On his deathbed, Louis Pasteur admitted that he was wrong about the germ theory, his famous theory that bacteria and other germs were the primary cause of illness. “The terrain is everything,” he said, and that is what alternative and holistic practitioners have been saying ever since. Bacteria and viruses are everywhere, and as we are seeing so clearly with COVID-19, some people get sick, some people get very sick, and most people are fine. So what’s the difference? The virus is the same, but their terrain, their inner environment, their receptivity and susceptibility varies greatly. It’s the host that is variable, not the virus.
So what does this mean in this pandemic? It means we can take control of the one thing we can control, supporting our systems to provide as healthy a terrain as possible. In looking back over my posts, I have written several times about the seasonal flu, and ways to protect yourself. There are a few differences with COVID-19 but mostly supporting your terrain, your immune system is the same.
There is a way in which this touches something very personal for me, this pandemic with all it’s talk of ICUs and ventilators, and it reminds me of a sad validation of the importance of terrain.
In the winter of 2012-2013, there was a very virulent strain of seasonal flu. Most people don’t remember this, but hospitals were so swamped with people in respiratory distress that in some places, like Boston, they had to set up tents to hold all the patients. Someone very close to me – diabetic and generally not very healthy- caught the flu and got quite sick. After taking care of him for several days, I came down with the same flu, but with my diet, immune support protocol, homeopathy and a healthy terrain, I recovered in 3 days. He got sicker and sicker, developed double pneumonia and after 4 days on a ventilator in ICU died of respiratory failure. It was shocking, tragic, and also not wholly unexpected. We both knew that his earlier life of overwhelming stress and burn-out and trauma had wreaked havoc with his terrain. And while he knew what he needed to do to heal and strengthen his system, he chose not to do it.
But I don’t believe it’s ever too late to support your system, to nurture your terrain and improve your resistance. Diet, immune support, stress management, sleep, love and inner peace are some of the pieces of the puzzle. If I can be of help in helping you discover and implement the strategies you need to improve your terrain, please call on me. ~Carol
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