The biological terrain. Creating a clean environment. Maintaining 7.0 pH. Getting enough minerals. Grounding yourself in your physical body.

There is a beautiful documentary about environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy which shows the artist mining iron from a shallow river bed, turning over rocks to find lumps of iron ore, and then grinding them up with stones to make a mound of fine iron dust. The next thing you see is a shot from downstream, just past a bend in the river where the water rushes down through a small waterfall of large rocks into a pool. Suddenly, shockingly, the stream runs blood red, and the pool fills to brimming with the color of spilled blood, a color embedded in the human psyche with emotion. Goldsworthy has taken his cache of powdered iron ore and simply poured it into the river upstream. In this simple act, he reminds us of our essential connection to earth, that we are, as the color of our own blood reminds us, made of iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, and so on, minerals of the earth, mixed with water and oxygen and sunlight energy to create our own flesh and blood.

Without these minerals from the earth in our daily diet, we cannot function properly in our flesh-and-blood incarnation. Without iron, our blood cells cannot hold oxygen and we become anemic; without calcium, our bones weaken and become porous and brittle; without potassium, our muscles, including our heart muscle, cannot contract and release properly. Without minerals, we cannot walk the earth in our human form. It's that simple. Humans get minerals naturally by drinking mineralized water, or by eating plants whose root systems embed in mineral-rich soil and absorb minerals up through their roots into their stalks, or by eating food products that come from mineral-rich plants such as blackstrap molasses, or from animals or fish that eat the plants or that eat other animals or fish that have eaten plants. Unfortunately, because of modern agriculture, repeatedly farmed soil gets stripped of these crucial minerals, and plants that once were mineral-rich become mineral-depleted, as we become mineral-depleted when we eat them without supplementing minerals from other sources.

Eating organic green leafy vegetables and root vegetables is an excellent way to get minerals in your diet. Dairy products are a good source of calcium if you can tolerate dairy, especially for women who have osteoporosis in their family (be sure to choose the organic brands that don't have bovine growth hormone or antibiotics). You can also take mineral supplements, including colloidal minerals (liquid minerals) that are easily absorbed in your gut if you think you are not getting enough minerals in your daily diet (mixed with black cherry juice, they taste quite nice, or buy Floradix brand that's already mixed with tasty natural flavors). Some multivitamins add minerals as well; read the label. These essential minerals from the earth create the internal bio-terrain of our bodies, emotions and energy. Feeling tired lately? You might want to check your iron count and recall the last time you had spinach and kale on your dinner plate. If you suspect mineral deficiencies, I recommend you see a naturopath or nutritionist or holistic MD to get a specific read on what you need. I am happy to refer you if you don't know one. Individual needs vary. Menopausal women need less iron than women who are having regular periods, for example, and should adjust iron intake accordingly.

Minerals are alkaline, unlike essential fatty acids and amino acids. The ideal pH in the human body is 7.0. Tumor growth is more likely in acidic environments, and because of non-nutritional acidic food products (like coffee) and too much acidic protein foods without enough mineral-laden vegetables (like burger and fries), urban dwellers often have an acidic pH. You can get some pH testing papers in your local pharmacy and test your pH from your saliva to see if you are too acidic and need more alkalinized foods in your diet.

When we say we need to ground ourselves, we are saying that we need more earth element in our life. We need more solid ground under our feet, both literally (get out of the car and stop driving around for a few hours, take a walk along the beach or a hike in the hills) and metaphorically (get your feet under you, stop free-falling, and stand upright on ground that can support you, in your personal life and at work). As a human being, sometimes you just need to sit your butt on the ground, become still like a rock, lean up against a tree trunk, feel rooted again in your life, garden, touch the dirt. The earth is our first and final environment. We are not only of it, we are it. We are not separate, but one. What is outside in the external terrain is inside of us as well, in the internal bio-terrain. For this reason, we need to keep our environments clean and fresh and toxin-free, because internally and externally they are one and the same-one environment inside and outside of us.