serious systemic infection, or identifying a perpetrating individual and expressing and taking action to let them go out of our lives and awareness.

But SOO much more can be done in shifting our internal terrain as well. When we clean up our bodies (lets keep this basic: good nutrition, exercise, happy thoughts) our terrain is just NOT very conducive to microbes and dis-ease of all types. Period. But how can "shifting the terrain" apply to our social lives, the area we can experience much more frequent, consistent distress? For me, this involves a regular practice of finding the answer to this question: How can I think, act and feel such that my happiness and worth DOES NOT depend on what others think of me and what choices other people chose to make? Can you see how this can make you untouchable to "invaders"? But can you also see how difficulty this can be! Of course if someone you love says or does something that feels very hurtful there is something that needs to be addressed. But remember, we really, really cannot control how people think and act. We cannot control the rapid evolution of those nasty new viruses. But we can control our terrain to create the shifts we desire. Take charge!

The journey continues....